All about Motivation for certs!!

CertGrabber

Hello everybody!! Little bit of my background story first... I had a computer networking job while I was in the Air Force, but did not take it all that seriously and didn't try to gain new knowledge on the subject matter.

I guess I was just going with the flow. Then, my enlistment ended and I decided best to separate. Now I am back on the outside, jobless. The plan was to use my G.I. bill to go to college, which I've done for the past couple years, and knocked out some college credits. So that's good..

However, it recently hit me like a freight train that I haven't accomplished anything this summer! And haven't gotten any cert's in the 2 years I've been outta the Air Force!! It's like I was in a deep slumber.. in a cave.. and finally stumbled out, and was blinded by the glaring sun (it was hot and sunny). As if I was casually swimming in the ocean on a vacation, and was surrounded by sharks.. and after narrowly escaping the sharks I made it back on dry land, and was then surrounded by a group of lions, who didn't actually need to eat me, but wanted to, just to ruin my vacation (I was vacationing in... Africa?). As if I was sitting calmly on the couch, on a beautiful Saturday morning, and someone jumped into the living room, tied me down, switched the channel to Lifetime, and then tazed me off and on for the rest of the day, while ordering me to get my certs (lol)Lol. OK, I admit, that stuff didn't really 'happen' per se. But what if it did.. Either way.. I somehow gave myself a much needed kick in the ass to pursue my certs!! Finally I've seen the light!!

I realized everyday consisted of me chillin (not takin summer classes and no job). Just waiting for the fall quarter to start. Yea it's nice to chill, but looking back on the past month or two.. just good lazy times, which do have value, but only in small quantities at a time.. A month, two months, or more, there's no value there Lol. So I decided to go on this craaazy studying binge everyday and start knocking down some certs so I have some certs towards my name. I do wanna mention that I have some background on the subject matter, (though its been awhile) so it may be easier/quicker to grasp concepts, and get some certs.

I've been power studying the net+ cert over the past 5 days and am gonna schedule my test Monday!! After 5 consecutive days of 8 hrs power studying per day I feel confident, lol. I gotta say, it feels good to use all this free time for something now!! After the test I'm going straight into a power studying binge of the Sec+ material.

I am hoping my new found motivation doesn't wear off any time soon, and that's part of the reason for joining the TE forum. To gather knowledge, advice, and for motivation, and possibly.. offering it. I'm going to frequent the site often and continue reading what everyone has to say and that should help keep me going.

Don't get me wrong, learning new information could be motivation enough, but what's wrong with hyping each other up about it!! I feed off you guys when I read someone knocked out another cert, or when someone FINALLY figured out a certain theory that's been stumping them for awhile. That's why the community is here, for each other. So here's to everyone else out there on the certification 'grind'...

Shockwave29361

I've been there. I was in the Navy for four years as a weapons tech. (bomb builder for aircraft). During that time I knew I didn't want to stay in the Navy but didn't know what I wanted to do once I left. I always had an interest with computers so once I got out I spoke with a college and enrolled in an AAS degree in systems admin.

I completed a year of on-site classes then had to move overseas so I'm near completion of my degree through online classes. Before I picked up my current job, I never knew much about certifications except that they exist and can help you getting a job. After spending time with my training coordinator and a couple CCIE guys at work, I know the significance of certifications.

Good luck on pursuing your goals, defiantly get the CompTia certs out of the way before years end. It's the last year they are offering a lifetime shelf-life.

earweed

Good luck on your certification binging. Just be careful not to burn out. You may also want to use a few books and lab some while studying. Try to get an IT related work study or CO-OP job while in school when the fall term begins. You may get a bit rusty with your skills you gained while in the Air Force.
When you start your studies for the CCNA you definitely want to do a lot of labbing. Spend some time going through the CCNA forums here and start by reviewing this thread-http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-ccent/6434-ccna-faq-please-read-before-posting.html

Michael.J.Palmer

Welcome to TE, sounds like you've got a plan, just make sure you stick to it. Personally I wasn't in the military, but I was slumming it away in retail for the past four years. Prior to that I was a semi-pro gamer (played different types of card games, yeah, I even played games like Magic and what not professionally), while doing that I also was a writer for several websites doing strategy articles and the like and also did coverage articles for Upper Deck themselves for their Pro events. It was a pretty cool time, but wasn't exactly the "big time" money-wise, just enough to pay the bills and get by for about two years. When the credit card bills started to get too much I seeked out some retail jobs and landed a job in a Hollywood Video.

From that point I worked in retail for about three-four years, most of that time was in middle management and earlier this year I realized I just hadn't done what I wanted to do with my life at all. I had a family now, one kid, another on the way (the second was born June 19th btw) and I had to make sure I could provide for them financially. I was only making 9.25 an hour in a job that was 45 miles away and even though we managed to keep bills cheap by having my brother-in-law stay with us and split bill costs, we just found ourselves digging a hole in debt.

Well... February area I decided to persue schooling and enrolled in a 6 month course to get 8 certifications (I'm now halfway through that course). IT had always been a side interest of mine, more of a hobby then anything else, so I figured I'd turn it into a career. I quit my job in April while accepting an offer to a call center job located right down the road from where I live... however, that didn't work out as the client they had hired me for pulled the plug on their work there about three days before I was scheduled to start... So I've been unemployed since... school started up in April as well and I've been trying to get into my first full-time IT gig ever since.

Just work hard at your certs and continue your school and you'll get there. The past three months have been extremely hard on me and my family as we went from having very little income to having no income now... but at least we have each other and I've managed to do odd jobs here and there to keep the bills paid (though we're also using credit cards unfortunately). Just work hard at your studies though, I commend you on your power studying, I'm unemployed and even I can't get myself to sit down for more than 3 or 4 hours a day to start studying... and tbh with you I haven't studied anything at all for the past five or six days, just been sitting back and relaxing for a bit and getting stuff done around the house.

I commend you though, keep it up and you'll be on that path where you feel like you can accomplish something.

CertGrabber

earweed wrote: »

Good luck on your certification binging. Just be careful not to burn out.

Ain't that the truth. I think (obviously, I guess) one of the best traits of advanced network technicians is that they have a DESIRE for the knowledge in the career field. Some people just study and look for the easy way out when it comes to certification testing.. unfortunately this doesn't prepare them very well for their test.

I've seen many people fall victim to bad studying techniques that leaves them with limited knowledge on the subject, not more than 3 months later..

Some people get too hung up on 'what questions are on the cert' and 'is it like the practice exam.' If it's a 'real' hobby for the individual then the cert will become common knowledge because they know the technology inside and out.