finally scheduled 70-680 for the 5th

universalfrost

been procrastinating with this cert for some time, but have 2 MS vouchers that expire at the end of the year, so I plan on knocking out 680 on the 5th and then take a week or two and knock out either 685 or 686 (havent decided which yet).... worst is I fail 680 the first go and use the 2nd voucher to get 680 the next week or so...


doing well on my practice exams (got my hands on skillport, preplogic, and transcender, plus the questions from the Poulton book) and only thing that keeps giving me fits is DISM and SIM questions.... I always know the answer if only one , not when both are options, but if you throw both in the equation of possible answers my mind goes blank and basically foreget everything I have read.... no clue why this is, but I have to take a break from that section and come back to it later this week.

Psoasman

Good luck! Make sure you have a good handle on DISM commands, etc. Look for the "Microsoft Way"

universalfrost

yeah the commands i have under control... i looked at some of the practice tests out there and I was like really? (I was expecting more sims where you have to do something that involves certain commands) after seeing all the practice tests turn out similiar (preplogic, skillsoft, poulton, etc..) I quickly realized that ms has turned more to memory retention than to applying the knowledge (last MS test I took was on win 2000).

should be posting a pass on this test on the 5th and quickly reading the gibson 685/686 book and taking the 685 or 686 before christmas.

that and all this right before we push out win7 to our enterprise (about 1300 machines) .... Right now I am the IPv6 migration lead, but since I was the only one that knew anything about win7 (from a management perspective) I have been slowly brought into the mix and and slowly taking the improptu lead on this project.... I really need to keep my mouth shut when I tell folks what my cert plans are at work...

Psoasman

Being the lead on the project and demonstrating your knowledge will help out a lot, I think. Bring back that pass!

demonfurbie

gl

im waiting till im done with the book before i set the exam time then ill start pretesting/review of weak areas part

universalfrost

demonfurbie wrote: »

gl

im waiting till im done with the book before i set the exam time then ill start pretesting/review of weak areas part

i finished up the skillport training and about half of the poulton book, but was dragging my feet. I finally said heck with it and scheduled the test... I magically finished the book this week and have been doing a lot of the virtual labs on technet and also on my inhouse lab setup. i am passing the practice test from skill port, preplogic and the ones in the poulton book. I already have the darril gibson 685/686 book so that if/when I pass the 680 test on the 5th I can jump right into the 685 or 686 book criteria and get that exam done before christmas (might buy another cheap MS voucher to knock out both 685 and 686 before the 31st of December if time allows and I pass the exams on the first shot.....

demonfurbie

did ya do the professor messer vids?

http://www.professormesser.com/microsoft-70-680/free-microsoft-70-680-training/

universalfrost

yeah I did the professor messer vids and will review them this weekend

N2IT

universalfrost wrote: »

been procrastinating with this cert for some time, but have 2 MS vouchers that expire at the end of the year, so I plan on knocking out 680 on the 5th and then take a week or two and knock out either 685 or 686 (havent decided which yet).... worst is I fail 680 the first go and use the 2nd voucher to get 680 the next week or so...


doing well on my practice exams (got my hands on skillport, preplogic, and transcender, plus the questions from the Poulton book) and only thing that keeps giving me fits is DISM and SIM questions.... I always know the answer if only one , not when both are options, but if you throw both in the equation of possible answers my mind goes blank and basically foreget everything I have read.... no clue why this is, but I have to take a break from that section and come back to it later this week.

Good luck! My PMP is set for the 5th as well. Hopefully we will be basking in the glory of beer and virgins. jk

universalfrost

i actually have to do the PMP as well. last job i was knee deep in managing concurrent projects with so much overlap that I never had time to take the PMP.. now I am still managing projects, but not as heavily involved as before... I was looking at getting my CCNA renewed in mid January, get the ccna security in mid feb, then move into CWNA and CWSP for March/April (already ahve the books and test vouchers) and then hit my PMP before july... that way I can sit for my CISSP in the fall (of course I might just do the CISSP in april and push everything else out..... lot of stuff on my plate, but I am working on updating my certs and skill set so I can make a move from the government to the civilian sector (not just contractor, but actually want to get away from the DoD and big government in general).

N2IT

Sounds good

Good luck on all those certifications. I am done after the PMP, it's been a 4 year ride and I am getting tired. My interest lay outside the certifications realm. I am getting more into strategy, budgeting, forecasting, and planning. My mentor/boss used to be a high level executive for one of the top 5 service companies. Due to some circumstances on his end and mine we ended up working together. This guy is in the stars while I am barely touching the clouds. I am trying to clone myself as much as possible and it's strictly on the business side. IT for me is a skill to leverage so I can get to where I want to be.

Nevertheless good luck on everything. I wish you well on your journey.

universalfrost

funny,

My career actually was at where you want to be, but my personal goals/wants have always been wanting to get back to more of a technical nature and also away from the government sector. (plan is to get back up to speed on my networkings certs such as ccnp and jncp and then build up my forensics and security certs and eventually open up my own consulting company to help vendors improve the security of their products and I have enough contacts with the major vendors from previous job, that I hope to make this a reality soon).

if you want to go for your CIO type of jobs, then get a good MBA, keep the PMP renewed and also attend professional/ career building courses.

Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business has a good Executive Certificate Program for either Business Admin, or leadership and managment. That will help pad the resume and also learn a few things in the long run. Penn state also has a good MBA program that used to be online if you are interested.

N2IT

universalfrost wrote: »

funny,

My career actually was at where you want to be, but my personal goals/wants have always been wanting to get back to more of a technical nature and also away from the government sector. (plan is to get back up to speed on my networkings certs such as ccnp and jncp and then build up my forensics and security certs and eventually open up my own consulting company to help vendors improve the security of their products and I have enough contacts with the major vendors from previous job, that I hope to make this a reality soon).

if you want to go for your CIO type of jobs, then get a good MBA, keep the PMP renewed and also attend professional/ career building courses.

Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business has a good Executive Certificate Program for either Business Admin, or leadership and managment. That will help pad the resume and also learn a few things in the long run. Penn state also has a good MBA program that used to be online if you are interested.

That is funny!

I appreciate all the advice, you've clearly have been at it a while now. I was in the Government for ~5 years in an HR role and then supply chain, straight out of college before finally landing in IT. So I have expert experience with the government and can see why you want to get out, at least I am making the assumption based off of my own opinions and experiences.

I do apologize for hijacking your thread. I really do wish you the best on the 60-780. I am sure you do fine. Your consulting plan sounds like a great one. You have the connections and the business knowledge, and now are focusing on the networking and security. Sounds like in no time you will be where you want to be. Awesome stuff!

Cheers to the information you sent me. I really need some upper leadership and financial classes. I'm scared of a full blown MBA due to overall cost. 2012 I do plan to study and train for the GMAT. I also want to start working on some PDU credits for the PMP granted I pass.

Thanks again for the great information.

universalfrost

try out the certificate route first and see how you like it. the masters level is a lot more intense research and writing than a bachelors and if you attend a university that requires a thesis then tailor it for continuation at the doctoral level (my thesis was on agile project management methodologies in the IT sector and I developed a program that PM's could use to input project variables and it would select the best approach for the overall project and then split it up into best methodologies for the sub sections of the project). my university actually still uses my thesis for their PM classes, database classes, and systems engineering classes as an example. I wrote the overall thesis with hopes of continuing on in the doctoral realm eventually (I had to cut short my research at the 1200 page mark and concentrate on the actual program coding, development, testing, etc...) ..... don't let this overwhelm you, my university was a bit atypical and my degree was an engineering degree. when I started my MBA afterwards at another university ( a small baptist university in texas that had a couple satellite campuses in AZ) the mba program was lots and lots of discussions, research papers and the like, i hope to finish it next year (had to put on hiatus for my move to alabama and change of jobs to one that requires about 12hr+ days

good luck on the PMP. which book(s) did you use?

N2IT

universalfrost wrote: »

try out the certificate route first and see how you like it. the masters level is a lot more intense research and writing than a bachelors and if you attend a university that requires a thesis then tailor it for continuation at the doctoral level (my thesis was on agile project management methodologies in the IT sector and I developed a program that PM's could use to input project variables and it would select the best approach for the overall project and then split it up into best methodologies for the sub sections of the project). my university actually still uses my thesis for their PM classes, database classes, and systems engineering classes as an example. I wrote the overall thesis with hopes of continuing on in the doctoral realm eventually (I had to cut short my research at the 1200 page mark and concentrate on the actual program coding, development, testing, etc...) ..... don't let this overwhelm you, my university was a bit atypical and my degree was an engineering degree. when I started my MBA afterwards at another university ( a small baptist university in texas that had a couple satellite campuses in AZ) the mba program was lots and lots of discussions, research papers and the like, i hope to finish it next year (had to put on hiatus for my move to alabama and change of jobs to one that requires about 12hr+ days

good luck on the PMP. which book(s) did you use?

I first went through the CBT nuggets for a high level overview of PMP project management. You know how every environment has their own terminology, so I wanted to break out of that first. Then I started reading through Rita Mulcahy's 7th addition book. Completed that and the exams and now I am studying note cards and reading throught he PMBOK casually. I am attempting to really lock it in and I hope I can pass on my first try. It took me two tries for the ITIL ST


BTW your thesis sounds really awesome. A tool set that helps determine which methodology to use. Sounds like you could sell this.

One question

When you say methodologies are you talking from Scrum to Six Sigma to PMP etc

or

More specific software methodologies like Waterfall / Agile

universalfrost

i went into specific methodologies and even offered traditional approaches as possiblities.
also rememebr that six sigma is process improvement, not agile methodologies.

my university has the rights to the program, since it was created for my thesis.


also, I just passed the 70-680 and it was EASY!!! I just scheduled the 70-686 for the 19th and will read Darril's book this next week and get read for the exam.... if I can score another cheap voucher on eBay I will schedule the 70-685 as well for after christmas.

good luck on your PMP today.

whatthehell

CONGRATZ!

Thanks again for your help with the Sever+ -- passed it this Friday.

BTW, did you pick up Darril Gibson's Window 7 Pocket Commands guide (or something to this effect)?

universalfrost

congrats on the server+ pass!

skillport actually had job aids that had all the commands. I printed them out and memorized the commands and hash tags.