I passed security + this morning.....and i am taking network + this afternoon!

So I have been self teaching myself computer and IT certifications.
I passed A+ on 2/24.

I am taking network + today at 3.

I got really really cocky and scheduled security + today also! The third of the entry level triad.

To make it more crazy, I only started security plus training on Sunday. I read Darrill Gibson's book in two days and took the test this morning. I passed. I feel freakin awesome.

Network+ to be conquered this afternoon

Bottom line. I now have three certs which recommend a total of two years experience in both network and security. And I did them in three months, completely teaching myself, with the birth of a child in this frame. I am so pumped.

I'm 50 changing careers. And I start a temp job tomorrow morning at 8, a 30 day contract. LOL, it has nothing to do with the certs, it is for assisting database administration with sql, excel and access. Which I was a financial analyst in a past life, and I did some data mining in grad school. So if I like it, and they like me, I'll go in that direction and get a database cert, LOL.

I've been without a job for 9 months, with my wife supporting me. Thank God she's a physician. I've got three masters, in finance, poli sci and education, the last one earned to teach in an inner city public school in Nashville last year, teaching Algebra to kids that don't want to learn. After we got pregnant, I decided to pursue my dream, a tech job, money be damned. I am weird, no doubt, but i love taking the certs for the challenge and just for the sake of learning them. I've learned so much and I'm going to continue to learn. I'm getting every damn cert I can get, and I will never be without a job again.

And let me brag a bit...I finished the A+ and Sec+ exams all under thirty minutes each.

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Comments

Cannibalpriest

Everyone deserves a little bit of bragging room when the work hard. Inspiring. Keep it up man, see where the studying takes you.

cyberguypr

Congrats! Keep that momentum going.

Dieg0M

Congrats! But be very carefull with certifications as you will be expected to have a certain level of knowledge in interviews. I see a lot of people that rushed their certifications and crumble in an interview room.

Dakinggamer87

Congrats on pass!!

Keep it up

jaywalker

You should add speed reading to your list of skills :P Congrats on the pass & good luck with your N+!

donw35

impresive and a good base to have when switching careers

jhntbright

Congrats and wish you luck as well. You've tried hard to learn all 3 certifications in a short time and you've got 2 now, you're indeed awesome man and good luck on the net+. Anyhow, I just wondering how could you pass the security+ easily as under 30 minutes? can you share what techniques you did and is any other sources of book or video that you've read and learned or just DG's book? My self is currently out of job and having a family with a kid it's touch and don't have much time to study but I will try as much as I can to preparing self-study taking some certs. first taking Net+ in the next 2 months then Sec+, etc.. Anyway, hope the company will offer you a database job then you won't have to worry about unemployment a gain as you wished.

JustFred

Good luck and congratulations

SharkDiver

Congratulations.
That is just crazy, but Congrats!

geokelley

jhntbright wrote: »

Congrats and wish you luck as well. You've tried hard to learn all 3 certifications in a short time and you've got 2 now, you're indeed awesome man and good luck on the net+. Anyhow, I just wondering how could you pass the security+ easily as under 30 minutes? can you share what techniques you did and is any other sources of book or video that you've read and learned or just DG's book? My self is currently out of job and having a family with a kid it's touch and don't have much time to study but I will try as much as I can to preparing self-study taking some certs. first taking Net+ in the next 2 months then Sec+, etc.. Anyway, hope the company will offer you a database job then you won't have to worry about unemployment a gain as you wished.

Hey, here is how I prepared for the test.

First of all, I read exceptionally fast. I always have, I bought a speed reading app on the iphone and it offers training after an initial diagnosis. I tested at 450 words a minute, then started about ten minutes a day with the exercises...and boy howdy do they work. I am enclosing a screen shot of my latest test. I did 746 words a minute, and I had a 68% retention rate!

So, as for the test, I can read the questions really fast and move through the test. My studying technique is the second thing.

I don't understand tasks unless i understand why. So I prefer to hear the big picture so I can grasp the conceptual parts. So I started A+ and bought Meyers book. When I got to the networking part, I put it down and bought the Net+ book. I read the relevant parts and I began to understand it way deeper than A+ asked me to. I also got a Microsoft Windows 7 MCTS cert book to read for the OS portions. I had trouble with the TCP/IP at first, so I bought a used book on Amazon, Sams Teach Yourself TCP/IP in 24 hours. Then it clicked. So I had a good base of knowledge as I learned more than they were asking.

Another thing I did, and I can not overstate how helpful this was....I got a mindmapping app. Holy cow, it helped me become very thorough and visualize every objective and subobjective. I usually miss a lot of things in a standard list format. It's too linear and I get distracted I guess. But the mind map is 2 dimensional, and you can program it to expand or contract. Its a huge moral boost to see the mind map start to disappear. I'm posting an example of it.

Finally, I drilled myself on all the acronyms You may not realize it but the acronyms from other certs are used as wrong answers. I took Sec+ in the morning, and I did net+ in the afternoon. And holy cow, by the second exam I was seeing all of these acronyms from sec+ as blatantly wrong answers, it made the process of elimination very easy.

That's my strategy and I'd recommend it whole heartedly

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[Deleted User]

That is amazing keep IT up!!!!

jhntbright

Oh wow, this is obviously great technique for learnin' and you made me impress of your studying strategy. Thanks man for sharing and keep it up.

chopsticks

I want to say, Well Done Sir!