I'm being offered free training in any field...

as part of my unemployment. i just spoke with the woman and told her i'd like to go the CCNA---> CCVP route. do you think thats the best idea? i figure i could learn the MS stuff on my own a hell of a lot easier than VOIP. what field do you think will be the most in demand for the longest time? i looked into EMC storage etc but couldnt find anything.

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human151

IMO, its best to learn R&S to the CCNP level then branch off to the specialized fields.

CCNA--->CCNP---->CCVP.

tdean

yes, well if that is offered that is certainly the way to go. anyone else? does VOIP seem to be the safest bet out there?

Bokeh

Not a bad deal, free training. What state is offering to pay like this?

tdean

Bokeh wrote: »

Not a bad deal, free training. What state is offering to pay like this?

all states actually. its federal money, i forget what they called it. they arent going to tell you though. you have to go and ask. i'm in Massachusetts.

4XJunkie

Don't forget, it's not actually free

It's at the expense of the tax payers dollar.

So, you are welcome

tdean

4XJunkie wrote: »

Don't forget, it's not actually free It's at the expense of the tax payers dollar.

So, you are welcome

yeah... mine... for working 25 years and never collecting a dime while my friends collected and worked under the table.

UnixGuy

tdean wrote: »

... i looked into EMC storage etc but couldnt find anything.

Do you mean you didn't find proper trainings for EMC or you didn't find jobs ??

SAN storage administration career is very rewarding !! check the pay rates here :

SAN Administrator Jobs on CareerBuilder.com

and here :

Administrator SAN Jobs at Dice.com

tdean

UnixGuy wrote: »

Do you mean you didn't find proper trainings for EMC or you didn't find jobs ??

SAN storage administration career is very rewarding !! check the pay rates here :

SAN Administrator Jobs on CareerBuilder.com

and here :

Administrator SAN Jobs at Dice.com

i couldnt find accredited training centers. i'd LOVE to get in on that!!

UnixGuy

tdean wrote: »

i couldnt find accredited training centers. i'd LOVE to get in on that!!

Contact EMC directly. They have a lot of training programs.

UnixGuy

tdean wrote: »

i couldnt find accredited training centers. i'd LOVE to get in on that!!

by the way, if you work with EMC partners, you will be getting trainings.

I work for Sun partner, and I got training on Sun Entry level disk arrays, tape libraries, and Sun Midrange Disk Arrays.

Same also if you work for IBM or Hitachi partners..

tdean

well, im out of work now... so no partners for me. but i will mention to her about contacting them directly when i meet with her next week. that would be sweet.

UnixGuy

tdean wrote: »

well, im out of work now... so no partners for me. but i will mention to her about contacting them directly when i meet with her next week. that would be sweet.

Good luck then. Keep us posted !

4XJunkie

tdean wrote: »

yeah... mine... for working 25 years and never collecting a dime while my friends collected and worked under the table.

Funny how that works, eh?

darkerosxx

tdean wrote: »

as part of my unemployment. i just spoke with the woman and told her i'd like to go the CCNA---> CCVP route. do you think thats the best idea? i figure i could learn the MS stuff on my own a hell of a lot easier than VOIP. what field do you think will be the most in demand for the longest time? i looked into EMC storage etc but couldnt find anything.

If you know you're going to do Voice-related work, then you would be best served by getting that knowledge immediately, hence CCNA, CCNA:Voice, then CCVP.

Lots of people will tell you that going CCNP/CCIE:RS is the best route before moving out to other areas. This is true, except for Voice. It's a different animal entirely.

tdean

darkerosxx wrote: »

If you know you're going to do Voice-related work, then you would be best served by getting that knowledge immediately, hence CCNA, CCNA:Voice, then CCVP.

Lots of people will tell you that going CCNP/CCIE:RS is the best route before moving out to other areas. This is true, except for Voice. It's a different animal entirely.

yeah, since im going to be unable to work durning this, i would need to get it done asap. i think the CCNP etc route would simply take too long. i could certainly find a decent job with my MS etc skills with the CCNA and voice thrown in.

human151

SO what happens when you cant find a job doing Voice?

And how long will they pay for training?

tdean

human151 wrote: »

SO what happens when you cant find a job doing Voice?

And how long will they pay for training?

well, im not sure... every single job i see posted had VOIP as a requirement though, so i figure it will only help. with it, i'd be getting my CCNA as well, so thats the attraction. do you think i'd be better off trying the storage side of the biz? i've worked with vmware at a few different sites, so im familiar with that.

not sure how long they'll pay..... they pay for an acredited program, however long it takes is up to me and the school i guess.

EDIT: let me add there is a CISSP program i could get into, but without my CCNA and that knowlege i figured that would be a waste. i could add the security field to me CCNA.

UnixGuy

tdean wrote: »

...
EDIT: let me add there is a CISSP program i could get into, but without my CCNA and that knowlege i figured that would be a waste. i could add the security field to me CCNA.

to be fully CISSP certified you need 5 years of relevant InfoSec experience in more than one of the CBK domains. In my opinion, CCNA will be a better choice for now, unless you have strong InfoSec background.

BigTex71

Free training in ANY field? I would say neurosurgeon.

I know what you mean, though. I was in a similar situation a few years ago. I did an IT series through TechSkills. It was 1 year of unlimited training and certifications (I think it cost the government $10k or $12k). TechSkills called it the IT Professional series. I had plenty of computer, networking, and IT experience already, so was able to get a lot of certs done in the 8 months I was using the program. I stopped because I got a job with the certs I was accruing.

Good luck and study hard.

Zartanasaurus

Did you get confirmation that they will pay for CCNA training? I had this "option" about 10 years ago when I was on unemployment. I wanted to get my MCSE. While I was waiting for approval (it took forever before you got any real information), I went and got A+ training out of my own pocket to get myself another cert. After several months of not knowing anything, I finally got told that the state wouldn't pay for MCSE training because there were no jobs out there, but they'd gladly pay for me to get Novell certified. I couldn't afford MCSE training on my own and I didn't want Novell so I did neither. Of course by the time I knew I wasn't getting my training, my unemployment benefits were almost expired.

So short story is, make sure they definitely will pay for this.

networker050184

Do you have any previous experience with Cisco VoIP? The CCVP probably isn't going to do you as much good as you are thinking with out the experience to go along with it.

If I were you I'd get certifications building on your current experience. That will give you the best shot at landing a job.

tdean

networker050184 wrote: »

Do you have any previous experience with Cisco VoIP? The CCVP probably isn't going to do you as much good as you are thinking with out the experience to go along with it.

If I were you I'd get certifications building on your current experience. That will give you the best shot at landing a job.

sorry, been busy the past week.... well, the thought process is right now pass one of the MS 2008 tests to get a little current with certs. in a month or so, i start "toward" the VOIP cert... that will include the CCNA and whatever else i can get them to pay for up to the VOIP part of it. i have a bit of experience all over the board, ( a little Call Mgr, Unity etc) but all my certs are old. NT MCSE, A+, Net+ Sec+. i need to get my certs to match my experience. i have been told VOIP will not be around much longer? is that premature? either way, i just hope to use it as another building block to get myself into a good place and start from there. probably in Security.

human151

tdean wrote: »

i have been told VOIP will not be around much longer? .

Wha what?

VOIP is the future of telephony. Whomever told you this is misinformed. VOIP is a good way to go, but as I said, IMO it will serve you well to also know R&S on a professional level to go with the voip.

tdean

human151 wrote: »

Wha what?

VOIP is the future of telephony. Whomever told you this is misinformed. VOIP is a good way to go, but as I said, IMO it will serve you well to also know R&S on a professional level to go with the voip.

yeah, thats what i said... wheres it going? thats just what ive read and what a few people have told me. either way, it wouldnt be for years as far as i can see.

yes, the routing and switching is the major factor in this whole thing.

mikej412

human151 wrote: »

VOIP is the future of telephony.

What?!?!?! You haven't made the jump to VoIPv6 yet??!?!?!

KPWright

I know it's hard to drop back when the income is limited, but my suggestion is to tune out all the folks telling you what's hot and what's not and think about what you WANT to do. If you really enjoy it, you'll be great at it. If you don't really enjoy it, no amount of training and certification is really going to make a difference.

So there's the touchy feely approach.

If you are into the Trade act funding (TAA) that is a pretty sweet deal, especially in these days of endless extensions. You've probably got a fixed dollar amount of training available and as long as it is an approved program, it can last until the money runs out providing it is continuous and you complete each section in sequence. So if there are some things you know you'll do and some you aren't so sure of, make sure you get them in the right order. If you stop (or fail) anywhere along the line, you give the rest up.

The other time limitation is the number of weeks of compensation, but if you were working for a good while, this is likely to be a year or more counting your normal un-employment and the training time as well.

So like I said, take some time to see what you want to do. There's money available to help you get it and believe me, the government isn't clamoring to throw you back into the job wars right now with the other 14.5 million if you've got real training to do.

From the technical side, I can tell you that the majority of end customers I hear about know they want CCNA / CCNP because they are familiar with those certs and see that as the basics.

Good luck

tdean

KP,

i wish i was in a position to do what i liked right now, but i have a house i have to pay for. im not sure i like any of this stuff, but i know when im working im very good at it. one thing i know is i hate.... absolutely hate being a windows admin. however, thats where my training is so i just have to suck it up and use it as a stepping stone to hopefully finding something i can tolerate. i dont have a lot of exposure to different environments, thats my biggest problem. i was an admin at a school for my first job, then at a medical billing co and then a retail wholesaler. not very interesting stuff and i was the entire IT staff at all places so i never had anyone to discuss things with or a "mentor" to learn from. im hoping all this stuff opens new doors for me and my life starts to "click".

veritas_libertas

tdean wrote: »

KP,

i wish i was in a position to do what i liked right now, but i have a house i have to pay for. im not sure i like any of this stuff, but i know when im working im very good at it. one thing i know is i hate.... absolutely hate being a windows admin. however, thats where my training is so i just have to suck it up and use it as a stepping stone to hopefully finding something i can tolerate. i dont have a lot of exposure to different environments, thats my biggest problem. i was an admin at a school for my first job, then at a medical billing co and then a retail wholesaler. not very interesting stuff and i was the entire IT staff at all places so i never had anyone to discuss things with or a "mentor" to learn from. im hoping all this stuff opens new doors for me and my life starts to "click".

I understand feeling like you have no other choice (I am in that position myself.) If like Cisco more than Microsoft (Correct me if I am wrong please) than you should pick up some books on the CCNA and knock it off at your own pace. With all your IT experience I don't see any reason why you couldn't find a job that suits your interest better after you have the CCNA. Life is much better when you are doing something you like.

tdean

veritas_libertas wrote: »

I understand feeling like you have no other choice (I am in that position myself.) If like Cisco more than Microsoft (Correct me if I am wrong please) than you should pick up some books on the CCNA and knock it off at your own pace. With all your IT experience I don't see any reason why you couldn't find a job that suits your interest better after you have the CCNA. Life is much better when you are doing something you like.

yeah, im hoping this is it. and i know i could knock off the CCNA at home (i was 90% there a few years back) but the fact i've never worked with anyone and did everything at home prior to this leads me to think some "instructor led" training is what i need right now. im also hoping my distaste for the MS admin position is the result of my last job being such a bad and unprofessional experience.

veritas_libertas

tdean wrote: »

yeah, im hoping this is it. and i know i could knock off the CCNA at home (i was 90% there a few years back) but the fact i've never worked with anyone and did everything at home prior to this leads me to think some "instructor led" training is what i need right now. im also hoping my distaste for the MS admin position is the result of my last job being such a bad and unprofessional experience.

Get fully into the CCNA studies and see what happens. Be sure to ask the Cisco crowd here for advice. I have very little experience with Cisco so my advice in that area limited.

Maybe your MS Admin feelings are because of a bad experience, I know I have a distaste for certain IT areas from bad experiences myself. Either way, I encourage you to chase after what you love. It also makes it way easier and quicker to do.