boot camps

what the general feeling on boot camps for certifications?

ive been in the IT world for quite some time now and no one ever really speaks about them much. I was just wondering what every one else thought about them.

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MentholMoose

Personally I would never spend thousands of dollars and take time off work to do one myself. However, I think they are fine if you are a experienced and taking the boot camp to fill in a few gaps and help you get certified (assuming the boot camp does not provide brain ****, which I have heard some do).

I would recommend against doing a boot camp if you don't have prior experience and knowledge and are just doing it to cram for exams and get a cert. It is really hard to retain the information in that situation, so even if you pass the exams you probably won't learn much. If you don't have experience to back up a cert, and don't even learn anything in the process of obtaining it, it is a waste of time and money. Without experience a cert won't be very helpful at getting you interviews, and even if you get an interview you won't be hired if you can't show you are knowledgeable.

Devilsbane

They aren't taboo or anything. I've never heard of people being negatively impacted by doing them. But like Menthol said, they are expensive. Why spend $5,000 on a week of classes when you can buy a book for $50, splurge on some videos for a couple hundred, and even get some testing software for $500? I think I'll take the self study approach and pocket the $4,500!

Next week I have some training through work where they have someone coming in for 4 days of 5 hour classes to teach about Windows 7 and Office 2010 because the company will be deploying them. Not sure on the cost because it is free to me

I'll also reiterate on the point that menthol made about the experience. For example, if we through somebody like my mom into this windows 7/ office 2010 thing next week she would be lost after 5 minutes on the first day and would probably never catch up so it would be a large waste of money. But since I've been a user of windows 7 for a year now and have lots of training with XP, things should click into place better and I expect to walk out of there more knowledgable.

demonfurbie

for me its not as much about the time off work or the money, i currently pay wgu about 3k every 6 mths and if i can find/goto a nice boot camp i can at least knock out 2 if not 3 terms at wgu so it would be alot upfront but save the cash in the end.

i didnt know some of them offered **** which im totally not going todo.

keenon

I have been to a few bootcamps and they can be useful if you make them so.

being that if you have already been studying for the cert for a while or using the technologies prior to attending.

I learned this the hard way when i first got into IT was "training" at one of these companies back prior to 00. since then i have attened 3 most which have led up to getting certified (excect CCIE which is the current goal). I will be reattending that bootcamp to clear up any remaining gaps.

demonfurbie

hummm i guess i need to think on it a bit more and check with wgu

MentholMoose

demonfurbie wrote: »

for me its not as much about the time off work or the money, i currently pay wgu about 3k every 6 mths and if i can find/goto a nice boot camp i can at least knock out 2 if not 3 terms at wgu so it would be alot upfront but save the cash in the end.

Well it's up to you. What Devilsbane mentioned worked for me, too. I self-studied for all my certs (unless you count the VCP, which I took the required class for, but it was still mostly self-study since the class is not enough to pass the exam). You can get a lot of books, CBTs, hardware/software, and exam vouchers for the price of an average boot camp, and you can resell all of that when you're done, unlike a boot camp.

Anyway if your mind is set, try to find a reputable boot camp. You're the customer so you can call and ask if they offer practice questions and if so, who is the provider of the test questions. Or, just flat out ask them if they offer brain ****. You can post the boot camps you are considering and ask if anyone has experience with them.

cyberguypr

Devilsbane wrote: »

They aren't taboo or anything. I've never heard of people being negatively impacted by doing them. But like Menthol said, they are expensive. Why spend $5,000 on a week of classes when you can buy a book for $50, splurge on some videos for a couple hundred, and even get some testing software for $500? I think I'll take the self study approach and pocket the $4,500!

I agree with this. I would never pay a boot camp out of my pocket. So far I've also done everything through self-study. I may be attending an Exchange 2010 boot camp in the next couple of months only because my employer is paying for it and I don't really need a training that starts from the basics. The only thing I have in mind that I would pay for is the course required for the VCP.

Having said that, it's all about what you feel more comfortable with. Some people do not have the desire, discipline, motivation or whatever you wanna call it to grab a book or CBT and actually learn from it and retain knowledge. Same with online classes. Some people just prefer B&M.

MrRyte

WAY, WAY overpriced IMO. And how in-depth can they go in such a short period of time?

demonfurbie

the major reason im even thinking about it is the time i set aside to study is being eaten up with the needs of my family.

i use to study when the kids went to sleep, thats just not happening anymore because i end up escorting back to bed every 30 min, laundry, ect ect

it worked ok for comptia and others but i have a feeling that with microsoft stopping for 15 min every 30 min wont work out at all.

and i would need a new system for labbing and thats another cost.

Devilsbane

demonfurbie wrote: »

the major reason im even thinking about it is the time i set aside to study is being eaten up with the needs of my family.

i use to study when the kids went to sleep, thats just not happening anymore because i end up escorting back to bed every 30 min, laundry, ect ect

it worked ok for comptia and others but i have a feeling that with microsoft stopping for 15 min every 30 min wont work out at all.

and i would need a new system for labbing and thats another cost.

What would be wrong with taking a week off of work and to just self study? I took a day off a couple weeks ago and studied from like 10am to nearly midnight (with breaks for meals and a couple naps of course). You could have your own little boot camp

MentholMoose

Can you talk to your family about it? Tell them you need to do certifications and are considering spending $x000 and taking a week of vacation time to do a boot camp. Maybe that will help them realize you need some dedicated study time.

ibcritn

Bottom Line if you are going to make it in this field you need to study A LOT. As technology evolves and changes your skills do as well, but you knew that.

I suggest setting aside a few days a week where you go to an area (Man Cave, Lab, Library, work, etc) and pound out a few hours of studying. Everyday might not be feasible for you, but maybe 2-3x's a week of solid study days could be.

Its not easy to study and lab while you are juggling other "life" tasks like you mentioned, so I would start to consider this type of study time as part of your job and get it done.

Good Luck!

P.S. I don't have kids so maybe I don't understand the challenges you face lol

Devilsbane

If the full day doesn't work for you, I work with a guy who stays after work 30-60 minutes most days because he knows that if he goes home he wont get anything done. Spends some time reading or other tasks that need to get done. I've used this myself a couple times and just stayed after for an hour or 2.

demonfurbie

Devilsbane wrote: »

If the full day doesn't work for you, I work with a guy who stays after work 30-60 minutes most days because he knows that if he goes home he wont get anything done. Spends some time reading or other tasks that need to get done. I've used this myself a couple times and just stayed after for an hour or 2.

that my major problem i know when i get home nothing is going to get done ... i think ill talk to my boss and see if i can get a labbing computer and a kvm switch

TechMYWay

I actually train at TechMyWay Training, and though we don't offer boot camps in the traditional sense (because often times the traditional "boot camp" sense brings some rightfully-so bad connotations with it), we do offer "Certification Paths". These paths bunch up several of the official Microsoft Course that go into the required exams for a given certification path. And it sounds like your particular situation might really benefit from our style and approach. We very purposefully cater to busy individuals and professionals that want to obtain training, but don't have the time or desire to take time off of work to attend that training. All of our courses are strictly instructor-led, online courses, that are customized to the students needs and schedule (i.e., if the middle of the night is the optimal time for a given week to train, then that is the schedule for your course!). We of course offer training to groups, but if 1-on-1 attention works better for you, then that option is completely on the table. Oh, and as far as labs go, hands-on labs are definitely a part of the package, even with the course being based online. It is actually a pretty handy setup...

At any rate, I would agree with the comments above, in that bootcamps themselves are not all bad, but there are definitely pit falls to watch out for. After reading a bit about your situation in depth, it sounds like you might really benefit from a setup like ours, so I thought I would tell you a bit about it. If you are interested, check us out at http://www.techmyway.com, and give us a call or shoot us an email if you want to discuss some options!

Good luck in your pursuits!

Josh