Motivation

I very recently re stumbled on this site after not being here for a long time and being very close to taking my 70-642.

I am scheduled to take it on 11/14 and my head is spinning.

Here is where I would like an opinion from the masses:

Where is everyone's motivation for taking these things? With life being so crazy it is really hard to sit down and study for this stuff but I have been trying for my MCITP:SA for over a year and a half but am no closer than someone walking down the street.

Also, what is everyone's study technique? I have a Hyper-V lab, the trainsignal videos and the MS press V2 and its almost too much to take in.

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Comments

dave330i

70-642 is a tough one. I dropped it after failing the first test mainly because its such a worthless exam. I'm about to take my ITIL v3 foundation exam, upgrade to VCP5, tackle SQL then circle back to 70-642.

My study method is videos (CBT nuggets and/or Train signal), Books, labs & mock exams.

thall860

dave330i wrote: »

70-642 is a tough one.

Thanks for putting that out there. Helps to hear this kinda thing.

Tackle

My motivation for taking that test was being fired because it was needed for the company to keep the partnership with Microsoft. Let me tell you, I get er done ASAP! lol.

I did fail once, but left myself enough time to get back on the horse and knock it out next go around.
I don't know your situation, but I have no kids and live with my GF so there aren't many distractions besides friends/work.

I used Labsim/technet and an ESXi environment at home.

BTW, where are you from in MN?

Devilsbane

Originally my motivation was to get into IT, to prove that I have the smarts to do it. After obtaining my MCSE (and a little bit before even) this motivation became mostly sapped. Right now my focus is School, my new job, and just living life (probably in reverse order if you were to rank them).

What I have found to work best is to take a few weeks where you study almost everyday. After you pass you can take some time off and get to some other things on your todo list that you didn't have all of the time needed for. I find that it is just too hard to be the casual studier. If you drag out your 642 over 3 or 4 months then by the time you get to the end you are going to have forgotten most of it already.

Failing is part of life. I'd be willing to be that anyone here with a number of certifications under their belt have failed at least one. I failed 2 of the MCSE tests and had to retake them. It isn't a big deal.

I have all of the materials already to complete the MCITP upgrade but I'm moving to a new job, working on moving to a new residence, and finishing up my BA. That is enough work for one time and I will make my return when I can give it my nearly undivided attention. But that doesn't mean that I don't do research and learn new things, I'm just not in full study mode.

Hypntick

My motivation? Financial security for my wife and myself. Also helps that I actually enjoy doing the job so learning more about the subjects isn't a chore.

vCole

My driving factor? Employment, money and knowledge. I understand the motivation problems, I think most of us have been there. It's been over a year since I took my last test (and obtained my MCSA) and I have been in a slump. Recent events have resparked my interest though!

JDMurray

And I'll add, "To enable me in making an attempt to change the direction of my career."

thall860

I want to give a huge thanks to all of those who replied, this stuff is hard to do and it makes it easier to hear the re-assurance!

LucasMN wrote: »

BTW, where are you from in MN?

I am in the South East corner of the Twin Cities to the point where I see corn fields out my office window, but the houses are getting closer to it all the time!

Bl8ckr0uter

vCole wrote: »

My driving factor? Employment, money and knowledge. I understand the motivation problems, I think most of us have been there. It's been over a year since I took my last test (and obtained my MCSA) and I have been in a slump. Recent events have resparked my interest though!

+1 on all of this.

Dakinggamer87

employment, money, and knowledge

docrice

To feel like I'm on the bridge of a starship.

"Shields up!"

(access-list shieldsup deny ip any any log)

I'm actually not kidding either.

powerfool

Certifications are a piece of your overall personal development. Always improving yourself is great due to many factors. In addition, there are employers that do mandate certification... like consulting shops and the DoD (which includes military, civilian, and contractor labor).

Bl8ckr0uter

docrice wrote: »

To feel like I'm on the bridge of a starship.

"Shields up!"

(access-list shieldsup deny ip any any log)

I'm actually not kidding either.

Do you populate your DSHIELD inspired ACL automatically? If so are you using TCL or something to change and remove IPs?

SteveO86

The thrive to learn more and advance myself... The whole reason I spend my free time labbing in GNS3, reading and watching INE videos

Along with the money/stability stuff

docrice

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

Do you populate your DSHIELD inspired ACL automatically?

If there's one thing I learned in SANS 503 about active tools like Snort inline or self-populating firewalls rules: be careful about handing a pig an automatic weapon. Reputation filtering might be a good thing, but it could also be a bad thing if your customers just happen to be coming from address blocks flagged as hacker territory. We enable a number of blacklist IP services for parts of our security program at my work and we see falses periodically. It's very dependent on the quality and timeliness of updates of the reputation services, among other things.