Critique my Training Plan I have 3k

philz1982 · December 2014

I told my boss that instead of the 7k MCSD Bootcamp if he gave me 3k I could learn alot more using books.
Background, I design smart building architectures for large Fortune 500 companies, 30% of my job is design, 30% of my job is prototyping integrations mainly API, Backend, web apps and the final 40% is direct sales support and Partner management.
I would allocate 2 hours per day and 6 hours on Friday. Don't worry about the book load as I have a photographic memory.

So far I have

MS Server 2012 All versions free from school
MS SQL 2012 All versions free from school
MS VS 2012 All versions free from school

I have allotted:
$250 for MCSE Server Books and Private Cloud
$100 for MCSD Books
$250 for MCS SQL BI and Data Platform

Cert Fees
MCSE Server- 750 + 300 for PC
MCSE SQL- 750 + 300 for BI
MCSD Web App- 450

That puts me at:
Books: $600
Certs: $2550
Total: 3150

What are your thoughts?

kriscamaro68 · December 2014

What about lab equipment? I would put that above most of the material since you could just get a safaribooks subscription to take care of most of the books.

philz1982 · December 2014

What lab equipment would i need i have all the software and a beast of a comp 4770k oc'd to 4.1ghz 64gb ram 2 256 gb ssd evo black 2 3 tb 7200 rpm drive 3 32' monitors and r290 video card. I can host a ton of vms.

philz1982 · December 2014

FYI I am genuinely interested in what other lab gear i could need.

kriscamaro68 · December 2014

For me I take it to another level usually. I have 3 Servers running 10 1gig ports a piece to have multiple networks with nic teaming. 1 Server is my main DC and also my file server. It has 6 ssd's in it setup with SMB 3 fileshare for my failover cluster VM storage. I also have VMM 2012R2 in a VM and then the other 2 servers are in a Hyper-V 2012R2 cluster. From there I can really set things up like an enterprise with deployable vm templates in VMM which make labbing nice. I have multiple separate networks and have it setup like I have remote offices with child domains in "remote offices" with separate sites. For me I just like to have a ton of crap to make is complicated I guess. What you have will probably get you through everything no problem. For some reason I just go nuts and hate even the slightest slowdowns so that's why I have so much stuff.

Here is what I will be on very soon:

1-ASA 5510
1-48 port 3750g
1-R710 with 32gb of ram with 2.5" drives running 8 ssd's
2-R610 with 48gb of ram

I will also be adding more nics to have even more bandwidth for storage. It's never enough. I wish I could go 10gig but its too expensive still.

Honestly though your desktop will get you through everything I bet.

philz1982 · December 2014

I'm like that about books. I have hundreds of books. Why have one book on javascript when i can have 30. My wife calls my office the library of conflict...

the_Grinch · December 2014

LOL the Library of Conflict? That is a great one! Kudo's to Mrs. Philz!

N2IT · December 2014

MCSD Web App- 450 Philz I really like this track here, for me from a selfish standpoint I really think this one is interesting! Sorry not much help but I would be curious to see you go through this one.

Critique my Training Plan I have 3k

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