Skill Erosion

joemc3 · March 2015

I recently received my mcsa in windows 7 and I took the 786 course. This is an enterprise certification but I work the phones for at least a year to put that on my resume. I am brand new to IT.

So, I feel I will forget all of the material for the higher level stuff. Have others experienced this issue and did it affect you during a technical interview or how do you overcome it. I could continue to study the material but I need to move on to more certifications.

Jon_Cisco · March 2015

I believe some loss is inevitable. If you continue to study it should build on the information you have even if it's a new topic. In the end you won't remember everything but you should be familiar enough with how it works to get the job done.

My suggestion would be not to over think it.

Chitownjedi · March 2015

I've had to setup a weekly review reminder that covers 1-2 topics and gets through all the material i've covered thus far. When I actually stick to it (Which i haven't been able to yet so take this with a grain of salt) it would take 6 weekends to cover everything I have notes for when giving each topic an hour when broken up into certification spaces

So for instance..

This weekend - 70-680 70-686 topics 1 hour each to review
Next Weekend CCNA I would give the full 2 hours to review all my notes
The following Weekend- SCCM
The Week After that- CCNA Security
Week 5 - ITIL and 685
Week 6- whatever else I needed to brush up on (902 and AD stuff)

Then rinse and repeat.

The main issue is.. TIME..
Second issue- I'm always learning something else so you are taking time away from maximizing study time for something else

Tedious? Yes
Practical? Probably not
And Option? Definitely, if you find that its worth while to do.

Set some time aside to study and keep the skills within a range where a week or two of brush up can get you back to a sharp state. Others will have input as well of course, but it is something I am sure we all deal with in our own ways. The best situation you can be in is that you actually get to use those skills on your job, however the more I've learn and gotten skilled, the more i've moved into positions that required less and less actual technical work and more project management/management. I've had to specifically target more hands on technical positions recently because i felt I lost a lot of what I knew when I was studying the material, even though they advanced my career, I felt I regressed technically. It's a balance for sure. And depending on what drives you (Success-Technical Prowless) you will need to decide how to mitigate it as best you can

@Jon_Cisco

I over thought the hell outta this... so your advise definitely would have saved me a headache if I gotten it a year ago lol

discount81 · March 2015

It is inevitable, if I took my MCITP again, without reviewing the study material I'd have a tough time passing.

Fact is I don't use majority of the material day to day, or in some cases, ever.

If anyone uses Network load balancing on a Windows server I am yet to work for them, most of our certificates are on Linux servers so I am more versed in the PKI for Linux.
Day to day I really only use, DNS, DHCP, File Share/DFS, Active Directory Users and Groups and Group Policy here and there.

If I ever need to use one of those unused features, I'll go look in my book or on google and read about it, but I am not going to memorize everything.

JoJoCal19 · March 2015

You need a lab. Then you'll be able to practice your skills and keep them fresh.

philz1982 · March 2015

Skills may fade but fundamental knowledge shouldn't. If you have the core knowledge you can Google specifics. Tech changes to fast to know everything. The key is to understand the concept.

MDCasey · March 2015

I agree with the general sentiment that your fundamentals should stay fresh -- or should at least require little effort to keep them fresh. You should work to know and understand the latest concepts, if not always details and execution. More often than not, the industry and best practices change faster than you can forget things anyway.

I use these sites to track my own skills and find out quickly where I'm slipping:

- Skillset.com - Huge database of free, IT-specific practice tests divided into individual skills & certs that help you see where you need work
- Professor Messer - A YouTube training guy that makes short, easy to consume best practice videos
- Degreed.com - A profile-based education tracker that lets you record what you've learned. I use this to catalogue my tests and resources so I can easily revisit them if I need to

Skill Erosion

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