Certification and Career Goals for 2018

[icecream-guy]

Wasn't a career goal for 2018, but I'm a Splunk Certified User 6.x now,  just passed my test.

Wasn't a career goal for 2018 either, but I'm a Splunk Power User Certified 6.x now,  passed my test yesterday.

Just go word over the weekend, my Splunk certs are expiring, I have until October 29th to re-up or I loose my
previous work and have to start back at ground zero,  Splunk went the Prometric way with the new round of exams.
  Goodbye Splunk Certs, they were fun while they lasted.

[SimonV]

What's the lifetime on those certs then, 6 months? 

[icecream-guy]

What's the lifetime on those certs then, 6 months? 

not sure, they just released a new certification train. email said if I wanted to stay current then I had to re-up.

[SimonV]

Passed JNCIA Cloud with 78%

Should have been more but I had very little sleep last night 

[wintermute000]

congrats.

I want to do the RH Ansible cert, but the cert is based on 2.3 and they're already changing fundamental syntax (looping syntax etc.) in 2.5+..... certing in the cloudy devops world is ridiculous, moves waaaay too fast

I also want to tackle the AWS Advanced Networking specialist cert, except that it requires its own renewal (kinda like Juniper, AWS doesn't let tracks cross-certify) which is the biggest disincentive. It also expires in 2 (not 3) years, so that means 2x AWS recerts for me every 2 years on top of all the Cisco/VMware/Juniper crap, so erm....

Basically getting to the point now where unless its Cisco (and I can re-certify the lot via CCIE written every 2 years), the addition to the re-cert treadmill is a massive disincentive. Don't even mention the dozen or so SD-WAN vendors hawking their wares.

On that note they desperately need a CCNx-DNA track covering SD-Access and Viptela oops I mean Cisco SD-WAN. I can't see how you cram it all into regular R&S without basically doubling the syllabus. OTOH is basically un-labbable at home without a five figure lab budget so there is no chance you'd pass a CCIE equivalent, nevermind how fast it is iterating (I guess however there is no CCIE cloud for example, so maybe who cares). At the end of the day I suppose until DNA hits 2.0 and Viptela is 100% stable on ISR you wouldn't want to waste your time.

[Dieselboy]

Microsoft have some interesting looking certs, MCSA Cloud Platform and MCSA Linux on Azure. If you take 5 exams in the right order you will achieve 3 certs:
Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator -> 1st exam
MCSA Linux on Azure -> 2nd exam
MCSA Cloud Platform -> after the remaining 3 exams

I'll be booking the 300-085 CAPPS exam soon, then after that it's just one more to get CCNP Collaboration. Hope I can do it before they change the exams. But I think I'll be okay because the 300-080 book isn't even for sale yet. And the 300-085 book is FULL of typos and errors. There's one page with the content duplicated to fill up the space. It's like the author just copied the whole previous section and pasted it below. I am not impressed with some of the Cisco Press publications. I would say may be they are rushed out the door but this new ccnp collab track has been around since october 2015 and 3 years later the study material is hardly out for it. Some of the Authors, such as Jeremy Ciora or Kevin Wallace give depth but this specific 300-085 book which I am reading is not just dry, it's basic. I almost fell asleep yesterday while reading it. I drank so much tea and coffee I was like a hot water bottle by mid afternoon.

So yea, hoping to complete CCNP Collab this year. Optimistic.

[deanwebb]

... except that it requires its own renewal (kinda like Juniper, AWS doesn't let tracks cross-certify) which is the biggest disincentive. It also expires in 2 (not 3) years, so that means 2x AWS recerts for me every 2 years on top of all the Cisco/VMware/Juniper crap, so erm....

Basically getting to the point now where unless its Cisco (and I can re-certify the lot via CCIE written every 2 years), the addition to the re-cert treadmill is a massive disincentive. Don't even mention the dozen or so SD-WAN vendors hawking their wares.

This. I may eventually get the CISSP and then attend an annual conference so I can get the continuing ed. hours, which is a bureaucratic way to re-cert... but I can agree with it in principle, so I'd do it.

[icecream-guy]

Need 1 big multi vendor test to recert all your expires?

[deanwebb]

Need 1 big multi vendor test to recert all your expires?

Be great if one such existed. Just select all the tests you want to recert on and it displays the questions you need to answer for the recert.

Ah, dreams...

[Otanx]

Not IT related, but got my Advanced Open Water SCUBA certification this week. Qualified for it a while ago, but had issues with paperwork. Next Wednesday I do the final dives needed for Master Diver. Now that the paperwork is sorted out I should have the card that day, or next.

-Otanx

[icecream-guy]

Not IT related, but got my Advanced Open Water SCUBA certification this week. Qualified for it a while ago, but had issues with paperwork. Next Wednesday I do the final dives needed for Master Diver. Now that the paperwork is sorted out I should have the card that day, or next.

-Otanx

I see where you are going with that...... underwater data centers....

[deanwebb]

Not IT related, but got my Advanced Open Water SCUBA certification this week. Qualified for it a while ago, but had issues with paperwork. Next Wednesday I do the final dives needed for Master Diver. Now that the paperwork is sorted out I should have the card that day, or next.

-Otanx

I see where you are going with that...... underwater data centers....

Water-cooled all the way!

And, if you've got virtual servers, you don't have to worry about salt buildup in the hardware, because virtual servers don't use *actual* hardware, right?

[Otanx]

Underwater welders make good money. Underwater network engineers should make bank. Along with the virtual servers, we have virtual LANs. So I don't even need network hardware.

In all honesty it is the best hobby ever. No cell phone, no laptop. Can't even talk. Just some simple hand signals.

-Otanx

[icecream-guy]

Underwater welders make good money. Underwater network engineers should make bank. Along with the virtual servers, we have virtual LANs. So I don't even need network hardware.

In all honesty it is the best hobby ever. No cell phone, no laptop. Can't even talk. Just some simple hand signals.

-Otanx

you can talk, I've seen in on TV,  Animal Planet, during shark week, two guys in SCUBA underwater with sharks, and one on deck of the boat were talking to each other... and I could hear them on the Tele.  I wonder what that setup costs.

[Otanx]

You can do full face mask with comms. I refuse. Shark Week did increase sales of full face masks. The dive shop we go to just got a bunch in, and are teaching classes on how to use them. With comms you are looking at about a grand, and that is if you have everything else you need like a regulator that works with it. There is also a phone case that is good to 200+ feet. Still no signal, but you can take photos using your phone. I refuse to do that to.

-Otanx