nrgeek
Beta member
- Messages
- 0
- Location
- Chattanooga, TN
Hey all .. Ive been on the internet since about 1993 , before that and during was a regular on the old BBS boards.. dial-up when the best connect you could hope for was a blazing 1200 - 33.6k baud rate days for you youngsters lol 
I live in Chattanooga, TN .. grew up in Morgantown, WV .. old head banger of the 80s lol
And a true computer geek and junky .. hobbies beyond tech .. mainly fishing .. Bass ( Largemouth and Smallmouth ) make my own crank baits too.
Ive been in the Tech Industry since 1994 .. off and on .. mostly on .. years ago you didn't need fancy pieces of paper to prove what you could do, to get a job .. But since the economy tanked, now you have to be certified for every thing. After being laid off twice in 4 yrs .. Ive gone back to college to finish my degree I started in 2004, the college Im attending you get AS in Applied Science Networking, but you also get A+, Net+, Security+, Cisco CCENT, CCNA, MCITP as well as Database admin for SQL, and fiber optic certification.
The college is a Prometric Test center , you also get certs at the schools cost $50 bucks or so each as many as you want for life.. of course this isn't cheap or fast .. its 24 months .. and the placement rate is 100% with the school .. I already have offers as soon as I grad to make 125k with all the experience I have to go with the certs .. this is a hands on school not just boot camps .. when you leave here with certs and degree you are ready to go to work .. even if you have no prior experience in the IT world.
I first was looking just to get some of my certs, couldn't find any test centers open to public with out being a student in a class .. went and talked with ITT .. that was a waste of time .. they cant offer you certs .. just classes .. the local ITT folks take their tests at my college lol .. and have to pay extra to get those .. my local state funded community college offers a CCNA and CCNP degree program .. but don't all the stuff I get and they too don't offer certs at the school .. again they take theirs at my college too.. I was enrolled there first .. and left, life got in the way. At least if I get laid off again .. I will have the verifiable skill set to move on quickly .. not 3-6 months or more it has taking me the last two times I was laid off.
This path I'm taking is not for everyone .. but I wouldn't bother with any certificates that aren't Comp-TIA, MS, Cisco etc they aren't worth squat to the industry .. I'm Dell and HP certified, Brain Bench certified in a ton of stuff .. but none of that really matters to an employer, you don't have to have the degree .. but it don't hurt.
I'm a fan and user of Linux Desktop and Server, user of MS because I have to, Gamer, Network Tech, Server admin of windows 2003 , 2008, and Linux .. my room of computers is stacked high lol .. and oh last but dont least a lover of
Chunky Geek girls. 
That should cover enough for now lol .. and yes I like to talk .. ALOT.. did I mention Im ADD too
I live in Chattanooga, TN .. grew up in Morgantown, WV .. old head banger of the 80s lol
And a true computer geek and junky .. hobbies beyond tech .. mainly fishing .. Bass ( Largemouth and Smallmouth ) make my own crank baits too.
Ive been in the Tech Industry since 1994 .. off and on .. mostly on .. years ago you didn't need fancy pieces of paper to prove what you could do, to get a job .. But since the economy tanked, now you have to be certified for every thing. After being laid off twice in 4 yrs .. Ive gone back to college to finish my degree I started in 2004, the college Im attending you get AS in Applied Science Networking, but you also get A+, Net+, Security+, Cisco CCENT, CCNA, MCITP as well as Database admin for SQL, and fiber optic certification.
The college is a Prometric Test center , you also get certs at the schools cost $50 bucks or so each as many as you want for life.. of course this isn't cheap or fast .. its 24 months .. and the placement rate is 100% with the school .. I already have offers as soon as I grad to make 125k with all the experience I have to go with the certs .. this is a hands on school not just boot camps .. when you leave here with certs and degree you are ready to go to work .. even if you have no prior experience in the IT world.
I first was looking just to get some of my certs, couldn't find any test centers open to public with out being a student in a class .. went and talked with ITT .. that was a waste of time .. they cant offer you certs .. just classes .. the local ITT folks take their tests at my college lol .. and have to pay extra to get those .. my local state funded community college offers a CCNA and CCNP degree program .. but don't all the stuff I get and they too don't offer certs at the school .. again they take theirs at my college too.. I was enrolled there first .. and left, life got in the way. At least if I get laid off again .. I will have the verifiable skill set to move on quickly .. not 3-6 months or more it has taking me the last two times I was laid off.
This path I'm taking is not for everyone .. but I wouldn't bother with any certificates that aren't Comp-TIA, MS, Cisco etc they aren't worth squat to the industry .. I'm Dell and HP certified, Brain Bench certified in a ton of stuff .. but none of that really matters to an employer, you don't have to have the degree .. but it don't hurt.
I'm a fan and user of Linux Desktop and Server, user of MS because I have to, Gamer, Network Tech, Server admin of windows 2003 , 2008, and Linux .. my room of computers is stacked high lol .. and oh last but dont least a lover of
Chunky Geek girls. That should cover enough for now lol .. and yes I like to talk .. ALOT.. did I mention Im ADD too
