General Discussion - My Certification Experience...

Author

My Certification Experience...

Pavlov

2002-07-25, 9:01 am

Greetings fellow community members!

I know many of you have followed my whirlwind of certifications over the past few weeks and you're probably wondering what lit that fire under my butt all of a sudden. Well, let me tell you. I have been working with the 2000 products for a little over 2 years now but have been taking my sweet time when it came to picking up any more MS certifications. I was beginning the NT4 track when MS decided that they would take that one back with the release of 2000, so I figured why send more money their way if the cert is going away in such short order. Then they changed their mind and I wished I had continued with the NT4, but figured I'd just get the new one. Then all the buzz about .NET took up and I questioned the certification again. Hmmmm. Noticing a pattern?

Anyway www.certmag.com did this great write up about various boot camps. Now I know what you're thinking. Boot camps suck! They spoon feed you questions and answers. They guarantee you'll pass - how can they? Well, I decided to do a bit more research (along with a friend) and we decided to check out www.acrew.net. We specifically chose ACREW because they did NOT guarantee that I would pass anything. They simply gave you the resources (MS Press training kit books, Transcender practice tests, an MCT to question daily, a lab environment where each student had 2 computers of their own for the duration of the camp).

First let me tell you about the instructor - Andy. Andy was absolutely brilliant! He was not just a great teacher, but he really knew his stuff. He could answer any question tossed at him and if he didn't have the answer tucked away in some special part of his brain he would promise to have it for you tomorrow. The best part - he always kept that promise. He was funny when we needed laughter and serious when we needed to be brought back under control. He taught us for the "real world" and then would casually mention something you might also find interesting for the test

He always cared whether or not you understood the topic before charging on to the next one. "Are we conceptually okay with this?" Thank you Andy for being the best damn teacher I've ever had (especially in a techy class of geeks like us

).

Now a bit about the facility. ACREW is located up in Evergreen, CO and is tucked in among a babbling brook and the large green trees that run up the hillside. I do miss living in CO

Anyway, back to the camp... While you are there, there are very few distractions. I won't say there aren't any - 'cause an Elk walking through the backyard during a class CAN be a distraction. But only when the teacher points it out to you. Your back is usually to the window. They provided us with 3 healthy meals daily and snacks and beverages whenever you wanted them. Rinse and Suzy will be taking care of your dining needs and if there's something special that you'd like, all you have to do is ask. The facility is an old restaurant/bar/hotel that has been converted to a school for geeks. Every bedroom has a T1 connection. If you spend a little more (and if I were you I would), you can get a room with a jacuzzi tub. This was wonderful after sitting in class from 8am to 6pm. You get an hour for lunch and an hour for dinner. After dinner, you're on your own. Go to your room and study or go to the lab and practice what you learned and study with the other folks in your camp. I tried a little of everything and what worked best for me was to lock myself in my room, in the jacuzzi with my notes.

I just wanted to let you all know that this boot camp was a high pressure and grueling experience, but all in all, I had a lot of fun and came home with the MCSA that I went for. If you don't have experience in IT and have no knowledge of the 2000 products, boot camp is NOT the way to go. This is for the folks that just don't have time to study on their own, but really already work with and are familiar with the OS.

Okay - I gotta run and pick up a friend now. We're going to spend the day at the San Diego Zoo and say good-bye to our beloved baby panda, Hua Mei. We watched her grow from the size of a peanut into a large panda and she goes back to China in a few day. (tears in my eyes as we wish her a safe journey).

After boot camp this is a well deserved day off. Then back to the books while I can still hear Andy's voice in my head telling me about DNS, IIS, DHCP, GPO's, etc. 216 is lurking in the bushes and I'm going to beat it back before the end of August!

enforcer

2002-07-25, 9:10 am

quote:
Originally posted by Pavlov

First let me tell you about the instructor - Andy. Andy was absolutely brilliant! He was not just a great teacher, but he really knew his stuff. He could answer any question tossed at him and if he didn't have the answer tucked away in some special part of his brain he would promise to have it for you tomorrow.

so that's the 'andy' that was asking so many questions on the examnotes forum.

Deja-vue

2002-07-25, 11:50 pm

Great Story, Pav!
As i know you a little bit more since we met i am not surprised to see you come back with the MCSA-Cert.
I bet you, you would have passed the 210 and 215 without that Bootcamp, because i think with your experience in the Field and your knowledge you would have "cracked" those anyways.
On the other hand, it is great to hear some good news about Bootcamps, because that is not always the case.I am hearing from people, who spent a lot of Money for those Camps, got the Books thrown at them, had lazy Teachers and failed the Tests left and right.
So, did you get any Help from the Government to pay for the Bootcamp?

thecomeons

2002-07-26, 12:30 am

really interesting story pav. nice 2 c not all posts on boot camps are horror stories.

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