IT Expert: Getting Started in IT

0:00Is a career in technology for me and for you?

0:05Hi, my name is Jeremy Charra.

0:06And over the 20 some years of technical training

0:08that I've done I've probably been asked that question close

0:11to 100 times.

0:13And I've always relegated it to the technical certifications

0:15as in, well, go get certified and that will get you started.

0:19And while certifications may be one puzzle piece,

0:22it's definitely not the whole puzzle

0:23to getting a career in IT.

0:24Now, my mind is exploding with all the things

0:27that I want to talk about, but we've

0:28got to start with a fundamental question.

0:30And I know you know it's not a simple yes or no answer.

0:33Is a career in technology for you?

0:35So what I did is put together five self-reflective questions.

0:39Here's the first.

0:40Is technology something that is directly interesting to you?

0:44As in, do you kind of have a draw

0:46towards technology and gluing stuff together, figuring stuff

0:49out, kind of a proclivity?

0:52And what I mean by that is--

0:53let me give you an example.

0:55Before she was my wife, Susan was my girlfriend,

0:58and to impress her I invited her to a Cisco CCNA class

1:02that I was teaching.

1:02And this is when I taught only in the classroom

1:05and I thought, man, she's going to sit in the back and think,

1:09man, this guy is amazing.

1:11I'm so lucky to be dating him.

1:13And she didn't really, but she pretended that she was.

1:15And I also thought, man, if she goes

1:17through this she's going to love networking

1:19and then we'll have this house of network love.

1:21It'll be great.

1:23So anyway, at the end of the week I asked her, I said,

1:26so what'd you think?

1:28And she kind of thought and she's like, eh.

1:32And I saw it as a whoa, whoa, whoa, eh?

1:35And then she's like eh, I guess it's pretty cool stuff.

1:38I'm like, oh OK, you must not have understood it.

1:41And after probably 10 minutes of going back and forth, I'm like,

1:44OK, she really does get it, but she really just

1:46seems not to care about it as much as I do.

1:49Why is that?

1:50And for years after that I thought, man, she must not

1:53really have gotten it or maybe if she

1:54went to a few more classes.

1:56And now after being married to her for 16 some,

2:00getting myself in trouble here, 16 some years,

2:02I can say she really doesn't care about the technology.

2:04That doesn't mean she wouldn't do well

2:06in a career in technology because there's

2:08all kinds of stuff surrounding technology that

2:11doesn't deal directly with it.

2:12It's just I wouldn't have her be a network

2:14engineer, for example.

2:15So key number two to a job in technology,

2:18you want a job that goes beyond 8:00 to 5:00

2:21because it means something.

2:23What I mean by that is there's a mindset of doing work that's

2:26like, OK, I have to.

2:29I'm selling snow cones so I have to go in.

2:31I have to be there at 8:00 AM.

2:33I'm going to sell snow cones to people

2:35and I'm going to be done with that at five 5:00.

2:37The whole purpose for you being there

2:40is simply to hand snow cones to people.

2:42The snow cones and handing them to people

2:43doesn't really mean anything to you most likely.

2:46So as soon as 5:00 hits you're done.

2:48Now, what I'm not saying is that IT

2:50is something where you're working 20 hour days

2:52and you're a slave to this thing.

2:54Although it could be.

2:55What I mean is that when you're in IT

2:58you're going to start having intriguing ideas

3:01and putting together projects where you're like,

3:03man, I'm responsible for increasing the company's

3:06productivity or I'm responsible for fixing something

3:09that's preventing people from working altogether.

3:11And you'll get sucked into that because it's a problem

3:14solver you're figuring out.

3:15You may end up working from 8:00 till midnight

3:19or beyond sometimes because you're in a critical moment.

3:22And sometimes you might end up working from 3:00 PM

3:25to 5:00 PM that day or not working at all because you

3:28were there the night before.

3:29What I mean is not so much that it's beyond the 8:00 to 5:00

3:32you're going to be working all the time.

3:34What I mean by that is you're going to be doing more project

3:36oriented work, which means you may be in and out.

3:39You may work a ton of hours, you may work a few hours.

3:42It all is in an ebb and flow in the IT realm.

3:45If that's appealing to you, great.

3:48If not, snow cones taste delicious.

3:52Question number three, do you like challenges?

3:55That's such a loaded question.

3:57Do you like challenges?

3:58Torture could be very challenging

4:00and I don't like that.

4:01What do I mean by that is it's really difficult to describe IT

4:05to somebody who's not in it.

4:07Some people say it's like solving a puzzle.

4:09But the problem is, I hate puzzles.

4:11Most recent one is I go to these escape rooms.

4:14This is the new business team building

4:16where they put a bunch of employees in an escape room

4:18and you have to figure out your way out.

4:20I can't stand an escape room.

4:21I just kind of stand there and eventually they

4:23come over the loudspeaker and they're like,

4:25look under the chair, and I look over and I'm like,

4:27oh, there's the key and I open--

4:29it's not my thing.

4:31So I don't like those kind of challenges,

4:32but I love challenges in IT.

4:35The best way to describe it is it's

4:37the type of challenge where someone says, OK,

4:39this is what I want.

4:40Can you kind of figure that out using technology as a solution?

4:43Or something's broken in the technical world.

4:45People can't get on their computers and things are

4:47really slow or whatever they--

4:49can you figure that out and fix it?

4:51And what's going to result is a whole ton of research

4:53and Googling and reading books and testing and trying

4:56and trying to see if you can get it to work.

4:59Now, I'm just going to throw this out there

5:00as I'm thinking about it.

5:01Probably doesn't even belong in this video,

5:03but I want to embed this in your head from the very beginning.

5:06There's a way of solving these challenges that cheat yourself.

5:09And what I mean by that is, let's say

5:11you've got something that's broken, you're Googling

5:13and someone says, OK, to fix it click over here,

5:15do this and then reboot and then it'll start working.

5:19And you do that.

5:19And sure enough, it starts working

5:21and you walk away from it.

5:23That is how you end up hating the job of IT

5:26or the job of technology.

5:27You don't really know why or how things work,

5:30you just know that you did something and it made it work.

5:32It is so unrewarding.

5:34It's like the escape room.

5:35Look under the chair, Jeremy.

5:36I find the key I'm like, OK, there's the door.

5:38So unrewarding because I didn't go

5:40through the pain of figuring out the escape room

5:43and the puzzles they put together.

5:44So same kind of thing here.

5:46When you're doing and you're solving these challenges in IT,

5:50you really want to dig deep to get a deep understanding of why

5:53and how things work.

5:54That's where it's really exciting stuff.

5:56Question number four, do you like variety in your work?

6:00Meaning that when you are in the realm of technology,

6:02there are so many technologies you can move between.

6:05You can get into network engineering,

6:07system engineering, management.

6:09There's all kinds of fields and that's

6:10one element of what I'm talking about.

6:12You can move between the different realms of IT,

6:15but even industries are different.

6:17So for instance, you might learn network engineering in a school

6:21setting and then you move to a corporate environment

6:24where you have stores linked across the entire world

6:27and you have to time all together

6:28and your network engineering takes a completely different

6:30meaning and a different slant.

6:32So there's variety not only between technologies,

6:35but within technologies in different industries.

6:37In the end, it's going to be one of those things

6:39where you'll never reach the end of it.

6:41For some people that's exciting.

6:42For others it's scary.

6:44And the last question, and I put this one last for a reason,

6:47do you want a career that is ever evolving and has

6:50a high demand with high pay to go along with it?

6:53I put that at the end because there

6:55are some people that get into IT just because they go, oh, I

6:58want something that pays a lot of money

7:00and doesn't require a college degree.

7:02That's one of the things about IT.

7:04Yes, a college degree can help, but it's not required

7:06to get into this profession.

7:07And they end up doing it, but they lack the passion

7:10or any kind of drive.

7:11That's why the other four keys that I have up here

7:13are essential to really say, is this something

7:16that I want to do?

7:17It's not just about the money.

7:19It's about a true interest in this field.

7:22So now it's your turn.

7:23I really want you to sit and look

7:24at these keys, these questions and do

7:26a little self-reflection.

7:27Ask yourself, is this me?

7:29Is this something that's really intriguing to me?

7:32IT is one of those things that can quickly

7:34become way more than a job.

7:35It can become your hobby, it can literally

7:37suck you into where you find yourself saying,

7:40OK, I've got to put boundaries on this for myself

7:42so I don't just spend all my time doing IT stuff.

7:45There's more to life than IT.

7:47And it's funny because that's when I say great.

7:50You want a career that draws you in that much

7:53that you have to pull back, whereas a snow cone selling

7:55career is like got to go sell my snow cones today

7:59or whatever the case is.

8:01That's what I'm after when I'm saying,

8:02do you want that kind of career that really draws you in?

8:06Once you've answered the question of,

8:08do I even want to start down this road,

8:10I want you jump into the rest of the series and find out how.

8:13For now, I hope this has been informative for you.

8:15And I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:00Common questions while starting a technology career.

0:03Good morning.

0:03My name is Jeremy Charra, and I'm really excited to dive

0:07into this series of videos that I'm putting together

0:10that really helps people get started

0:12in a career in technology.

0:13It goes way beyond just simply what

0:15certification should I get?

0:17So what I did was I actually got with a learner experience

0:20team, which is our group of coaches is what we call them,

0:22that surround our students, that are just getting started.

0:25And I said, what are the most common questions that people

0:28have?

0:28And so we put together a list of 10 questions

0:30that I'm going to run through, and I'm

0:32going to be as concise as I possibly can with these,

0:34because there are a lot.

0:36But first off, I've got to sip this coffee.

0:39Mmm.

0:42All right, number one.

0:44Do I have to be good at math?

0:46The simple answer is no, you don't have to be good at math

0:49by any means.

0:50If you get into software development, behind the scenes,

0:52you will have to start doing some basic arithmetic,

0:55keeping track of variables and so on.

0:56But I wouldn't call it advanced math skill by any means.

0:59Question number two.

1:00Can I get a good job without a degree.

1:03Again, simple answer, yes.

1:05Technology is one of the few careers-- actually,

1:07Forbes recently published a list of a few careers that

1:10make a lot of money but don't require a college degree.

1:13Technology was right at the top of that list,

1:14so it is possible.

1:16And I'll talk a lot more.

1:17I have a specific video I'm going to create just

1:19on degree versus certification, which should you

1:22get, how should you get it, and so on and so forth.

1:24So no, you do not need a degree to get

1:26a good job in technology.

1:28Should I go into this field if I'm over 50?

1:31Yes, yes, you can.

1:33And I'm going to speak to that question

1:34as a guy who recently crossed the line on 40, because I

1:37kind of know the feeling that somebody

1:40is saying that's asking that.

1:41As you get older, and I didn't think it would happen to me,

1:43and it happens.

1:45Your natural motivation to do things, like working out,

1:49like I'm sitting here staring at this coconut

1:52milkshake that my wife made me to try and keep weight

1:55under control.

1:56And I'm like, I don't want to eat that for breakfast.

1:58Your natural motivation to eat that thing or climb that hill

2:01or learn that new thing just kind of diminishes.

2:04So it's going to be a little harder, I would assume,

2:06as you cross that line of 50, to just say, OK,

2:08I'm starting something new, because you

2:10don't have that natural drive.

2:12Sometimes it takes a little longer

2:14to learn the new things and all that kind of stuff,

2:16but totally possible.

2:17And I've actually met and worked with a lot

2:18of people that have done that.

2:20They've converted completely from a radically different

2:23career to a career in technology,

2:24and they've been well over 50.

2:26How do I inject my ideas into a group

2:29that continues to ignore me?

2:31I can tell you exactly where that question came from,

2:33because the learner experience team deals with a lot of people

2:37who are stuck in a career, and people

2:38are trying to figure out how do I move to the next level?

2:42It seems like I'm bringing all these ideas to my manager,

2:45and they're just not really taking me serious,

2:47or not putting me in the positions

2:49that I could advance into the different technology.

2:52The answer I'll give you on that,

2:54it's going to sound a little harsh,

2:56and I don't mean it to be that way.

2:58But I can tell you, ideas are cheap.

3:01A lot of people have a lot of great ideas,

3:03and a lot of times-- and I'm in management.

3:06I deal with people that have a lot of ideas.

3:08A lot of times people will bring me ideas,

3:10and I will say, yeah, run with that.

3:12Or well, I'm not sure.

3:14I don't know if that's going to work out.

3:16You know, I'll kind of brainstorm with them.

3:18But at the end of the day, the idea

3:20is just the starting point.

3:22After the idea comes a lot of work,

3:24and I'll turn to that person and I'll say,

3:25well, you know, if you think that's possible,

3:28then go for it.

3:29And that's where people go, oh, I

3:32didn't know that I would be responsible for all

3:35of the work that has to go into that idea.

3:37And so that's where I would say a lot of ideas just die,

3:40and so a lot of people think that they're

3:41being ignored, because they don't get the resources and all

3:44that kind of stuff.

3:45A lot of times, the management will respond much more

3:48favorably to you putting some legs to that idea

3:51and doing a lot of work around it,

3:53to show them a working model.

3:55Now, does that mean there's a risk to it?

3:57Yeah, totally.

3:58You could do a lot of work and they look at it and go, nope,

4:01we're not going to do it.

4:02And that's just life.

4:03I mean, there's a lot of times you'll put a lot of work

4:06into something that it just doesn't work out,

4:08and that's just the risk of doing those kind of things.

4:11And there's a lot more I could say on that question,

4:13but for now, I'm going to cut myself off there.

4:16Number five.

4:16Is a technology career stressful?

4:20I'm not going to lie to you there.

4:21Yes, it can absolutely be stressful.

4:23You're going to have days.

4:24It's an ebb and flow.

4:25You'll have days, weeks, months, sometimes even years where

4:27it's just like coasting along.

4:29You're learning new things.

4:30You're experimenting.

4:31It's great.

4:32And then you'll have that day or that week

4:34or that month where things just don't go well.

4:37A project explodes, outages happen,

4:40the whole company turns to you.

4:42And the feeling that you get is nothing but disdain,

4:46because you're, to them, the AV guy.

4:49Behind the scenes, you run all of the audio

4:52for the performance, and the audio just stopped.

4:54And so everybody looks at you, like, you fool!

4:57How could you do such a thing and cause us such trouble?

5:00They have no respect for the complexity of technology

5:03or anything like that.

5:04So there's a lot of times where something will happen,

5:06and you will feel the weight of the organization

5:09on your shoulders, and it is stressful.

5:11And that's one of the things I'm going to talk about,

5:13later in this series, is how do you handle stress

5:15in a technology career?

5:16Because it can burn people out.

5:18Question number six.

5:20Can I work from home?

5:22Depends on the type of career that you're going after,

5:25but I would say, a lot of times, yes,

5:27especially in our borderless networks of today.

5:30It is possible to do a lot of telecommuting and working

5:32from home, but a few things that I'll say on that.

5:35One, a lot of it will depend on your own productivity.

5:39It doesn't take long to really burn relationships

5:41if you're at home and you're not doing the work that you're

5:44supposed to, or you're at home and you're

5:45just not in an environment set up for success.

5:48My wife and I, for example, have six kids, and we homeschool.

5:52That made my house not a productive workplace,

5:55and I actually moved back into the office

5:57the more and more busy my house became.

6:00So you have to look at your situation

6:01and really be honest with yourself and say,

6:03is this a place where I can be more productive?

6:07And number two, keep in mind that relationships can really

6:10get strained if you're never seen.

6:12So a lot of times, you may want to come in one or two

6:15days a week and just work from the office,

6:16collaborate with people, so people will remember you.

6:19Because if you are invisible for most of the time,

6:22maybe even if you're doing work, when budget crunches come

6:25and things like that, they'll look and say, well,

6:27what about Bob?

6:28We don't even see him.

6:29You know, it's those kind of things.

6:31So keep the relationships alive that you

6:33have if you are working from home full time.

6:36Do I have to sit in front of a computer all day?

6:38That comes from people that likely have an active lifestyle

6:42or an active job that they're used to,

6:43and they just get restless sitting at a desk

6:46or in front of a computer.

6:48The short answer is, if you're directly

6:50involved in technology, yeah, you're

6:52going to be in front of a computer a lot of the time.

6:54But I would say, we live in an ergonomic, health-focused

6:57world.

6:57Like, for instance, you can see right now I'm at a standing

7:00desk, and every desk I have-- at home, at work--

7:03is a standing desk.

7:04I stand all day.

7:05As a matter of fact, the desk I have in the other room

7:07has a treadmill under it.

7:08I know it's kind of cheesy, but I literally

7:10will walk three, four miles a day, where I'm just working

7:14and it's just a slow-paced walk as I'm working on the computer.

7:18And you'll find the deeper you get in technology, staring

7:21at a screen all day becomes natural to you,

7:24especially if you're standing and you're

7:26really involved in a project that you're working on.

7:29And also keep in mind, there are technology careers where you're

7:32not in front of a computer all day,

7:33where you're dealing with a lot more people--

7:35business analysts, project managers, and so on.

7:37Question number eight.

7:38Do certifications expire?

7:40People getting into the certification

7:42world of technology hear that they do expire,

7:45and yes, they do.

7:46And for good reason.

7:46As a matter of fact, they didn't used to in some of those,

7:49and I recently logged in, and I had

7:51some certifications from 1997.

7:54It was actually in A Plus, where I focused in on Microsoft Dos.

7:58And I thought to myself, man, I remember things

8:01like config dot sys and auto exec dot [INAUDIBLE],,

8:04but I am not proficient at that anymore.

8:06And that's one of the big differences

8:07between certifications and a college degree

8:10is certifications do expire, but therein lies

8:13where a lot of their value comes from.

8:15And a lot of the vendors will encourage

8:18you to go further, as in if you take the next certification up,

8:21it automatically renews all of the lower-level certifications

8:24that you have.

8:25So you don't find yourself taking the same exams

8:27again and again and again.

8:28It's actually a good thing that the certifications expire.

8:31It keeps their value.

8:33Question number nine.

8:34Should I go deep in my knowledge or broad?

8:36Well, I would assume, if you're listening to me right now,

8:39you're getting started in a career in IT.

8:41The answer I would give is go abroad.

8:43Go into the beginning certifications, for example,

8:46of a lot of different things.

8:47A little of Cisco networking, a little of Microsoft,

8:50maybe a little of cloud technologies.

8:52So just a little of a lot, to where

8:54you can really get the scope.

8:55It not only helps you hone in your own interests,

8:57to go, ooh, I really like that, but it also

9:00will make you more marketable.

9:02If somebody sees all of these different certifications,

9:04they'll say, oh, OK well, so it sounds like you

9:06have experience in this.

9:08So when you're first getting that job,

9:10it can open that door, whereas if you go deep too

9:13soon without the experience to surround it, somebody may see,

9:16wow, you've got a lot of deep knowledge in this area.

9:19You've got a lot of deep certifications,

9:20but it doesn't seem like you have any experience.

9:23So go deep after you start the career

9:25and you really find your passion and what

9:28your employer wants you to do.

9:30And the last question, number 10, what

9:32discipline should I focus on?

9:33And I would expand that to say, what disciplines are there?

9:36I'm going to have an entire other video where

9:38I talk about the different paths of technology

9:40that you could go from, DevOps to System Admin to da-da-da,

9:44it just goes on and on and on.

9:45The question of which discipline should I focus on

9:48is really your call.

9:50That's going right back to that number nine.

9:52If you go broad and really start getting experience

9:54in all of the different technologies that

9:56are out there, you'll find out really quick the stuff that

9:59really comes natural and you enjoy a little bit more

10:02than the stuff that is maybe a little more forced

10:04and you don't enjoy.

10:05Now, I will say, when you're getting

10:07started in anything new, there's always that disdain,

10:10that like, ugh, I don't get it!

10:11You know, and you push against it.

10:14So don't let that throw you into think,

10:16well, that's not a discipline I should focus on,

10:18because sometimes, it does just take a little pushing to go,

10:21oh, OK, I get that now.

10:23And then it becomes really exciting.

10:26And with that, I dive into the coconut milkshake.

10:30I hope this has been informative for you,

10:32and I'd like to thank you for viewing.

10:35Mmm.

0:00<v ->Why would somebody pick a career in technology?</v>

0:03Hi, my name is Jeremy Churra

0:04and I'm creating this series of videos for people like you

0:07that are just getting started in technology

0:10and are really trying to figure out

0:12what is the playing field look like?

0:14What paths do I have?

0:15How should I get education?

0:17Should I spread my education across

0:19all these different technologies or really focus on one?

0:21I mean, there's just a bajillion questions

0:23when somebody gets into technology.

0:25So in this video, I wanna talk about

0:27why would you pick a career in technology?

0:29Because I'll tell you right up front,

0:30it's not for everybody.

0:31So here's number one.

0:32The first reason is job growth.

0:35When people first start a career, they are always wondering,

0:38well, what is the salary range?

0:40And in the technology field,

0:42I have seen salaries that range

0:43from literally $10,000 a year all the way up

0:47to $800,000 plus a year.

0:51A lot of that job growth really depends on you.

0:54You may find a place where you make enough money

0:58in the technology field that you're comfortable,

1:00and you go, "That's enough.

1:01I wanna balance technology and my life."

1:04You may find a place or never find that place

1:06and just say, "I want more and I wanna learn and grow

1:09and become an expert in design and rolling out deployments

1:12and all of the things in technology

1:14that makes these systems work.

1:16Remember, when you're moving into technology,

1:18you're moving into a realm where you are responsible

1:21for empowering companies, enabling employees

1:25to be more effective at what they do every single day.

1:27So the money that the organization pays you

1:30may end up benefiting them exponentially,

1:33and that leads to a ton of job growth.

1:36The second reason you may want a career in technology is

1:39because of the industry and job diversity.

1:41One thing's for sure, in the technology world,

1:43things don't stay the same for long.

1:46And the beauty is the technology applies

1:48across many different industries.

1:49Maybe you become a routing and switching specialist.

1:53Well, if maybe you're working at an Intel corporation,

1:55you might start getting bored

1:56because you're doing the same thing again

1:58and again and again,

1:59implementing the same fabrication plants,

2:02troubleshooting the same problems.

2:04Well, in the technology space,

2:05you can take those skills over to, say,

2:07medical or education or whatever fields you're interested in

2:12and apply them differently so you never really get bored.

2:16You never really reach a point

2:18where you find yourself saying,

2:19"I've done this a thousand times

2:21and I am tired of doing it."

2:23There's always new things.

2:25Number three and number four, I'm going to combine together.

2:27Number three, strong income potential.

2:29And number four, low educational cost.

2:33Now, I've already talked about the strong income potential,

2:35but what I wanna emphasize as I actually bring it up

2:37in a specific point is that it's up to you.

2:41Meaning, you're not gonna reach a point

2:43in the technology space where you go,

2:44"Man, I just don't know how to make more money."

2:47It'll be pretty obvious how

2:49to make more money in the technology realm.

2:51And it's up to you on how much effort

2:53do you wanna put in to make that money.

2:54It's not a job where you're gonna hit that ceiling

2:59and just be, you find yourself bouncing against it.

3:00There's enough careers

3:01and enough education that you can get,

3:02that you can make yourself really valuable,

3:04but it's really going to be up to you

3:06on how much time you want to invest.

3:08And that comes right down here.

3:09The beauty of technology is the low educational cost.

3:13There's many ways to get educated in the technology space.

3:16Some of it is just on the job.

3:18You're gonna get there

3:19and you're gonna have to figure it out.

3:20And that goes into the personality type.

3:22Are you one of those persons that's like,

3:23"Oh my gosh, I can't do it.

3:25Run!"

3:25Or are you one of those persons who're like,

3:27"Okay, let me Google,

3:28let me try and let me figure this thing out."

3:30You're there until one in the morning

3:31and you accomplished it.

3:32You run cheering.

3:33Or maybe you're there till one in the morning

3:35and you're like, "I need rest."

3:37And you come back the next day

3:38and keep trying until you finally overcome it.

3:40So, real world education,

3:42Google online resources all over the place.

3:45Training like I'm giving you right now, online education,

3:48going to certification class.

3:50The point when I say low educational cost is

3:52you don't have to go to college and get a four or eight,

3:5520-year degree where you find yourself in debt

3:58for years after the education.

4:00Yes, there is a cost to education,

4:02but in the end, it's very bearable

4:05and you can implement it on your own schedule.

4:07Get started, get a job,

4:09maybe making a minimum amount,

4:10and just keep growing more and more into that field.

4:13Now, did I say I had five reasons

4:15to start a career at the beginning?

4:16I'm gonna change it.

4:17I'm gonna add a number six.

4:18So number five is a fast-changing field.

4:20Now for some, that may be intimidating.

4:23"Oh my gosh, I just,

4:24I wanna learn how to do X and do it again and again

4:26and again for the rest of my life."

4:27If that's you, don't start a career in technology.

4:30I'm just telling you right up front,

4:32your skills will obsolete if you don't continue to evolve.

4:36You have to continue to learn new things.

4:37Now, it's gonna get easier because you're gonna find, oh,

4:40it's not, I've got this base of knowledge

4:42and I just have to tweak and tweak

4:43and tweak as technology evolves.

4:45But it's a fast-changing field.

4:46It's not like a four-year college degree

4:48that you keep the rest of your life, right?

4:50Certifications expire,

4:52education expires in the technology realm.

4:54That's one of the reasons that four-year college degrees

4:57aren't as mandatory to get into this field is

5:00because we've long since realized that it's not,

5:03did you learn this?

5:04It's, are you learning

5:05and continuing to learn as you move forward?

5:07Change will always happen.

5:09The last one that I decided to add, number six, is

5:12IT is a natural entrepreneurial training ground.

5:15Now, you may not ever see yourself here,

5:17and you may not even end up here,

5:19but as you get into technology, there are so many ideas

5:22and so many specialties and so many specific things

5:25that you're gonna be like, "You know what?

5:26I could do that,

5:27and I could do that really good.

5:29And so what if I just created a company

5:31that provided that unique specific element of,"

5:34again, whatever specialty you have

5:36or maybe takes on the whole thing of IT.

5:39There's a whole trillion ideas

5:42that you can jump into in the IT space

5:45and start your own company from it.

5:47So there you have it.

5:48Six reasons that someone would start a career in technology.

5:51I hope this has been informative for you,

5:53and I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:00Iceberg ahead!

0:02One of the things that makes icebergs so dangerous

0:04is that they go so far underneath the water,

0:06you only see, as the saying goes, the tip of the iceberg.

0:10And that's what I'm after, as I talk about the career

0:12paths in technology.

0:14I want to give you, as you are starting

0:15a career in technology, the lay of the land.

0:18What are the paths that you could

0:20go, if you want to literally work in the technology space?

0:23Now, keep in mind, I'm only going

0:25to be giving you the tip of the iceberg

0:26on a lot of these careers, and there's

0:28a lot of subspecialties in technology

0:30that I'm not even going to mention.

0:32I'm just looking at the big rocks, if you will,

0:34in the technology space.

0:36The first and most commonplace that people begin

0:39is in desktop support.

0:41This is a lot of interaction with the end user,

0:43because you're often at their desktop or working

0:46on their desktop remotely, interfacing directly

0:48with the customer.

0:49Now, the great thing about desktop support

0:51is, if you're a people person, this

0:53is the great place for you.

0:54See, in desktop support, this is where

0:56you're going to get the most interaction, the most

0:58feedback, and usually the most appreciation from the customer.

1:02And the technology careers where you're often behind the scenes,

1:05if you goof up, you don't usually

1:06interface with the customer.

1:08So since there is no human connection,

1:10you're usually the man behind the curtain

1:12that everybody just likes.

1:13The challenge with desktop support

1:15is sometimes it is a finite space,

1:17meaning you'll eventually start seeing the same issues again

1:20and again and again and encountering the same stuff.

1:23What I usually find is that smile on the desktop support

1:26technician slowly fades as the job turns

1:29into a little bit of monotony, and that's

1:31where a lot of the desktop support technicians

1:33evolve into a system administrator.

1:35And this is usually where you're working

1:37on the servers behind the scenes,

1:39meaning the systems and infrastructures that support

1:42the desktops themselves.

1:44So sharing files, managing printers, ensuring

1:46that the printer show up for just the right people,

1:48and just the right people have access to the files,

1:50creating a new user account, deleting

1:51a user account, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

1:54So a little less user interaction, although not much.

1:57A lot of times, the system administrator

1:59will work with the desktop support

2:00directly, either working through them to interface with the end

2:04user or supporting them as they interface with the end user.

2:08Now, the system admin role is evolving quite a bit

2:10with the advent of cloud services.

2:12So a lot of times, the system administrator

2:14will be working in the Google Apps space or the Office 365

2:19space, provisioning cloud resources as well.

2:21What that ends up meaning is there's typically

2:23a lot less backend work, because the cloud services have done

2:27a lot of that for you, and there's

2:28a little more user-facing work for the system administrator.

2:32Next up we have the software developer and database

2:35administrator.

2:35This is actually what I went to college for, under a computer

2:38science degree.

2:39Goofy picture, kind of strange looking.

2:42I would say the reason why I used

2:43this image is because I usually find the software

2:46administrators are the ones that are a little more

2:48eclectic in personality, but a lot more driven

2:52by what they do.

2:53This is the ultimate creative space,

2:55where you get to do a lot of backend software development,

2:58making the systems that work.

3:00And the truth be told, whereas the desktop support and system

3:02administrators-- even as we talk about network engineer,

3:05these guys are assembling pre-built pieces together

3:08to create a solution for a business,

3:10whereas the software developer is

3:12building the pieces themselves.

3:14They often start with putty and kind of start

3:16gluing it all together, sometimes

3:18using some pre-built libraries and things like that.

3:20But for the most part, building a lot of that themselves.

3:23The database administrator-- the reason I put slash on there--

3:25very similar to the software developer.

3:27They're creating the applications that people use.

3:29The database guy is the one that simply

3:32sits behind the scenes ensuring that the databases are stable.

3:36They're replicating.

3:37They're redundant.

3:38They're storing data the right way.

3:39They're optimized, because databases are truly

3:42the ones powering a lot of the applications.

3:44That's where all the data is stored.

3:46There's sometimes people designated to just do that.

3:48Last thing I'll say about the software developer and database

3:51administrators, I usually find these people are more

3:54identified by their career.

3:56It's a strange way to say it, but it consumes them.

3:59They'll be sitting on the couch at night

4:01coding while the movie is on.

4:02You know what I mean?

4:03It's just part of what they do, and they love it.

4:06Next up we have the web developer,

4:08who is usually focused on the user experience,

4:10or you'll hear UX a lot when you're

4:12talking about this person.

4:14This is the interface that actually reaches the end user.

4:17There's usually a divide between the database administrator

4:21and the web developer, and I'm using these terms

4:24somewhat loosely, because you could

4:26say a software developer is a web developer,

4:28just as well as you could say a web developer is a software

4:31developer or a software engineer.

4:32They're all kind of interchangeable,

4:34but there's such a huge glut of people running to these,

4:38they usually divide it up into the people that are the backend

4:41developers-- these are the nitty-gritty,

4:43making it all work--

4:44and the front-end developer, or user experience people,

4:47which are the ones that make it look pretty.

4:48And there is a huge difference between those two.

4:52The front-end people are usually really good with Photoshop.

4:54They're good at making sure everything looks

4:56good for the customer, because it

4:58doesn't matter how functional you are behind the scenes.

5:02If the user isn't greeted by a friendly page in today's world,

5:06they'll usually hate it and not want to use it.

5:08It's got to be friendly.

5:10So these two people combine together to make amazing stuff.

5:13Notice I've got my clean-cut guy over here

5:15versus the kind of eclectic personality.

5:17This isn't the rule, but it's just my experience.

5:21The people that I've met, usually the web developers are

5:24the ones that you're like, eh, you're--

5:26this sounds bad.

5:27There's going to be a software engineer throwing

5:29Chinese stars at me.

5:30But they're the ones that are like, you

5:32look like you belong in a business environment,

5:34whereas the software developer--

5:36anyway.

5:37Right?

5:38Moving right along to the network engineer.

5:40The network engineer is the one I'm most familiar with,

5:42because that's been my specialty over the last, oh goodness,

5:4615-plus years of existence.

5:48Now, I've done all of these.

5:50I've actually done quite a bit of a lot of these,

5:52but network engineer, for me, is the one

5:57that I enjoyed the most.

5:58And that's not to say everybody will enjoy it the most,

6:00because it feels the cleanest to me.

6:03Essentially, you're building the roads that everybody goes on.

6:06Your job is essential because if you don't do it right,

6:09all of the services, all these guys come crumbling down,

6:13because they're all riding on your infrastructure.

6:15Now, a lot of people think, oh, well, that's

6:17the cabling then, right?

6:18Well, yeah, I guess.

6:20You could say that's the ethernet cable, wireless access

6:22points, but the network engineer actually

6:24quickly moves beyond that.

6:26You'll see a lot of people start in the cabling space

6:28or doing installs, but then as they

6:30learn how the technology works, they

6:32start optimizing it, making it faster,

6:34lessening the cost of the connections,

6:36making them redundant.

6:37There's so much that you can do.

6:39But essentially, the network engineer

6:40focuses on building the infrastructure that everything

6:43rides on in today's world.

6:45Next up is the newest career path to the bunch,

6:48and that is the DevOps guy.

6:50DevOps is a split personality.

6:52I love this graphic.

6:53What a perfect representation of this person.

6:56They are half software developer, half operations.

7:00I can give you a practical of what these people are usually

7:02doing, and that is working in AWS or Microsoft Azure,

7:07or whatever cloud service that Google is now offering,

7:10computers.

7:11Garth, one of the other trainers who specializes in that,

7:13would kill me for not knowing that.

7:15AWS and Azure is the one that I think of.

7:17This is where you can actually spin up

7:18virtual servers in the cloud, use them, disband them,

7:22shut them down.

7:23That's a lot of the upside of it.

7:25Now, what a lot of these cloud providers are doing,

7:27the AWS's and the Azures, is they're making all the tools.

7:31So stuff that we would manually have to put together--

7:33for instance, I'm just thinking of the network engineering

7:35side--

7:36took a lot to figure out VLANs and making

7:38sure VLANs go through the entire infrastructure.

7:41Well, in the cloud world, in AWS and Azure,

7:44you end up with systems built where you

7:46can click a button and poof!

7:47The VLAN is there.

7:48So the ops person that's here is kind of a software engineer.

7:52They're kind of a system admin, but they

7:54don't get into the level of detail

7:56that the person who specializes in that does.

7:59They just know, OK, I click a button, a VLAN is there.

8:02They know what the VLAN is, they know what it does,

8:04but they wouldn't necessarily know

8:06how to do it if they got down to, say, a Cisco or HP

8:09environment, where you have to manually set it up

8:11on the switches.

8:12Most of what they do is spin up those operations and use

8:15developer coding to glue them all together

8:18to create infrastructures in the sky, which, years ago, wouldn't

8:21have even been possible.

8:22It's probably one of the most exciting new career paths

8:25that have emerged over recent years.

8:27And the last career path, which is just growing like a weed

8:31and exploding, as you can imagine,

8:32is the security analyst.

8:34Truth be told, there's actually not that many security

8:37incidents that most people know about.

8:39But when they hit, they hit bad.

8:41And they can crumble a billion dollar enterprise overnight.

8:44So a lot of these organizations are

8:46bringing in security analysts to ensure

8:48that their systems stay secure.

8:50Now, you notice I have a black hat and white hat here.

8:53This represents typically the two types

8:55of hackers that are out there.

8:56A black hat is somebody who knows how to hack into systems,

8:59and they're evil.

9:00The white hat is the ones who know how to hack into systems,

9:04and they use their powers for good.

9:05Most of the time, a security analyst

9:07is going to be a white hat, because long ago, we

9:10realized the best kind of people at security

9:12are the ones who can actually hack into a system themselves.

9:15So a security analyst looks at all the different ways

9:18into a system, and they are one that

9:20knows a little bit about everything,

9:21because everything represents a vulnerability

9:24and ensures those systems are kept up to par.

9:26They often use tools to do scans and run reports and give it

9:30to the system administrator and say,

9:31hey, you've got to lock down these services

9:33that you're running.

9:34Well, as I promised, that is the tip

9:35of the iceberg to the major career paths in technology.

9:38I hope this has been informative for you,

9:40and I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:00<v ->Career paths around technology.</v>

0:02Hi, my name is Jeremy Charra,

0:04and once again, we are looking at the tip

0:06of the iceberg in career paths

0:08that surround the technology space.

0:10Meaning, these are not the people involved directly

0:13in the doing of the technology,

0:15like the network engineers and the system admins.

0:17However, they are essential to everything

0:19that happens in the technology realm.

0:21As a matter of fact, I recorded another video called,

0:23"The Personality Traits of a Technologist".

0:26And one of the most essential personality traits

0:28that these people will have is the ability

0:30to be conversationally competent.

0:32Meaning, they understand enough of the technology

0:35to know when they need to go deeper,

0:36and when they stand back and let the technologist

0:39be the technologist, and surround them with support.

0:41So the first of these people are the business analysts,

0:44or sometimes called the computer system analysts.

0:46These are the individuals that are responsible

0:48for taking the business needs,

0:50and translating them to the technologists, and vice versa.

0:54A lot of organizations have grown large enough

0:56that there's a huge technology presence,

0:58and a huge presence in the business.

1:00Oftentimes, the technologists will be so focused

1:02on making technology work

1:04that they end up missing the business need, and vice versa.

1:07The business may be demanding things

1:09that's simply impossible in timelines

1:11that are inconceivable from the technology perspective.

1:14So the business analyst, a lot of times, stands in that gap

1:16as the translator between the two.

1:18The second person focused around technology is the manager,

1:22and this is usually the manager of the technologist.

1:25Now, you've gotta be careful with these people

1:27'cause I've seen this mistake happen 1,000 times.

1:29You'll have somebody who's really good at the technology,

1:32a star system admin, or a great network engineer,

1:35and the company grows and grows and grows,

1:36and you go, well, let's make that person,

1:38'cause they've been here the longest,

1:40and they're really good at this technology,

1:41the manager over all the other engineers, right?

1:44I've seen that fail more often than it's succeeded,

1:47because they're usually really good at the technology

1:50because they love the technology.

1:51And management is a completely different skillset.

1:55Just because somebody is a really good technologist

1:58does not mean they're going to be a good manager.

2:00As a matter of fact, I've seen that case most of the time.

2:03Now, the person most commonly mistaken

2:05for the manager is the IT project manager.

2:08This is, as the name implies,

2:09the person directly responsible

2:11for the success of IT projects.

2:13But the irony is, they rarely have direct reports.

2:17They actually have something called implied authority,

2:19meaning the manager says, Hey Mike,

2:21for this week I really need you to work

2:23with the IT project manager over there,

2:25or the project manager for blah, blah, blah project.

2:27And so Mike will report to and take orders

2:30from the project manager,

2:31but the manager will be the one that's responsible,

2:33ultimately, for Mike's performance reviews,

2:36and salary increases, and discipline

2:38and all that kind of stuff.

2:39The project manager is just responsible

2:41for making that project successful.

2:43I can tell you a good project manager can be

2:45worth their weight in gold,

2:47because they surround the technologists with all the help

2:51that they need to maintain focus.

2:54In my experience, the number one dilemma

2:57that IT people have is, they start getting involved

3:00in something, and it branches to something else,

3:01and something else.

3:02And before long, they're spread so thin,

3:04they can't really be good at any one thing.

3:06The project manager can see one of those branches,

3:09and go, Ah, meet back with the project owners,

3:13and the stakeholders of the project and say,

3:14Hey, this opened this whole other door, what should we do?

3:17Okay, well we don't wanna go in that door,

3:18so that'll be a feature release.

3:20And they come back to the technologist, say,

3:21No, no, no, don't go over there, focus on this.

3:23So it turns the technologist into somebody

3:26who can do just work.

3:28And that's where technologists are most effective,

3:30is when they don't have to worry about dealing

3:31with customer communication,

3:33or communication with management,

3:34communication in general (chuckling).

3:35Where they could just zone in and say,

3:37You have to make X, Y, Z work.

3:40And the project manager is what surrounds them

3:42with the support to make that happen.

3:44The position that probably touches closest

3:46to the technologist in this nugget,

3:48but isn't quite one, is the application specialist.

3:51See, applications have become so central

3:54to our businesses nowadays, that people are hired

3:56that just focus on those applications.

3:59I would say the number one example

4:00that I've seen in most organizations is Salesforce.

4:03This is a customer relationship system that allows you

4:06to log your customer calls, and figure out when

4:09to call them back, and send automated email.

4:11I mean, Salesforce just explodes with functionality

4:14that touches so many different parts of the organization.

4:17So in those cases, you might hire an application specialist,

4:20which simply focuses on just ensuring Salesforce

4:23is successful in the organization.

4:24I've seen application specialists

4:26that work on access databases,

4:28or things that are typically seen as applications,

4:31but because they have such an impact on the organization,

4:34the application specialist is hired just to focus on that.

4:37The last one is the account manager, and sales rep.

4:41These are usually where a lot of money can be made.

4:44(instructor chuckling)

4:45Matter of fact, I was just at my son's baseball game.

4:48I'm the assistant coach, and one

4:49of the other assistant coaches is an account rep

4:52at Insight, I think.

4:53And I saw him, and he's looking all tan,

4:55and I go, "What'd you do a trip to Hawaii?"

4:57He's like, "You know it."

4:58That's just the life of the account rep. (laughing)

5:00It's sometimes very high stress,

5:02and a lot of, you know, we gotta make this work,

5:04and long hours, but at the same time,

5:06can be extremely lucrative.

5:08These are the people that can talk enough

5:10about the technology to sell it to somebody,

5:13and even do some basic support of it.

5:14They represent the relationship between the customer

5:18and the rest of the organization

5:19of whatever technology is being sold.

5:22Now, again, I say that is the tip of the iceberg,

5:24because there are gobs and gobs of careers

5:26that surround technology.

5:28Those are the ones that you'll find the most job market

5:31for in the industry.

5:32My hope this has been informative for you,

5:34and I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:00Certification or college degree?

0:02Hi, my name is Jeremy Cioara.

0:04And there's probably no question that I've

0:05been asked more over my years of technical training

0:08than this one.

0:09I'm trying to break into the IT field.

0:11Should I go after technical certifications, a college

0:13degree, or both to ensure my success?

0:16So I thought I'd create a video to answer that question

0:19head-on.

0:20Now, I first off want to recognize

0:21that this can be a divisive issue, which

0:23is not my intention at all.

0:25My intention is simply to convey my own experience

0:27and give you my recommendation in hopes

0:29that helps you on your journey to success in this field.

0:32It's divisive because it's directly related

0:35to people's personal choices that are often made

0:37at an early stage of life--

0:39in my opinion, way before people are

0:41ready to make that decision.

0:43What do you want to be when you grow up?

0:44I know I wasn't ready at age 18.

0:46In my personal opinion, I feel people

0:48should work a little bit after high school,

0:50see what they like, see what their giftings things are,

0:52what their interests are, maybe go to a trade school.

0:55Some people maybe are ready to make that decision right away.

0:57A lot of people aren't.

0:59The other reason is it reflects a tremendous investment.

1:02People come out of high school and can

1:04spend tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars

1:07on a college education.

1:08And you don't want to get to the end of that

1:10and watch this video and find out some guy is saying, well,

1:12there's maybe a different way than doing that.

1:16Also recognize, in a way, we are comparing apples and oranges.

1:19These are radically different methods of learning.

1:22College is a generally specialized education.

1:25I went to college for computer science.

1:27But I also learned how to write and read well

1:30through grammar education.

1:31I learned macro and microeconomics.

1:33I learned calculus.

1:34I learned all of this stuff.

1:36Oh, and by the way, I learned how to program in C.

1:38Whereas, certification is directly specialized.

1:42If you take certification training for Windows Server,

1:44you will not learn a thing about calculus.

1:46You will learn only about Windows Server

1:48and how to implement it well.

1:50So I want to preface my opinion with an overarching statement

1:52that we live in a world where both will work.

1:55If you have a college degree, great.

1:56And if you have technical certifications, great.

1:59So let me share with you a really brief version

2:01of my story.

2:02So I came out of high school, just

2:04like I said, went to the college counselor's office.

2:06She said, what are you interested in?

2:07I said, well, I kind of like computers.

2:09And so I landed myself in a computer science program

2:12simply because I said the word computer.

2:14And looking at her book, that was the one

2:16that had computer in the word.

2:17So I went through three years of college education

2:21in computer science, learning how

2:22to program with computers, then was involved

2:24in a pretty horrific motorcycle followed by a car accident

2:28and left fairly disabled.

2:30So my college education stopped there.

2:32And I tried to start getting into a job, something

2:35that I could do that was very basic, because I

2:38didn't have a lot of functionality at that time.

2:40So I got into a job actually at a company

2:42called MicroAge, where I built computers on an assembly line.

2:46It was there that I was sent to a technical certification class

2:49and had my mind blown.

2:50I thought, this is amazing, directly applicable

2:53information, and I can actually do this

2:56and I can apply it to exactly what I'm working on.

2:59And I couldn't be stopped after that.

3:00I started funding my own education,

3:02going to technical certification classes.

3:04This was before there was even online training at all.

3:06And it's because of my own experience

3:07and the experience of now thousands of people

3:10that I've trained over the years that I can highly

3:13recommend certification as the path

3:15that you should go when breaking into this field.

3:18And I want to make sure, before I

3:19talk about these primary certification paths,

3:21that you don't hear what I'm not saying.

3:23I'm not saying that a college degree won't open doors that

3:26technical certifications can't.

3:28I'm not saying that college degrees aren't valuable.

3:30I'm not saying that college degrees don't map up

3:33to the industry and things that are there.

3:35College degrees can be super valuable.

3:37And there's some jobs you simply can't

3:38get without a college degree.

3:40However, the world changes so rapidly and technology changes

3:44so rapidly that in this field technical certifications

3:48are more aligned to what's going on.

3:51A college degree from 15 years ago in computer science

3:54doesn't map to anything that exists nowadays.

3:56Things have changed far too much.

3:58So let me talk about the primary certification paths

4:01that I would suggest somebody walk into as they

4:04begin their technical career.

4:05And I'm going to unpack these in more detail in other videos.

4:08First off, Microsoft.

4:10The beauty of Microsoft is there's

4:12thousands and thousands of people that

4:15need this on a daily basis.

4:17There is always going to be a need for desktop support.

4:20There's always going to be a need for integrating people

4:23with the cloud and resources that they can share,

4:26and so on, and so forth, to help collaboration happen.

4:29That's what Microsoft is all about.

4:31Cisco is the infrastructure of the system,

4:34the network, the underpinnings, the fabric that everything

4:37runs on.

4:38Microsoft is great, but none of it

4:39works unless you design the roads well.

4:42There's not a need for as many Cisco people

4:44as there is Microsoft people, simply

4:46because networks are often a "set it up and forget "it

4:50for a lot of.

4:50Businesses Larger organizations that are constantly expanding

4:53and where changes are always occurring

4:55will often need full time network people on staff,

4:58but not all organizations do.

5:00CompTIA is the vendorless certification,

5:03meaning this is an organization that said,

5:05we want to certify people in the concepts of technology

5:09without necessarily getting into specifics

5:11of individual vendors-- so not Microsoft, not Apple, not Cisco

5:15or Juniper, all of these different vendors that are out.

5:17This is vanilla networking.

5:19This is vanilla computer work, as you're talk about

5:22the Network+ or A+ certifications.

5:25It's often a great place for people to start and get

5:27their feet in the water.

5:28However, my heart often moves to the vendor-specific,

5:31because that's where you actually get to do the stuff.

5:33You can talk about air conditions on the roof all day,

5:35but it's not until you go install a Train air condition

5:38that you go, oh, OK, that's how this wire connects

5:40and that's how it plugs in over here.

5:42And then you can take that knowledge

5:43and relate it to all kinds of different vendors.

5:45PMP is for people that often want

5:47to work in a technology field but kind

5:50of around the technology.

5:51It's a project management professional certification,

5:54where you guide the process of people implementing

5:56technology-- hugely valuable, because technology

5:59itself can be overwhelming even if you know it well.

6:02You need somebody to order the steps that you should take.

6:05VMware, this is where you move into using servers

6:08for their whole capacity.

6:10Instead of one server running one operating system,

6:12VMware allows you to take that one server and run

6:14many different operating systems all at the same time,

6:17thus using the resources of that server to its peak.

6:21These five are the most popular certifications

6:24that people go into.

6:25But realize, there are hundreds of certification programs

6:28out there.

6:28Almost all of the certification programs

6:31will have an expiration date on their tests,

6:33meaning if you get certified in Microsoft,

6:36you have that certification for two years or three years

6:38before it actually expires and you have to renew it.

6:41You renew it by either taking the same test again or moving

6:44on in your education and taking more advanced tests

6:47along the way.

6:48That's one of the huge differences between a college

6:50degree and certifications.

6:52College degrees, you always have them.

6:54Certifications, you're always going to be learning.

6:56But if you think about the field of technology,

6:59which one of those seems more applicable to how businesses

7:02work?

7:02I hope this has been informative for you.

7:04And I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:00Primary certification paths.

0:02Hi, my name is Jeremy Cioara.

0:03And I know for somebody just getting into IT,

0:06the certification paths can be confusing and sometimes

0:09downright overwhelming when you get into them because they've

0:12all exploded into hundreds and hundreds

0:14of different certifications in different directions

0:16that you can go.

0:17So what I'd like to do in this Nugget

0:19is walk through what are the primary certification

0:22paths that most people get involved in when they

0:24move into a technology career.

0:26Now I've already talked about in another Nugget

0:29the difference between a college degree and certification

0:31and gave you some advice on which path

0:33you should follow there.

0:34So for that, I would move you in that direction.

0:37And I also plan on taking these certification paths

0:39and breaking them down in more detail,

0:42especially for the primary ones, in other Nuggets.

0:44So for example, you can see on the screen

0:46right now we have Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA, et

0:48cetera, et cetera.

0:49If you really want to know a lot more about Microsoft,

0:52I would suggest looking at a Nugget

0:54that I'm about to create on what are the different Microsoft

0:57certification paths that you could follow.

0:59So for now I just wanted to give you

1:00the big picture on these five, because if you

1:03look at all the certification landscape,

1:06these vendors hold the torch on the primary certification paths

1:10that most people in technology follow.

1:12So start off giving you a big picture view of Microsoft.

1:16Microsoft really branches into many different directions,

1:19but I would say the two primary paths

1:21that you could follow are system administration and development.

1:26System administration is where you literally build

1:29and maintain the servers that power

1:31the organizations of today.

1:32So file and print sharing, creating user accounts,

1:36disabling them when somebody leaves, resetting passwords.

1:39A lot of this is common to a system administrator.

1:41Whereas development is where you are creating the applications

1:44that people use, or more commonly,

1:46gluing together applications.

1:48So you've got an application over here

1:50that you need to spit out some data for this application,

1:52and this one needs to interpret it and spit it out

1:54into a report, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

1:56A lot of times developers will do that kind of thing.

1:58With the advent of the Cloud and Microsoft's Azure

2:02infrastructure-- that's what they call it--

2:04there's a lot more DevOps feel, where

2:06you have a lot of system administrator-ish people

2:09getting into what I would call light coding,

2:11meaning using a lot of the pre-built libraries

2:13to be that glue that ties together premade services.

2:17When you move into the world of Cisco,

2:19that's where you move into the infrastructure

2:21and the foundation of every system that exists.

2:24It doesn't matter whether you're doing IP surveillance,

2:27whether you have a voice over IP phone system,

2:30whether you've got computers that are running servers, that

2:32are running, they all tie into the common network foundation,

2:36whether it be wired, wireless, or off in the Cloud

2:39where a lot of the Cisco networking

2:41enters the data center.

2:43That network foundation has to be stable, reliable,

2:46and consistent, otherwise all the other services

2:48come crumbling down.

2:49Now right below that you see CompTIA.

2:51Now unlike some of these other ones like Microsoft, obviously

2:55a technology vendor, Cisco, obviously a technology vendor,

2:58CompTIA is a vendor in specific organization

3:03that tests on technology.

3:04The most famous certification that they have is A+,

3:07which is where you begin to learn to work with computers,

3:10and desktops, and laptops, and things of that nature.

3:13But A+ is often just the beginning.

3:16CompTIA also has Network Plus--

3:18oops, writing and talking at the same time messes you up--

3:21Network+, Server+, there's Linux+.

3:24Essentially if it has a plus after it,

3:26it's probably CompTIA.

3:28And what CompTIA tries to do is steer clear of anything

3:31that is specific to a vendor.

3:33For instance, desktop operating systems,

3:35you have Apple, OS X, and Microsoft Windows, right?

3:39So CompTIA might ask you a question that

3:40has to do with how to make that operating system

3:42work on a network generically speaking, rather than tying it

3:46specifically to the way Apple does it or Microsoft does it.

3:50Now I'm going to put a little line right there,

3:52and that's simply because these three are probably

3:56the most popular certifications that you have in the world.

3:59And mind you, there are all kinds of other ones out there.

4:02But if you're looking for a name recognition,

4:04it's these three names that are recognized industry-wide.

4:08Now right below that are two vendors

4:10that are not by any means small, but I just kind of put the line

4:14there because I'm going to really unpack and expound

4:16on those top three in other Nuggets,

4:18whereas PMP is focused primarily on the Project Management

4:22Professional.

4:23That's what it stands for.

4:24Somebody who can be the person that is the glue tying the IT

4:28project together.

4:29Rolling out a new technology is hugely complex,

4:33not only from a technological perspective,

4:35but also in the organizational impact.

4:38So a PMP professional comes alongside the IT technologists

4:41to say, OK, let's roll out this technology in the best

4:44possible way with the least amount of impact

4:46where everybody is smiling at the end

4:48instead of having all these people shaking

4:50their fist in the air because they can't work.

4:52Usually the PMP certified individual

4:55is someone who is conversationally competent

4:58in technology, but may not know the gritty details.

5:01You might be able to talk about a network infrastructure--

5:04switches, routers, what they do--

5:06but you're not really going to get

5:07into the configuration of it, you just

5:09know the impact it could have if we do maintenance

5:11on one of those.

5:12The last vendor that made my list is VMware.

5:15VMware specializes in server virtualization.

5:19That is using a single piece of hardware

5:22for many different virtual servers.

5:24Gone are the days where you would buy a server

5:26and say, OK, this will be my accounting server.

5:29You buy another server and say, this

5:31will be my server for the marketing departments.

5:33And that's because the servers run at a resource utilization

5:37way low if you just use a single server.

5:40So you can actually use that processor and that memory

5:42for multiple servers, and that's what

5:44VMware specializes in doing.

5:46Usually you won't get into VMware

5:48until you've had a few years in the Microsoft or Cisco realm.

5:53Well that's the big picture overview

5:54of the most common certification programs that are out there.

5:57I'm now going to break down those top three

5:59and show you the paths that you could follow

6:01in each one of these worlds.

6:03For now, I hope this has been informative for you,

6:05and I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:00Understanding the Microsoft Certification Program.

0:03Hi.

0:03My name is Jeremy Cioara.

0:04And we are midway through a series

0:06where I'm talking about how to get started in IT.

0:09Specifically right now, I'm focused

0:10on certification programs.

0:12And I discussed there are five certification programs

0:14that people usually get in the realm of IT.

0:17I want to take the top three and talk about them directly,

0:20beginning with where you are right now, Microsoft.

0:23On a big picture scale, the Microsoft certification

0:26has four major milestones that you can get.

0:28The MTA, which is actually optional.

0:30I'lll talk about that in just a second.

0:32Moving onto the MCSA, then either direction

0:35of an MCSE or an MCSD.

0:38So let's start off talking about the MTA.

0:40The MTA is the Microsoft Technology Associate,

0:43and it is the only optional certification

0:46that exists in the Microsoft program, optional meaning you

0:49don't have to get it to move on in your journey to the MCSA,

0:52MCSE, so on and so forth.

0:54Now the reason the MTA exists is because everybody

0:57needs a foundation.

0:59And that's something Microsoft lacked

1:00for many years is people that were trying

1:03to get into a technology were getting into the certification,

1:06and they're like, man, this is just too much too fast.

1:08It's over my head.

1:09So Microsoft created the floor level MTA certification

1:13to say let's begin from the beginning.

1:15Let's fill in all the cracks, answer all the questions.

1:18But we realize that some people have been working in this.

1:21So we're going to make this an optional one.

1:23If you want to skip it and go straight into the mainstream

1:25certifications, you can.

1:26The beauty of this is they're giving people that option.

1:30There are three key themes around the MTA.

1:32You'll see a bunch of them-- and there

1:34are a bunch of MTA certifications--

1:36that deal with database, developer, and infrastructure

1:38themes.

1:39Here's what I mean.

1:40These are all what I would call infrastructure theme MTAs.

1:43You've got the Windows Operating System Fundamental.

1:45That's one exam.

1:46Windows Server Administration Fundamentals, another exam.

1:49Security Fundamentals, another exam.

1:52Let me do this.

1:52I want to teach you to fish for a moment.

1:55So come on over to Google and search

1:56for Microsoft certification paths, just like that.

2:00And you might be going, what is that on Google?

2:01It's the 4th of July, today so we're celebrating, of course,

2:05here in the United States.

2:06Enter Microsoft certification paths,

2:08and I want you to click on the first we'll

2:10call it non-sponsored link in this list.

2:12You can see right there, Microsoft certification.

2:14I click on that and it unveils the whole certification program

2:18before me.

2:19You can see that Microsoft has certifications

2:21in Mobility, Cloud, Productivity, Data, et

2:24cetera, et cetera.

2:24These are all major classifications

2:26of Microsoft certification.

2:27So let's just say you're interested in Microsoft

2:30Mobility.

2:31Here's what that means.

2:32It says, this is designed for those looking

2:33to stand up bla bla bla.

2:34Mobility management solutions, people that are on the roam.

2:37So you scroll down.

2:39Here's your certification levels.

2:41You have the MTA, MCSA, and MCSE in Mobility.

2:46Now right now there's only one MTA in Mobility.

2:50Pass this exam and you get certified.

2:52You move over to MCSA.

2:53There's a MCSA in Windows 10.

2:55This is what gives you the MCSA in Mobility.

2:58Pass that, you're now MCSA certified.

3:01MCSE, only one exam.

3:03Mobility.

3:04That's the name of the exam.

3:05You pass that, you're an MCSE in Microsoft Mobility.

3:08I know you're probably going, what

3:10do you mean, just one Microsoft certification?

3:12Here's what I mean.

3:13let me show you data, Let me click on data.

3:15So Microsoft data.

3:16We click on that, and we find out

3:18there's, again, only one MTA certification called

3:22App Builder.

3:23You take that one exam and you're MTA certified.

3:26Now you remember, MTA, I just mentioned to you,

3:28is the only optional certification.

3:31So you don't have to do that before you move on to this.

3:33But for a lot of people getting started,

3:35it would be a good idea.

3:37So the MCSA, this is where we see a little diversity.

3:40It says you can get your MCSA in SQL 2016 Business Intelligence

3:45Development.

3:47It's hard to say.

3:48You can get your MCSA in SQL Database Administration.

3:51You could get your MCSA in SQL Database Development.

3:55You see all of these?

3:56These are different paths that you can go.

3:59All of these give you an MCSA in Data Management and Analytics.

4:05You may choose to get more than one.

4:07But now this is where that foundation-- and I've

4:10moved from MTA into MCSA.

4:13But this is where the foundation comes in

4:14that your organization can use.

4:16Let me flip back to the slide for a second.

4:18What I mean by that is this is where organizational benefits

4:22begin.

4:22See, just like Microsoft has all these certification

4:25programs for you, they have them for organizations as well.

4:28They're called partner level.

4:29You can get Registered Partner, Silver Partner, Gold Partner,

4:33et cetera, et cetera.

4:34And to move up through the different certifications

4:36of partner levels, you have to hire certified people.

4:40So what Microsoft is doing is incenting organizations

4:44to hire you after you've achieved these certifications.

4:46And the benefit to the organization--

4:48there's many benefits, but for example, one benefit

4:51is cheaper Microsoft licensing, which can

4:53pay for itself really quickly.

4:55Another benefit is you can get higher tiers of Microsoft

4:58support that's included.

4:59And so on.

5:00I mean, we can go into all the benefits that are there.

5:02But the big thing I want to emphasize about the MCSA

5:05is it's not just you looking for a job.

5:08It's jobs looking for you.

5:09People are looking for that certification

5:11to fill a hole in their partner level.

5:14So this MCSA allows you to demonstrate competency

5:17in a specific area.

5:18That's what I was just showing you on the web browser.

5:20You could choose many different areas of data or databases

5:24that you could dive into and specialize in.

5:26And all of those areas, you just need one,

5:29and you have an MCSA in that area.

5:32Now something brand new Microsoft has started doing--

5:34and I'm seeing brand new as of the end of 2017,

5:37beginning of 2018--

5:39is they are no longer expiring these.

5:41If you get an MCSA, you have it for the rest

5:44of your life, which is very kind of anti-certification.

5:47You might go, well, why did they do that?

5:48Well, they thought long and hard because the expiration

5:51used to be three years.

5:52You'd have to renew every three years.

5:54They said, you know what, technology's

5:55moving faster than that.

5:57Nowadays we want you to take these exams every year.

6:00So by not expiring them, they're actually telling you

6:03we want you to renew these every single year because you're

6:06going to have a date attached to your MCSA,

6:09and employers will start to learn when they hire you, OK,

6:12when did you achieve-- oh, 2012?

6:15Things have changed since then.

6:17You should be renewing that every year, is

6:19the mindset Microsoft's trying to implant in their heads.

6:22And that brings us to the MCSE.

6:24The Microsoft MCSE is always the MCSA plus one more exam.

6:29That exam that dictates your specialty

6:31in that certification.

6:33So for example, going back to the website,

6:35if I were to move on in that data certification--

6:38and keep in mind, this is why I say

6:39that you'll never reach the end of these certification

6:41programs.

6:41There's always more to get and more to learn.

6:43But if I look at the MCSE, I can see that there's only one

6:46for the data path, and that is an MCSE in Data Management

6:50and Analytics.

6:51Once you have one of those MCSAs that you see in this list,

6:55you can then move on and get the MCSE,

6:57which is kind of a global picture of data management

7:00and analytics.

7:01You are then considered a Microsoft Certified Solutions

7:04Expert in that area.

7:06Now you can go back and get more MCSAs in this,

7:09or you can move on to other areas.

7:11You can move into Productivity.

7:12And there's one we haven't even talked about.

7:14The Microsoft Office Specialist Certification, not one I

7:18even thought to mention because most of the time that's

7:20designed for the end users.

7:21This is people that really become experts

7:23in Microsoft Word or Excel or PowerPoint, things like that.

7:26Again, a huge need in organizations, but usually

7:29not typically considered an IT profession.

7:32So let me scroll back up real quick

7:34and just hit this Browse All because I want

7:36to swamp you with information.

7:38This shows all of the different certifications.

7:40You can see all the MTAs, MCSAs, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll.

7:44Again, you're never going to reach the end of this.

7:47You can see there's also one that I showed you

7:49on the slide, MCSD.

7:50That's a developer.

7:51Somebody who sits and codes all day is the MCSD certification.

7:54So just going down and down and down this list,

7:57this is where I want to release you to roam the pasture.

8:01Yes, kind of like a cow, just going through and grazing all

8:04the different certifictions.

8:05Take a look at this.

8:06You can see that this is a map that is created

8:09that just shows as of 2017.

8:11I haven't found one for 2018 and beyond yet.

8:13But these things are always evolving, always

8:15being released.

8:16All the different paths that you can go on

8:19to achieve these top level certifications

8:22in the Microsoft realm, the MCSE or the MCSD

8:25if you're going the developer track.

8:27So the best thing that you can do right now

8:29is head on over to the Microsoft website.

8:31Now that you've got that foundation knowledge of here's

8:33how the certification program looks,

8:36you'll be able to really make sense of it a lot more

8:38and fill in a lot of the details.

8:40I hope this has been informative for you,

8:41and I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:00The Cisco certification program--

0:02hi, my name is Jeremy Chara, just coming to you

0:04after the 4th of July, where I grabbed a steamed bratwurst

0:08off the grill and took a big bite,

0:09and it totally seared the roof of my mouth.

0:11So if I sound funny, that's why.

0:13We're in the middle of what I'm calling the introduction to IT,

0:16how to get started in IT.

0:18And I'm talking specifically about certification programs.

0:20Have a look.

0:21I've mentioned previously that there are five certification

0:23programs that people jump into, typically in the realm of IT.

0:26And I'm talking about the top three.

0:28Just finished talking about Microsoft,

0:30and now we're focusing in on the Cisco world,

0:33Cisco being the realm of technology primarily dealing

0:35with the network environment, but has since branched out

0:38to all different realms of technology

0:40in terms of cloud computing, voice over IP, wireless.

0:44Everything else falls under that Cisco umbrella.

0:47Well, the key starting point that you have with Cisco

0:49is the CCENT.

0:50And personally, I feel like anybody

0:52who's involved in the IT profession should have a CCENT.

0:56And that's because it lays the foundation of everything

0:59networks.

0:59It doesn't matter what realm of IT

1:02you go into, whether it's server side, whether it's development.

1:05You have to have some understanding of the network

1:07and how all of that interfaces together,

1:09because there's a lot of times you'll

1:10be troubleshooting an issue, and you're not sure.

1:12Is it the server?

1:14Is it the network?

1:14And if you have no knowledge, if this is just

1:16a black hole to you, it becomes really

1:18difficult to iron that thing out,

1:20and you always have that feeling of uncertainty whenever you

1:22present your recommendation.

1:24So the CCENT represents the tip of the iceberg learning,

1:27meaning there's all kinds of realms in the network world.

1:30I call them mountains of technology.

1:32You get into the world of routing or switching

1:34or wireless or down and down you go into security,

1:36and so on and so forth.

1:37The CCENT does this--

1:39clips off the tip of the iceberg on every single one of them,

1:43which leaves you at a place to where you're

1:44feeling pretty good about it.

1:46There's always that barrier to entry.

1:50For instance, for me, it was Linux.

1:51When I got into the world of Linux, and I got it installed,

1:54and I looked at it, I said, I have no idea what to do here,

1:57because I hadn't crossed that barrier of entry.

1:59Once I had somebody coach me a little bit, I go, oh, OK.

2:02Well, that makes sense.

2:02Now, I can kind of take it from there.

2:04So that's what the CCENT does, is

2:06it takes each of these mountains and coaches you on them

2:09so that you can go deeper as you get deeper

2:11into the certification programs.

2:13You can see the key topics right below that

2:16is covered in the CCENT.

2:18This is one exam.

2:19So you pass one exam, you are now CCENT certified.

2:23Now, some people will see the CCENT as a starting point

2:26and move right along to their CCNA.

2:28The CCNA is the CCENT plus one more exam.

2:31Now, I will also say there is an all-in-one CCNA exam where you

2:35don't have to take the CCENT.

2:37It's designed for people who are already in the industry.

2:40But it's kind of that dangling carrot, where people are like,

2:42well, let me give that one a try.

2:44It's really hard, because you have time against you

2:47on that one as well.

2:48It's a big challenge.

2:50The theme with CCNA is that it's bigger than a single office,

2:54meaning CCENT is all the network technology that you

2:57need to build a single office in terms of a network environment.

3:01Once you hit the CCNA, you're now networking mini-offices

3:04together.

3:05It could be an office here in--

3:06we'll say Arizona, linking to an office in Japan

3:09over a wide area network and satellite connections.

3:12And what does all that mean?

3:13That's the CCNA.

3:14This is probably one of the most widely recognized

3:18certifications in the industry.

3:20It's always been in the top three list of certifications

3:23that employers are looking for.

3:25So if you want a branding that's stamped right on your resume,

3:28the CCNA is it.

3:30Now, a smaller subset of people will get their CCNA

3:32and then drop down into the CCNP, which I put

3:35here is CCNA plus more exams.

3:38It used to be four.

3:39Now it's three.

3:40But it's always changing.

3:42This goes deeper in those mountains of technology.

3:45Remember I talked in the CCENT, where you have routing

3:48and switching and so forth.

3:49Well, in the CCNP, there is a specific exam

3:52just on routing, a specific exam just on switching,

3:55where it goes deep into that technology

3:57and gives you a full understanding around it.

4:00Usually, if you're going after a CCNP,

4:02you are doing so as a full-time career, meaning CCENT,

4:07CCNA is kind of a generalist.

4:09They might be doing networking, but they also

4:11do something else, whereas the CCNP

4:13is somebody that is just full-on into the networking world.

4:16When I look at the theme of CCNP,

4:18this is the one that is called for in major jobs, like you're

4:21doing a major network upgrade or a rollout,

4:24or you're changing the whole foundation.

4:26You're swapping out all the switches

4:28from 10/100 switches to gigabit, or beyond gigabit into the 10

4:32and 40 gigabits and et cetera, et

4:33cetera, et cetera as it grows.

4:35Those are major jobs where a CCNA might go, oh, can I

4:38get an expert being brought in.

4:40And that's where the CCNP fits.

4:42A very select group of those who have passed the Cisco

4:44certification exam-- matter of fact, last time

4:46I checked, it was 2%.

4:482% of individuals who have passed the Cisco certification

4:51exam will go on to even attempt the CCIE certification.

4:55The CCIE is focused on expert-level experience.

5:00And I mean experience.

5:01It's no longer going to an exam environment

5:03just to take an exam, pass the multiple choice,

5:05the simulation, and so on and so forth,

5:07and now you're certified.

5:08This is actually flying out to Cisco's headquarters--

5:11that could be in San Jose, that could be in North Carolina--

5:14actually, there's all kinds of large Cisco offices around

5:16the world--

5:17and taking a full day to prove that you are who you say you

5:21are.

5:21There's a written exam to qualify for this.

5:24Then there's an eight-hour practical, hands-on exam

5:27where you literally walk into a room,

5:29they drop a book on your desk, and you

5:30have to configure the most wild and complex environment

5:33that you've ever seen in eight hours or less.

5:35Good luck.

5:36Now, there are no prerequisites for this.

5:38Cisco will take your money all day on taking this exam,

5:40because they realize it's really hard.

5:42And a lot of times, people come with a ton

5:44of industry experience before they even attempt this exam.

5:47Once you've got this certification,

5:49you are the Ninja, meaning the network's down,

5:52nothing else works, bring in the CCIE.

5:54He'll be able to figure it out, or she'll

5:56be able to figure it out.

5:57This one really is a big deal.

5:59If you can get this far, you will have no trouble landing

6:01a job in the sphere of network engineering.

6:03Now, you'll notice every single time I've been talking,

6:06I've been showing these logos, and it

6:07says, "Routing & Switching."

6:10That actually is the specialization

6:12of the certification.

6:14Check this out.

6:14Here's what I mean.

6:16This is kind of overwhelming when you first see it.

6:18There's a CCNA for all kinds of technologies.

6:21You can see cyber ops, collaboration, cloud, data

6:24center.

6:25They all have their own CCNA.

6:27So you would have one of those little logos with the CCNA,

6:29and it would say, "Data Center" underneath.

6:31And this is why I say you'll never

6:33reach the end of your learning in the realm of Cisco

6:36or Microsoft or any of these other ones.

6:38It's so broad that you just can't keep up with it anymore.

6:42You really have to pick where you're starting

6:44and then specialize.

6:45The reason I say everybody should start with a CCENT

6:48is you can see it is the foundation for routing

6:51and switching, security, wireless, and design.

6:53And this is the one CCENT.

6:55It's not like there's a CCENT for routing and switching,

6:58a CCENT for security.

7:00One certification qualifies you for every one of these,

7:03and then you can move on to the CCNA and go on from there.

7:06There is a CCNP for data center.

7:08There is a CCNP for security.

7:10So you can get your specialization

7:12in each one of those.

7:13Personally speaking, of all the certification programs

7:16that I've done, Cisco is probably my favorite.

7:19I think the reason why is because it's

7:20so clean and yet so critical.

7:22It's like building Lego pieces and putting them together

7:25in the best possible way for all the network to function.

7:28It's exciting.

7:29Well, that is the Cisco certification program.

7:31I hope this has been informative for you.

7:32And I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:00The CompTIA certification program.

0:02Hi.

0:02My name is Jeremy Cioara, and I'm halfway through a series

0:05where I'm talking about how to get started in IT.

0:07And I'm right now just introducing

0:09the different certification programs.

0:10Have a look.

0:11When you're moving into the IT space,

0:13there are five core certification programs

0:15that most people go.

0:16Now, keep in mind there are tons of certification programs

0:19out there.

0:20I'm just giving you what most commonly people

0:22go after, and really diving into the top three right here.

0:25I've already talked about Cisco and Microsoft,

0:27and now I'm looking into CompTIA.

0:30CompTIA is a certification of a different sort.

0:32That's because almost all the other certifications

0:35are vendor-based.

0:36Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, these are

0:39vendors that all realize that, if people know more

0:41about their products and know how to operate their products,

0:44they're going to sell more of them.

0:46So they release these certification programs

0:48that are somewhat self-motivated, because they're

0:50saying if I can train a whole bunch of people,

0:53they'll realize just how powerful

0:54and how easy and blah blah blah all this stuff is.

0:57And companies will hire them, and it's

0:59going to be the circle of life.

1:00You see where I'm going?

1:01So CompTIA is a different sort, because there

1:04is no product behind it.

1:06It's not like CompTIA's trying to sell something.

1:08It's a whole bunch of people that

1:09got together that said, let's create

1:12a vendor-neutral certification.

1:14Have a look.

1:15The first one of these is called IT Fundamentals,

1:18which is actually the newest certification to the lot.

1:20This actually wasn't around until just about

1:23a few months ago, and I'm about midway through 2018 right now.

1:27So the reason I love this certification is

1:30there's so many people that get started in IT

1:33and they have that question, is this

1:35is this something that's really for me?

1:36Is this something that's really going to interest me,

1:38something that I'm good at?

1:39But the only way that they can answer that question

1:41is to really dive in and buy equipment and labs and all

1:44that kind of stuff.

1:45So IT Fundamentals is a certification

1:48that CompTIA created to really say,

1:50let's give you the core of just about everything.

1:53If you look at it-- as a matter of fact, what

1:55you might do right now, pause this,

1:57go to Google, and type in "CompTIA IT Fundamentals

2:00practice questions."

2:02They'll have a whole bunch of practice questions or sample

2:04questions that are out there.

2:05Actually, Google that.

2:06"IT CompTIA," or CompTIA [INAUDIBLE]..

2:10You know what I mean?

2:11Sample questions.

2:12There's actually a lot of sample tests out there

2:14that give you the feel of what this certification is.

2:16The way that I summarize it is you

2:18will become the savvy tech guy, probably

2:21of your family to start.

2:23You'll start being that guy or that gal that

2:25starts knowing, hey, this is how I work computers.

2:28This is a malware infection.

2:30This is how to replace a hard drive.

2:32This is how to install an operating system.

2:34It's just the basics of IT the thing

2:37I love about this certification is

2:38it touches on the tip of a whole bunch

2:40of stuff, getting into the infrastructure, some

2:42of the hardware of computers, applications and software,

2:45what's the purpose, how to install it,

2:47software development and programming and databases,

2:50how those integrate together.

2:51And then security.

2:52What is malware, what is phishing?

2:54Just, again, think of it like help desk, the fundamentals

2:58that people would expect somebody

3:00to know if they called in to general desk support.

3:03The reason I love that one so much--

3:04I'm going to transition over here to A+ certification,

3:07is because that certification, I think, gives people a sampling,

3:10a taste test, if you will, to where they're the like, oh,

3:13it's stuff that they deal with on a day-to-day basis.

3:16So it's relatable, whereas if you dive right into Cisco,

3:18you might be like-- well, it may take you a while to actually

3:21go, OK, that's why I think a switch is really cool

3:23and this is why a VLAN matters and all this kind of stuff.

3:26Whereas IT Fundamentals, immediately applicable.

3:28A+ is the one that made CompTIA famous.

3:31This one has been around forever.

3:33Matter of fact, in 1993 was where it all began,

3:36and it has now evolved to what's called the IT Generalist.

3:39I actually got this certification in 1998.

3:41I looked back at my transcripts, because this was before

3:44certifications expired and it said,

3:46there's Jeremy's A+ certification on DOS

3:49and windows fundamentals.

3:51Back then, it was more of like, can you twist a screwdriver,

3:54do you really know the grit of building computers,

3:57and things like that?

3:58Because that was the thing back in the day.

4:00Everybody built their own computers.

4:01It was way cheaper to build one than to buy one off the shelf.

4:04That has all changed.

4:05You can now go pick up a computer

4:07for $200, $300, which is way cheaper than you

4:09could piece one together for.

4:11So this has evolved to an IT Generalist.

4:13It's a lot less twisting screwdrivers and a lot more,

4:17do you really get into the IT, the information technology,

4:22of all of these different topics?

4:24So I look at this, and I look at the fundamentals, which

4:27just came out, and I think this is like part two.

4:30It's like, OK, IT Fundamentals introduced you

4:32to the basics of all this.

4:34Now let's go deeper.

4:36IT Fundamentals introduced you to what a hard drive was.

4:39But now, A+ will introduce you to RAID technology,

4:41which is striping multiple hard drives together to where

4:44they're redundant or faster.

4:46IT Fundamentals introduced you to the concept of what

4:48a hub and what a switch are.

4:50But A+ is going to take it to the next level and put you

4:52in a situation where a computer is trying to share files with

4:54a server, and something's not working

4:56and it's network-related.

4:57Can you figure that one out?

4:59So still a generalist certification, but a lot more

5:01grit involved.

5:02Now, because there was so much technology surrounding

5:05the network, CompTIA came out with Network+.

5:07This one came out a number of years ago.

5:09And this is, again, a vendor-neutral networking

5:11environment, because there's a lot of vendors out there,

5:13Cisco being the biggest.

5:14But Force 10, HP, everybody's jumping into network technology

5:19and releasing their own devices.

5:20So CompTIA said, let's just talk about networking apart

5:23from the vendor.

5:24Now, I've got to admit, I came from a Cisco background.

5:27I used to laugh at Network+ and like, well,

5:30who's going to use that-- until I took it.

5:31I actually took it just a couple of months

5:33ago because I helped create this series for it at CBT Nuggets.

5:37I was like, this is really good.

5:38This is a really situational, conceptual,

5:42do you get networking.

5:44And I walked away from that going, OK, yeah,

5:46it may not talk about what command do you type on a Cisco

5:49router to do this and this.

5:50But you can't pass this exam without really understanding

5:54how networks function.

5:56You get into a deep-level concept of networking,

5:58troubleshooting.

5:59You do talk about some vendor-specific stuff.

6:02Like on a Linux box, how do you do this?

6:04On a Windows OS, how do you figure out

6:06what IP address you have?

6:07Network scanning, wireless deployments,

6:09all kinds of stuff gets shoved into Network+.

6:11Last thing I'll mention is that I've seen Network+,

6:14and I'll say CompTIA certifications in general,

6:16really work well in large organizations, enterprises,

6:20and government.

6:21Because in those environments, you have such a mix of vendors

6:23that, a lot of times, they'll just say, you know what?

6:25We don't want you to learn just Cisco or just Juniper,

6:28or whatever the case is.

6:29We want you to learn the concepts of networking

6:31in general so that you can apply them

6:32to all the mix of environments that we have,

6:35sitting at this office or in this group of offices that

6:40are all networked together.

6:41The last one I want to talk about here is Security+,

6:44which again, CompTIA's focus, a vendor-neutral security

6:48certification that really focuses in on security

6:50and protection skills.

6:52Now, take a look at this.

6:53It says this meets multiple requirements from ISO and DOD.

6:56What does that mean?

6:57Well, in order for organizations to meet security requirements--

7:01so for example, Amazon AWS is a service out there

7:05that is cloud-based storage and cloud-based computing.

7:09Well, they want people to know that they are secure.

7:12And of course, Amazon coming up and going, hi, we're secure,

7:15it doesn't really matter much.

7:16Because, of course, anybody can say

7:17they're secure, but are they really?

7:19What standard of security do they meet?

7:22And that's where ISO and DOD and there's many, many others

7:24out there, create these security certifications

7:27that literally list all of these requirements

7:29that you have to have.

7:30Well, some of those certifications

7:32require that you have a CompTIA Security Plus,

7:35and there are some other certifications that

7:36can fulfill this, but that you actually

7:38have one of these people on staff

7:40that are continuing to audit specific areas

7:43of your environment.

7:44So the beauty of some of these certifications is that--

7:47and it's not just Security+, there's others

7:49of certifications that meet this,

7:51is there's global security standards where people, again,

7:54are looking for you to fill that gap for their organization.

7:58So getting those certifications can directly

8:00turn to resume and job-producing events.

8:03Now I have just talked about what

8:04I would consider the core CompTIA certifications.

8:07Actually, it's not just me that considers it.

8:09This group right here, which is by far

8:11the most widely recognized and popular ones,

8:13but there's many other ones out there.

8:15Cloud+, Linux+, Server+.

8:16And these are not things that you could achieve

8:18and people are like, what's that?

8:20That's not core?

8:21I mean, almost everybody recognizes these.

8:23Matter of fact, I know we are producing right now a series

8:26on Project+, because we've gotten such demand for project

8:29management in IT.

8:30So all kinds of certifications in CompTIA.

8:33Really good, really exciting, really door-opening

8:35opportunities as you move into the IT space.

8:38I hope this has been informative for you,

8:40and I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:00The four step deep learning process.

0:03Hi, my name is Jeremy Cioara and I often get the question when

0:06people are first starting to study for certification exams,

0:09how do I study?

0:10I hear these exams are hard, and you're absolutely right.

0:13The exams are difficult and there's a couple of ways

0:16that you can study.

0:18I'm all about the deep learning process.

0:20When I say a couple, the other way is rote memorizations.

0:24When you see this question, answer this.

0:26This topic, it's 443.

0:28Type this command.

0:29Memorize that syntax.

0:31That is going to leave you high and dry.

0:32Sometimes people call that brain dumping the exam.

0:35It devalues you.

0:36It devalues the certification.

0:38You're going to end up losing, so don't do it.

0:42Deep learning takes time, just like any learning does.

0:45The first step that just about everybody loves

0:48is called leisure viewing.

0:50The problem is a lot of people leave off here.

0:53I get the email all the time, Jeremy, if I just

0:55watch all the videos in the series,

0:57is that enough to pass the exam, and I always say, no,

1:00it is not.

1:01You will get a cursory understanding,

1:03but you won't really have enough detail to pass anything.

1:07I mean, think about the last movie you saw.

1:09You probably remember the sketch of the plot

1:11and what happened at the end, but there's

1:13a ton of detail in there that you just

1:15aren't going to remember, because that's not

1:17how we learn.

1:18The fun part about leisure viewing is it is the most fun.

1:21You look like this.

1:22You sit, you just kind of get a cursory view,

1:24you might get inspired, you might be like,

1:26oh, I think I kind of get that, but it always

1:28leads you to step two.

1:30Step two is critical viewing.

1:33This is where you've got the video or the blog or the book

1:36or whatever it is.

1:37You're digesting the information and pausing it

1:40as you go through and jotting things down or typing it

1:43up in Notepad or wherever you take your notes,

1:46but the key is take notes.

1:48Let me show you something.

1:50I actually carry this around with me everywhere

1:52and this isn't my study guide, but my study guides actually

1:55look like this.

1:55You're probably going to think I'm crazy,

1:57but this is my to do list.

1:59It's just page after page after page of things

2:03written in blue and red.

2:05It's every meeting that I attend.

2:07It's anytime I have a conversation

2:08or I'm just jotting down some thoughts of things

2:10I have to follow up with.

2:11I know you're kind of like, uh, I

2:13think they made a movie called Beautiful Mind.

2:15You're that guy and I kind of am,

2:17because I learned long ago that I do so much stuff

2:20on the computer that if I type it,

2:22it just doesn't stick in my head.

2:23It's slow, it's painful, but just jotting things down.

2:26Now what am I jotting when I'm learning?

2:29I'm jotting down key points and I'm jotting down questions.

2:31Like, OK, he said, the network layer does this.

2:34I don't get that.

2:35What does that-- what does that mean,

2:36and so it encourages me that I need to--

2:39I need to figure that out more or here's some key points

2:42etcetera, ecetera, but that will start sticking it in your mind.

2:45Now, the next step is to develop an implementation plan.

2:50This is missing--

2:50I would say step three is the most commonly skipped

2:54of anything, and that is, think about what you're

2:57going to do before you do it.

3:00Most people will learn a topic or even

3:02they'll be in their career and they'll say,

3:04OK, I need to configure the Microsoft Exchange

3:06Server this way.

3:07So next, OK, and then the next--

3:10and they're just kind of going and figuring it out as they go.

3:14And it could explode or it might not explode,

3:16maybe it works, maybe it doesn't, but in the end,

3:18they're just kind of--

3:19they're doing without any kind of plan at all.

3:22Take a step back, even when you're learning, and plan it

3:25out.

3:26So if you're watching how to set up a switch, just jot it down.

3:29For me I'd do it with a pen or type it

3:31up on a Word doc or Google Docs or whatever you do.

3:34Here's what I plan to do.

3:36I plan on doing this, I'm configuring this,

3:38here's the commands I think I need to type

3:39or here's the areas I need to configure,

3:42and then you move to step four, which is actually doing it.

3:46You take whatever was in your implementation plan

3:49and you roll it out.

3:50So how does this look?

3:52I want to give you a couple of examples

3:53of how this might look.

3:55First off, let's say I'm doing something that's conceptual.

3:57Maybe there is no configuration, there is no deployment.

4:00You might be going, well, how do you

4:02learn the OSI model this way?

4:03What's your implementation plan?

4:05Well what I would do is, I would first off

4:07watch the OSI model video, just kick back and digest it, right?

4:11Then I'd jot down all my questions,

4:13and OK, network layer's responsible for IP addressing,

4:16and--

4:16I'm doing all these things, I'm processing.

4:18Now I get to the implementation plan, and what I would do

4:22is I would draw up an actual situation.

4:24I would say, OK, so if I was going to implement this,

4:26I might take a switch and I might plug it into a computer

4:29here and a computer here.

4:32And so if this one is talking to that one,

4:34it needs to use an IP address.

4:35So what would I give it?

4:37Maybe one--

4:38You see?

4:39I'm kind of drawing up a sketch of an implementation plan

4:42because every concept eventually links to something that you

4:46do with that concept.

4:47It's a concept for a reason.

4:49Something's going to happen based on that.

4:51Then when I get to the deploy phase,

4:54I'll create a full page scenario that explains

4:57how that whole thing works.

4:58Now again, I'm talking about a concept right now.

5:00The OSI model, for example, and I

5:02would say, OK, the OSI model's got this,

5:04and so maybe here's my network setup that I would have,

5:07and I'd have this that has this MAC address,

5:09and I would just say, OK, step one--

5:11the computer sends a message; step two--

5:13So I would literally create a one page--

5:16we'll call it a lesson plan, but an explanation of how it

5:19practically would be deployed.

5:21Because technically, there is no deployment of the OSI model,

5:24it's just saying, this is how networks work,

5:26so I'm going to, by golly, draw a picture or a schematic

5:29that shows, here's how I understand networks

5:31to work based on that, and that's

5:33my deployment of the concept.

5:34When it gets to the configuration, that's

5:37so much easier, because now you're going,

5:38OK, I'm learning it, I'm critically

5:41viewing it-- same kind of thing, but now, OK, I'm

5:43setting up an exchange server.

5:45So I need three virtual machines,

5:47I'm going to name them this-- and that's

5:49where you're designing your implementation plan,

5:51then you actually do it.

5:52You spin up Hyper-V or VMware, create some VMs,

5:55start communicating between the two,

5:57and you watch the results happen.

5:59Now, all that this is saying, well, how does that

6:03relate to a question on the exam?

6:05It is the question on the exam!

6:07All the certification vendors have

6:08learned that the best questions are

6:12gleaned from actual experience in doing this.

6:15Like, when you set up that exchange server, something is

6:17going to blow up, I guarantee it.

6:18Then it's hard and it's going to take time

6:20to figure out and fix it and learn and learn and learn,

6:23but that's what they write the question from.

6:25You'll see a question that says, if the event viewer

6:27logs says this, where might you look for that?

6:30Now again, the rote memorization would

6:32be like, OK, if I ever see the word application error,

6:35then check et cetera, et cetera, but the real deep learning

6:40comes from actually getting the experience.

6:42It's so much more fun as well.

6:44Now you're looking at the screen going,

6:46why is there a monkey there?

6:48The monkey is the death of you when it comes

6:50to studying and certification.

6:52This is the monkey of immediate gratification.

6:55I guarantee, if you take any time to learn something,

6:59it's going to result in some frustration.

7:02I don't get it, it doesn't work, I've

7:03been doing this for three hours, it

7:04doesn't make sense, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

7:07And the immediate gratification monkey

7:08will come out somewhere in that scene--

7:11sometimes it might be 10 minutes into it,

7:13it might be two hours into it--

7:14and say, but by golly, there's a video game

7:17that you should be looking at right now,

7:19or by golly, you should check that--

7:24you're watching a YouTube video on how this all works

7:27and over there on the side it's like, Justin--

7:29I can't even say the name, Justin Burber?

7:31Burber?

7:31Bieber?

7:32Justin Bieber is getting married?

7:33What?

7:34And so you have to watch that in 30 minutes-- so

7:36you are your own worst enemy.

7:38As a matter of fact, there is a TED Talk--

7:39and that's where I stole this monkey from--

7:41there's a TED Talk on the inside the mind of a procrastinator.

7:46I really would encourage you to go watch that TED

7:48Talk because it really frames how this guy will

7:51ruin your ability to really succeed in just about anything.

7:55You must destroy the immediate gratification monkey.

7:58Well with all that being said, I hope

8:00this has been informative for you,

8:01and I'd like to thank you for viewing.

0:00Jeremy's Final Advice-- well, Good morning, guys.

0:03I was recently up at CBT Nuggets out in Eugene, Oregon.

0:06And it is beautiful up there-- tons of trees, mountains--

0:09and a bunch of trainers, actually,

0:11at the end of what we call trainerpalooza

0:12where a bunch of trainers get together and just hang out,

0:15we open up to climb a mountain together.

0:17And one of the new trainers we just hired, his name is Chuck.

0:21He goes by Network Chuck.

0:22If you Google that, he's just a nut.

0:24He get that he gets his GoPro, and he

0:26goes around and records everything

0:27he does and just makes videos.

0:29He's like-- what are they?

0:30A vlogger, a video blogger?

0:32So anyway, we're climbing this mountain, he's got his GoPro,

0:34he's going around each one.

0:35And so he stops me halfway up this mountain,

0:37and he goes, all right, how do you get

0:39started in a network career?

0:40And he's pointing the GoPro at me.

0:42And I'm there in my shorts and T-shirt, and I go,

0:45you can't just throw that at me.

0:46I don't know.

0:48But as I'm climbing up the rest of the mountain, I'm like,

0:50oh, oh, oh.

0:51You know, all the things that I should've, could've,

0:53would've said if it wouldn't have just

0:54been standing at the edge of a cliff

0:56with a camera pointed at me--

0:57came to my head.

0:58So I put them on a PowerPoint slide.

0:59That's what I want to walk you through.

1:01The first advice that I would give you

1:02is get a Minimum Viable Education.

1:05I want to come up with an acronym for that,

1:07an MVE or something like that.

1:09Because I see so many people that

1:10start getting an education, whether it

1:12be college, whether it be certification,

1:15and they become an education junkie that doesn't really

1:18go anywhere.

1:18I think back to a student in probably a decade ago.

1:21I'm sure he's landed a job by now.

1:23But literally, he was unemployed.

1:25He just took class after classes--

1:27when I taught in a classroom--

1:28with me.

1:29And he would audit the class because the training center

1:31gave free audits if you wanted to take the same class again.

1:33And he became certified in everything

1:36and still couldn't find a job.

1:37He wasn't really looking.

1:39That wasn't his focus.

1:40His focus was education.

1:41And that's great.

1:42But that education should lead somewhere.

1:44So get a minimum viable education, meaning,

1:47just get something that gets you in the door,

1:49whether it be CCENT in the Cisco world,

1:52or an MVA in the Microsoft world.

1:54I know the organizations don't even get credit for that.

1:57But at least you can throw it on your resume

1:59and get started somewhere.

2:01Don't get so hung up on education

2:02that you lose your focus on what the education is for.

2:05Remember, if you don't use it, you lose it.

2:08The second thing is learn your draw and start there.

2:11Meaning, I am convinced that anybody can do anything

2:14if they really set their heart and mind to it and go after it.

2:17But there are some things that really attract you

2:20more quickly than others and some things

2:22you may get faster than others.

2:24For example, I was just talking to my wife this last weekend.

2:26And if there's one way to get me frustrated,

2:28it's home improvement projects.

2:30It's not that I can't do them.

2:31It's just it's stuff that seems so simple,

2:33and it seems like it's going to take half an hour.

2:36And there I am three hours later with a stripped-out screw

2:38just cranking on it.

2:39And my wife will be like, how are you doing?

2:41I'm like-- [INTENSE BREATHING] you know,

2:42it's like everything I can just to hold it together

2:44and be, like, now is not a good time to talk to me.

2:47Like, Jeremy being a home improvement specialist

2:49wouldn't be the first thing.

2:51That's not my draw.

2:52I can do it, but I'm not drawn to it.

2:55So it's the same thing with technology.

2:57When I say learn your draw and start there,

2:59there's some thing that, you're like, oh, OK, that makes sense.

3:01I get that.

3:02OK.

3:02It's clicking for me.

3:03And go into that.

3:04Now, what if you have no draw?

3:06Well, I would say then focus on what

3:08you think could be, may be a draw,

3:10and just throw yourself into it.

3:12You will become passionate about the things that you learn.

3:15Why do you think all these vendors are spending millions--

3:19I almost said billions.

3:20Because if you total it all together,

3:21it probably is billions of dollars--

3:23on all these certification programs.

3:25It's because they know the more that you learn,

3:27the more people are going to really love your equipment

3:30and love your technology.

3:31There are people that get tattoos

3:33with vendors' names on it on their shoulders

3:35because they're so excited about it.

3:36But that's your end game is to really develop that draw.

3:39My third piece of advice--

3:41got relationships?

3:42Use them.

3:43As a business owner that employs more than 25 people,

3:47at this point, I can tell you, personal recommendations

3:49are worth her weight in gold when

3:51it comes to hiring somebody.

3:52Now, you may look at your family and your friends

3:54that are around you, and you're like,

3:55oh, well, you work for Wells Fargo.

3:57That's a bank.

3:58You work for Walmart, you work at like-- you

4:01may like pigeon-- it would be like,

4:02well, I don't work at Walmart.

4:04I don't work at a-- like, every organization

4:07has an IT department.

4:08So use them.

4:09Talk to that friend who works at Walmart.

4:11Go to the bank with that relative,

4:12and start talking to some executives there.

4:14And say, you know, I'm really looking to get started.

4:16Is there some stuff I can do for you on the side?

4:19Like, that is worth its weight in gold versus

4:22just going into the resume flurry.

4:23When you post a resume, it doesn't

4:25matter what job board it's on, you

4:27get hundreds if not thousands of responses.

4:30It's overwhelming for an employer.

4:32So they are like, man, if I could just find somebody,

4:34Beth-- do you know somebody-- so much quicker

4:37to get in that way.

4:38You've heard the saying, it's all about who you know,

4:41and that is absolutely true.

4:42So fourth piece of advice-- get social.

4:45Blog, journal, Twitter, all of that kind of stuff--

4:48I'm not a big fan of social media.

4:50I think it can waste a lot of time,

4:51and it's so distraction-prone.

4:53You're trying to do something, and you look over there,

4:54like, ooh, that's interesting.

4:56And half an hour later, you've wasted life.

4:58But there is a good thing about social media

5:01and getting social.

5:02I've seen people create blogs.

5:04And I'm trying to think of, oh--

5:05you might Google the name Jeremy Stretch--

5:07same first name as me, but Stretch is the last name.

5:11I followed that guy early on in his career.

5:13And he was going after Cisco certifications.

5:15And he just blogged his studies.

5:17He's like, oh, this is interesting.

5:19This is how you set up RIP is a routing protocol,

5:20and he create a little blog entry about it.

5:22And he just kept doing that and creating blogs.

5:24Now the guy can literally name his price tag.

5:27He's now a developer in this network realm

5:29developing applications.

5:31And he just blogs everything to where,

5:32when people search for him, that is a living, walking resume

5:36that he can build for himself.

5:37So take what you're doing in your studies,

5:40and turn it public to where it becomes a search engine

5:43result for somebody.

5:44And lastly, start small, grow quick.

5:47What I mean by that is, there's a lot

5:49of people jumping into technology as a second career.

5:52Like, you've done something for a long time,

5:54you're bored with it, or that industry is coming to an end,

5:57so you're now looking to jump into technology.

5:59You may have to start small.

6:01You may have start at a help desk.

6:02You may have to start at whatever,

6:05call it a "menial job"--

6:07something to just get your foot in the door.

6:09But then grow quick into that.

6:10Now that depends a lot on you.

6:13Don't be content to stay there.

6:14Really be hungry, and look for opportunities of,

6:17like, oh, I can dive in there, I can dive in there.

6:19Again, as I moved into building my own company,

6:22I started being able to identify employees.

6:24I used to think--

6:25I used to think you can teach anybody anything

6:28and just throw them, catapult them

6:30into a career in technology, and the sky is the limit.

6:33But there's some truth to the saying

6:35of, "You can lead a horse to water,

6:37but you can't make it drink."

6:39That's how it goes, right?

6:40Something like that--

6:41I have hired so many people that I go, look at this land

6:44of gold.

6:45And I've personally mentored them and spent time.

6:48And it felt, and I got that feeling almost like a horse

6:50to where I'm, like, dragging them to the water.

6:52I'm, like, dunking the head, and I'm, like, this is good,

6:55right, right?

6:56And they'd come up, and they'd just kind of

6:57stand there and stare at me.

6:59And like, that hunger just isn't there, that drive, that--

7:03when you go home or--

7:05just-- can I give you one--

7:06I know this video is going a little long.

7:08Forgive me.

7:08I just want to give you one example.

7:10I came in this weekend to the office

7:12just to do some work, right?

7:13And I found another employee sitting there just getting

7:16a whole bunch of switches ready for a deployment that goes

7:18on today-- today's Monday--

7:20at a customer site.

7:21And I was, like, what are you doing here?

7:23And he's like, oh, I'm working on the deployment.

7:25I was, like, doesn't that belong to--

7:28there's another employee that should

7:29have been here this weekend or on Friday

7:31setting up all those switches.

7:33He's like, yeah, I talked to him.

7:34He's overwhelmed, and I just figured I'd pick it up for him.

7:38And I'm like, oh, OK, OK.

7:40So what that tells me is employee A, who

7:44was supposed to do the deployment,

7:45is, like, it's just too much work.

7:48I'm not hungry enough.

7:51I know.

7:52I know.

7:52I'm not saying give up your life to do it.

7:54But there's times where it's just, like, you know what?

7:56You've got a deployment on Monday.

7:57You've got to make sure everything's ready.

7:59Don't drop the ball on this.

8:01And now I'm looking at this other employee.

8:02I'm, like, nicely done, my friend.

8:05It's just who's hungry?

8:06Who's going to go after it?

8:08So start small, and grow quickly.

8:09Look for those opportunities to dive in.

8:11It may cost you something, but in the end,

8:13it's going to be so much more valuable for your career.

8:15Man, I wish you and I could just sit next to a cup of coffee

8:18for hours.

8:19Seriously, I had a guy tweet me from India.

8:23He said I would love for nothing more than to then just sit down

8:26for coffee with you.

8:27And I said, you fly out to Arizona, send me a message,

8:30and I'm there.

8:31I love having these kind of conversations.

8:33I love answering questions for people

8:35that are really genuinely interested and invested

8:37in diving forward into the future.

8:39So anyway, that's also why CBT Nuggets

8:41has a whole bank of mentors.

8:44I believe they're called the Learning Advisor Department.

8:46Don't get me wrong.

8:47And I'm sorry if the learning advisors are watching this.

8:49It's people that help you get better.

8:51Well, I hope this has been informative for you.

8:53And I'd like to thank you for viewing.