At some point in your IT career you have probably been asked by a family member, close friend or some other acquaintance to help them with a computer problem they are having on their home/work computer (this is the IT equivalent of having a pickup and always being asked to help friends move). Even if the problem is something totally outside your realm of knowledge; because it has to do with a computer, you are the first one that they think about. If you do this enough, you may start thinking about making some money at it by declaring yourself as a consultant.

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Dear Santa,

Since my network isn’t here to speak for itself (it’s out looking for Sarah Conner), I thought that I would drop you a note and tell you that although there were a few minor indiscretions over the last year (a couple of viruses and a particularly nasty Trojan) my network has been good and would like to have the following things under the tree on Christmas morning:

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On the first day of my classes I usually ask if there are any students that are taking the training to prepare for a certification exam and in a lot of the cases I get a rousing chorus of ‘maybes’ or ‘I don’t knows’. Now I am not going to say that certification is going to get you a 5 figure raise or a great job just because you passed your first Microsoft exam, but there are some real advantages to getting that certification when you get the chance.

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If you haven’t had an opportunity to take any of the new Microsoft exams (this would include the Server 2008 exams and the Vista exams), you are in for a couple of surprises; some good and some a little scary depending on the way that you have prepared for the exam.

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Back in the dark ages of personal computers, say the 1980’s, it was a time when applications were pushing the boundaries of what computers were capable of doing. The hardware of the time was hard pressed to keep up with everything that was being asked of it. Fast forward to the mid to late 1990’s and we saw that high performance hardware was becoming not only more available, but also more affordable. Today dual core machines are becoming common place and quad core and higher are making their way onto the scene.

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I know that in our business staying ahead of the curve with new technology can be a frustrating process. Because we have to acquire new knowledge in the fastest way possible; we attend classes at our friendly neighborhood training center, but since course development lags behind the release of the product, we are sometimes forced to take a class that is still in a beta release.

Now for those of you that are a little rusty on your Greek, remember that ‘beta’ means ‘the labs don’t work’. Okay I did tighten things up on the translation, but you get the idea.

Don’t get me wrong, most of the labs do work after a fashion, but you have to have a little patience. As a matter of fact, let the instructor get the entire lecture out of the way and then as a class dig into the labs and see what you can do to fix them. I know this sounds like a chore, but remember in the ‘real world’ things don’t always go right and believe me, you will learn and retain a lot more if you do things for yourself.

As an example, last week I attended a class on the Hyper-V component of Server 2008 and from the beginning nothing worked as advertised. We were given the choice of going back home or staying around and trying to figure out where the problems were. Everyone in the class stayed and by the end of the 4 days we had two different ways of presenting the labs to future students. So I not only found out how to teach some of the upcoming Hyper-V classes, but have a much better understanding of how Hyper-V and VMM work (and how to fix them if they don’t). Thanks Bob and all that attended the class in Minnesota!

So the moral to this story is, even if you have to go to a beta class to get the training you need, use the class to its upmost; be patient, participate in the discussions, and have fun.

Before I get started let me tell you a few things up front; I am a student of history so I have seen the good things that unions have done for the workers of America as well as the bad. My grandfather was a union steward and my father drove a truck and therefore had to join the union to keep his job. I live in the Midwest where all of the car manufacturers and most of the companies that support them are all unionized.

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I always thought that Microsoft was a pretty good marketing company, but after seeing the new Seinfeld/Gates commercial, I am beginning to have my doubts. I have watched the commercial a couple of times now looking for some kind of subliminal message or even the point that they are trying to make, but so far I am totally baffled as to what Microsoft was trying to do.

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I am very pleased to be able to turn over today’s blog to one of our top applications instructors here at New Horizons of the Ohio Valley, Walter Riker. Walter is one of the most prolific bloggers that I have ever met and is one of the primary reasons that I started to blog (so now you know you who blame). Walter gives everyone an insight on what it is to be an instructor.

One of the difficult positions of a software or tech instructor is to know the future potential of what one can do with the software he/she is teaching and get that excitement over to the student. You have to know where the student is as well as have an idea of where they want to (or have to) go. You are a mentor/coach/teacher as well as analyst/psychologist and part entertainer.

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Taking certification exams is simply part of the fun of being a Microsoft technical instructor, but it doesn’t mean that it has in any way became an enjoyable process. As an instructor and a mentor I come in contact with a number of students that are preparing to take their exams; some of these students study very hard for a week or two and others study the same material for a month or so. I was wondering what the ‘optimal’ time to study for a test is. Is there some magical formula that can be used to determine when someone is ready to take the plunge, or conversely, can the same formula tell someone when more study time is in order?

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I have been working with Vista for a while and after a few initial “What the…” moments I am starting to think that Vista is a pretty good OS whose benefits out-weigh its annoyances (let the flame wars begin in 3, 2, 1…)

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I was asked this week to give a seminar on some of the new features of Server 2008 and when I asked my boss what feature he wanted me to talk about he said, “Just pick your favorite thing and talk about that”. Unfortunately, that didn’t narrow things down for me a whole lot; there is actually a lot that I like about 2008, but here are some of the subjects that I ended up choosing.

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I got to go to a concert last week (if you get a chance to see the Warped Tour…do it the bands are great) and I was fairly amazed at the level of technology that was being displayed not only by the venue, but all of the bands that I got to see. I seemed like sometime during the set someone in the band would mention that you could visit them on MySpace or some other website so that you could see the rest of their tour dates, or listen to a song off of their new album…isn’t technology great!

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Let’s review a bit; you have your college degree in IT, or maybe you went the certification route, took your classes and passed your tests. Now you are ready to interview for your dream job and what do they tell you? “These degrees and certifications are all very nice, but we are looking for someone with a little more experience”. So if they are not willing to give you a chance to show what you can do how do you get the experience you need? The answer to this is a temporary job.

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A couple of articles recently have caught my attention concerning the way that Cisco was going to start administering their certification tests.

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I am teaching an introduction to .NET programming class this week and I always like to ask what got the students interested in becoming a programmer in the first place. The answers I get run the gamut from one extreme, “I just love the way that I look with a pocket protector”, to, “I want to be like Bill and have lots of money” (I don’t have the heart to give them the cold hard facts about that last one).

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Every day you hear more and more about the slumping US economy. A report from the US Department of Labor states that for the first 6 months of 2008 the US job market has shed 438,000 jobs. What if any jobs are safe from this decline? Well the good news is if you are in the IT industry, your job is still a vital part of the economy.

According to the Jobfox Top 20 Most Recession-Proof Professions, Developers, Systems Administrators, Software Implementation Specialists, Database Administrators and Technology Executives are 5 of the top 25 positions to hold during these tough times.

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Part 2 – Studying outside the MOC

This is the third installment of a three part posting on some of the suggestions that I have on how to prepare for taking a certification test. It is intended for those who are new to the IT environment as well as those that have been in the line of fire for a while and may need to start the certification process or upgrade the certifications that they already have.

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Part 1: Add a little ‘Class’ to your studies

This is the second of a three part posting on some of the suggestions that I have on how to prepare for taking a certification test. It is intended for those who are new to the IT environment as well as those that have been in the line of fire for a while and may need to start the certification process or upgrade the certifications that they already have.

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This is the first of a three part posting on some of the suggestions that I have on how to prepare for taking a certification test. It is intended for those who are new to the IT environment as well as those that have been in the line of fire for a while and may need to start the certification process or upgrade the certifications that they already have.

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