Writing your CV.

You CV is probably the first impression an employer is going to get of you, so you need to insure it makes a big impact. A CV should be a summary of your life history, employment history, achievements and skills. It should project a true picture of you to you prospective employer. Here are some useful resources.

• kent.ac.uk - great.
• jobsite.co.uk
• bytestart.co.uk - IT specific.
• technojobs.co.uk - IT specific.

CV templates.

• cvtips.com
• MS word templates here and here.

If you would prefer you could go to a CV writing service. These can be found here or in your local telephone directory.

Microsoft 70-270 study guide.

This was my first Microsoft so it was a steep learning curve for me. I found it tough to get used to the way the questions are worded.

Study time: 3 Months (2 hours a day)

Lab setup: 2 XP pro clients and 1 Server 2k3 (configured as a domain controller, DHCP and DNS) All running on VMware workstation.

Study materials used: MS Press Book, Sybex Book and ExamCram Book. Also you can use CBT videos to further reinforce the material.

Practice Exams: MeasureUp Exam with the MS Press book. I also recommend the Boson.com ExSim for the 70-270 exam.

Exam objectives: Check here for the up to date objectives on the Microsoft website.

Study techniques: The first piece of advice i can give is to do some everyday, to keep the momentum going.

Read a chapter of the MS press book, make notes on the chapter, then do the lab work in the book associated with that chapter. Once you have done that a couple of times, read the corresponding chapter in the Sybex and ExamCram book to reinforce and to hit home the subject matter.

Once you have done this for every chapter in the book and you feel comfortable with all the exam objectives, it is time to do some practice exams. Use the MeasureUp exam CD included with the MS Press book. Start off by doing 10 questions at a time, you want to be aiming for 80%+, increase the number of questions to around 20-30 and again aim for 80%+. Then do a full practice exam. Be careful not to do the exam questions to many times as you will start to get the questions repeated. Once you are getting over 80% then it is time to use the Boson ExSim, these exams are in my opinion a bit harder than the actual exam, so if you pass these, it is time to book the Real thing.

Exam test centre: Prometric.com

Useful info: The Exam cost is £88, but in the MS press book you have a 15% discount voucher. It is a good idea to sign up for Microsoft's free second shot offer (just in case), Sign up here.
Check out this link for some free RIS videos.

My study lab.

This is how i have my study guide setup.

I don't have the money or space to buy 3-4 PC and set up my own network, so i use VMware work station, i have it installed on my laptop and on my desktop. The main reason i have it on my laptop is so at lunch time at work i can still mess around with stuff i am learning.

Desktop spec:

Intel core 2 duo 2ghz
4gb RAM
500GB Hard drive

Laptop spec:
Intel core 2 duo 1.66ghz
2GB Ram (going to upgrade to 4 soon).
320GB Hard drive

VMware is really easy to use and in my opinion a little better than Microsoft's Virtual PC, but you do need to pay for it, whereas Microsoft's Virtual PC is a free download.

VMware site is www.vmware.com
Microsoft Virtual PC site is here

There is also virtualbox an open source alternative, which is also supposed to be quite good, although i haven't used it. www.virtualbox.org

Who is this blog for?

Hi,

I have decided to to write this blog, for people who are looking to start or are currently studying for any kind of IT related certification.

I am currently studying to become a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and i am finding it tough (very tough actually). I was sold the course about 18 months ago by an online training provider. I wanted to start a career in IT and wanted a qualification or certification to help me get my first IT job. At the time i didn't really know to much about what certification was right for me, so i arranged a meeting with the training provider to see what they had to offer me. I thought that they would obviously know what employers wanted, what certification would be right for my experience level and so on. After we discussed the options they had available, i decided i wanted to go for the MCSE. After all i had seen jobs on job site for £25000+ for MCSE's. I explained that i had a good knowledge of computers, but had never worked in an IT environment. I was told that this wasn't a problem as the MCSE wasn't too hard and would take about 12 months to complete, he told me that a lot of people pass in about 6 months and i could to if i do about 2 hours studying a day. I paid the £3100 for the course and felt very excited, i was going to be an MCSE in 12 months (or soon if i knuckle down) and get a great job. Boy was i mislead.

After about a week i received 2 big (and heavy boxes) with all the course material. I opened the boxes up, i had 7 big Microsoft books (one for each exam), 9 books that had been written by a tutor who works for the training provider, a book on starting an IT career and all the log on details for the online material. At the time i was quite happy it seemed i had received everything i needed to pass the exams.

I first had to complete some tests before i could start the Microsoft stuff. They were quite easy and i thought, great this will be a breeze. I passed them in a couple of weeks, i just remember thinking if i work hard i could get it done in a few months.

I then started the first Microsoft book (for the 70-270 exam) after a few chapters i was thinking this was very hard. Most stuff i had read about i didn't even know was possible. I thought this must be a hard book, so i read a chapter of the 70-291 book, that was even more confusing, i then knew that this was going to be a hard slog.

I have now discovered that the MCSE is designed for people with 12-18 months experience of administering servers and the stuff i paid £3100 for i could get it all and pay the exam fees for little over £1000. I have been working with servers for almost 18 months in my new job and i have passed 2 exams, so i still have 5 more but it is all making sense now.

So basically i got screwed by a training provider, who sold me a course i wasn't ready for. I want to try and help people, so they don't make the same mistake.