People who know me personally, know that I’m very passionate about ICT. Some of you might also have read about my previous blog post regarding cloud certifications. In this post I described how I prepared for the cloud certifications CompTIA Cloud Essentials (CLO-001) and Exin Cloud Computing Foundation (CLOUDF). In this post I also said that I felt that the quality of the freely available materials was lacking and suggested people would check out other (paid) learning resources like by example the TrainSignal CompTIA Cloud Essentials training videos because they have a good reputation regarding training videos.
Because I was still curious about the quality of the paid training materials, I decided to contact TrainSignal to see if they were willing to provide me with a review copy. I hoped they would agree, but didn’t have high expectations. To my surprise however, they provided me with a review copy.
In the meanwhile, ITpreneurs contacted me to check out their IT Preneurs Cloud Essentials Course. I really liked that they contacted me, because to me this feels like they’re very passionate too and are continuously trying to improve.
I’ve already completed the IT Preneurs Cloud Essentials Course and will be posting my opinion on this blog very soon. I still have to start reviewing the TrainSignal CompTIA Cloud Essentials training videos, but I’ll try to do this as soon as possible as well.
If you have specific questions regarding one of both learning materials, please leave a comment so I can include it in my reviews.
Tags: certification, certify, CLO-001, Cloud, cloud computing, Cloud Computing foundation, Cloud Essentials, CLOUDF, CompTIA, CompTIA Cloud Essentials, Exin, Exin Cloud Computing Foundation, foundation, ICT, Learning, study
Yesterday I received an e-mail that I was eligable to register for the beta exam:
“71-688 Managing and Maintaining Windows 8”
The beta exam period runs from Oct 17 – Oct 31 and I will personally take the exam next week. It is free for those who received the beta invite. If you didn’t receive the beta invite,you can still register through the prometric website, but it will not be free. If you want to get access to future beta exams, read one of my previous blog posts.
Normally the preparation guide is published on the microsoft learning website, but apparently they’re experiencing a delay. Therefore the preparation guide has now been posted on the born to learn blog:
http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/btl/b/weblog/archive/2012/10/16/where-39-s-the-71-688-prep-guide.aspx
For all people taking the exam, good luck!
Tags: 070-688, 071-688, 70-688, 71-688, Beta, certification, Exam, MCSA, mcsa windows 8, Windows, Windows 8
Cloud computing is getting increasingly important nowadays and I expect it to keep on growing substantially. As most ICT professionals I’ve read a lot about cloud computing and I know some parts of it. To increase (and test) my knowledge about cloud computing, I decided to try and get these certifications:
These exams don’t just focus on the technical aspects of the cloud, but also on the business aspects and what cloud computing could mean for your ITIL processes.
I passed both exams todat with scores of respectively 86% and 80%. But I have to say that I did not like the exams very much. I feel this way because cloud computing is such a broad concept and the “best” solution often depends on many factors, which of course are not provided in the exam. I think these exams would both benefit greatly from using cases/scenarios. It’s a pity I did not see any option to comment on the exam questions either.
If I’d have to choose which certification I found most valueable, I’d go with the Comptia Cloud Essentials certification.
Free study materials I used:
I thought the quality of these study materials were mediocre at best and I have my doubts about the correctness of some of the statements. Especially because cloud computing is defined in many different ways and because the “best” answer often depends on the situation which is not described. But as with everything, you can learn a lot from it by being critical and looking up everything you don’t know YET and/or have doubts about. You will learn more this way, which is far more important than just getting certified. I personally learned a lot especially about specific cloud services. Unfortunately I did not have access to paid materials, otherwise I would have loved to check out the Train Signal CompTIA Cloud Essentials training videos seeing as they have a reputation to provide high quality material.
I will now close with some wise words I read on Seth Godin’s blog post called “Curiosity was framed“:
Curiosity was framed
- Avoid it at your peril. The cat’s not even sick. (HT to C. J. Cherryh)
- If you don’t know how it works, find out.
- If you’re not sure if it will work, try it.
- If it doesn’t make sense, play with it until it does.
- If it’s not broken, break it.
- If it might not be true, find out.
- And most of all, if someone says it is none of your business, prove them wrong.
There are many more great posts on Seth Godin’s blog so be sure to check it out.
Tags: certification, certify, CLO-001, Cloud, cloud computing, Cloud Computing foundation, Cloud Essentials, CLOUDF, CompTIA, CompTIA Cloud Essentials, Curiosity was framed, Exin, Exin Cloud Computing Foundation, foundation, Free, ICT, Learning, Seth Godin, study
Besides getting “MCSA: Windows Server 2012” certified , I also passed my Windows 8 exam “70-687 Configuring Windows 8“.
I’m still waiting for the results of 4 beta exams and hope I can pass them and get these certifications:
To be continued ……
PS: For more information about Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, be welcome to check my “Microsoft Information Flood” post. I’m a bit behind on updates, but it should still prove to be a valuable resource.
Tags: 070-410, 070-411, 070-412, 070-413, 070-414, 070-415, 070-416, 070-687, 071-410, 071-411, 071-412, 071-413, 071-414, 071-415, 071-416, 071-687, Beta, certification, Exam, MCSA, MCSA Windows Server 2012, MCSE Windows Server 2012, Prometric, Windows, Windows 2012, Windows 2012 Server, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012
After desperately checking if my results were in for the beta exams I took, I finally got the great news that I passed the first three beta exams for Windows Server 2012. This means I’m now officially “MCSA: Windows Server 2012” certified.
I’m still waiting for the results of the other 5 beta exams *fingers crossed*, but I couldn’t have wished for a better start 🙂
PS: For more information about Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, be welcome to check my “Microsoft Information Flood” post. I’m a bit behind on updates, but it should still prove to be a valuable resource.
Tags: 070-410, 070-411, 070-412, 070-413, 070-414, 070-415, 070-416, 070-687, 071-410, 071-411, 071-412, 071-413, 071-414, 071-415, 071-416, 071-687, Beta, certification, Exam, MCSA, MCSA Windows Server 2012, MCSE Windows Server 2012, Prometric, Windows, Windows 2012, Windows 2012 Server, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012
When Microsoft creates new (versions of their) software, they also create new exams to become certified. Part of this process includes testing the exams, determining the passing score, getting feedback and improving the exams based on the feedback (deciding which questions to use, removing questions, re-phrasing, etc.). More information can be found here.
To get feedback, Microsoft offers access to these beta exams for free. They do this publicly using by example the born to learn blog or privately using mail to select subject matter experts (SME) based on their profiles on Microsoft Connect. So if you’re interested in taking beta exams, update the information on the Microsoft Connect site to get private invites to the latest beta exams that are relevant to you. More information about the invite procedure can be found on the Born To Learn blog. Also keep in mind that public invites might be limited using a first-come, first served principle so check on a regular basis.
Advantages and disadvantages of taking beta exams:
+ It is free if you received an invite. Nowadays you can also take beta exams if you haven’t had an invite, but then you need to pay for the exam.
+ You have a chance to become one of the first people to become certified for the new software.
+ If you pass a beta exam, you passed it legitimately because there are no answers to download online.
+ Even if you fail the beta exam, you’ve still learned a lot about the new (version of the) software.
– In general there are no books available yet and you have to get all your information from hands-on experience, blogs, technet, websites, etc.
– The time frame you have to prepare for the exams can be (very) limited. For example with the last invites for the Server 2012 beta exams I had only 2 weeks to prepare for multiple exams.
– After you’ve taken a beta exam, it might take 2-3 months before you get the result.
Beta exams I’ve taken recently include those for Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, System Center 2012 and Office 365. I expect the next beta exams to cover mainly Office 15/Office 2013 related products like by example Sharepoint, Exchange, Lync. So if you’re interested in these beta exams be sure to keep a close eye on the beta exams and start working with and learning about the products already.
I hope this was informative and that it well help you and/or your company gain a competitive advantage.
Tags: Beta, certification, certified, certify, Exam, Exchange, Learning, Lync, Microsoft, microsoft learning, Office, Office 365, Sharepoint, sme, subject matter expert, System Center, Windows, Windows 2012, Windows 2012 Server, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012
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