what route should I take

knowlesy · 8 Oct 2010 at 13:25

So my boss brings the "technical team" into the meeting room the other day and says tell me what you want to learn and Ill sort the training for you...

Two of us say CCNA (we already have one ccna / networking fellow, he is also our vmware man) but none the less I would like to do it as a personal achievement and either way I will be doing it in my own time either now or later.

And then I was at a loss, didn't know what else to say or ask for ?

Now when I was signed onto this job I was told I would follow my boss and be his "apprentice" so to speak as he is the "goto" guy for the Microsoft products we sell and install manage etc. and obviously he gets tied down a lot the idea is that I take away this burden, via going on an exchange 2010 course which I will be.

But apart from this are their any suggestions to which courses should I partake in to further my career to be an IT consultant, in areas that are "hot" so to speak to keep me in the game and in the cash

?

I was thinking getting a Security+ certification ? I am already a VTSP and have a couple Microsoft certifications but any suggestions Id be grateful for. Thanks

Amnesia · 8 Oct 2010 at 13:38

masseuse

Sp00n · 8 Oct 2010 at 13:39

Amnesia said:
i talk rubbish 99.99% of the time

I think vmware is a good direction to go in, so maybe a VSP?

Pestilence · 8 Oct 2010 at 13:41

VMWare.

a1ex2001 · 8 Oct 2010 at 14:12

Pestilence said:
VMWare.

Virtualisation is great stuff to have at the moment as is a lot of thin client stuff like Citrix as we seem to be moving back towards a centralised IT setup from the distributed systems we've all been using.

Personally I'd give Hyper-V some serious consideration as it is going to eat massively into VMWare's market share in comming years.

knowlesy · 8 Oct 2010 at 14:26

a1ex2001 said:
Virtualisation is great stuff to have at the moment as is a lot of thin client stuff like Citrix as we seem to be moving back towards a centralised IT setup from the distributed systems we've all been using.

Personally I'd give Hyper-V some serious consideration as it is going to eat massively into VMWare's market share in comming years.

oh agreed about hyper v, bundle that with scom & dpm and you have a winner, not only being able to start and move apps or sevices is just freaking awesome (from what Ive read) but I do like DPM and I have messed around with hyper v so I might ask to do that...

any other smaller courses that could help me "spread my wings" make a slight difference ?

so Ive pulled up this list I doubt Id get the ethical hacking one, but at the minute we outsource that so it might save some money doing it in house either way I doubt Id get lol but he did just ask

;

10135A - Configuring, Managing and Troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange Server 2010
10231 - Designing a Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Infrastructure
6331 - Deploying and Managing System Center Virtual Machine Manager
6422A - Implementing and Managing Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V
6451 - Planning, Deploying and Managing a Microsoft Systems Centre Configuration Manager 2007
Vmware VSP ?
CEHV6 - Certified Ethical Hacker V6
CompTIA A+
CCENT

Sp00n · 8 Oct 2010 at 14:30

Juniper (JunOS) would be a pretty good shout

Pestilence · 8 Oct 2010 at 14:35

I can definitely see Hyper-V knocking into VMWare's market share quite a bit; but it'll take a bit of work for it to get past the corporate mindset, really. I think most project managers will just jump at the "good ol'" VMWare rather than the alternative.

Still, I for one will be having a closer look at it!

mogwai · 8 Oct 2010 at 14:40

Depending on what areas your company operates in Sharepoint seem to be quite hot at the moment.

a1ex2001 · 8 Oct 2010 at 14:44

knowlesy said:
oh agreed about hyper v, bundle that with scom & dpm and you have a winner, not only being able to start and move apps or sevices is just freaking awesome (from what Ive read) but I do like DPM and I have messed around with hyper v so I might ask to do that...

any other smaller courses that could help me "spread my wings" make a slight difference ?

SCOM I had forgotten about it is certainly a good call, the comapany I work for have had vaccancies for SCOM/MOM people for over two years as recruiting anyone with a half decent skill set is too expensive!

Pestilence said:
I can definitely see Hyper-V knocking into VMWare's market share quite a bit; but it'll take a bit of work for it to get past the corporate mindset, really. I think most project managers will just jump at the "good ol'" VMWare rather than the alternative.

Still, I for one will be having a closer look at it!

It's the costs that will convince the project owners to go with Hyper-V rather than VMWare and just for the record a PM should have nothing to do with such decisions they are for an architect and a finance manager to debate.

randomshenans · 8 Oct 2010 at 14:47

I like VMWare much more than Hyper V but I do think that it will catch up, it will take a bit though.

Saying that Virtual security is going to be something that will be niche and in demand I feel as this is something that hasn't been as looked in to as a lot of things. We virtualise a lot, but with little consideration on the security implications behind it. Have a read about it...

http://www.firebrandtraining.co.uk/courses/vmware-training/vmware-hacking-uncovered