OK, as I have been writing of late I am looking into getting my certifications up to date, as we are suppose to be doing it through work, I am a little weary of getting started on the MCSE, I have finished one of the books, and was getting ready to schedule the exam, but there is a possibility that I may be in the next round of training with work, so I decided to hold off on that for the moment.

I have decided then to go for the CCNA instead as in terms of value it probably makes more sense, and is in higher demand. The CCNA can be done in one or two exams depending on your preference. I am going for the one exam approach. I think it makes the most sense and is the most cost effective option. the exam itself is only about $150. That being said one exam and your certified as opposed to the MCSE which is about 7 exams to get your full certification.

I started reading the material on the 26th of January, and my plan is to take the exam by the 24th of February. So roughly a month time frame to get up to speed and prepared for the exam. From the resources I have found the exam itself is between 55-60 questions and there is a 110 minutes to complete the exam. You need to score an 85% or better to have passed.

Now I am not completely new to Cisco, I have worked with them in the past but it has been about 4 years since I have had to work on a router or switch. I did take the course through the Cisco academy about 6 years ago at McGill University in Montreal. I passed the course, but never got around to taking the exam. So in essence it is kind of a refresher, as I probably know most of the stuff just have remember how to do it again.

as part of tools I have gotten I am currently reading the “CCNA : Cisco Certified Network Associate Study Guide (Exam 640-802) , 6th Edition” by Todd Lammle. I am also using Dynamips Cisco Router simulator to practice as it simulates almost exactly the router environment as it uses actual Cisco IOS.
I will keep up my progress and list things I have found along this adventure, hopefully by the end of it I can say I am officially a CCNA? we’ll have to wait and see.

Ok, well I managed to finish off the study book, was a long 14 chapters, 18 if you count the appendices. I have managed to do a couple of practice tests from the CD that goes with the book, and am doing pretty well, about an 89% pass rate each time I do the test. I think I will try and schedule the actual exam around the time I get back from Denmark. I think if I force myself to do it I will be ready to go for it. It is like a lot of the self help and getting things done books and people say, if you give yourself a deadline it will take as long as you give yourself. So if you set a target too far ahead you will only get there when the deadline gets close, and if you never give yourself a deadline it will never get done.

Just finished reading through this book, bought it a couple months ago and started it and kind got side tracked. the Book is basically an extension of the website lifehacker.com. The book itself talks you through 88 Hacks you can do to speed up your computer, or make your life simpler using technology. Very interesting and useful information. I enjoyed it and wish I would have finished it sooner…

I think this is fitting given the recent link to Tim Ferriss and his pilot for his show.

Well I am in the beginning process of going for my MCSE. but at the same time I have always been looking at other ways of making money besides working the usual 40 hour week or more…

A such I came across the book the 4 hour work week, which I had mentioned in a previous post. I like the ideas presented in the book still trying to put some of them in practice. As such I am looking at other avenues to generate some income one of them would be this blog, others I am looking at are online photo stock sites, and investigating a few others right now. Will keep you posted with the outcome of what works and what doesn’t.

One of the other things I have come across in my research over time is also the Bank on yourself concept which is something that intrigued me when I came across it, and there is not that much clear information out there. I will go into more detail on that in a future post as it deserves more dedicated space to that subject.

But at this point as it relates to the Blog, I have already signed up with Google Adsense, and am running a feed through feedburner as well. So far have not seen any monetary results from this but if you have any ideas or suggestions please share them with me?

OK, Listen up everybody, here is a link to the preview of Tim Ferriss new pilot show called trial by fire.

Personally I find it interesting and since I am a fan of his book the 4 hour work week, anyone else might find some interest just to see how this guy thinks. from a purely selfish reason would be nice to win the prize he is offering on his blog site, but on another note I find it a chance to learn how he approaches things and take away as much as possible from that I can use.

all the best to Tim, hope it works out for him, just adds to his fame….

Well If anyone is interested this would be a great time given the current situations in most countries of an economic downturn. if your even thinking about starting your own company, Intuit’s My corporation is offering a free promotion this week till the 5th of December 2008 where you can use their service to set up your corporation or LLC for free, normally $149. I know I will be taking advantage of it and would suggest anyone else, especially if you are thinking for the future to take advantage of this opportunity.

please find the link Below:
Form a Free Corporation or Free LLC
MyCorporation.com, the leader in online incorporation, is offering its filing services free of charge when you form a corporation or limited liability company at their website between December 1 – 5, 2008. Now that’s economic stimulus! Bookmark this web site so you won’t miss out.

Ok, So I have been trying to get on this track to get going with my Certification, I picked up the set of books about 2 weeks ago. And brough 1 along with me during my trip to Tulsa. I didn’t even manage to crack it open once during the 2 weeks.

So I am now back home and it is now the second week home, I have managed to get through 2 chapters so far. well not completely through but I am at 2-30 in the book. I am hoping to try and manage at least 1 exam each month but that might be hard with travel for work. But that is my goal for now lets see if I can keep on track to do it or not. will keep this updated with my progress.

I read this book a little over 6 months ago, it is quite interesting. I kind of stumbled upon after reading a few blogs and finding the book mentioned several times. I then found the website and blog associated with it The blog of Author Tim Ferris. It has an interesting perspective, you have to give the author credit as he has managed to generate quite a bit of buzz for the book, and has managed to get around as result, if you follow the blog at all you can see what I mean as he has traveled quite a bit as part of the promotion of the book in different countries.

I did enjoy the book, and I am trying to take away as much as possible from it. One of the themes that is repeated throughout and is a staple of his setup is to have a business that sells a product that you can almost run on autopilot. Which is something I can agree with, if you can have a revenue stream that doesn’t need you to make it work, that is the way to go! with that in mind you can achieve a lot of the things that he mentions, but probably the hardest part is finding that product or system that works. I know I am still working with it.

Once you can manage that part the rest of it is quite simple to start to put into motion. I have managed to get some of the steps working, but can’t go into too much details yet.

This is a book I picked up on my trip to Tulsa. I started reading it as it was referenced in a couple of other blogs i have read such as GET RICH SLOWLY. One of the things that interested me was the reference to the true cost of things and how much you really make per hour.

So as I mentioned earlier I am in the process of pursueing the MCSE 2003 Certification. I had previously Completed the training for the MCSE on NT 4.0 but never finished all the exams. partly because I had already started to work in the field and found that at that time the certification helped but experience counted for more. I had also completed the training for the CCNA course back in 2003 but that too I did not have time to take the exams as a result of my work schedule. In My current position, the management goal is to have our whole team (approx 10) people trained and certified on MCSE 2003, CCNA, and ORACLE DBA by the end of next year. The schedule is quite aggresive but the plan would be to attend 2 week bootcamps for each of these certifications. unfortunately one of the drawbacks is that the company would like us to sign an agreement to the effect that we wont leave after getting the training, or else there will be a financial penalty. With that in mind, hence I am starting to pursue the training on my own, I have usually managed to read the books and do the practice exams and that usually prepares me enough to take the microsoft test. Hopefully that will still be the case