• Articles and Books,  Business,  certifications,  Consulting,  iPhone,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment

    MacTech Bootcamps Coming To A City Near You!

    April 12, 2011

    I’ve been watching the MacTech Conference and then Boot Camps for some time. After hearing of the resounding success of the Conference last summer I was then stoked to hear that the January Boot Camp went extremely well. A MacTech Boot Camp is a regional, single-track seminar designed specifically for consultants and techs. MacTech Conference is a multi-day conference for IT professionals with a focus on enterprise and development whereas the Boot Camps are for consultants and techs focused on home users and small to medium sized businesses. Both are going really well. https://krypted.com/ is now a media sponsor of MacTech Boot Camps! This means I get discounts to offer my…

    Read More
  • certifications,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment

    Snow Leopard Certifications

    August 31, 2009

    Apple has released the Snow Leopard certification information and site. To make a long story short, for those who are ACSA inclined, you basically have the Apple Certified Support Professional, which is just one exam based on the Snow 101 course. You then have the Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC), which is the Support Essentials Exam along with the Server Essentials Exam, based on the Snow 201 course. Now for where the changes come into play. First and foremost security has returned, although it’s been lumped in with mobility, likely to focus the syllabus on settings through managed client (ie – automated FileVaulting). Therefore, I guess the SANS course will…

    Read More
  • certifications,  VMware

    VMware vExpert 2009

    February 25, 2009

    So the nominations were in, VMware did their thing, and John Troyer sent me an email to let me know that I’m one of the recipients of the vExpert Award for 2009 – so if you were thinking you might get a vExpert Award check your mail! I don’t know whether the white paper I did for Fusion Mass Deployment or the posts that I’ve put up here and the TechJournal really mean I deserve it but thanks to whomever nominated me. Speaking of nominations – there are much more deserving people with thousands of responses to community posts and code/script contributions and all kinds of fun things out there.…

    Read More
  • certifications,  Final Cut Server

    Final Cut Server Exam

    February 12, 2009

    I finally got around to taking that Final Cut Server exam this week.  It was pretty straight forward.  I think there is definitely a methodology to writing exams.  I wrote a few for Brainbench and because their structure was extremely laid out really got to learn a lot about the methodology to writing questions. I liked the fact that Apple is adding more and more questions where you click on the appropriate item on a screenshot, I look forward to scenario simulations. Microsoft exams mostly require you to get at least one simulator correct in order to pass the exam, some vendors have gone to simulation-only, but the closest Apple…

    Read More
  • certifications

    Certification Exams

    January 8, 2009

    When getting ready for your certifications, it helps to know how prepared you are. Basically, there are two fairly basic ways to evaluate readiness. The first (and one of the most practical) is to do lots of exam simulation questions when possible to get comfortable with the testing format. Now, don’t go too far with this and cheat. Remember that for nearly every exam offered by nearly every vendor out there, buying a brain dump is considered cheating. Many of the organizations offering exams will plant incorrect answers into material to attempt to find people who study to the brain dumps. If you get caught doing so you will likely…

    Read More
  • certifications

    The Economy and IT

    October 4, 2008

    Companies simply cannot live without IT.  If a company is going to cut existing staff then they aren’t going to cut the staff that’s actually keeping their systems up and running, nor are they going to cut employees that are creating value.  But if these be uncertain times then consider beefing up your skills and certifications in a manner that aligns with your job (or a job you want if you’re not happy where you are).  Essentially, if you are internal IT this will help to make you outsource-proof and if you’re a consultant it will help you to broaden your scope.  More than half of the CIO’s are cutting…

    Read More
  • certifications

    PMP ya' you know me

    June 19, 2008

    So I started doing this whole PMP thing.  I got my hours out of the way and I’m now studying for the test.  I have to give it to them they’ve made a pretty worthwhile course.  It’s like sociology for project management.  I’ve learned a lot.  Mostly about the terminology to assign to things that are otherwise common sense.  Good stuff, would recommend it to anyone that has projects they work on, manage, etc.

    Read More
  • Business,  certifications,  Consulting

    Microsoft Gold Partner

    March 1, 2008

    Getting to be a Microsoft Gold Partner is like learning to program in some languages.  I think there’s a distinct possibility that those who manage the partner program are those who developed FoxPro.  When Microsoft bought FoxPro methinks they just moved the people over to a new department…

    Read More