IT training

With RTM in Sight, Look for MS Learning to Gear Up on Win7

Now that the Windows 7 RTM is in plain sight, and should be trickling into lots of hands pretty soon — see my recent Windows Enterprise Desktop blog — expect an onslaught of Windows 7 training materials, exams, labs, and more to start blasting forth from MS Learning. Indeed a quick search there on Windows 7 already turns up lots of interesting stuff including (bulleted items all quoted directly from the preceding search engine results):

• Microsoft Learning: Windows – Training Portal

  Learn how you can train to become an expert on the Windows 7 operating system, the upcoming release that improves security, manageability, performance, and reliability. Also …

  www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/training/windows.aspx

• Windows 7 — Sample Chapters

  Register to download free preview chapters from soon-to-be-published Microsoft Press books about Windows 7.

  www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/offers/windows-7-chapters-thankyou.aspx

• TS: Windows 7, Configuring

  About this Exam Candidates for this exam operate in computing environments that use Microsoft Windows 7 as a desktop operating system in an enterprise environment.

  www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exam.aspx?ID=70-680&locale=en-us

• Windows 7 Training for Developers

  This four-day instructor-led course provides students with the knowledge and skills to develop real-world applications on the Windows 7 operating system, using managed and native …

  www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/course.aspx?ID=50218A&Locale=en-us

• Installing and Configuring Windows 7 Client

  This three-day instructor-led course is intended for IT Professionals who are interested in expanding their knowledge base and technical skills about Windows 7 Client. In this …

  www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/Course.aspx?ID=6292A&Locale=en-us

• First Look: Windows 7 Beta for IT Professionals

  This three hour clinic provides in-depth knowledge for IT Professionals and Technology Decision Makers on the main technical areas of Windows 7: User Productivity, Improved …

  www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/course.aspx?ID=6289A&locale=en-us

• First Look: Windows 7 Beta for IT Professionals Hands-on Lab

  This three hour lab is a companion to the 6289 course and provides hands-on practice with the main technical areas of Windows 7: User Productivity, Improved Security and Control …

  www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/course.aspx?ID=6290A&locale=en-us

I predict there will be lots more to follow, possibly in the next 30 days. For sure, there’ll be more before September is over, and no doubt a full slate will be announced on or before October 22, the Windows 7 general availability (GA) date.

The Lessons of History

I find myself in a very interesting work situation right now. Because of a couple of books I wrote in the mid-90s — those halcyon days when computer books flew off the shelves, and good writing work on relatively advantageous terms was easy to find by today’s standards — I find myself now tasked with reconstructing who built what bits of technology precisely when and how they did it in a period from October 1993 to October 1995. It’s been incredibly interesting and informative, and has caused me to rethink what happened back then as well as I how I conduct business in the here and now. Let me explain…

Lots of IT wit and wisdom emerges from being immersed in the current milieu. Today, for example, this might mean pondering hot topics that “everybody” knows about and lots of people are digging into. If you want a couple of for instances that are pretty right now to illustrate, think about virtualization and Windows 7. Generating plenty of buzz, attracting lots of users, and exciting ample interest from those whose job it is to plot a technology course for the next 12-24 months.

Dealing with this stuff in the here and now is pretty easy. But digging back into the there and then raises questions about how information gets distributed, who did what when, and how all the pieces of common knowledge were used to create workable production technologies upon which business activity could safely rest. What I’m learning is that although lots of people understand how information handling processes and activities work in a loosey-goosey kind of way, only a few really understand in depth how they work in detail, and can go out and build such things.

That’s why I keep coming back to the notion of learning by doing. Intuition and understanding things in general will get you only so far. If you really want to master a subject area, you have to put those faculties to work and build or make something that works. I find this insight as helpful in learning new operating systems (Windows 7) as I find it useful in figuring out what to do with virtualization (creating images of multiple hard disks in a virtual machine requires creating one giant virtual disk, then using partition management software to carve it up into individual drives of the proper size and number) for testing, rapid deployment, or remote clients to use.

Thing about what you can do with what you know, and you’ll get further than if you simply keep packing away interesting and potentially useful bits of knowledge. Only if you put that information to work can you ever know if it’s worth anything, or good for something.

Does IT Certification or Training Make a Difference?

One question that comes up all the time in reader e-mail and interaction, and in my “Ask the Expert” dialogs, is the one that entitles today’s blog. Actually, this has been on a lot of people’s minds lately–as a quick perusal of my earlier postings here and elsewhere will ascertain, and as many other pundits and experts have also opined–and it’s on SearchNetworking’s mind as well. In fact, the editors have asked me to poll my readers for profiles of individuals who have benefited, career-wise, from obtaining an IT certification, or completing some course of IT training (which may or may not have resulted in a degree, a certificate of completion, or some other credential).

To prime the pump, I’ll share a story with you, based on close personal experience. In 1994, I met a young man at a local computer store who seemed knowledgeable and on the ball. I asked him to do some work for me, which he did with enthusiasm and energy, and one thing soon led to another. By 1997, I’d not only hired him full-time but had gotten him started on his MCSE, which he finished in 1998. By the time we quit working together in 2001–I had sold my company, and we’d all gotten trounced in the dot bomb of 2000/2001, and he decided he could do better off on his own–he’d also earned a CISSP, a CEH, and was starting to dig into the SANS certification program with verve and gusto.

He went on to become a full-time classroom instructor, primarily on information security topics. He now makes his living mostly teaching overseas for a company that contacts with the Department of Defense to teach military personnel about information security topics, prepping those folks in uniform to earn their CISSPs. Needless to say, he’s doing extremely well, and has carved out a very comfortable career for himself, wear and tear from a 50-plus-percent travel schedule notwithstanding. I no longer know how much money he makes (nor is it really my business to know any more) but I’m sure that his annual earnings are in the six figure range (and not the very bottom of that range, either). Not bad for somebody in his mid-thirties, eh?

I’m sure there are lots of other stories like this one to share, and I hope you’ll share them with me and SearchNetworking.com. We’d like to review your input to this request and profile a few of the most outstanding responses, both here in my blog and in articles on the SearchNetworking.com site as well. So please drop us an email at Editor@SearchNetworking.com, or post a reply to this blog in the comments, so I can follow up with you. May the best story win, and earn adulation and envy from all your peers!

Microsoft Scores Again with “Elevate America”

With somewhat unusual timing, Microsoft announced on Sunday, February 22, a new job training program called “Elevate America” that aims to proffer technical skills training to lots of Americans (as many as two million according to an annoucement-day news posting on CNET) over the next three years. Readers curious about the program can check it out at www.microsoft.com/elevateamerica (the actual URL is linked to this abbreviated “pseudo-URL” here).

The primary components of this program may be described as follows:

• a phased roll-out, starting in Microsoft’s home base in Washington state, that includes free certification and training, with an emphasis on the unemployed, underemployed, and high-school and college level student populations. According to the CNET story, “Microsoft is working with state and local governments and hopes to offer 1 million vouchers for e-learning and certification classes.”
• An online Website that describes basic skills related to crafting a resume, sending e-mail, and computer literacy training of all kinds. Microsoft will offer this material primarily through local partnerships with non-profits and government agencies at all levels, though some free training is also available online as well (for example Computer Basics, a listing of all basic courses is available on the Course Topics page, and instructor manuals and materials are also available).

What’s not yet clear is how much material will be available online and how much will require interaction with the “Unlimited Potential Community Technology Centers” (CTCs) that Microsoft plans to designate as its local training delivery partners all over the country. Of course, the program is one day old as I write this blog, so there are lots of things left that need to be worked and spelled out in more detail. It’s an interesting and promising start for a program that shows uncommon sensitivity to the current economic situation here in the US, even if it is backed up by a shrewd appreciation that training in specific tools is likely to spur their continued use in the workplace thereafter.

“Elevate America” should be an interesting program to watch, though–and watch it I will!

Not All Training Programs/Institutions Are Created Equal

If you want a real eye-opener about some companies that operate in the post-secondary technical training market, check out Linda Briggs 2004 story: “Federal Probe Targets ITT Tech.” In particular, you must read the comments that accompany the article, where students wax lyrical and profane about their learning experiences. Interestingly, the federal probe cited in this story found no evidence of wrongdoing, and the company’s stock continued to trade in a range from $50 to $70 from mid-2005 until October 2008. It’s still trading at about $42 as I write this story, in fact.

I’m not trying to single out ITT as a “bad actor” in the training industry, particularly for IT subjects; rather, I’d like observe that it’s important for those looking for IT training or degrees to check all aspects of a provider’s posture and reputation–financial, technical, quality of instruction and curriculum, instructor/faculty credentials and ratings, facilities (especially access to state-of-the-art computing labs), and graduate and former attendee ratings and rankings–before signing up for any programs. I’d urge parents (where involved) and prospective students alike to be particularly careful before committing to programs that require students to accept multi-term engagements, either implicitly or explicitly.

One of the posters in the 54 pages of comments (!!!) that the ITT article provoked makes an incredibly telling point: he or she indicated that by attending a local community college, the same coverage and possibly better instruction would have been available at considerably less cost. Throughout my blogs and my career, I have been a big proponent of community college programs, and have taught repeatedly for my local institution, Austin Community College. Not only do community colleges work closely with local employers to build programs to provide qualified workers to fill their ranks, community colleges must also meet local, state, and federal requirements of all kinds just to operate on tax money.  These govern everything from quality of education, to availability of financing and grants, to openness, accountability, and quality. Also, community colleges are more or less transparent to those willing to take the time and expend the effort to research their offerings, graduation rates, instructor and program credentials, student demographics, and so forth.

If the current economic climate has you thinking about a return to school, or actively seeking a training, certification, or degree program of some kind, I urge you to include local community colleges in your search pool, even if you have neither the desire nor the intention to actually attend one. This will still help you to establish a basic benchmark against which other, more expensive programs can be evaluated at a minimum, and may provide you with some valuable training or learning experiences as you take to the classroom. As you evaluate other alternatives keep asking yourself “What value adds does this program offer that a community college does not? How do these value adds justify higher costs?” This is particularly important when evaluating online programs (like those from the University of Phoenix, Cappella University, and yes, even ITT itself) which often seduce students with promises of convenience and easy access, and entice them into expensive, long-term programs that they may come to question later on. Again: I’m not trying to start a witch hunt into distance learning programs, either: I’m just trying to urge some caution and investigation into programs that will involve significant amounts of time, effort, and expense to complete.

As with so much else in life, apply the old and sometimes detestable adage “Do your homework!” before signing up for training, certification, or degree programs–especially those that involve commitments of more than one academic term. Better to make a deeply informed decision than to find oneself saying “It seemed like a good idea at the time” sometime down the road.