Tag Archives: certification

You can call me a PMP now.

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No, there isn’t an “I” missing from that, though that is usually the first thing everyone thinks of when they see “PMP.” It stands for Project Management Professional, and is my latest certification triumph.

Out of all the certifications I have earned so far, this one I am perhaps the most proud of. It is a globally recognized certification that says not only do I know a little about project management, but I also have the experience to back it up.

The test itself was hard… it took me two hours out of an allotted four. While I nearly fell asleep during the test, I still did pretty well. Though maybe the hardest part was the actual application to take the test in the first place. Without a degree, I had to prove that I had at least 7,500 hours in project management as well as 35 hours of project management education. While I was able to best both requirements, you have to do a total hour breakdown in each of the project management knowledge areas. To top it off, there is a chance that your application could be audited at any time, which means your hours need to be spot on. You wouldn’t want PMI to come back and strip you of your qualification after all the time and money you put into something like this.

Now, I just have to keep this certification maintained. :)

End of class, another certification, and new classes

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In what feels like forever ago, my 2nd semester ended on Dec. 16. The semester consisted of ASP.net I & II, XML Web Services, and SQL. The XML class was interesting as it was the first time that I had actually played with XSLT. The rest I had done before, so it was another easy semester which ended with a 4.0 GPA.

In November I successfully completed the two required exams to earn the Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.0 Developer. And continuing along, I’m in the process of studying for the companion, Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.0 Database Administrator exams. I have already passed one, and hope to take the next exam in the coming week. After that, I will most likely move on to the Oracle 10g Database certifications.

On Monday, Jan. 3rd, I began my third and final semester for the Associate’s Degree program. The next four months will consist of Java, Visual C#, and Visual Basic .NET. If those 15 credit hours weren’t enough, I’m taking 8 additional hours (23 credit hours total) of general education. Yup, it’s going to be a busy, busy semester.

Why the extra hours? The 8 hours that I am taking will allow me to skip a complete semester in the Bachelor’s program. By the time I earn my Bachelor’s degree, I will have skipped two entire semesters… that’s eight months of less school, or to put it another way I will have my 4 year degree in 2 years.

Added another CompTIA certification, all plussed out now

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On Monday I passed what should be my final CompTIA certification test for a long time. If you’ve been following any of my previous posts, you can probably guess that it was the Server+ certification this time around. It’s a fairly easy test, assuming you have any of the other relevant CompTIA certifcations (A+, Security+, Network+). The test I took was the 2009 version, the 2005 version is also still available. This provided a bit of a challenge, as the only study material I could find for the Server+ test was related to the 2005 version. Not sure why there was no material available. Oh well…

The Linux+ certification is three-in-one

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I wanted to make a separate post today to talk a moment about the CompTIA Linux+ certification. I found out this morning that successfully passing the Linux+ certification qualifies for not one, not two, but THREE certifications.

Of course, by passing the two tests you earn the Linux+ certification. As I mentioned last month, the new test was developed in a partnership with the Linux Professional Institute (LPI), which therefore grants you the Junior Level Linux Professional (LPIC-1) Certification.

What I did not know, until this morning was, LPI has in turn partnered with Novell. With the LPIC-1 certification, you can fill out a form on Novell’s website and earn the Novell Certified Linux Administrator (CLA).

You and your employer may have never heard of the Linux Professional Institute, but everyone knows Novell and CompTIA. Having those two on your resume is a nice touch and a third certification makes it look even better. The fact that you only have to pay for 2 exams simply kicks ass.

For more information, read the info at the LPI website.

Oops, I did it again.

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Oops, I did it again. This morning I passed the CompTIA Security+ exam with flying colors. That marks three CompTIA certifications I’ve earned in about 2 months.

The Security+ exam was probably one of the easiest certification tests I have taken in a long, long time. The content from the certification is from 2007-2008 so it is not really anything new or complex. Additionally, it has a lot of repeat content from the Linux+ and Network+ certifications that I passed last month.

The good news, by passing the certification today I’ve earned the lifetime credential. Anyone that takes the certification after Jan. 1, 2011 will have to renew every three years under a new “continuing education” policy. Blah!

Just to wrap things up, I am considering CompTIA’s Server+ certification which should pretty much tie everything else together before I head on to the “real” certifications that really apply to my day-to-day job duties. Certifications such as Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle 9i/10g Database, Oracle MySQL Database and the Zend PHP Architect.

If anyone is considering the Security+ certification I’d suggest checking out the book CompTIA Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0-201 Study Guide. It was suggested to me by my friend Alan Matson from OCC. We both used the book as a study guide for the certification, so it can’t be too bad could it?