bigsurpowerdown.org

IT Certifications are still valuable in areas where there is a lack of talent. If you have the right IT Certifications and some experience, you’ll have an edge on the competition.

It’s widely known that jobs regarding Information Technology (IT) are a popular choice both among college students and people looking to switch careers because of the availability of jobs in this field and the technology hype of today’s age. However, many employers are looking for certain program certifications in the applicant’s resume become looking further for an interview. One such certification is the Microsoft Certified Professional (MCF), which includes six different types of specific certification like technology specialist, professional, IT professional, system administrator, database administrator, and engineer. One who is interested in getting certified for any of them must go through IT training first and then take a vigorous qualification test.

Two of the most popular tests among the six are the Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) and the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) tests. Some call them the best known and most useful tests, and various preparations are needed if you’re interested in taking them.Taking the Microsoft certification exams can be a very stressful event because so much is riding on passing the exams. However, there are a lot of ways to prepare for Microsoft Certifications that will help you become knowledgeable and take the exam with confidence. There are MCSE training videos, MCSE braindumps, and MCSE boot camps that are all very helpful in providing information that will help you prepare for certification. Another great way to see if the MCSE bootcamp and other preparations help you out is to simply take some practice tests. When you do you will have a good idea where you stand as far as information you know and what you need to learn. The different training videos, braindumps, and boot camps are all wonderful at preparing you to take your Microsoft Certification exams.

You can find MCSE boot camps  both online and in-person training, and it costs several thousands dollar. Many employers will cover the cost of this class if you stay with the company for a while after you improve yourself. If you want a less structured and less expensive method preparing for the MCSE test, computer training videos are another great way to do it. They usually cost several hundreds dollars for a set of CDs and books and you can watch them whenever you have the time. This way is perfect for anyone who already has a job and cannot afford to take time off that job to train for another career.

The MCSE test itself is split into two types: Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003. Each of the two types requires different tests, and it’s either five or six tests. Usually, the tests consist of multiple choice questions and solution building questions.

Regardless which method of preparing for the MCSE exam you choose either the Microsoft certification boot camp or by videos, both have proven to be successful if the participants pay attention and study hard. It’s important to choose by the amount you can afford to spend, how much free time you have to do it, and which method you generally prefer. After doing the research, pick what the best way is for you and get started!

Originally posted 2009-11-11 13:13:09.

The rage of followers
As part of the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs, Lanre Akinsiku is one of 12 Southern California fellows engaged in a graduate-level leadership training program.

Read more on Washington Post

Tech grant helps Houston School students prepare
A grant from South Plains Tech Prep is helping Houston High School students in Pam Kennedy’s Business Computer Information Systems classes prepare for their futures.

Read more on Plainview Daily Herald

There’s alot more than just studying hard that you can do as a college or university student, that will help when it comes to getting the best job or career after graduation. We take a look at the top 20, from playing a team sport to learning to give a compliment.

1. Get out of the library. “You can have a degree and a huge GPA and not be ready for the workplace. A student should plan that college is four years of experience rather than 120 credits,” says William Coplin, professor at Syracuse University and author of the book, “10 Things Employers Want You to Learn in College.”

2. Start a business in your dorm room. It’s cheap, Google and Yahoo are dying to buy your website, and it’s better than washing dishes in the cafeteria. Note to those who play poker online until 4 a.m.: Gambling isn’t a business. It’s an addiction.

3. Don’t take on debt that is too limiting. This is not a reference to online gambling, although it could be. This is about choosing a state school over a pricey private school. Almost everyone agrees you can get a great education at an inexpensive school. So in many cases the debt from a private school is more career-limiting than the lack of brand name on your diploma.

4. Get involved on campus. When it comes to career success, emotional intelligence—social skills to read and lead others—get you farther than knowledge or job competence, according to Tiziana Casciaro, professor at Harvard Business School. Julie Albert, a junior at Brandeis University, is the director of her a capella group and head of orientation this year. She hones her leadership skills outside the classroom, which is exactly where to do it.

5. Avoid grad school in the liberal arts. One in five English Phd’s find stable university jobs, and the degree won’t help outside the university: “Schooling only gives you the capacity to stand behind a cash register,” says Thomas Benton, a columnist at the Chronicle of Higher Education (who has an English degree from Yale and a tenure-track teaching job.)

6. Skip the law-school track. Lawyers are the most depressed of all professionals. Stress itself does not make a job bad, says Alan Kreuger, economist at Princeton University. Not having control over one’s work does make a bad job, though, and lawyers are always acting on behalf of someone else. Suicide is among the leading causes of premature death among lawyers.

7. Play a sport. People who play sports earn more money than couch potatoes, and women executives who played sports attribute much of their career success to their athletic experience, says Jennifer Cripsen of Sweet Briar College in Virginia. You don’t need to be great at sports, you just need to be part of a team.Continued…

8. Separate your expectations from those of your parents. “Otherwise you wake up and realize you’re not living your own life,” says Alexandra Robbins, author of the popular new book “The Overachievers.” (Note to parents: If you cringe as you read this list, then you need to read this book.)

9. Try new things that you’re not good at. “Ditch the superstar mentality that if you don’t reach the top, president, A+, editor in chief, then the efforts were worthless. It’s important to learn to enjoy things without getting recognition,” says Robbins.

10. Define success for yourself. “Society defines success very narrowly. Rather than defining success as financial gain or accolades, define it in terms of individual interests and personal happiness,” says Robbins.

11. Make your job search a priority. Jobs do not fall in your lap, you have to chase them. Especially a good one. It’s a job to look for a job. Use spreadsheets to track your progress. And plan early. Goldman Sachs, for example, starts its information sessions in September.

12. Take a course in happiness. Happiness study is revolutionizing how we think of psychology, economics, and sociology. How to be happy is a science that 150 schools teach. Preview: Learn to be more optimistic. This class will show you how.

13. Take an acting course. The best actors are actually being their most authentic selves, says Lindy Amos of communications coaching firm TAI Resources. Amos teaches executives to communicate authentically so that people will listen and feel connected. You need to learn to do this, too, and you may as well start in college.

14. Learn to give a compliment. The best compliments are specific, so “good job” is not good, writes Lisa Laskow Lahey, psychologist at Harvard and co-author of “How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work.” Practice on your professors. If you give a good compliment the recipient will think you’re smarter: Big payoff in college, but bigger payoff in the work world.

15. Use the career center. These people are experts at positioning you in the workforce and their only job is to get you a job. How can you not love this place? If you find yourself thinking the people at your college’s career center are idiots, it’s probably a sign that you really, really don’t know what you’re doing.

16. Develop a strong sense of self by dissing colleges that reject you. Happy people have “a more durable sense of self and aren’t as buffeted by outside events,” writes Sonja Lyubomirsky of the University of California-Riverside. When bad things happen, don’t take it personally. This is how the most successful business people bounce back quickly from setback.

17. Apply to Harvard as a transfer student. Sure people have wild success after going to an Ivy League school but this success is no more grand than that of the people who applied and got rejected. All people who apply to Ivy League schools seem to have similar high self-confidence and ambition, even if they don’t get in, according to a study by Kreuger.

18. Get rid of your perfectionist streak. It is rewarded in college, but it leads to insane job stress and an inability to feel satisfied with your work. And for all of you still stuck on number 6, about ditching the law school applications: The Utah Bar Journal says that lawyers are disproportionately perfectionists.

19. Work your way though college. Getting involved in student organizations counts, and so does feeding children in Sierra Leone or sweeping floors in the chemistry building. Each experience you have can grow into something bigger. Albert was an orientation leader last year, and she turned that experience into a full-time summer job that morphed into a position managing 130 orientation leaders. A great bullet on the resume for a junior in college.

20. Make to do lists. You can’t achieve dreams if you don’t have a plan to get there.

Provided by The Student Zone