 |
 |
| HOME | EXAM DETAILS | FREE TESTS | STUDY GUIDES | WHITE PAPERS | ARTICLES | BOOKS & TRAINING | FORUMS | CAREER & JOBS |
|
|
|
|
AUI Online Earn your degree online fast, from AIU Online. No school makes it more convenient (or more rewarding) to earn a degree in Information Technology than AIU Online. The AIU online degree program is designed so you can study when it’s most convenient for you. More info
Pretty slow on the certification news front at the moment, however, there is a lot going on with our site right now. Here's what's new with us: Contribute: We have added a new link to the forums menu titled Help Us. If you like this site and have been helped by us, we would greatly appreciate it if you would return the favor. There are some very easy ways to help us, some of which actually benefit you - all of which help keep our site free and allow us to develop new materials. Thanks in advance for your contributions. New Resource Pages: We have added a new resource page for Microsoft's 70-290 exam. You can access the new page here. We have also updated our Linux+ and Server+ resource pages for the newest releases. Our Linux+ practice exam will be completed soon and we still need to updated the books section in the training directory for both of these exams. Training Directory Update: We have added a bunch of new links and information about Online Degree Programs and Technical Schools & Colleges to our Training Directory. If you are considering an online or traditional degree, these sections will give you some very good options to consider. Coming Soon: We have a ton of new materials in development right now, some of which are almost done. Here is what is coming: Microsoft practice exams for 70-290, 70-294, and 70-284. Cisco Practice exams for 642-801 BSCI, 642-811 BCMSN, 642-821 BCRAN, and 642-831 CIT. CompTIA practice exam for Linux+. Study Guide for Microsoft 70-293. As you can see there is a ton of stuff coming, so stay tuned.
In an email sent to instructors, Cisco revealed that the CCSP exams (PIX, SECUR and IDS) will be updated this year. No dates have been announced. We will provide more information as it becomes available.
Ah, the technical interview. Nothing like it. Not only does it cause anxiety, but it causes anxiety for several different reasons. How many people will be asking questions? From experience I can tell you there’s nothing like walking into a room and seeing nine people on the other side of the table. Second, what will you be asked? You’ll sometimes hear people say the questions they were asked in a technical interview were “easy”, which translated means “they asked me stuff I happened to know”. Sometimes you’ll hear people say the questions were “hard”, which translated means “they asked me stuff I didn’t know”, or “they asked me about stuff I’ve never even heard of”. Having been on both sides of the technical interview table, I’d like to share some tips for those being interviewed. In doing so, I’ll share some of the more memorable interviews I’ve been involved in. No good interviewer expects you to know everything. The problem is, you’re not always going to be interviewed by someone who’s good at it. Sometimes, the person who’s giving you a technical interview was asked to do it about ten minutes before you showed up. Maybe they’ve never interviewed anyone before, or maybe they’re just in a bad mood. I’ve heard of technical interviewers where the interviewer derided an answer, and that’s totally unprofessional. I’ve had many a job candidate give a bad answer to a question, and my only response was silence followed by moving on to the next question. If your interviewer mocks any of your answers, you didn’t want to work there anyway. None of us know everything. If you’re asked a question you just don’t know the answer to, don’t try to BS your way past it. This is a good opportunity to tell the interviewer how you would research that particular question. It’s not about knowing everything, it’s about being able to find things. If your interviewer acts like he/she already dislikes you, that’s because they do. I once worked with a technician who felt threatened by anyone who applied for a job there, but especially if the applicant had a professional certification and then had the nerve to know what they were doing. This technician participated in a group technical interview where the applicant was an incredibly bright guy, and had a particular skill that the department really needed. Problem was, the technician considered himself “the man” when it came to that skill. Recipe for disaster, right? The applicant fielded four questions from the rest of us flawlessly, then faced this particular tech for a question. The threatened tech had a list of questions for the interview, but decided to ad lib. Big mistake. He asked a convoluted question that Rube Goldberg would have been proud of. When he was done, the applicant answered: “You can’t do what you just described.” The tech started defending his question, and it became obvious that he hadn’t been able to follow his own question! The interview went into a bit of a meltdown from there. Realize right now that there are some unprofessional people out there giving technical interviews. Be prepared for it, but remain professional yourself. Be prepared for a practical technical interview. The best technical interviewers find a way to get you in front of the technology you’ll be working with. A great way to quickly find out whether you know what you’re talking about is to ask you to actually perform common and perhaps some not-so-common tasks. We can talk about technology and take all the computer-based exams we want, but it all comes down to performance. Be prepared to prove you belong on your interview day. Be professional. This covers a lot of ground, so let me make a quick list for you. Show up 15 minutes early. Nothing makes a technical interviewer more surly than waiting for the applicant. Dress for success. The way you look when you walk into a room leads to your interviewer’s first impression of you. Don’t chew gum during the interview. Don’t be arrogant. Look, there’s nothing wrong with having an ego and acting confident. I do, and you should. But don’t come into the interview room acting like you’re too good to be there. Finally, relax. Easy to say, hard to do? Not really. Realize that the majority of interviewers you’ll ever meet are going to be professional about the entire thing. The world’s not going to end if you miss a question. If you were not qualified on paper for the job, you wouldn’t be in there. Do not look upon the interview as something negative. Rather, look at it as an opportunity to prove you know what you’re talking about. With the proper mental attitude, your technical interview will be a springboard to the next step in your career! More certification and career articles
Our forums currently have over 49,090 members and 37,396 posts. Here are some of the most popular posts from the last 2 weeks.
The following posts still need help. Be the first to answer.
Below is our next set of useful links. If you would like to nominate a site, please post it here. Viruses - A pretty comprehensive list. LinuxExposed - A good Linux security site. AntiPhishing - Tons of information and resources about phishing. Snort - Intrusion detection system. Cain & Able - Password Recovery Tool. |
|
|