Randy Muller's blog

If I think of all the trainers and training subjects, Applications Trainers deserve the most respect. Technical Trainers (your garden variety MCTs etc) have it easy in many ways when compared to the Applications Trainers! They certainly deserve more respect than they probably receive. When teaching a five-day technical class you have more flexibility in class management than when you are teaching a one-day class. Application Instructors have little flexibility with their class schedule.

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Instructor Evaluations? 

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Many professions require you to pass some sort of a qualification or certification test to enter your chosen field – whether it be the Bar exam, or exams to earn your Masters or PhD. So why is there such contention in the IT community concerning certifications?  Again, there will be those will proclaim loudly that a certification exam is not needed nor required in IT Community

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The Certification Battle Rages On

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There are usually many methods that an instructor can use to effectively deliver a class – and also some methods an instructor simply cannot use to deliver a class. Usually the choice is rather self evident – but there are those who are so oblivious, they chose the worst method possible to teach a class.

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And now for some completely different….or is that you must get us a shrubbery?

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It is almost upon us – a New Year!  It is a new year fraught with much turmoil throughout the world and within the IT field.  There are certain to be many changes this year in the IT arena – with the economy in disarray and with many businesses either going under or cutting costs dramatically, there are certain to be ramifications for us.  All we can do is better position ourselves to react to a rapidly changing IT world.  I am going to make this a multi-p

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It is almost upon us – a New Year!  It is a new year fraught with much turmoil throughout the world and within the IT field.  There are certain to be many changes this year in the IT arena – with the economy in disarray and with many businesses either going under or cutting costs dramatically, there are certain to be ramifications for us.  All we can do is better position ourselves to react to a rapidly changing IT world.  I am going to make this a multi-p

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What are the best IT certifications to earn and/or maintain?  There are so many certifications these days each with their own devoted set of certification holders proclaiming the importance of this particular certification.  While there are a large number of certification vendors and certifications, there are some that immediately come to mind for most IT folks. 

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So you want to become a Microsft Certifed MasterOne of Microsoft’s newest certifications, the Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) has generated some confusion about its purpose, scope and place within the certification hierarchy.  This is understandable given the fact that it is a new certification and has very different requirements from the traditional MCITP, MCTS and even the MCSE.

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Remember awhile back when I suggested that IT Pros should recertify their certifications (or should be required) to renew their certifications?  Seems that one should be careful what one posts in ones blogs......in this case the chickens (or certifications?) have come home to roost!  I was recently asked to recertify one of my CompTIA certifications.

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It's the wave of the future - it's new AND improved - be the first in your neighborhood to go..VIRTUAL (and no, this is not about that on-line game where your doppelganger resides wither).  Virtualization is the wave of the future and for a variety of reasons.  You can virtualize a number of physical servers into a single physical server. Fewer physical boxes running reduces the amount of energy consumed as well as reducing the amount of cooling needed.

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So there I was teaching a security class not so long ago with a group of interesting students.  This started out as your average, everyday class, a few quiet students a few not so quiet students with the bulk of the students somewhere in the middle.  What made this class so interesting was the direct application of so many issues of security in such a small setting.  Normally you get some feedback and some examples from their own environment - but this was different.

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Just as society and the people within a society evolve, so does the IT field- I know, a truly remarkable observation - bear with me for a few though as I expand upon this theme.  As anyone who has been in the IT field any length of time is more than aware, our environments can change rapidly based on new technologies, new concepts and even new legal requirements.  The same holds true with IT certifications as well.  Certifications must evolve to meet these new demands placed upon the IT field to remain relevant.

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At what point do you say to yourself have been an instructor too long?  Are there peculiar portents visible only to trainers that tell them they have been behind the podium too long?  If you get a second generation student -then yes, you have been an IT Instructor too long! I haven't had that happen to me - yet.  But there are other signs out there that clue you in to the "you-have-been-a-trainer-for-too-long syndrome".

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All of you remember the first certification test you ever took - the fear and trepidation that went with taking that first test.  Not knowing what was going to be asked or even knowing HOW it was going to be asked.  Taking your first certification test can be quite the harrowing experience.  I know it was for me and I had been in the industry a number of years before taking my first certification test.

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The same group of students I had a few weeks ago asked this very question.  This subject came up when talking about the certification test that was applicable to the class.  There was quite a lively debate on this subject and much of it was generated from students whose employers would not pay for the certification test (these comments came from students in both government and private industry). 

The students whose companies were going to pay for the certification test were not nearly as contentious a bunch as the students whose companies or agencies would not pay for the test.  The arg

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I had another interesting certification question the other day - a student asked me what he could do to persuade his manager to pay for more training classes and tests.  This is a subject that is going to be brought often as the economy slows down and costs need to be trimmed.  Unlike the dot com crises 7-8 years ago - the IT field is actually looking ok - for right now!  But the problem at hand is how to persuade this recalcitrant manager that training is a worthwhile investment for not only this student, but for the other IT personnel in the company?

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I stated in an earlier blog that I would cover certifications and exams from other areas besides just the IT Pro side.  There are a number of other certification tracks and exams (and more on the way as well!) besides the in addition to the Windows Operating System certifications and exams.  The first series I am going to cover is the Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA) on SQL 2000 (in later blogs I will cover the newer releases of SQL).

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I had this discussion with a student recently - well - many students actually.

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