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I have finished up a 4 year degree in Information Technology and Security and have am working on my long term goals and reviewing things. VMWare certifications have been on my mind for a while and I would be very interested in pursuing these but I’m not familiar at all with what they offer and what they require. I my thoughts are that network infrastructure itself will become more virtualized and being a part of that will reap benefits. So I am looking for some VMWare specific guidance and notes on certification from them as far as where to start. I have deployed VMWare Essentials in my environment and have 2 hosts that I moved to from SBS 2003 so I am familiar with the platform. Security and Pentesting was my original goal but that has broadened to include virtualization because it is a large part of security as well. Any advice general and specific is much appreciated.

Jeff

@VMware

9 Spice ups
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A degree and certs are good - but I would give preference to a person who has real world experience - regardless of their academic background.

Everything is heading back to the Datacentre - VM Certs are a sound choice, but so are Hyper-V & XEN.

If you want to be a tech then going with certs is a good way of getting noticed. Build on your experience - purchase some old servers - Server Monkey - and download the free version of ESX & some trials of Windows Server as well as some Linux.

I think most of us on here has some sort of home lab we use as a sandbox to sharpen our craft.

6 Spice ups
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Also - sign up to some of the online presentations they offer - you will understand what the products can do from a sales perspective and then that will make the tech in you want to play.

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start with this: VMware Certification

it’s not really technical but it gives you an idea of what’s possible with VMware - if you do the exam or not that’s up to you but at least you get free training material from VMware

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I have been getting major exposure to the platform because I migrated to it and had to make sure everything was set up right as well as Veeam backups. My home lab is not what it should be and I had been so busy with school to give it much attention so that is on my list for sure. CA-RT, I will be looking to fill some downtime at work with some of those presentations you mentioned so thanks for the reminder on those.

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I would not base a career on VMware Certs, look and see what companies are looking for. The problem is Vmware has been the major player in virtualization and will be for a while, but that can change. Hyper-V is starting to get traction and a lot of companies that visualize only windows have switches do it. I still use Vmware, but Hyper looks like it may get pretty mature in a few years. Experience means more than a certification. Experience means you can probably learn other systems if you learned and successfully implemented one vendors. Certifications mean you passed a test.

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Hi Jeff,

“working on my long term goals and reviewing things”… what do you have listed so far? Would be good to see…

As others have said, certifications are good, but so is real world experience. It all does depend on the long term goals.

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My goal at 1st was only security and possibly forensics. This is good stuff to know but I have fallen off on the forensics bit and moved towards the security combined with virtualization area. I have opportunities where I work to gain more experience with VMWare but because of the 24/7 nature of the shop I’m in and being the only IT person sometimes it is not the easiest. That is where the home lab will come in handy. Here are some longer term things I was thinking about:

  • Work on larger projects that involve Virtualization and Security.
  • Increase expertise in cloud based services like Google Apps for Business
  • Maintain a management status (even though now I do not manage any employees but have the classification)
  • Not be on call 24/7.
  • Possibly get into auditing and compliance

I worked at Onstar about 3 years ago and learned a lot about vehicles and the connected car. I had the opportunity to test and break a lot of things that had to do with vehicles and the technology. I left because I was there for 7 years and didn’t see a way to advance. I have thought about going back and trying to get into their cyber security department because they have one now. I have had time away to gain experience with the fundamentals and test myself on network administration concepts and I know this was a healthy move for me. What I do not miss is working at a very large corporation and the battles that had to be fought when buying and deploying (in general the politics as well as the drive). In my current job I’m trusted enough when I say something needs to be done.

The problem is the longer I settle for my current pay rate with a degree, the more I think I’m hurting my chances of ever earning more money. I like where I work but I do not think I can meet longer term earning goals here. It’s not all about the money either because there are some things like the security side of things that just aren’t applicable here.

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I suggest getting a job with some room for upward mobility and developing a skillset with experience and training. If you are lucky your employer will foot the training bill too. Sometimes smaller companies which are growing are a great opportunity because you can grow with the company.

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All I can say is be prepared to get paid less than desirable wages, and certs/bachelors mean jack. You will always get beat out by an old timer with 10 years experience. I would look at volunteer opportunities near you to get some free hands on experience to help aid you.

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Jeff,

Congratulations on completing your Information Technology and Security degree! You mentioned above that you’re considering VMware training. I think adding virtualization to your skill set is a great idea. If you are considering online video training, check us out at CBT Nuggets !

We have a variety of VMware training that would be beneficial for you. Check out these training courses with this 7-day free trial and see if it would be something you’re interested in. Good luck!

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One of the things I think I have going for me is I do have more than a couple years experience. The last 2 being literally thrown into 24/7 IT hell fire because thing were broken and failing and playing an important role in a complete ERP migration and Go Live which is now setting organizational records for the business.

I’m not looking to base any part of my future career on certs alone. But I had been looking closely at basing it heavily on virtualization which I think most people would agree simply has to be done to stay relevant in this industry. I bought into and deployed virtual hosts and backups for my company. My down time at work can be spent experimenting on certain things. I guess the question is if I can tolerate my current situation (which is close to home and not a bad gig) but I’m making at least 25k below the mean.

I’m not naively thinking I’m going to get some huge raise if I stay. But at some point money is a close 2nd and I have to think about my earning potential with the degree and what it can do for me.

I think certs and bachelor degrees mean something, they just have to have a person that can do the work. Which neither of the previous thing guarantee.

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While virtualization is an important aspect to the overall scope of IT these days, as is security, is it a point in which you want to focus on in order to pursue your goals? By this, I mean aside from your degree, do you have any certifications in security? If you don’t, then you may wish to start covering some of those. I would move to focus on virtualization technologies after that. For now, to show virtualization to an extent on your resume by just using experience.

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I did have security + it expired. That was the only security centric certificate I have held. Security was and still is first on my list when it comes personal interests and goals so I tend to agree with you. After looking at some of the costs of the VMWare tracks it looks like work needs to pay for some of those or it won’t happen any time soon. With the free version in a home lab, new egg, and the hypervisors at work, I should be able to cover some good ground.

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If you’re going to specialize then you need to get your home lab up to snuff. Depending on where you’re taking the 5 day if you’re looking for a VCP5, expect to be bored out of your mind and working on old equipment. It’s great learning how to hack stuff together on old equipment but you’ll be doing more of that in your home lab than at the VMWare course.

You can run the free version of esxi or you can jump into a trial for something else, like vCenter Ops Management. Running the hypervisors is great and you’ll have the opportunity to throw a lot of commands at ssh but there’s so much going on in the various other flavors of vSphere and vCenter that you could spend 60 days building and breaking your home set up over and over again. And while you’re at it you’ll be getting more hands-on time with whatever versions of *nix and Windows you’re installing on your hosts.

Leverage every last thing you have before you spend any money on any classes, training, courses or exams. I’d rather throw $40 at a Perc 6i than towards a book, but that’s just my current situation. I’ll eventually get that book or some other book and do some courses but the base I need in order to interview well and land a job where I can start to work with more of that tech comes from the home lab environment. You just have to accept that working with your chosen tech might be secondary to your primary job function until you’ve built up your CV. By all means, go out and get that money.

2 Spice ups
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I have honestly been looking at more of turn towards a developer job. There is a lot I need to learn but I enjoy writing Python and before I went back to school a couple years ago I was heavy into learning it. There is a lot that is possible with this language as well as PHP and Ruby. I keep seeing things that lead me to believe that standard systems administration jobs like the one I have are going to be gone soon. A lot of people still don’t want to see the hosted solutions for what they are and I think this will put them at a disadvantage unless they have prepared for the new market. Basically my thoughts have been if you’re not helpdesk, network architect or some kind of a developer you might be out of a job soon.

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@ Jeff79 - I have been thinking the same - but you just can’t beat that new server smell when unboxing it.

But at least people would respect my time more if I were a developer.

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The VCA- Data Center is a good one to start with. I would suggest that you do not go for a VCP until you actually get hands on working experience. That cert is meant to round you out, not teach you VMware. You can get this experience in entry level positions at data centers. Hint hint we have open positions. But seriously, a lot of data centers now offer cloud computing and with that comes monitoring. While you’re on shift you would see alerts and have to go check them out and this would get you access to vcenter, Our shift guys do simple things such as extending disks, adding ram, adding CPU, and so on. While they cannot do any vmotions, s vmotions, or cloning, it is a start.

Where I work we have a private lab of 4 hosts in a fully functional HA/DRS cluster all loaded with ESXi 5.1 so our guys can learn the ropes while not having to worry about bringing a customer down in the process. Look at getting into one of these entry level positions either at a data center or a small software company that utilizes VMware on a smaller scale. Either way, you’re on the right track and remember, nothing beats hands on real life working experience.

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I just got my VCP-DT and I’ve noticed an increase in recruiters (typically though on the lower end (70K-90K) compared to the other stuff I"m getting.

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Data center expertise would be the kind I would be looking to get. I took my 24/7 shop onto VMWare and have been slowly learning the ropes as it applies to my environment. I knew nothing about the server side of things VMWare related going in but I knew what virtualization was. I just feel I need to move into the architecture of things or go developer because I DO NOT want to go back to the help desk. Being a VMWare or Hyper-V expert will pay off because the networking will evolve to being on the same host between VMs or between hosts. Python should also adaptable to these scenarios as well.