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Even though I’ve been in IT for 30 years, I’m considering going over some certs again (sigh). I’m looking at various Microsoft Certs and VMware certs and Cisco Certs (even though I’d rather get a root canal in every tooth in my head).

In the past I would visit testout but It looks like they are not up to the task. Other sites are so expensive its not worth it. Where do you peeps like to go for training? I’m looking for on-demand lecture and online virtual lab simulation.

Any Suggestions?

@Microsoft @Cisco

@support-team-vmware

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I’m in the same boat as you Andy as I’m trying to learn the same material.

Thankfully my boss provided our team a subscription to ITPro.TV which has been pretty good as far as learning for me. Depending on the subscription you can have access to either just the content or that along with virtual labs, practice tests, etc. I believe there is also a free tier if you want to see how the content is structured before subscribing.

There are others out there that you may just have to do some comparisons on such as Pluralsight or CBT Nuggets . O’Reilly / SafariBooksOnline also has a subscription that is similar and you get access to the library content as well.

Since it is nearing the end of the year Udemy isn’t a bad place to look at either as a lot of the courses go on sale on a pretty good discount.

Don’t forget to utilize the free sources that are already out there as well. Cisco has course content via NetAcad which should help if pursuing that route. Microsoft Learn offers a good amount of content to choose from. If you want to do some learning with VMWare stuff, the Hands-on Labs is a good resource to look into. If you want to expand even further, ESXi can be used free at home, albeit limited but will help you learn VMWare even more.

I don’t have any I can recommend off the top of my head but YouTube has a few channels that had a lot of free content for training.

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You might check the local community college. Some do offer CCNA and MS courses.

You can usually get the classes for CC prices and then just pay for the tests.

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Donny made some great points. Udemy often runs 10 dolla holla sales and you can get some great material for cheap.

Because you are looking at multiple certs you might also want to consider the CBT Nuggets route as they have a 600 dollar a year subscription which covers a ton. I use it for reference periodically as well.

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For all things Microsoft, Microsoft Learn is a brilliant free resource!

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Another vote for Microsoft learn. I have taken a couple of their free courses and they were great.

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not heard of microsoft learn i might look into that!

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I don’t usually favor certs. But “favor” and “need” are two different things. The company I work for is pushing hard for us to get certs. Particularly for cloud based stuff. Fortunately they pay for the training. I started with AWS’ Certified Cloud Practitioner. The basic Amazon course is exactly that: BASIC. But the Udemy practice exams are pretty good.

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I’ve noticed a lot providers offer cert courses through them, ie- training classes for this or that cert. For my last couple of certs I’ve gotten books off Amazon that contain a bunch of quizzes. I also did some Microsoft education videos before they changed things. As others have mentioned here, Udemy has a few things But I think this current cert will be my last one for awhile.

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I always find that a slightly odd paradox, the question of should I have a cert when I have xx years of real world experience?

I’ve been driving cars for 30 years, but I don’t have a license. Not sure if I should get one now? I mean what could be simpler or more fundamental than driving a car?

Or maybe

I’ve been servicing my own cars for years. Maybe I’ll start a car service business. I think we all know where that ends up…

Are we suggesting that an I.T certificate proving some relevant competencies is something we don’t want our employees to have? Or that they are somehow irrelevant to our customers and our business reputation?

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Another vote for Udemy. They have sales often and courses will go for massive discounts.

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I am currently taking a Udemy course toward renewing my Network plus certification. Although the course is not specifically Microsoft, Cisco, or VMware as the OP asked about, the course I’m taking has been helpful.

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The first question you need to ask yourself is how much longer do plan on working? Certs after 30 years of working is a heavy investment that you may never realize the return on. Second, after 30 years you should already most of the skills that those certs are going to teach you. You already have the reasoning skills after all this time you just need to apply them. Another overpriced cert at this point in your career is going to do what for you? Certificates are nothing more than a post bachelors credential. They substitute for experience early in ones career. After a while they have a depreciating affect. Remember at this point in your career experience trumps ALL.

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I’ve always certed on request, ( employer - can you get certed in xxxxxx?) or with a tech when I needed it (SQL). If you’re not going to see a material return on investment, I wouldn’t waste the time. However, If you’re eyeing the door, and are going to use the certs to get your next job, it may be worth it. They do get you past HR to talk to the hiring manager…

Now, If you’re interested in it from personal knowledge standpoint. I do love buying the study guides and using those to make sure I haven’t skipped something I need to know to master a subject. I just use them as reference, and skip the test.

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But then you run the risk of having someone who knows the answers to every question on the exam, but couldn’t actually perform the job without lighting the server room on fire. That can’t be better for your business than what you’re saying.

Would you want someone performing surgery on you who can recite every step of every procedure, but has never held a scalpel?

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when i did my comptia security + I used professor Messer’s website others used udemy. I think the resource is more of what are certification you are trying to obtain. I suggest looking through youtube for free stuff or someone knowledgeable and see if they have a udemy or just an online website.

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Check with your local libraries. Mine provides access to Udemy via Gale ( Gale - Institution Finder ) as well as LinkedIn Learning.

As stated above, check your local community college. Mine is offering free tuition for Spring '22, so I’m planning to take them up on that.

Lastly, Youtube can also be a great resource.

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But then you run the risk of having someone who knows the answers to every question on the exam, but couldn't actually perform the job without lighting the server room on fire.  That can't be better for your business than what you're saying.  

Would you want someone performing surgery on you who can recite every step of every procedure, but has never held a scalpel?

And I have witnessed a 20 year network veteran switch off spanning-tree becasue “I never use it”. Had he attended day 1 of any networking course, he would have had a much more rounded idea of the havoc he could have been wreaking. And yes, not one redundant network link in his whole life. “I’ve always done it this way” says the voice of experience, and he thought VLAN’s were witchcraft. If I had his luck, I’d have won the lottery… twice… I will say that I came across this guy in the late 00’s which might explain why he got away with it but even so…

Personally, I have conducted quite a few interviews of candidates who claimed both certification and experience yet were unable to pass a fairly straight forward practical test and as we all know, for I.T jobs there is usually a practical test. That usually weeds out the charlatans… as long as the person giving the test knows what they are doing, but that’s another story…

Same for surgeons too. They have to demonstrate competency along with contiinual professional development and are subject to performance reviews etc. The morbidity and mortality reviews that surgeons have are brutal, but I digress… Of course surgeons don’t have to re-do their medical degree, but then a two and a half hour test every three years for a job where one has decades of experience is hardly onerous.

Having held certs for many years I condsider re-certifying as another part of my periodic performance reviews. What is wrong with having ones continued professional development monitored, examined and verified? Is this a bad thing?

In my experience, two things are true in the 21st century. Experience counts, of course, no argument there, and recruiters are looking for certs to get the candidate through the door. When having both is so easy, why would one object?

And to be clear, I’m not tryting to convince anyone to change their minds. If one doesn’t want to get certified for whatever reason then OK. It is an interesting discussion and I always enjoy debating with and hearing the opinions of fellow network engineers.

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Microsoft and VMware do have some online labs, this can be especially useful for stuff like Azure. I used CBT Nuggets when my company had a subscription and while not cheap they did have both labs and exam simulators rolled in. For some stuff it’s worth building your own lab. I was working on a 365 cert and had on on premise AD and a small tenant with 90 day eval licenses. Getting something that run some VMs and a managed switch is a great help.

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I want to thank you for this link. Microsoft Learn I have been looking for EXACTLY THIS THING for a while now. I always thought Microsoft was crazy for not having this. Meanwhile, I was crazy for not looking harder haha.

To my other Spiceworks peeps, please spice these! This is excellent info that needs to have more eyes on it, and it helps benefit the entire industry, which benefits you.

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