I know on my side that CISSP has gotten really popular recently for some reason. I hear about it all the time now from different people, and read a lot of blog posts about it in my feed reader these days. I'm pretty sure, if I'm not mistaken, that they often make $100K+, but there are definitely pre-requisites that I'm not sure you have. Might want to look into what it takes to be a CISSP before you head that direction. But, it still doesn't stop you from looking into the certification.

Yes, IE9 is out but for Win Vista or higher...it will not work with XP...sad to hear!

Hey man - thanks so much for checking in with me. I am not a huge blogger/forum person, but it's always fun to see what's going on every once in a while. So I did go ahead sign up with Preplogic on their ultimate access program. I did the full 2 year deal because even though I am just starting out, I want to go on and get some better certs like my CCNA certification and stuff. I've heard from a lot of people that CCNA is not the easiest cert in the world, but I am gonna do it anyway. I'm down for whatever, and I want to stand out when I interview and stuff. Call me young and bull-headed, but that's the plan. So back in August when we first talked and I was sniffing things out, like I said, I went ahead and signed up for the full program. I was reading a lot of stuff in Google about a possible preplogic scam, but I didn't find anything that actually existed, and I went for it. Since I signed up, I haven't had any problems so far at all. I knocked out my a+ like right away, and since then I have been procrastinating with my Net+, but I'm workin' on it, as they say. I have been studying, and I do plan to sit for my Net+ in early February. After that, I'm on to CCNA! Hope you are doing well man, thanks again for checking in with me.

hey man, I know this is a while after your post, but hopefully you are still going after your certifications. Did you ever go and try the PrepLogic stuff? I was Googling some stuff the other day and saw one of their ads, then I remembered this board and was thinking about jumping back in here to see how everyone was doing with their certs and stuff. If I could give you any advice, I would echo tancredi's words, and say just take it slow and make sure you put in the work and you will be fine. I am somewhat of a PrepLogic vet and started with their a+ certification training, and went on from there to get a bunch more certs. I haven't had a bad experience, but I guess everyone has his own opinion. Let me know what you decided to do, I'd love to help in any way that I can.

bmanny --
Just take it slowly. I have used PrepLogic's products in the past before, and ended up biting off more than I could chew for sure. Long story short, I used their Unlimited Access program, but only did the 1 year program. I tried to get like several certifications knocked out in a short amount of time and it was more than I could handle. All I'm saying is definitely try to take your time and make sure you are ready for each exam. The preplogic videos help out a lot with studying and stuff, but again, don't take it too fast. If anything plan for more time than you think you are gonna need. Life crap always gets in the way.

I am looking around for a good self-paced, self-study CBT solution so I think I will check out Preplogic as well. I have read a lot of stuff online about their products and in general it seems to be pretty positive, so I think I'm gonna give them a try. Any advice for a Preplogic newbie like myself?

Yeah man I used their Cisco products to get my CCNA and I loved it. I think you are gonna like what you see, but everyone has their own opinion, so we'll wait and see when you are done with your free stuff and start paying for a bunch of the resources. I had a great experience after hearing about them from a friend.

Yeah man, no doubt. Everyone is definitely looking to get their money's worth. I think I am gonna start looking at the Preplogic Cisco certification materials. I'm starting to get interested in Cisco and their emerging technologies. So, I'm thinking about CCNA. I'll start with some of the free Cisco resources from Preplogic and then see if I want to keep going with other products.

Yeah man, I am working right now at a firm in the US doing normal Network Admin tasks. It's ok, but not my favorite. I really want to try and branch out. I see all these people starting their own businesses, working their own hours, etc, and I am trying to increase my personal knowledge so I can go ahead and start my own IT firm. I don't wanna like have a huge company or anything, but something big enough to support my family and have a lot of extra money would be good. I'm just riding this whole Preplogic Unlimited Access thing as far as I can since I paid for it. In the end the Preplogic process will be so much cheaper than if I had done boot camps and stuff, so I am trying to squeeze every penny possible out of it. Besides, who isn't looking to get their hard-earned money's worth in this economy, right?

Yeah man, I agree, at that rate you should be able to knock things out real quick. As long as you don't have a bunch of stuff that is distracting you and making you go back and forth between trying to hunker down and study, and having fun with other distractions. Interesting that they are saying that it's a requirement. I don't think I've heard that before, but I have not been around to a bunch of different companies, so maybe it's just me not knowing that that is normal. Who knows. I'm assuming if you are going for your CCNA that you are currently a Network Admin or something?

Jbux: well, right now I am going for my CCNA so that I can grab this sweet Network Admin job that has just opened up near me. I have my A+ and Net+ and am looking for more! My good buddy is a recruiter so he keeps me notified if something good comes up, and he keeps telling me that he has something really good coming in the near future at one of his best clients that he recruits for. Best of all, it's in my area so I wouldn't have to move. I am really excited, but he did tell me that CCNA was like a basic requirement, so I am hitting it hard with Preplogic to get there. It shouldn't take me too long.

ha ha, well I am 6 months after this post here, but I know I start to think about shopping earlier than most people. Probably around like October.

Inarea: thanks so much for the welcome. I appreciate people in these forums who are willing to respond and help others out. I have already been able to take advantage of some of the beginner Linux forums and get a good idea of how things roll with the OS. I am liking it from the beginning. Glad to hear you story is like mine. I definitely saw the same thing in my career and am really hoping that as I begin my journey studying with Preplogic it will really pay off in the end. I am gonna go ahead and jump into their program and see what happens. Like I said before, I have heard a lot of good things, but I will have my own stories here soon. I'm pretty confident that things will go well. What do you do for a living?

I personally don't think that MSFT will give up on IE. I think they have too much put into it.

Jbux: first off, welcome to the forum. Hopefully you will get a good chance to learn a lot about Linux and the great things that it can accomplish. It's a very powerful operating system and I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how flexible and accommodating it is. As far as this thread goes, welcome as well. I totally agree with you that certifications are a must. I saw it first hand in my career. I also agree on the Preplogic front. These guys are great and I am glad I used them as well. I jumped right in using their training products and never looked back. I would recommend checking out their other certification products as well as I think you will get the "certification bug," as I like to call it, once you start to get into things.

Hey all! I am definitely a Linux newbie, but one thing I have been able to do is get a lot of different IT certifications in my career. I started with A+ and Net+, then moved on to my MCITP. Throughout the entire process, I was able to use Preplogic for all of my study prep. They publish a lot of good guides and different stuff that gives you a good idea of what direction you need to take when you are looking to get certified. Like I said, I'm just getting into Linux and stuff, but if there is something that I DO know something about, it's IT certifications. These guys rocked. Looks like you guys are mostly looking at their PMP product, which I never actually used, but all of the other preplogic products that I used were great. I would recommend them to anyone.

Thanks pereb. I had the chance to call over there and talked to a guy who sounded pretty knowledgeable. It looks like their stuff is gonna give me a pretty good handle on the PMBOK. I don't travel a lot, or go to the gym (don't tell my mom), ha ha, so the video stuff should be great for me. I am still looking over all my options but it looks like the PMP study guide is gonna work pretty well.

I'll pipe up and give them 2 thumbs up.I stumbled across Preplogic a few years ago after one of my friends recommended them and I have had good experiences. I used them to get my PMP and all the training resources I used were really good. I kinda pieced everything up separately and bought stuff a little at a time. At first I just picked up some of the Quiz Me Series stuff to kinda see where I stood, and then I used that to guide what other products I bought to determine how much I really needed to study and prepare. About half way through I got into some money trouble with some extenuating circumstances, so I had to slow down, but I jumped back into the game as fast as I could. I just have to say that being a girl in the IT industry can sometimes be tough. It is so male dominated that sometimes I think it slows a woman's career down, but I persevered. I just decided at one point that no matter what happened, or who told me that I couldn't do something, that I was gonna prove them all wrong. It didn't matter what I had to do.

Anyway, sorry, got a little off track there. Overall PrepLogic was great for me and it made me feel extremely prepared for each and every test I took in my certification journey. I see above that a couple of the comments have been about whether or not certs actually help you resume, and I can certainly say from personal experience on my end that they have been an absolutely amazing boost to my career AND salary. Again, being a woman, I think it actually affects my salary sometimes, too but I personally saw a lift in my salary from my employer almost immediately after I informed him that I was now certified. I know that that is probably not the case with everyone, and everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but hey, that's what forums are all about, right, opinions and discussion?