ALIYU AHMED AHMED
NETWORK SECURITY ADVISOR
MERIDIAN TECHNOLOGIES
MARYLAND
ahmedu2020@gmail.com08036241983
CHOOSING YOUR IT CAREER PATH
Newton's First Law of Motion states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object at motion tends to stay in motion until acted upon by an external force. This is true of careers as well, including yours. Where do you want your IT career to be in one year? Do you want to have earned several IT certifications in that time, therefore advancing your IT career, or do you want to be in the exact same place you are today? The only person who can make this decision is you. And I can speak from experience that when you begin putting your career into motion - the possibilities are unlimited. But you have to get started – today.
Before going around asking experts on what IT career path to take or what IT certification to pursue, first the only person you should ask that question of is yourself. Whether you want to start an IT career or jumpstart your current one, make the decision to move forward in your career - and then follow through on that decision. Because the goal of getting a job is less important than the goal of getting a job that you like. You have to have passion for what whatever you are doing if not you won’t do it very well, so try to get a job that you like, pay the whole of your attention on it and then allow nature to carry you along its path.
Other than the obvious passion for computers and technology, salary and job growth potential are excellent reasons to consider computer careers. Diversity of computer skills adds to marketability in the workforce. A lawyer that is a Microsoft Certified Professional is having an added value internationally than a lawyer without an MCP. Many employers do not have time to train workers on basic skills and expect employees to be more than familiar with computers. If you have an aptitude or interest in math, science or art, and have strong problem solving and analytical skills you are a perfect candidate for a computer related career. Computer careers can be solitary work, but often require good communication skills. Systems administrators must know how to relay information to clients and coworkers in order to maintain order and efficiency in the system.
Computer education is available in many varieties; from certifications, certificate programs, associate's degree programs, and bachelor’s and even master's degree programs. Many professionals in Nigeria receive degrees in computer science and related fields, but still cannot produce in the local and international IT markets therefore, they are required to have specific certifications (for example MCSE-Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, CCNA or MCSA-Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator) and some hands on experience to fit in. In fact, it is better to have a good hand on experience without having the certifications than having the certifications without knowing the equipments.
The acceptance of computers into business has created a great demand for IT professionals. Almost every industry has a need for IT pros for marketing, client retention and daily operations. Industries such as banking, insurance, hospitals and utilities absolutely rely on them. The information age has created a wealth of career opportunities for computer specialists, elevating their status as knowledgeable professionals and compensating them well financially. If you're a computer specialist, or would like to become one, a career in the IT professions can be obtained in less than a year of study with the current spring of various IT certifications.
A lot of people these days are crazy about get IT certifications attached to their foundation degrees or other basic knowledge because certification credentials will definitely enhance their knowledge and also, the IT industry are now requiring those certifications as a proof of sound understanding of IT principles . There are over 400 certifications out there for you among which are:
A+ 2003, CCDA, CCNA voice, CCNA security, CCNP voice, CCNP security, CCIE, CEH, CSSP CISSP Linux+, LPIC2 Linux Junior Level, LCPI2 Linux Intermediate Level, Master CIW Administrator, Master CIW i-Accelerate, MCNE, MCSA 2000, MCSA 2003, MCSE 2000,MCSE 2003, NetWare 5 CNE, NetWare 6 CNE, Network+, RHCE, RHCT,SCE, SCM,SCP, Security+, Server+, Solaris 8 SCNA, Solaris 9 SCNA, Solaris 9 Security TICSA and a host of others, but the issue is what certification do you start ? And after then what to do next? There are various schools of thoughts regarding how to go about your IT certifications, and one can daisy-chain these schools to be able to bring out a suiting profile of certifications. Do want to be a programmer, a network engineer, a security advisor, an animator, a graphic artist, system engineer, a hardware engineer, a database administrator, a movie / picture editor or a statistical analyst?
Firstly, I would recommend that you first consider your foundation degree or any basic know-how you have acquired and see what IT skill can enhance it, then you certify on that IT course. If you are a structural engineer, an architect, a builder, surveyor or a planner, before thinking of any IT certification you have to think of obtaining a certification on AutoCAD, 3D Studio Max or some sort of animation certifications. This will definitely add speed, color and effects to your designs because the era of paper and pencil design has been long forgotten. Unfortunate, even the educators teaching these courses in Nigerian universities don’t understand these technologies not to talk of the transferring it to the students. Come to think of this, an architect who is good in animations in 3D STUDIO MAX or similar packages can fit in the advertisement industry or the fast growing Nollywood. These sectors relies a lot on animations and pay good money them.
Also, if you are an economist, or in the administrative discipline or any related discipline, obtaining a certification in the statistical packages or Econometric View will do you a lot of good as your will be involved in a lot of predictions from past or real-time data and running data a lot.
Despite the reality of the above school of thought, people now venture more and more into how the computer functions like networking and system support as computers have now flooded every nook and cranny of the world and they need support. Popular certifications in this section include MCSE, CCNA CCIE and a host of others. The idea is based on the fact that people make projections as regards to the sectors where investment are moving to, so they prepare themselves through certifications to exploit those sectors in future, and IT is the place to go. Also, if you are a trained anthropologist or archeologist and the society doesn’t need your service for now, you can retrain in less than a year in IT certifications to transform into a hot cake labor. I am a trained economist but I am working as a network support engineer in the organization which I work, always carrying cables, crimpers and laptops to test routers and switches – yeah, I feel happy even though it makes me the dirtiest personnel among my colleagues.
Now, to the certification semantics. Let’s start from networking because I am a Cisco trained network engineer. The CCNA is a very good entry level certification and if you study for it properly you will have a very solid understanding of lower level networking which is essential to do any admin job. The nice part about doing the Cisco certification is that the information from there can be applied to so many other certifications. Even though it’s a vendor specific cert, the skills you gain will serve you well in thousands of situations.
CCNA training allows you the ability for installations and operation of LAN, WAN, and dialup access services for small networks with 100 nodes or less. The CCNA course includes, but not limited to use the different networking protocols such as Ethernet, Access Lists, Serial, IP, IGRP, Frame Relay, IP RIP, and VLANs. Cisco's CCNA Prep Center Pilot offers simulations and sample questions, besides the e-learning modules and laboratories. Computer training includes also valuable tips from CCNA professionals, in addition to expert advice, and encouragement through CCNA certification success stories. CCNA training does not require any prerequisite and makes available many other resources to help students with the preparation of their CCNA certification exams.
CCNA course, exams and recommended training include the Introduction to Cisco Networking Technologies (INTRO), the Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices (ICND) or both. CCNA training and additional training, probably cover most of your career path expectations. However, Cisco's CCNA certifications are valid for 3 years, so it is necessary for additional computer training to re-certify. This is achieved by either passing the current CCNA exam at the moment of the original certification's expiration, passing the ICND exam, passing the 642 professional levels. Presently, Cisco has introduced CCNA voice, CCNP voice, CCIE voice with also the security and wireless elements to the certification so as to encourage specialization.
After CCNA training your can also re-certify by passing the Cisco Qualified Specialist exam, excluding the Sales Specialist exams, or passing a CCIE written exam, which is a re-certify form valid for individual who had a CCNA certification starting from October 1, 2004. Cisco CCNA online training certification program, offers the same value, knowledge and skill earned on a traditional CCNA course, and it is a nationally recognized certification. With computer training online, you will gain knowledge of switched LAN Emulation networks, which are made up of Cisco original equipment. CCNA training online focuses the coverage of Cisco router configuration procedures, mapped to exam objectives in order to prepare you for Cisco Exam 640-801, in partnership with major universities and colleges offering as well CCNA certification. I was privileged to under study in a Cisco academy in Zaria(Nigeria) together with some other medical doctors. These days as the voice technology is gaining ground , you can now obtain CCNA voice, CCNP voice or CCIE voice specializing in call centre set and stuffs like IP telephony.
The Computer training program online consists of 2 sections; "Introduction to Network Engineering", allowing the student to understand the world of network engineering, learning fundamental facts of data network theory and current technologies making the Internet tick. The second section of the online CCNA course, "Practical Network Engineering", is an approach to some of the most powerful networking technologies, involving extensive work on switches, Cisco routers, and firewalls in a simulated network environment, preparing students to earn the CCNA certification.
The CCNA is a starting point to do the more advanced Cisco courses such as CCNP (more advanced networking), CCSP (security, i.e. firewalls, VPNs, IDS, etc.), and then you get things like VoIP. The CCNP exam is highly regarded and consists of 4 (if I remember correctly) exams, covering switching, routing, support and remote access, plus a few more topics. After getting your CCNA then you have to decide whether to major in design, implementation routing and switching which is the CCNP or major in security which is heavily theoretical and analytical like CCSP which I will discuss later.
At risk of sounding arrogant, I believe CCIE (Cisco Certified Network Executive) is the mother of all certifications (You know you can’t go wrong with Cisco in networking). And currently there are just barely over 13000 CCIE holders in the world. CCIE is very expensive and it is only given in selected locations. You pay $300 for the test and $1250 per lab for the lab test which is an 8 hours test .You also needs a certain amount of experience to take the test and the test is multiple choice and hands on. What they do with the hands on, apparently, is to put you in a room with a bunch of devices and give you a scenario. You are then supposed to create the network based on this scenario. When you are about half way through, they send you out of the room and then mess up what you have done and you are now supposed to troubleshoot the problem and fix it. Also, the certification is only valid for two years. When you are preparing for your CCIE, your neighbors will think you have gone crazy, just don’t let that bother you as you will be talking to yourself a lot. Even your wife may start suspecting something; just hold on- till you get there. But basically, before taking any certification adventures make sure you are equipped with your COMPTIA A+ and N+ they are very easy to pass, from there anything can happen. The CCNA tracks are very demanding and practical oriented. When the Cisco academy took off in ABU Zaria a lot of people fought for the forms including some few cute ladies in my batch studying drama. They were under the mistaken impression that since Cisco is a hot cake IT certification, Cisco certified personnel we be working in well ironed presidential suites wearing garish looking neck ties. But to their surprise we were always carrying cables, pliers, LAN tester and dusty patch panels around, and after our first module, two third of the class ran away. When you are working in an open standing switch or an open Linux box you use for routing, your neck tie could get trapped in a rolling fan. When I started working with my organization, I had the opportunity of designing and implementing a multi-floor LAN. At the site I was working parallel with welders, partitioners and some carpenters, you could hardly differentiate us, except if you look closely to figure out my original made washout Armani jeans or my Bruno Mali made shoes or probably if I am answering my black berry from time to time.
Now, to security - my favorite. This is a dollar making profession in the advance world. An Information Security Specialist, also known as an information security engineer, or security administrator, is an IT professional who designs and manages an organization’s security infrastructure. This includes choosing the network hardware and network operating systems, locking down those systems, and staying focused on possible weaknesses in those systems and hardening them as appropriate.
Duties of an information security specialist include the analysis of an organization’s security risks and requirements, rating the importance of a company’s products and services, and the related design, implementation and maintenance of the security infrastructure to protect the business from security breaches. This role has overlap with that of a network engineer but is higher level in that it is a more specialized role. A very good understanding of networking, both hardware and operating systems, and the web is critical. As the old saying goes, bank tellers don’t spend as much time learning about counterfeits as they do with knowing the real thing, the same applies to security specialists: they must have an intimate knowledge of their systems in order to best know their weaknesses and how to overcome those weaknesses. As well, strong interpersonal skills are also important, as security specialist must be able to convey to management the security risks, as well as be able to keep close tabs of newly discovered holes in their systems. They likely work in a team with other more and less qualified security staff and so must be able to communicate both up and down the chain of command.
A person may consider entering this field after attaining a Computer Science or Computer Engineering university degree or a one or two year computer diploma from a local technical institute or a CCNA certifications. However, some information security specialists may also have a technically related MBA degree. Either way, a lot of dedicated training and related certification in one or more leading network operating systems is highly recommended as is training and certification on network equipment and protocols. Optimally, security specific certification should be pursued. As well, this person should be proactive when it comes to applying security patches and the like but should also be prudent by being in the habit of ensuring that patches are first tried out in a test environment and by ensuring that data backup and disaster recovery plans are in place and followed as required. Candidates for this job role should also be exceptional troubleshooters in order to help them discern between security breaches and more innocent technical bugs.
An information security specialist often starts out as a network engineer and may move on to more specialized roles within the security or educational realm, such as information security architect, or else move towards IT management. Whichever path they take, these professionals tend to be at the high end of the IT pay scale. Salary information is so dependent on an IT professional’s particular skill set, experience and geographic location. However, experienced information security specialists can attain salaries of $70,000 or $80,000 USD or higher in the international market. below is a salary survey in thousands of dollars per annum by techrepublic in 2009.
Table 2
Source: Global Knowledge/Techrepublic 2009
Computer security is a growing field. Many businesses have created networks, websites and become reliant on computer technology, without employing safeguards to protect their data. There are many malevolent computer geeks out there who attack systems, or software for fun, curiosity or profit. Data extortion is now a common organized crime method for the Russian mafia! Security violations have created new careers in network security and software development. Courses of study are mainly in Microsoft products and software development languages like Visual Basic, C++, .net, compiler and assembly languages. Career positions in this category include network security, software programming, web design, web development and website administration (server side).
Pursue a certification in security starts with compTIA’s Security + which is meant more for admins who want to show they have some security knowledge. Sec+ seems to cover a lot of disaster recovery, such as hot\warm\cold sites, and remembering the different backup types. While it is security, and definitely good things to know, it's not the type of security exams most people think of. It does cover some of what most people think of when they think of security, like covering the differences between AH and ESP when using IPSec. Another thing that sets it apart, like most compTIA exams, wording seems a lot simpler than Cisco\Microsoft exams. Generally no need to scroll the page like you does those two exams. And Sec+ counts as a certification for MCSE + Security, at least on 2000 spec. Like many compTIA exams, it seems like the starting exam for that branch, like Net+ is the starting exam many people take for MCSE or CCNA, and A+ is a starting for people who also take MCSE. After that you move to CCNA, then Cisco Certified Security Professional CCSP. You can also couple that with your CISSP (certified information security system professional) which is vendor independent and all the GIAC individual certifications.
http://www.giac.org/ GIAC Certified Firewall Analyst (GCFW)
GIAC Certified Intrusion Analyst (GCIA)
GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH)
GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst (GCFA)
A recent aspect of security consultation that is making headlines is penetration testing (pen test) and cyber forensic. Basically a security consultant is someone who specializes in securing computer systems -- that’s a very basic description. Since more and more critical information is stored on computers, you need people who specialize in information security. The reason it’s a specialization is because security is constantly evolving and the approach you take to systems is different from that of a programmer, or a network designer.
Penetration-testing is activities where you pay security specialists to attempt to break into your systems so that you can discover what vulnerabilities exist, and fix them. It should not be confused with vulnerability test which is finding loopholes in a system(OS) using specialized tools. Pen–test is sometimes called 'ethical-hacking' a really annoying catchphrase. Penetration testing is great fun. It involves a lot of creative thinking and can be very challenging.
Intrusion analysis involves figuring out how an attack was orchestrated. Say for example your website was hacked, an intrusion analyst will try to recreate what happened from the available logs. Incident handling is slightly similar to intrusion analysis. When you have an incident. say you get hacked, etc an incident handler is a person who is trained to respond correctly to that incident, keeping the integrity of the evidence, and restoring the systems to a normal state as soon as possible.
Cyber-forensics is like normal police forensics, but on computers. It’s a highly specialized field. You work with law enforcement. The courts etc. and have to be able to find things in computer systems where there is seemingly nothing to find. Being a security consultant is fun -if you're passionate about technology and security. It can also be quite painful as people view you as someone who restricts access and just causes inconvenience. It’s a field that’s really coming up these days. Remember, if you want to get into security, you should first make sure your networking skills are in order. Then you need to learn a programming language, something that lets you talk right to the operating system like C. After that you have to learn all the different aspects of security, types of attacks, common vulnerabilities etc. Practical experience is the best teacher. Most people learn on other people’s networks (if you know what I mean). But it’s far better if you setup your own lab, since you don’t want to end up going to jail while trying to make a career.
Another important certification today is the MCSE (Microsoft Certified System Engineer). Microsoft certification is increasing day by day. It is the most widely recognized technical certification in the industry, which is on high demand. . The MCSE boot camp institutes make them earn their Microsoft certification and make them lead the organization in successful manner. The MCP personnel administer the most advanced Microsoft windows platform and Microsoft server products. The survey of MCP magazine states that the average base salary of MCP ranges from $60,000 to $70,000.The MCSA (Microsoft certified system administrator) is more for Administration. This would be if you are managing a Windows environment that had already been setup. It will give the skills on that aspect. (This also can count towards the MCSE so if you did this, you would be on your way to completing the MCSE). The MCSE consist of seven tracks including two electives.
The MCSE is for designing, implementing the systems. This is more of an Engineer role which you would also need experience in. Each of the above has further certifications that you can go further. The MCSE has specializations within them for MCSE: Security, MCSE: Messaging, etc.
And now to the ultimate IT skill programming, it’s a very old IT skill. In fact it makes everything happens, everything you see are some sort of codes I mean programs. It is like this, functions makes up commands, and commands makes up programs and programs finally makes up softwares. So if you have a degree in software engineering, you should be conversant with some programming skills like java, c/c++, html, Perl etc. as it is all part of the curriculum.
Programming can be very difficult, but also very rewarding it s highest paying and time consuming IT skill. I'll never forget how happy I was when I compiled and ran my first COBOL program in Zaria in 1996 program. I started programming in Dbase and now I am battling with C/C++ to enhance my security skills. Now, how do you go about your programming career is the big issue we have to deal with.
It is important to note that you can program in high level, middle level or lower level language. The high level language can accommodate different functions embedded in a bracket, but the lower level language is flat, while the middle level language which can only call functions and shares both attributes of the higher and the lower level language. In Nigerian institutes of higher learning, students of computer science begin with BASIC and FORTRAN. In the UK student are introduce to Pascal in their first year, all this languages teach you the basics of programming which helps you understand how to think while programming in any language. But with line numbers, GOTO commands, etc, in these languages it did not encourage structured, modular programming like Perl, Python, and C. Nowadays there are so many different choices in programming and some are more suited to certain applications than others. If you're doing mainly web stuff: PHP, Perl, ASP are some good tools for you.
When venturing into programming I always recommend C It’s about the best language to learn how to PROGRAM, plus its incredibly powerful (the fact that almost all exploits and low level handling is written in C is a proof). Besides you need to learn the issues that come along with writing in a language like C. Perl and Python are great, but I think they are too high level, they take away a lot of the important decisions and you don't need to think about data-types too much therefore Python will provide a fairly quick learning curve with real results for less time invested (time efficient).
Python also has a fairly ordered way of doing things so it will teach discipline.
Python can be scaled for larger projects and has good community support so it means it will be a language that is versatile for some time. Despite that C is the choice because it appears fundamental to a lot of other languages and it’s a lot more "pure" i.e. handling memory etc better. But this is at the cost of the speed of development. Start with C and everything is easy then.
The argument of which programming language to start or stick to is a never ending one whether C, C++, java. Python. Python seems easy, powerful and well documented. Python, PERL and PHP are the kind of languages that you can stick with and play for ever, making all kinds of useful apps and interfaces. The great thing is you see fast results, basically just as soon as you read a couple of pages describing the basic syntax, rules and constructs, you are ready to go (by referring to the function list for whatever you need of course). Mistakes often do not bring punishment and you need not to be concerned with some of the behind-the-scenes stuff, like the memory allocations -of course let us not forget that some real developers bothered with these to allow us to work without them -. That's the difference between C and scripting languages, with C you get to see things the way they actually work on your computer -better even, make them work yourself, while in (example) Python you only mess with things that appear more directly functional and practical. Depending on one's interests and needs, he might find exciting the extra control of C, or find it instead an annoying distraction from his work. If you are mainly interested in automating or writing interfaces for standard procedures and applications here and there, mostly small things but useful and practical nonetheless. For these things you could shun with C, unless you like and want to-. Python, PERL, PHP and others such provide hundreds of ready functions about everything and it is amazing how easily you can do complex things. Imagine a huge LEGO collection, from which you could build mostly anything you can think of. If I had to describe how I see C in a similar way, I'd say it's more like plasticine or clay: and allows you to make more polished and perfect applications, except that this needs extra effort and skill and also you inevitably get your hands dirty in the process.
If someone gets seriously involved with a powerful high level language that provides the wanted results with small effort, and gets used to it, it feels somehow "right" to try to accommodate his needs coding in this language and "gross" to forget it and switch to a lower level one. But I still stick to my recommendation - start directly with C, because other languages may spoil you enough to stay away from C later on .And if you are a very ambitious one then start with C/C++. As others have said, it don't just teach the basic concepts like what a loop is, you learn about data Types and all that other stuff as well. But if you're the mere play code type start with Perl. Perl is fun, and for someone just starting to get their feet in programming, you're less likely to get discouraged when some really odd error keeps your first few programs from working. Also, it's hard to not stay interested when you go on CPAN and see a module that easily lets you do fun stuff like connect and use IRC. Even a beginner can boast that "Hey, I can do that, ".Then you start learning because it's fun. Then, later you can move to C/C++.
Programming is like a chameleon which changes color in different environment in this case platform. Structured programming like C doesn’t allow any bad habits and you had to learn how to structure your programming properly. When you use a language that forces you to structure your programs properly, once you have mastered it, it really doesn't matter what language you wish to use after that, your programs will always be structured correctly and thus much easier to write and design even large complex applications. You also have to bear in mind what you are going to be creating applications for we are in the .net arena and Object Oriented so take your c# (C sharp), C++, j# etc very serious. I like the flexibility of VB and C sharp as they all run on .net platform. EJB (Java) is also one good object oriented programming that is platform independent. We can’t just pick which is good or best programming language. Every programming language got its own importance and benefits, so it depends upon the requirement and its usability, functionality and robustness. You can stick to one or two for dynamism and you are in business. These days in Nigeria, you can get as high as =N=10 million for a custom built software for a financial institution excluding training and cost of maintenance which is usually charged per man hour.
Administering database is another cash line these days. Almost every industry has a need for databases and, developing countries are now fast collecting database so as to centralize data in the country for important decision making. Creation of these databases relies on software, mainly developed by Oracle for large scale databases, Microsoft SQL for web based applications and Microsoft Access for smaller scale and custom applications. Jobs in the database category include data architects, database administrators and information systems managers. Certifications in this category include
Oracle Certified Associate (OCA), advancing to Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) to the ultimate Oracle Certified Master (OCM)
It is one thing getting the certifications and another thing getting the experience. The idea here is that we don t want people to be too crazy about getting certifications at the expense of getting experience. Experience is something you cannot buy you can study brain dumps to get some certifications in a couple of weeks but the same is not applied to experience. Usually, Knowledge + know how = skill, and skill repeated over and over again will result to expertise and now we are talking of experience. Give yourself ample practical experience where possible. Volunteer for an organization that needs someone with computer skills but can't afford to pay them like some NGOs. I'm sure there will be lots of small organizations who need some kind of IT person to help out in some capacity or volunteer as an IT student in a cyber café where you will help them with a lot of cleaning and running some errands just to get the experience. You are going to find that experience and college education will get you the furthest in your career, generally. The certifications displays you have a base knowledge, with say CCNA, they will expect you to know how to configure and administer some fairly basic Cisco networks. Certifications can get your foot in the door these days, a friend of mine got his A+, then was hired in a helpdesk type of position, promoted into network admin, got a few more certifications and a university degree, and now has the experience and paper that can get him a network admin job anywhere.
Conclusively, I will advise IT students to take it easy because the IT jobs will still be there by the time they are through with their studies. Don’t rush to get certified and then start tampering with some company’s equipments like routers and switches, under study someone first because if you spoil any Cisco router in any organization you will pay; Cisco router cost hell.
Also, be careful when selecting IT training institute, some don’t give you value for your money. As with any field, there are good technical training schools, and bad ones. When you sign up with one of these schools, you've made a significant investment in time and money. You deserve to know everything about the school and your job prospects after leaving that school before you put down your hard-earned money. The problem is, sometimes it's hard to know the right questions to ask like:
How up-to-date are the courses they are offering?
Make sure the school you're going to attend has made efforts to keep their courses relevant. Ask what changes have been made to their curriculum in the last three years. No field changes faster than IT. If the answer to that question is "none", look somewhere else.
What are your true job prospects and legitimate salary levels after you graduate from their school?
What textbooks does their school use?
Some technical school chains use only books that someone in their organization wrote. I've heard some of the own teachers complain about the quality of these books. If you're looking into entering the IT field, you probably know someone who's already in it. Use that resource for everything its worth. Ask that person what they think about the books, or for that matter, what the local reputation of the school is. IT is a small world, if the school has a good or bad reputation, most of the IT personnel in your city or town probably know about it.
One of the most beneficial things for me has been talking with friends and co-workers about the things you are learning fora online. If you can find these two types of people, it will help you; first, a friend who has the same interests as you that you can study with and bounce ideas off, and second, a mentor who can validate your thoughts and teach you things you can't get from a book.
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