Archive for February, 2010

A+ Certified Guy Going for the Gold in Vancouver

Friday, February 26th, 2010

A little less than an hour from now (1 p.m. PST), Olympic athlete and certified IT professional Steven Holcomb will continue his quest for the Gold Medal at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.  As reported by the Microsoft Born to Learn blog and by CNET, Steven’s an A+ certified professional and a Microsoft MCP who has taken some time off from the tech world to pursue the ultimate prize in both the 2-man and 4-man bobsleigh events at the super-fast Whistler track in Vancouver.  Holcomb and his partner Curtis Tomasevicz finished out of the medal race at sixth place in the 2-man event. However, coming into competition on Friday Holcomb, Tomasevicz and their U.S. teammates Steve Mesler and Justin Olson are sitting in first place in the 4-man bobsleigh event.

Holcomb is an avid video gamer and is pursuing a computer science degree.  And you can see his dedication to the IT business just by looking at his twitter name; pcbobsledder.  He also likes to have fun at work. Check him out as he does The Holcy Dance in his free time in Vancouver.

Be sure to check out Holcomb as he continues his quest for Olympic gold. The 4-man bobsleigh event concludes Saturday, February 27.

UPDATE

They did it!

CompTIA A+ certified technician Steven Holcomb and his “Night Train” U.S. Olympic 4-man Bobsleigh team took the Gold Medal.  It was the first time the U.S. won the gold in that event since 1948, and almost certainly the first Olympic Gold Medal for an A+ certified technician.

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PrepLogic vs. Train Signal

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Guarantees are all about confidence. The reason a company offers you a guarantee is to ensure you that there are no risks when you make a purchase. With a good guarantee, you either get the product/service that you want, or you get your money back. Either way, you win. As an IT training provider, our guarantees have to give you the security and confidence that our training products will meet your needs and will give you the IT skills you want. And we have to give you enough time to try the product, because with IT training it may take weeks or months for you to find out if the product works or not.

PrepLogic and Train Signal both offer you guarantees to make you feel secure about your IT training purchase. Let’s take a closer look at these guarantees and see which program does the best job ensuring your satisfaction.

When you buy from PrepLogic, you get not just one, but TWO separate guarantees. First off, PrepLogic gives you a 30-Day Money Back Guarantee. If you’re not satisfied with your purchase within the first 30 days for ANY reason, we’ll give you your money back. Even if you haven’t opened it or used it. Doesn’t matter. The full amount of your purchase is eligible (minus a small processing fee). There’s no buyer’s remorse when you’ve got PrepLogic’s Money Back Guarantee.

Train Signal offers a guarantee program, too. It’s good for 90 days, but there’s a limit on how much they’ll guarantee. The money back guarantee only applies up to $397. At PrepLogic, your entire purchase is covered, whether it’s $300 or $3,000. We want you to feel confident on any purchase, especially those that represent a larger investment for you.

In addition to the Money Back Guarantee, PrepLogic offers the Pass Guarantee. Not only do we guarantee you’ll be satisfied, but we guarantee you’ll pass your exam, too. Train Signal doesn’t have a similar guarantee. Our Pass Guarantee stays in effect for a full 180 days after you purchase your training. With Train Signal, you’re out of luck totally after 90 days. We know that people aren’t always able to get ready for their test right away. Our customers have jobs and school and families, after all. So we give you six months to get ready for your test, without having to worry about whether your training is going to work.

When you’re talking about guarantees, there’s a difference between a company that’s just hedging their bets and a company that’s sincerely backing up their promises. Train Signal only covers a portion of their training for a portion of the time. PrepLogic truly knows your needs and gives you the guarantee you need to be confident. Now who are you going to trust when it comes to your money and your career?

If you have questions about our Money Back Guarantee, Pass Guarantee or any of our training products and programs give us a call. 1-800-418-6789. Talk to you soon.

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Comparing Pass Guarantees: PrepLogic vs. Transcender

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

For more than 12 years, one of our top priorities has been to give you the assurance you need to be confident in our training. To earn your trust, we let you try our products for free through our demos and previews. We also give you a shot to try our complete training packages at no risk for 30 days, so you can get a taste of the real thing before you buy.

Another important way we earn your trust is with our guarantee programs. We offer a 30-Day Money Back Guarantee and a Pass Guarantee. It’s important that we offer both, because they’re very different. The Money Back Guarantee states that if for any reason you’re unsatisfied with your PrepLogic training products, we’ll refund your money. Now that’s a great way to ensure we make a good first impression. But it’s more meaningful for us to help you pass your exam. That’s where the Pass Guarantee comes in. Our Pass Guarantee states that if you use PrepLogic training for your exam, then you’ll pass that exam the first time. If you don’t, we’ll give you the money you paid to train for that exam back.

We’re not the only team to offer a Pass Guarantee, so today we’re going to compare our Pass Guarantee with one our competitors, Transcender, so you can decide whom you’d rather trust for your IT career training.

At first glance, both guarantees are pretty similar. Both PrepLogic and Transcender offer Pass Guarantees. Both programs offer to refund your money if you don’t pass your exam the first time. But that’s where the similarities end.

PrepLogic gives you more time to train. Our Pass Guarantee is available for 180 days, Transcender’s is only available for 90 days. That gives you twice as much time to train and get ready for your exam. PrepLogic doesn’t force you to rush your training to get in before the deadline, or leave you out in the cold on Day 91. We know that you have other priorities in life, and sometimes you can’t get ready for your exam as quickly as you like. We want you to be confident you’ll pass, even if your training goes longer than you expected.

PrepLogic guarantees more products than Transcender. Our Pass Guarantee covers every training product you purchased from PrepLogic for your exam. That includes LearnSmart Video Training, practice exams, audio training, Printables, Mega Guides… everything. Transcender’s guarantee only covers practice exams. We ask you to trust our full line of products, so we should guarantee our full line of products. And that’s what we do. If you fail your exam, we’ll refund your money for everything you used for your exam.

PrepLogic also doesn’t require you to return anything. Transcender forces you to ship back your CDs on your own dime. We don’t want to put you through any extra burden, so we avoid all of the hassle and expense of returning products. Simply send in your request with your failing score report, and that’s it.

Clearly PrepLogic’s offer is better. But don’t take our word for it. Check each of these programs out for yourself, and come to your own conclusion. Right now, thousands of people are depending on IT career training to help survive in this economy. Are you confident in the training you’ve chosen? Only PrepLogic offers the best products, the best trials and demos and the best guarantees.

If you’d like to learn more about our products and programs, give us a call. 1-800-418-6789. Thanks.

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All About Cisco’s CCNP Overhaul for 2010

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

On January 25, Cisco announced a complete redesign of the exams and the requirements for the Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) certification. The new program is a three-step track of exams that focus on specific job tasks, including IP Routing, IP Switched Networks and IP Network Troubleshooting. According to Cisco the new exams “reflect the evolving job tasks of global network professionals.” Here’s a brief breakdown of the exams required for the new CCNP certification.

ROUTE (642-902) – Available March 10, 2010:
According to the Cisco Learning Network website, passing the new ROUTE (642-902) exam will “certify that the successful candidate has the knowledge and skills necessary to use advanced IP addressing and routing in implementing scalable and secure Cisco ISR routers connected to LANs and WANs.” The topics for the exam are:

  • Implement an EIGRP based solution, given a network design and a set of requirements
  • Implement a multi-area OSPF Network, given a network design and a set of requirements
  • Implement an eBGP based solution, given a network design and a set of requirements
  • Implement an IPv6 based solution, given a network design and a set of requirements
  • Implement an IPv4 or IPv6 based redistribution solution, given a network design and a set of requirements
  • Implement Layer 3 Path Control Solution

SWITCH (642-813) – Available March 10, 2010:
Cisco’s new SWITCH (642-813) is an important part of the CCNP certification. Accoding to Cisco, passing this exam will “will certify that the successful candidate has important knowledge and skills necessary to to plan, configure and verify the implementation of complex enterprise switching solutions using Cisco’s Campus Enterprise Architecture.” The topics for SWITCH (642-813) include:

  • Implement VLAN based solution, given a network design and a set of requirements
  • Implement a Security Extension of a Layer 2 solution, given a network design and a set of requirements
  • Implement Switch based Layer 3 services, given a network design and a set of requirements
  • Prepare infrastructure to support advanced services
  • Implement High Availability, given a network design and a set of requirements

TSHOOT (642-832) – Available April 30, 2010
TSHOOT is Cisco’s toubleshooting and problem solving component of the CCNP. According to Cisco “the TSHOOT 642-832 exam will certify that the successful candidate has important knowledge and skills necessary to (1) plan and perform regular maintenance on complex enterprise routed and switched networks and (2) use technology-based practices and a systematic ITIL-compliant approach to perform network troubleshooting.” The are just two topics for this exam, although the second topic is a 25-point list of protocols that the candidate must be able to troubleshoot. The topics are:

  • Maintain and monitor network performance
  • Troubleshoot Multi Protocol system networks

The new three-exam series replaces the previous four-exam track that included BSCI (642-901), BCMSN (642-812), ISCW (642-825) and ONT (642-845). The final day to take four-exam series tests is July 31, 2010. There will be a brief time (from March 10 through July 31, 2010) when exams for both series will be available.

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CompTIA Announces Changes to A+, Network+ and Security+…….Twice.

Monday, February 1st, 2010

At the beginning of the year, CompTIA announced that people with the A+, Network+ and Security+ certifications would have to renew their certifications every three years to keep their credentials valid. Previously, there had been no renewal required and each of those three certifications remained valid forever. The new requirements were similar to those for other popular industry certifications including the Cisco CCNA. Under the new requirements, everyone who held an A+, Network+ or Security+ would have to recertify or lose their certification.

Then, about a week later, CompTIA adjusted the new requirements. In a press release titled “CompTIA Certification Renewal Policy Clarified,” CompTIA announced that current A+, Network+ and Security+ certification holders (as well anyone who earns those certifications in 2010) would not be required to renew their certifications. According to the release “All individuals currently certified in CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ and/or CompTIA Security+ will retain their “certified for life” status with no requirement to recertify or retest. Individuals who become certified in CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ or CompTIA Security+ by December 31, 2010 also will be considered certified for life.”

So now the only candidates that will be required to renew their certifications are those who get certified after January 1, 2011. Those people will need to follow one of the recertification methods every three years to keep their certification up-to-date. These new rules will make it tougher to stay certified, but should improve the value and credibility of the certifications. With the new criteria, these certifications now carry ISO 17024 accreditation. And with a recertification requirement, employers are ensured that people with the A+, Network+ and Security+ have the most recent skills.

The most straight forward way to recertify is to pass your certification exam again. But that’s not the only way. CompTIA is giving you the option to perform activities that earn you Continuing Education Units (CEUs) you may use toward recertification. To renew the A+, one must earn 20 CEUs. For the Network+ it’s 30 CEUs and for Security+ it’s 50 CEUs. Some of the CEU-eligible activities include:

* Teaching, lecturing or presenting industry content relevant to the highest level CompTIA Certification.
* Attendance at relevant industry events, seminars or conferences.
* Full participation in CompTIA exam development workshops.
* Publishing a relevant industry article, white paper, blog or book.

For more information about CompTIA certification, check out the official CompTIA website or give our career counselors a call at 1-800-418-6789.

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