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Career

What Certifications Are Not

June 28, 2015 by Rowell Dionicio 2 Comments

My colleague and I had a discussion about the role certifications play in one’s career. Our opinions on the topic were almost aligned. The discussion took an interesting turn when it shifted towards how certifications should not be applied in the workplace.

The topic of certifications can become a heated one and if you’d like to provide constructive input, I’d like you to engage below in the comments.

I believe there is value to having certifications but only when used in conjunction with experience and mindset.

There are people who, in my opinion, take the wrong approach to certifications. I see it mostly with those entering the industry or those trying to advance themselves.

Not a guaranteed way to get a job [Read more…] about What Certifications Are Not

Top 7 Tips For IT Beginners (HINT: None Of It Is Technical)

April 7, 2014 by Rowell Dionicio 2 Comments

Getting Started in IT The IT community is very small in San Diego. Go to any user group and guaranteed you’re connected to someone through a colleague. Many IT beginners show up looking to interact with other techies and engineers, hungry for information and knowledge.

Some ask for tips on getting their foot into network engineering, security, etc. My tips aren’t very technical at all but they will get you far. Below are my top 7 tips for IT beginners.

Build Confidence

Build Confidence and Show It
Build confidence. Image from Wall-E.

Over the course of my IT career I have learned that being soft spoken doesn’t give you much of an advantage. You may come across as not knowing what the solution is, scared, not friendly, or just shy. Either way, people tend to go around you.

When I first started I was afraid to walk up to people to discuss their IT challenges. I spoke very softly. I failed to portray any sense of confidence in what I was doing. Clients can quickly lose trust in your decisions.

Overcome any fears of being shy. Speak up a little bit louder so you are heard. Sound confident when communicating. Be prepared to answer the “Why?” questions. This involves understanding the technology you are troubleshooting or explaining. Knowing as much as possible helps boost your confidence. My confidence has been deflated a couple of times because I simply did not have enough information to back my responses.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know.” There is a lot involved with technology and no one knows it all. I wouldn’t leaving it hanging at “I don’t know” but you should follow that sentence with something along the lines of “I will find out and get back to you tomorrow, is that okay?”

[Read more…] about Top 7 Tips For IT Beginners (HINT: None Of It Is Technical)

Improving My Career in 2014

January 1, 2014 by Rowell Dionicio Leave a Comment

Setting goals. Image credit by Stephen Pratt
Setting goals. Image credit by Stephen Pratt

Sorry 2013 but I have to move on. Bye. Time to change my attitude and mindset in 2014.

Certifications have been on my mind. On and off. I attempted VMware’s VCA exam and passed. One step closer to my VCP which I plan on attempting in 2014.

Since August 2013 I was studying for the CCNP SWITCH, 642-813, exam. Unfortunately, I failed the day after Christmas. I learned that I need to apply the mindset of improving my skill set. Don’t focus on passing an exam. That will come naturally as my knowledge in switching improves.

Having an affinity towards network engineering I joined Cisco’s Champion program. It fits well with my career as I evangelize Cisco products.

On the blogosphere, I published 52 posts. My busiest day of the year was October 30th, 2013 with 684 views. My most popular post on that day was My Thoughts: Passing The VMware VCA-DCV Certification Exam with 123 comments.

Around summer I made it an objective to utilize my blog more and I did change up my theme to the Genesis Framework which is hosted on Eleven2. Other top posts include:

  • Installing Nagios 3.5 on CentOS 6.5 Minimal
  • Configuring NAT for a Public Server Using the Same Outside Interface
  • How To Upgrade the IOS of a Cisco Switch 
  • CCNA Security Lab Equipment 640-554

Moving into 2014 [Read more…] about Improving My Career in 2014

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