[Haifux] MCTIP computer technician course

Tue Feb 22 08:31:30 MSK 2011

On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 1:48 AM, Michael Vasiliev <mycroft at yandex.ru> wrote:

>  On 02/20/2011 09:23 AM, Orna Agmon Ben-Yehuda wrote:
>
> How about starting your CS BSc instead? The open U is free for all, even if
> you do not have the bagrut yet, and the Technion has special programs for
> good students - some start at 16 or earlier.
>
> I'm replying to this reply, since I did not get the original letter (ugh,
> again!), and can't figure out whose mail server is to blame.
>
>
I am sorry about that. I considered replying in private, then re-added the
(wrong) list - amichay posted to linux-il, I posted to haifux, we got a
weird cross-posting effect.

> Even though more than good 13 years passed since I was in that exact
> situation, I'd like to share some insights, based on nothing else but actual
> experience. Let's say you are, like I was, a young hacker in his teen years
> looking for a job. You have some computer, network, linux, and programming
> knowledge, and lacking relevant experience, you're looking into persuading
> the employer in your abilities. You are, like all people have a resource,
> time, which you want to invest wisely.
>
> First of all, if you think that a prospective employer would take a teen
> off the street, with or without courses and let him manage expensive
> equipment and business-critical data, you're so wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
> I cannot emphasize it any further. Unlest that employer is your close
> relative, the best you're looking at is laying LAN cable or assembling
> computers from parts, both below minimum wage (sic!). The kind of jobs you
> have the lowest chance to make a mistake at, from the employer's view.
> Delegate-able, mundane, tiring, minimal possible loss jobs. Worst part of
> it, these are also available right now, without any courses. Nowadays, every
> business is an information business, and were IT business a Zen monastery,
> that's the kind of jobs you were doing in your first year. Except that in
> Zen monastery, you get to learn later on, and here you're not. Every job you
> can get, you can continue doing for the rest of your life, because there's
> no shortage of the same dull tasks, and every single one of these jobs is
> both a career dead-end and a constant insult to your intelligence.
>
> Let's talk courses now. These credit-less courses are on the level of
> advanced OS user at best, the programming ones are on the level of novice
> programmer, it's nothing you don't know already. They're thriving since the
> days of the hi-tech bubble, and only during these crazy days they were
> somewhat effective. Back then, with the shortage of hands and abundance of
> shareholder's money, you could actually get a position doing absolutely
> nothing of value whatsoever. All course graduates hired back then found
> themselves unemployed when the bubble burst. But people still try the "easy
> way to high-tech salary". Isn't that the all-around marketing slogan? That's
> how it will be: the course will be filled with naive people who don't know
> two bits about computers and want to switch from another field, unrelated to
> exact sciences. By offering yourself as a lowest bidder in terms of
> knowledge you'll get, on these courses you'll be taught by (surprise!) -- a
> lowest-bidder lecturer, which is at best a university or college student or
> dropout, an unlucky jobless teacher, or, in vast majority of cases, a
> "graduate" of the very same courses on minimum wage. I was both the
> "student" and "lecturer" in similar circumstances, and I feel bad for doing
> both. The kind of nasty feeling if you have personal ethics for your
> vertebrae column and know that despite your best efforts, you're doing a
> half-arsed job. Pardon the wording.
> This budget you describe can pay tuition fees for one year of proper,
> regular CS university courses or a university preparatory program you could
> use to improve your school grades. Or you can study for a psychometric exam
> (best of such study is, surprisingly, not a course, but gathering course
> books of all your friends and sitting on your butt solving them with pencil,
> eraser and stopwatch in the privacy and comfort of your own home, which is
> another lesson I've learned the hard way). Time and budget permitting, try
> to get into excellent student program in your school, that will get you
> university courses for a credit to use later. Try to get the best grades you
> can while still IN SCHOOL, or improve the one you already have.
>
> To summarize: I've been on that very road, and I cannot say anything but
> "don't waste your time taking such courses". It's nothing but ripoff and a
> complete waste of your precious time. Please, I'm begging you. I
> wholeheartedly wish someone persuaded me otherwise back then. Make your
> decision on a field and work relentlessly towards getting a proper degree.
> If you can't figure out what field you like, but you think it's something
> from exact sciences, start with math(preferrably) or physics. Both can give
> you a solid math background, a hardcore skeleton of your knowledge, a basic
> science firmware for your brain you can use for switching to any field of
> study. Math courses in university are unbeaten in being accepted everywhere
> for credit towards exact sciences degree. Math is the language of science,
> and the only way to speak it is speaking it fluently.
>
> Army is still a part of your life, and the same principles apply. If you're
> stuck out of your field, don't let your brains go limp. Continue
> self-education on any opportunity you get. Browse university websites and
> borrow their programs. Read, read, read. If you can't carry a book, solve
> math exercises out of university books or crosswords in another language.
> Invent exercises for yourself. You won't regret the effort. The neurons in
> the brain reorganize to better solve everyday tasks, the same way muscle
> cells do. Exercise makes perfect. I'm not talking about a majority but
> literally all people complain about hardships of going back to school after
> an army or a study break. Continuously remind yourself about your long-term
> goals. Evaluate your past and present usage of available time and
> instruments, your progress towards these goals. Don't be afraid to go over
> the same things over and over. Summarize, write down and re-learn useful
> things you inevitably forget. Learn how to learn effectively. Every person
> has strengths and weaknesses in information gathering and processing, learn
> how to exploit yours. Read books about thinking and learning. Read books
> that make you think. Aggressively limit investment of your time to study
> proprietary technology. It's out of your long-term interest. It will be
> gone, abandoned by its very creators, before you could benefit fully from
> your investment.
>
> One thing to remember: Even the best teacher is always secondary to a
> student. It's like one and zero. A student studying alone is a still a good
> student. A teacher can as much as double his student's personal investment.
> A teacher without a student is nothing. Best teachers motivate and allow
> their students to learn on their own and they need no advertising. A word of
> mouth will suffice. Your own will is the cornerstone of your knowledge.
>
> Heh, what started as an innocent letter turned out to be a personal
> manifesto. I wish you the best of luck, perhaps I'll meet you on DEFCON one
> day. Make your decisions wisely. Hope the read wasn't too boring. Dixi.
>
> --
> MichaelV
>
>   Hi,
>>
>> I consider these days to start learning computer technician course.
>> This course is MCTIP by Microsoft, + free Linux course.
>> Total of 252 + 64 hours, + Microsoft and LPIC 1 + 2 exams.
>> The price is 11,700, including everything.
>>
>> Do you have any idea whether I should study the course?
>> You know what the price range for similar courses?
>> Any advice?
>>
>> Thanks, Amichay
>>
>> --
>>  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  "the debate isn't security versus privacy. It's liberty versus control"
>> Bruce Schneier
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Orna Agmon Ben-Yehuda.
> http://ladypine.org
>
>
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>
>
>

-- 
Orna Agmon Ben-Yehuda.
http://ladypine.org
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