[Haifux] MCTIP computer technician course

Tue Feb 22 08:40:42 MSK 2011

Great manifesto. I can second every word. Studying is your and everyone else's way to succeed, but not all studying options were born equal- choose wisely. As someone interviewing people I can say that university degree makes a big difference while different courses are probably doing the opposite. 

Good luck 
Greg

On Feb 21, 2011, at 15:48, 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.
> 
> 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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