Certifications

Fellas I've learnt that soft skills opens doors and technical skills keep you in the room. What does that mean? If I am supposed to be serious about all of this, I must show people that I'm committed to this right?
(As if splurging a lot of money on a personal server doesn't convince that for some reason)
As such I've been looking into three certifications that I'm going to obtain at some point. The following include:

  • CCNA (Cisco)
  • Cloud Practitioner (AWS)
  • AZ-900 (Azure)

Yes this means not only I'm looking into just computer networking, but also the cloud. It makes sense for me as well. If I can do some virtual machines since year 7 and create a Linux ISO using openSUSE Studio, then it's going to be a cakewalk. Of course I can't everything lightly so I will take my time to ensure I get the fundamentals correct.
For now here are my predictions as to how I feel about theses certifications before studying for them.
Look if anything, I hope my extensive usage of Linux both as a server and as a desktop OS can really help me here, It's where I've started after all...

Cisco's CCNA

The gold standard
Now people should realise that due to my current projects that I'm proud of, I do have a sense on networking basics. After all, I wouldn't be able to do basic things like port forwarding, static IP assignments, DHCP, ARP among other things. In saying that, I don't really know the Cisco style of doing this. For example, interacting with a Cisco Switch to look at its switch table or a Cisco Router to view or clear a routing table. I mean there is already a solution to this problem; Cisco packet tracer. So long as I get the basics right plus some lab work which I can easily do, this certification should be no problem!
The reason I'm taking this certification on board is because it gives me a foothold on computer networking as a whole. This includes network design which is something I've touched in university but I want to study more of to get better at it.

AWS' Cloud Practitioner

The big one
Now unlike the CCNA, I've actually did some AWS work through university through a course! Lucky! Now this does mean that I've gone through some of the basics of the Cloud that are related to AWS including:

  • EC2 instance? (VMs)
  • Security Policies (Firewall among others)
  • VPC (Virtual Private Cloud)
  • Availability Zones (Fault tolerance, features etc.)
  • Edge Locations (CDNs and such)
  • DynamoDB (NoSQL Instance - Serverless)
  • MariaDB Instances (SQL instances)
  • Route 53 (Domain management)
  • Remote to EC2 (OpenSSH/putty)

And a whole bunch more!
For this, all I going to do is to just study using the AWS skill builder then just take the exam. No problems there!
Reason I'm taking this certification is because AWS is THE biggest cloud provider in the work. Hands down!

Azure's (Microsoft's) AZ-900

The Microsoft one... This one is also known as the Azure Fundamentals if you want too be fancy about it. Now If I do the AWS cert prior to this one, then it should be a cakewalk. Just find and match the names and I'm good to go. The reason I'm picking this one up is because for some reason, New Zealand just loves Microsoft and all of their products. I... don't exactly know why? Whatever makes companies happy I guess.
The reason I'm taking this certification to my belt is because again, New Zealand just loves Microsoft so much! Now if I'm taking it because of the market that I'm around just so happens to use Microsoft products, then yes, yes I am. I mean Supply and demand right!?

Conclusion

Well It's nothing much but it's a start! There is very little I can say about this as most of those certifications have a place for my own purposes; either for knowledge or for job opportunities. I think by getting these certifications in addition to my University degree, I should be able to walk to the industry knowing I can stay in the room once I get in. After that... All I gotta do is keep going up!