IT Employment
I am looking to get MCDBA and MCSA and have had the training, however lately I dont feel very motivated to put in time for study and prep.
Can anyone help and maybe provide some motivational words of wisdom?
by timwalsh
I'm not sure I would term these words of wisdom, but it sounds like there are some questions you need to ask your self:
What are the reasons you wanted these particular certifications ?
Have those reasons changed?
If you don't have the motivation to complete the effort needed to achieve a certification, why did you start to begin with?
As my boss is very fond of saying " If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there!" My corollary to this is "If you don't know where you are going, any steps you take to get there will likely be wasted."
Your goals should determine the steps you take to get there. The other way around (taking tentative steps and then then deciding on a goal that the steps already taken will help you achieve) seldom works.
A goal is a goal unless it is realistic and worth achieving. If it's worth achieving, that should provide you the motivation to do what ever it takes to reach that goal.
"If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there."
From the song, Any Road, by George Harrison. (On his last CD, Brainwashed.)
I completely agree.... I want to know as much as possible about MS Sql server, and the exams are certainly a good way to test that knowledge...
Maybe for marketability and to increase my confidence in a subject area... Someday I hope to consult, and the more tools the better.
It seems perhaps that my problem isnt with overall motivation, but perhaps with the "not enough hours in a day" scenario... lately I feel as though I havent enough brain power left to make exam prep worth while...
So I suppose that any road will in fact land me where ever I want to go, until I decide where that is...
by catadmin
If you really want to learn all there is to know about SQL Server (and I'm in the process of getting my MCDBA myself), go to a computer show and buy yourself a decently cheap PC which has all the HCL list for you to put an eval copy of Windows 2000 Server on it. The Win2k server CD can be picked up in Microsoft's official 70-218 test book (Managing a 2000 Network) and you can download SQL Server 2000 eval from Microsoft's website. Load them both on there, get yourself a SQL book (either admin or design) and go through the exercises a few times on your test machine.
Try to 'break the machine' (which is entertaining in itself) and that will teach you about SQL in a less boring way then just reading about it.
by oz_media
I find so many people these days are more concerned about getting the right cert than actually looking for work.
Certs are fine and needed but what good are certs when everyone is saying they can't find work (which should be, they don't know HOW to find work)?
I think a logical step is to decide where you want to go and try to find a job, you'll soon find out if you're underqualified and what is required to fill such a position. What happened for me is they liked me and paid for me to get my CNE and MCNE certs. Talk about a good score!
When I finished school and wrote my tests, I moved away and now remote network for them and another company while doing all my side work in IT, the music industry, building cars etc. Granted, I was extremely lucky to find such a company but they are out there and they do want people. Just look where nobody else is, if everyone yuo know look to the newspaper for work, go knock on doors.
I think finding a niche market and filling the requirements is easier than getting a bunch of certs and trying to figure out where you fit in.
Good luck to you,
OM
by johnnyd121
[post deleted by community admin]
[Edited by: admin on Mar 16, 2005 9:54 AM]
by tony49mcp
by eric9
Do you enjoy fully understanding everything in a given situation?
I am a network consultant, and I personally hate when I am put in a position where I do not know the solution to something, and time is such a critical factor that I have to create a solution that works, but may not be perfect.
But, what I do is carry a notepad around with me, and before I leave a client site I write down as much as I need about the problem, then later on down the road, when I have spare time I sit down with my R&D lab (consisting of two computers, total which costed me less then $1000 total for very nice new computers) and recreate the situations that I was stuck on, and I fix it, the correct way!
Well I am finding as I go through more and more training material, that the bizzare little problems are showing up as the things you would normally glance over.
So if you have a list of problems and situations that you were stuck on in the past in your mind, you are going to start to really connect with the training material.
So what could your motivation to study be? Maybe you are sick of running into situations that you get stuck in, and you would instead like to be the only guy out of the five staring at a problem to be able to say, "oh yeah, this is how you do that," or "I would do it this way, it worked great for me in my test lab..."
Eric
by w2ktechman
Personally I have the same motivational problems. Mine seem to stem from not enough sleep, or too tired after work. I have had to break that habit a bit, because I love tech work (usually).
What I started to do is, when I get home I would not turn on the TV right away, I would start looking into something that I was interested in, even though I was not in the mood for it. Shortly I started studying certain aspects of what my goal was, like with XP and the migration wiz, server 2k3 and the volume shadow copy (as a backup source), etc. That got my mind "in shape" to handle reading a few pages every day and understanding them. Normally I read and need to re-read before it sinks in.
Another good advantage is sleep, I (an insomniac) have a hard time reading from a book if I have not slept well, but when I read it from an E-Book, I seem to do a bit better. Also if you take a break (quick) and think about what you read for a few minutes, it seems to help and I seem to retain more.
Just my thoughts
by oz_media
I found that when I was in Tech College studying Auto for 6 years, I learned some valuable reading and studying skills that had been lost since I lost interest in school.
We lose the ability to deiscipline ourselves for study when out of school, entering a school later in life makes this all come back slowly.
Yuor system of FORCING yourself to study even a little each night is exactly what you need to get into the 'information sponge' stage needed to succeed in study.
Like they say, inch by inch, anything's a sinch.
( I hate those motivational sayings form my past but they hold true time and time again.)
by w2ktechman
I forgot to mention that (being lazy by nature) I seem to have the biggest problem if I take a long break (a week or so) to get back into the studying habits. Almost everytime I have passed a test I decide to take a breather and do some other things for a short time. THIS IS A BAD IDEA.
This does not work because after a week or so (if you are like me) you will decide to prolong (a few more days) and then getting back into the study habit is much harder.
So, in order to do it right, make a concious choice NOT to take a long break between studies, finish it off and then reward yourself with a break.
I can relate. I don't get enough sleep and I usually am tired after work...and do not feel motivated enough to study. All the resources are there...everything I need is available and yet it's all a matter of just sitting down to do it. Many distractions at home but I think if I were to just sit down as soon as I got home and started reading and studying...that eventually it would become a habit. Sleep! We need more sleep! Anyhow, reading some of these posts motivates me. I'm tired of wasting valuable time everyday doing something that's just not that productive. Yes, of course, there should be a balance between study and leisure, but no study and too much leisure is no good.
One can only benefit from cetifications.
by svengala
start with one
divide and conquer
one step at a time
by jsfald
It has been 9 months later so if you are not motivated by now...
One thing that motivates me remembering where getting the next certifcation will get me.
A pay raise, a better job, a new car, or just more information. In reality the next certification might not get me any of those things but if I trick myself into thinking that I am motivated.
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