opus:interactive | If These Servers Could Talk

Sunday, December 09, 2007 at 11:20 pm by Eric Hulbert

Who’s keeping score?

I recently attended a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer Boot Camp, put on by TECHPROS Group, in an attempt to obtain my MCSE. Yet, the certification wasn’t the only goal, I intended to meet all the criteria for the certification - in one week.

Back in August, I hopped on a plane from Portland, OR to Irvine, CA. To start the trip off, the plane had maintenance issues, so as we started to take off - literally as the front of the plane left the ground - the pilot immediately landed the plane. The plane barely stopped in time before its tires rolled off the end of the runway. For the next two hours we were stalled, waiting for the mechanical issues to be resolved.

MCSE credentials are the certifications for professionals who analyze the business requirements and design and implement the infrastructure for business solutions based on the Microsoft Windows Server System.

Because of this travel hurdle, I arrived three hours late to the boot camp. Missing certification orientation and dinner might phase one’s moral, but here at opus:interactive, it takes more than a false start at the beginning of the race to thwart a victory - a lot more.

The boot camp was held at a rented house in the hills outside Irvine, CA. It was a very nice house with plenty of space and rooms for all fifteen of the boot camp attendees (below). TECHPROS had great content setup for us in terms of lectures and labs (below). The first three days we worked through labs with VMware as well as lectures. I finished the first lab Sunday night before turning in around 1AM. The second day I finished the second lab by dinner time and was ready to start studying for the tests. I crammed for 14 hours straight and attempted my first test on Tuesday:

I passed with a perfect score 1000/1000! The rest of the day was spent going through more labs and some simulations TECHPRO had setup to prepare us for the simulations on 70-291. I studied until around 2AM and was ready to take more tests on Wednesday.

I was the only student to attempt three tests in one day and the ones I chose were:

I ended up passing all three that day with a 984/1000 on the XP test! Even with these three tests behind me, I didn’t stop. I continued cramming and working on other labs and lectures for the rest of the day into the wee hours of Thursday, turning in around 3AM.

I wanted to continue the testing insanity and scheduled three more tests for Thursday as follows:

I was again the only student to attempt three tests that passed them all in one day.

The camp was winding down and there was only one more testing opportunity before the flight back to Portland on Friday afternoon. I schedule one final test on Friday morning which would achieve my MCSE +Messaging.

I ended up taking a second test because I had two hours to kill before catching a ride to the airport. I took the following tests:

Both of these test I completed and passed, which brought my total of successfully passed tests to nine in four days! (Phew, what a relief!) I was literally brain dead at this point.

One week later I felt the itch again and decided I should take the last elective for the Security add-on to the MCSE. I quickly scheduled this test:

Another perfect score of 1000/1000! Completing that exam gave me my MCSE +Security.

Why stop there! I thought and continued a study for the new Hosting Specialization Exam:

This test encapsulates what we offer here at opus:interactive and as such: I nailed it with a 987/1000 score! That achieved me the MCTS: Hosting Specialization certification as well.

In recent months we’ve been internally studying the ITIL Foundations and was finally ready to take that exam. This particular exam was administered by EXIN the Examination Institute for Information Science and is the first step in us implementing ITIL for our organization. I studied all the material I could find and ran some practice exam engines. I was finally ready to take the test. I aced that test with a perfect score of 1000/1000! Obtaining my ITIL Foundations Certification.

A lot of testing and a lot of proof of just how excellent our organization and team are. Some might even say: the best in the business.

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