Thank you for your support

Today I was very busy.  Well...maybe I should be more accurate and tell you that several male members of our staff was very busy today.  That is because I had to unload a very large donation from my vehicle.  And as you can see by the picture to the right, it was not something I could have handled on my own.

My students and I are very fortunate to have received a large donation from Softrim Corporation a large technology company in the area.  Softrim supports networks of all sizes as well as providing for the telephony needs, Audio/Visual and theater installations, programming and help desk.  They sound busy don't they?

Trust me.  They are.

Softrim has been very generous to the program previously donating hard drives and a server.  But late last week, we won the Tech Center Lotto.  Softrim called me up to tell me they had a surprise for me.  I arrived at the office to find techs spilling out like ants.  "Hi Amy!  You got lots of stuff in there."  They greeted me enthusiastically before hurrying off to the next job. When I walked in, I found out why.  No one wanted to help carry that huge pile of equipment out to my car.

In all, I picked up 9 servers, 4 Cisco and HP switches, 4 Pix firewalls, a 16 port Raritan KVM and a really cool rackmount monitor/keyboard drawer.  (I know to most people this is boring, but my students and I are excited.)  This equipment will go perfectly in the server rack we just received from Mooring Park.


While I was in the office I took a couple pictures I would like to share with my students while they eagerly sit at home anticipating the start of school.  Here are pictures of:

•  The hardware bench:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  

 

• The help desk area:
  

• Off-site storage:
  
  
  

Thanks again to my friends at Softrim for contributing so generously to the hands-on experience here at iTech.

Guest Lecture

iTech is the only Prometric testing site in our area.  The next closest is in Sarasota.  Therefore, we are the only nearby option for area companies to certify their technicians.  With that, we are honored to have a partnership with CoastalIT to certify their techs.

Last week, one of Coastal's technicians, Wiliam, came out to our campus upgrade his certification from Windows 7 to Windows 8.  I previously had the pleasure of getting to know him while he was a student at our sister school Lorenzo Walker Institute of Technology.  As I set up his test, I asked him if he was willing to take a moment after he passed (because I knew he would) to come upstairs and talk to my students.

So the title of this post is a bit deceiving, because, did not really lecture.  In fact, he was quite reluctant to come up at all.  But, he graciously took a moment to talk informally with my summer students and mentor them.

 It's funny because many of the things he shared with the class are the things that we have been talking about all year.  He stressed that perhaps the hardest part of his job was the people skills he needed.  When out in the field it is important to explain to your customer what you are doing and avoid jargon while giving this explanation.  That is much easier said than done.

William also described some of the on-line applications that they use to remotely support their clients so that they only need to go on site when absolutely necessary.  This allows them to give a faster response to and increase the value of their product.

Finally, they talked about on-going education.  William completed the Computer Systems Technology program only two years ago.  However, he took it upon himself to learn new technologies, obtain the corresponding certifications and has earned himself a shiny promotion or two.  Way to go!

And his advice for those who were apprehensive about what they will find out there in the workplace?  Just do it.  You will learn with the experience.

Amen.  Thank you William for sharing with us.  I know my students learned much and are inspired to see someone like yourself who has completed the same program do so well.

Last Day of School - Summer 2013

Today is a bittersweet day, as the last day of school always is.  It is the end of the all too short summer term.  In just two short weeks, we will be starting our Fall 2013 semester. 

I'll admit that we are pretty laid back in the summer.  Enrollment is still small as the school builds our summer offerings.  But that does not mean we are not working just as hard.  I told you last week about a few of students who have earned certifications.  On this, our last day, I am proud to add another to that list:

Peniel Adolphe has spent most of the summer learning about Windows Server 2008. This work culminated in him and Eva building a server including configuring hardware RAID, installing the Server 2008 operating system and working with Active Directory.  Today he took and passed the 68-365 Windows Server Administration Fundamentals.  He earned an MTA (Microsoft Technology Associate) certification in that technology.  Peniel is well on his way to his final step of earning his MCSA and MSCE this Fall.


You have heard me talk about the new certifications offered by TestOut.  Because they are new, they are not well known yet.  However, I find that they are a nice alternative to the Comptia certifications because they are simulation based as opposed to multiple choice.  I find my students know the material quite well,  but sometimes over think a multiple choice question.  Now, Comptia is including simulation based question in future tests and those kind of questions are starting to appear.  The biggest complaint I have gotten from my students, though is that they are given no instructions on how the simulation software works and they are having trouble navigating the question.  That is another reason the TestOut certification is nice.  The students are familiar with the interface, so it is a genuine gauge of their knowledge, not an assessment of Comptia's (or maybe PearsonVue's simulation software.)

The reason I brought this up is that TestOut recently released the official version of the Security Pro certification.  I had taken and passed the beta exam and found the material covered to be quite comprehensive and indicative of what a technician might encounter in the "real-world".  I look forward to letting you know about my students and their successes when they pass the exam.

Have a great (rest of the) summer!

Field Trip

We had the opportunity to visit Moorings Park this week for a field trip.  This was a wonderful opportunity to showoff a diverse and complicated network to the students courtesy of an old colleague of mine.  Moorings Park is now supported by the company that I belonged to before I started this little adventure with the school system.  Aaron Gruber is the Staff Consultant in charge of the network along with three and a half other full time employees.

My students got to see the Network Operations Center as well as the server and cabling rooms.  They got to see the blade servers in use and well as CAT7  (yes, that is right CAT7!) cabling.  We discussed the fiber infrastructure as well as the need for future planning.

Aaron even let us watch him change a port on a switch from one VLan to another.  While that may have put my mother to sleep, my students thought it was better than Showtime after Dark.

But as Aaron so precisely put it, IT is so much more than just switches and servers.  Aaron exposed my students to much more than just servers, racks, switches and phones.  We discussed other technologies that the department is responsible for including security cameras, nurse call equipment and a personnel locational tracking system.  Pretty cool, huh?

But I think what elevated Aaron in the eyes of my students from awesome guy to near demi-god was when he showed us the theater that was recently built for the use of the residents.  This place boasted the most advanced technology available today to create a facility that is unrivaled for playing movies, hosting lectures, and even producing video.

 After playing around with the automated lights and shades, Aaron let the students play around on the stage while we recorded them on the blue screen for editing with the TriCaster equipment:
 


 Finally, Moorings Park was very generous to donate a rack to my program here at iTech.  I look forward to using this in the classroom for my networking activities.

Thank you Aaron for a wonderful and educational day.  I'm glad you like your job. You have an excellent way with the students and I wouldn't want to compete with you for my job.  :)

Summer Smarties!

  While most students are relaxing on summer break, my students are hard at work putting their studying into action by taking their certification tests.  Please join me in recognizing three individuals who are demonstrating a commitment to themselves and their education:

First, Peniel Adolphe took and passed his Network+ certification!  I will have to check my sources, but Peniel just might be the first student from iTech to earn this certification.  Watch out Peniel, don't get complacent.  Eva, Richard and Josemon are fast on your heels.

Second, Lucien Denis took a day from his awesome internship to take and pass his A+ Practical exam making him an A+ certified computer technician.  While Lu was visiting, he mentioned that he wanted to continue his education while working to expand his skill set.  Way to go!  Lu shows the commitment and persistence that has and will continue to serve him well in his career.

 Finally, Richard has been diligently studying at home to prepare for HIS A+ practical exam.  Richard brought his family and patiently waited out a few technical issues to take the test and pass!  Richard is my newest A+ certified student and it was wonderful to share the moment with him and his children.  Congratulations, Dad!

Sharing a special moment with Dad.

The summer is not over yet.  Stay tuned and watch what we can do.