Jimmy.Brainflush.com

Hi. This may be the first time you’ve visited, so let me introduce myself. I’m Jimmy. This is my blog. I used to dream about becoming an MCSE. I finally did, and here’s the story:

I began like everyone else, with the CNE for 3.11. Back then, things were so much easier, but no one realized it. I take that back - people did, they capitalized on the market.
Microsoft started the MCSE track with NT 4.0. If you’re like me, then you bought the books. Twice. With the best of intentions to study. But you never got to it, and the books piled up.
Fast forward 3 years, and Windows 2000 comes out, the ultimate excuse to wait out and get certified on that version. Again, you purchase the books. They’re on your desk the first week. Then they get put on the shelf out of the way so you could pay your bills. In fits of desperation, you promise yourself that’s it! I can’t handle the crap and disrespect our network administrators give me!

I’ll show them!, you tell yourself. If you’re lucky, you keep the blind rage until you get home, and crack the 2000 Professional book. At 7 o’clock, your favorite show is on, or you have to cook dinner, workout, feed the kids, take out the trash, pay your bills or watch that DVD before you return it to the video store.

This vicious cycle continues. For years. You read all the success books and listen to success books and then you hear someone mention goal setting and modeling and if you’re very lucky, something clicks.

I asked our administrator how he got his MCSE. He told me he went to a boot camp. This is where I define modeling: It’s simply doing the same thing that someone you deem successful in a particular area did, and getting the same results. (That’s over-simplified, research more).

I asked him what he recommended for me, and he said to try doing it at home, because bootcamps are expensive.

Again, I get the books, and even spend 600 dollars on testprep software. But the software wouldn’t install right, and my cousin called, and work ran late, and I’m working on becoming a comedian. (You can browse the years of this here, at jimmy.brainflush.com).

I have another desperate moment, and start researching bootcamps. I find one that looks really good. It’s really expensive, but I have a 401K. Screw it! I’m going to do what our Admin did!, I told myself.

Then I took a hard look at my finances. The 8000 dollars was out of control. I couldn’t get a loan because I have crappy credit.

A co-worker’s son lost his job, and I recommended this particular bootcamp, and he went, and got his MCSE! He got a job as an administrator. I felt great for him, but horrible myself. Here this guy was, living my dream! Damn!

FINE! I told myself, I’ll get out of debt, and THEN I’ll go to bootcamp!

This is where things, rather I, got weird. I actually followed through. A year and a half later, I was debt-free.

That was cool. It helped me realize I really could accomplish things.
I ordered my tickets for bootcamp in February. Then work intervened. Twice.

I finally got my 2 weeks vacation for BootCamp, and went. Yes, that’s right, I’m still being weird. I took my precious vacation and spent it in the hell that is boot camp.

I lost a bunch of hair from the stress, and with the difficulty that Microsoft has added to Server 2003 exams, not many people will pass. I didn’t finish my MCSE at boot camp.

I did, however, follow my instructors advice and booked my 2 remaining exams as I was driving home from boot camp. Thanks to the continued momentum from that time, and the pressure I put on myself, I actually finished the MCSE, which hangs above and to the left, quite nicely, I might add, to the desk at which I’m now sitting.

Did it mean an immediate raise? No. Does it guarantee anything? No. Am I a different person for having gone through the experience? Abso-friggin-lutely.

It’s allowed me to move successfully into a Security management role in my engineering job. It’s helped me better understand the fundamentals of Windows, Server, and the entire computing environment.

If I lost my job tomorrow, could I get one? Sure. Am I more confident in the technical decisions I make for my firm? Yes.

I didn’t have faith in my abilities, and up to the start of camp, I was afraid I wouldn’t make it. That fear, it turns out, served me very well.

The camp I attended was The Training Camp, located in Bushkill, PA. I went there because it’s their original location, and I’d been mentally preparing to go there for years.

The pre-reading material they provide will get you started on the right track. If you study the pre-reading, and give it everything you got, then you’ll have your opportunity to share your story.

If you’d like more information, or if you have any questions, you can email me at mcse03@myway.com - I check it occasionally.

As they say at camp, You’re only as good as what you know.