SRL Archive - General

Hi guys,

EDIT: I ALREADY HAVE THE SOFTWARE DEV MTA! MY BAD


So many of you know that I do web design as a trade and software programming is a really slow hobby that i'd like to do more in. Well, I recently got all my certificates for my qualifications and I've decided I want more.

I have a few options, both of which are extra qualifications which can help me later in life…



I looked at Web Development, but it's in ASP.net … Not sure I can be bothered but I suppose it would be good to learn.

Would love some feedback

@Kevin

@Justin

@Wizzup?

@J J

@Dgby714

@Brandon

@Zyt3x

@Ashaman88

^^ Mostly people I know related too the industry or know what they're talking about

depends what you want to do. If you're "an IT guy" networking is a great option.

HTML5 is going to be a great thing to learn as it is the future for a little while longer for sure.
Mobile development could be lots of fun if you're already into phone hack/roots etc.

From: footballjds
depends what you want to do. If you're "an IT guy" networking is a great option.

HTML5 is going to be a great thing to learn as it is the future for a little while longer for sure.
Mobile development could be lots of fun if you're already into phone hack/roots etc.

I do IT as my job… Web design is a side product as well as my freelancing. I've been learning on the go. I could try networking I suppose :P

From: xtrapsp
I do IT as my job… Web design is a side product as well as my freelancing. I've been learning on the go. I could try networking I suppose :P

it is really good to learn the different layers and sh**. Security is good for IT as well.

But if you think you're going to be a programmer and want to learn something else, do that! The most important thing is to pick what you want to learn, you learn the best if you want to learn it.

From: footballjds
it is really good to learn the different layers and sh**. Security is good for IT as well.

But if you think you're going to be a programmer and want to learn something else, do that! The most important thing is to pick what you want to learn, you learn the best if you want to learn it.

I want to do ALL of them… just because then I know more…

However programming is a hobby, I kinda want a jack of all trades, master of none so I can get an overall good IT background… but as a 20 year old I want something to strive for :P I work in IT doing anything and if I don't know it… I learn it…

It depends on where you want to take this hobby.

Do you want to take it to a huge company? Do you want to keep doing small projects? Do you want to work on infrastructures, etc, etc…

I absolutely agree with football - HTML5 is gonna be important in many areas. Not every area, but enough to make it definitely worthwhile. Mobile development is also only going to get bigger - although it could evolve in unexpected ways, so who knows.

I'm biased, but I think ASP is great. Seriously, it's one of the main things my job focuses on. But it is all about big projects; small websites don't need to use it, but on the same hand, it's unbelievably easy to make small websites with. Databases will also have their value in tons of projects and companies.

I'm also going to be a huge proponent of networking and security - yet again I have reasons to be biased however. Security is absolutely the most entertaining in all of web development as far as I'm concerned, as well as the most challenging. But it's absolutely invaluable to have a good security person almost anywhere - and if that same person can handle a lot of the networking logic? That's awesome and can be considered amazing job security simply because there aren't enough of the people in the field that can do both well. 'Well' is a keyword to note, though.

As far Operating System Fundamentals… While interesting, especially if you care anything about hardware integration (robotics, GPS, etc), it has a low amount of usability in the field compared to everything else you listed - ESPECIALLY if you're focusing on web development.

woot, kevin agrees with me on all my points except asp :P

Was at one point mentioned in this, so I'll give me input anyway, even though I'm not a "Mostly people I know related too the industry or know what they're talking about". :p

The importance/impact of certifications varies drastically depending on what industry and area you work in, ranging from being critically important to completely worthless. That said, having various applicable certs does put you ahead of other candidates applying for a job on paper (but usually having years of experience is worth more than a cert).

It sounds like you're doing this to help guide your learning, though, as opposed to just padding your resume, which is great and refreshing to see. Personally, I think there are several possible routes to take here, depending on what exactly you want to pursue.

First lets eliminate the junk:

• Windows Development Fundamentals - very basic, take a week and learn it if you want, but worthless as a cert
• Windows Operating System Fundamentals - completely worthless "how do i computer" cert. learn to defrag your pc and install drivers for your new devices.
• Web Development Fundamentals - MS ecosystem specific, meaning this will only be remotely relevant if you want to work for some company who likes MS for everything. The actual principles covered are very basic.

Others might be junk as well, but I'm not as familiar with them.

The ones that seem useful to me:

• As a sys admin:
• Windows Server Administration - Even if you work in a linux shop, knowing and understanding how to administer windows servers makes you much more useful to your employer. Especially being able to work with domain controllers and active directory.
• Networking Fundamentals - Useful from a jack-of-all-trades perspective, being well versed in networking helps in every facet of IT
• As a mobile dev:
• HTML5 Application Development Fundamentals - Applicable for all devices, useful to know if you want to create web apps going forward
• Mobile Development Fundamentals - Personal bias makes me hesitant to say that this is useful, as it targets the windows phone ecosystem, which is terrible, but may be useful to become familiar with mobile dev lifecycle and experience with devices in general.
• As a developer:
• Security Fundamentals - Very important to know this in modern IT. Being able to defend yourself, your company, and your apps is definitely marketable.
• Database Fundamentals - Probably the most versatile and useful one out of the whole list. Database principles are very portable from system to system, and extremely useful for all types of development.
• Microsoft .NET Fundamentals - Useful if you want to develop quick and dirty windows apps. Also useful if you're an admin in a windows shop and want to automate server tasks

Also, LOL at tagging Wizzup for feedback on a list of MS certs.

I will have to say to choose Database fundamentals. I'm not exactly sure why all the courses say "Fundamentals". It makes it sound very basic in nature. Not sure though but I'd choose database since you already have software development.

I actually took almost all of those. They were named differently but here goes:

For security class we did: http://www.mediafire.com/download/bmv74qxackz2b3k/Security+Questions.zip

It's a list of security questions that we had to study and learn. For the mid-term project we had to create a company policy for a security risk. Perhaps internet usage policy, company clean up policy (poking holes in harddrives, shredding papers and wetting them or burning them, etc)..
Using parameterized SQL statements vs. raw queries, fixing holes in code and also exploiting them (buffer overruns, etc). The things you will learn in this class is actually going to be used throughout your entire career no matter where you go.


For Networking, you learn PHP, quite a bit about hardware, routers, network management, subnetting, finding IP-ranges, botnets, switches, etc. If you take it hands on, most likely you'll be signing up to cisco's website for the final exam (well at least for me). I believe it was called CCNA 1 and 2. You can move onto the A+ certificate after that. It's probably one of the best opportunities you can get. Especially if you get the CCNA 1 and 2 along with the A+ certificate.


For mobile development you'll be doing possibly 3+ platforms. I did android, ios and windows phone 8. This will teach you Java for android (heavily used, possibly some JNI if required), Objective-C (and a bit of C) for ios and Visual-C# or Visual-C++ for windows 8 phone.
The objective-c kills though. If you end up learning android first and doing lots of java, getting used to Objective-C's messaging syntax is a pain! However, if you learn ios first (objective-c), then you'll learn about pointers and memory management and the silly syntax.. Then you'll easily adapt to Java. The other way around is very difficult.
However, it is very nice course as a lot of today's technology is going mobile. My friend made good money for making a text-blocker and an app that sends text messages at a scheduled time. Can find it here (free): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lex.futuretext&hl=en

For .Net development you'll learn Visual-C# almost first and always. You'll dabble in F# a bit and possibly Visual-C++. The thing about this course is that nothing you learn in it is cross platform and thus you'll always be reliant upon coding on Windows. Not only that, the things you learn in this course you will most likely learn in another course and by yourself. It is wise to avoid this course and probably leave it for last. C# is almost exactly like Java. Just minor differences like String vs. string and .equals vs. == for string comparison, etc.. If you are NOT worried about cross platform stuff at all then by all means this may be a good course but again, you'll most likely learn the things in this course on your own or in another course.



If I personally had to choose, it would definitely be between software development and database fundamentals. I'd stick with the database since you have software.
After that I'd choose security, networking and mobile development in that specific order.. HTML5 course is moot. Taking a course specific to just HTML5 itself is certainly not worth your time. Don't waste your time there. You'll learn that in web-development along with ASP and JSP and other frameworks. Otherwise you can do it yourself or go for the certificate at a later date. It isn't going anywhere any time soon. If it does offer you a certificate for taking the course then by all means take it. For me, I ended up taking web development which went through EVERYTHING I already learned in the HTML-5 course + more. May NOT be the same for you.

I don't have much time to describe the Windows Server stuff but I guarantee you, you WILL be using this more often than it seems. Yes I know, windows this, windows that, but this is one Window you do NOT want to miss. Learn it in your spare time or take the course tbh. I didn't take the course personally because I learned it on my own and I had a friend who actually took it teach me everything. I also took his notes and books and all that. Would I take it? Yes I definitely would.

Anyway, I'm actually stuck in this linux (fedora-13) class right now and I got objective-c next so I don't have much time to describe ALL of them to you but again, if i had to choose it goes Database -> Security -> Networking -> Mobile.. where security and networking can be swapped as both are necessary!

I cannot and will not tell you what to choose but hopefully some of the words and sentences above HELP you decide on your own which path you want to take and what you want to avoid.

Mobile devices will definitely keep growing for the next few years. It is very important to make sure your websites scale well on every device. HTML5 has added a lot of options to do this but it does still lack some features.. and it is implemented differently in the different browsers.

I think HTML5 will become more and more important. For example WebOS on the new LG 4K TV's will have HTML5 apps. You can load HTML5 applications on your phone, tablet, etc. so it is definitely worth it to learn a lot about that!

It just really is a pain to develop a website that works nicely on FireFox, Chrome, Safari, etc. I don't really like to depend on a lot of Javascript libraries either.. but you are pretty much forced to do so.




Security is also a growing business. Especially with the public awareness about the NSA. It really is crucial to have proper encrypted passwords if you want to get taken seriously.. or even encrypt all your traffic, etc.

Security Fundamentals & HTML5 Application Fundamentals would be my first choices. But that is also because I am interested in those.. not sure if they would be YOUR best pick.

I did a bit of ASP.NET and it does have some nice things but I think you are much better off learning something like Ruby on Rails. It's nice to work with C# and develop a site with that though.. for me at least.




EDIT: Also about Database Fundamentals.. if you will actually learn things it's good.
HTML5 + Security + Database => great web applications

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the great responses, I've had a good ol' think about all this.

I think this is how I'm going to prioritise it:

1. Networking
2. Security
3. Database
4. Mobile

I don't feel I'll need the web development one as I have a portfolio I am creating, feeling hopeful that i'll be able to do this in multiple languages to show my 'skills'.

Realistically I still want to do HTML5 just to learn rather than show off… but I'm sure I can do that without the exam side.

Thanks for all your help, definitely pushed me in the right direction as to where I think I should be going and how that compares to what I want to do…

Which is difficult because I'm not sure what I want to do haha