CompTIA is best known for their vendor-neutral certifications in the IT industry. Instead of being certified specifically for Microsoft Windows or Cisco networks, you can pass an exam to show your proficiency in general IT topics such as desktop hardware and software troubleshooting, networking basics, and a variety of other topics including security, server administration, … [Read more...]

DirecTV has been in the spotlight recently with AT&T's acquisition of the satellite TV company. I don't really have anything to add to that conversation but I was recently discussing our different ISPs and TV providers with co-workers a couple weeks ago. We were talking about the billing of the services and how it is hard to escape the add-on charges. It seems like there is … [Read more...]

Today is the 16th annual System Administrator Appreciation Day. The last Friday in July is a reminder to thank your SysAdmin for keeping your operation running. I like to extend SysAdmin Day to all IT Pros because it usually requires a team effort. From the help desk to DBAs to developers, communication, problem-solving, and constant learning of new technology is … [Read more...]

A visualization that helps me think through troubleshooting problems or explaining my thought process to others is what I refer to as 'What's under the box?'. This approach to troubleshooting harkens back to solving math problems in grade school. You might be given a series of values for X and Y and be told to complete the equation. You then have to figure out what the formula … [Read more...]

Careers in IT can be stressful if you allow them to be. Part of that stress comes from IT infrastructure being the core of many businesses while also having limited applicable training or education for maintaining those complex systems. Those reasons are why we recently discussed implementing blame-free postmortems after incidents. Another source of the occupational stress can … [Read more...]