Category Archives: Doing What Matters

Passed Pentest+; Next Up Network+ Retake.

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I certainly could have done better, but a pass is a pass (see pt0-001 Scoring Report ). I need to take the performance based questions with a more serious approach rather than leaving the exam booth early. You can read about the study resources I used on my December blog posting.

My next effort will focus on the recent edition of the Network+ certification exam (N10-007) exam. I’m confident my study efforts won’t need to be as involved as it was with the Pentest+ exam. I’ll do the same with that effort, adding resources used and developed to this blog posting. The first of these resources is the Worksheet that contains the exam objectives and provides space to enter thoughts and identify resources (typically web links). I use this as I prepare for the exam, identifying areas I need to work on updating my knowledge.

For this certification I would suggest utilzing the free video resources provided by Professor Messer. The full list of his videos relating to the N10-007 exam are available on YouTube.  Chris Bryant’s website is also useful in terms of providing free lessons on a variety of related areas of study.

I have noted in looking at forum postings that the performance based questions are challenging in that they may not work all that well. I remind those who are “time challenged” to skip these exam questions (they have uniformly appeared as the first few questions on exams), and knock off the remaining multiple choice questions first. For those taking the exam, I strongly recommend that you look at the February 2017 posting where I provide my thoughts (and include a couple of videos) discussing what I think is a very useful test taking technique.

Passed the Cloud+ (CV0-002) Exam. Next Focus is PenTest+ Exam

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Managed to pass the most recent version of the Cloud+ exam, avoiding the loss of that certification (had a February 2019 deadline). Moving on to the new PenTest+ certification exam. I did take the Pentest+ “train the trainer” class taught by T. Lee McWhorter, Jr. in June and July, but wanted to knock off the Cloud+ for certification maintenance purposes. Score was not exactly great (784/900), but a little margin of comfort above the 750 minimum score. Always questioning the value of the designated performance based questions, I did look at them but can’t really say that I spent much time trying to answer them correctly. That lack of attention probably helps explain why I did not break 800.

The  CV0-002 Score Sheet is available for viewing. As with past activities, I want to provide useful help. My initial focus on the exam was to use the e-Book titled CompTIA Cloud+ Study Guide, 2nd edition, authored by Todd Montgomery and Stephen Olson. I found the book very helpful in terms of providing an update for my study purposes. Following my usual pattern, I created a “worksheet” by copying and pasting the CV0-002 Exam Objectives into a table in a Microsoft Word document. The “worksheet” is available for download.

I’ll try to upload study aids I develop for the new PenTest+ exam. The book I’m using, with a heafty 423 pages, is the CompTIA Pentest+ Study Guide by Mike Chapple and David Seidl. An additional book that is worth having is Penetration Testing – A Hands-On Introduction to Hacking by Georgia Weidman. The “worksheet” I’ve created for this exam is available for download. From what I’ve been able to ascertain based upon forum postings, you will need to have a good handle on Nmap and other open source tools in order to have a successful experience with the exam. A good review of the PenTest+ exam is provided on the Tevora blog site, available by clicking HERE. It does a good job of comparing this exam to the EC-Council’s Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) exam. Other exam reviews that point to study resources include those provided by Jon Wood, Alpine Security, and a video created by Motasem Hamdan.

Additional resources available on the Internet include:

I hope to be in a position to take the exam by late January. I need to get through it, and start focusing on the new CASP exam, as it looks as though I’ll lose that certification if I do not meet the continuing education requirements by May 15, 2019.

Deputy Sector Navigator Efforts; CompTIA Mobility+ Preparation; CSSIA Online Classes

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This past month I’ve been an active participant in a series of workshops that are helping me to better understand the nature and responsibilities associated with the Deputy Sector Navigator job. I want to thank Myron Curtis, the DSN Far North region in the ICT/DM sector for inviting me and my North Region colleagues at our eight (8) colleges to his two day faculty conference. This is the first time in my fifteen (15) years of teaching here at the College where I’ve been invited to sit with my neighboring colleagues and discuss the issues we face and the opportunities we have to seek collaborative solutions to issues.

On Sunday I returned from the three (3) day annual California Business Education Association conference in San Diego. Two workshops were the highlight of this conference. The first related to a revitalization of keyboarding classes to include soft skills instruction. More about that in later posts but I am running ideas past my faculty colleagues relative to the creation of a single course that covers these key employable skills. The second was a round table discussion attended by one of the DSNs from the Business Sector. The DSN indicated that she has not had teaching experience. While I’m not suggesting that will be an obstacle to job performance, what was clearly evident is there exists a barrier relative to how faculty react to non-faculty participants. The level of trust, that materializes when faculty share classroom war stories, wasn’t there. My sense suggests that it was replaced with a feeling that we (faculty) are going to be advised on how to teach by a consultant who has never taught.

Change in a community college setting generally moves at glacial speed. Recognizing, as I do, my impatient nature, it is going to be a challenge for me if I’m successful in obtaining the DSN appointment. Key to success I believe is the ability to obtain faculty buy-in relative to suggested changes. Steering change in a manner where faculty “adopt” ideas as their own (rather than coming from above), is the direction I’d like to follow. We will just have to wait until the application closing date (December 13th) and the appointment date (January 15th) pass to see if I get to work on this challenge.

I have not completely abandoned certification efforts. Once I complete and submit the DSN application (something I’m hopeful I can do in the next week), I plan to turn my attention towards CompTIA’s new Mobility+ exam. I managed to gain access to a “review copy” of the Logical Operations course-ware and will be using it as my principal study tool for the certification exam. I’m not exactly sure when I will be able to study, given my plan to take the Ethical Hacking online course offered by CSSIA from December 9th to December 13th and their Linux I class from December 16 to December 19th.

Success on the Security+ Exam (Version 3); Doing What Matters

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This morning I managed to pass the Security+ SY0-301 exam. While it was not the sort of score I hoped for (an 809/900), anything better than a 750 is a passing score (see exam score report below). Truth is I did very little studying for the exam, and found the exam simulations quite challenging (and actually not very good in what they were testing). This was my third time taking the certification exam (I took the original SY0-101 and then the SYO-201 while they were the active exams for this certification).

sy0-301Score

 

Enough with that effort. I’m going to start working on seeking a position with the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, that relates specifically to their “Doing What Matters” program. The position title is “Deputy Sector Navigator” (DSN), for the Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Digital Media (DM) sector. This position is regionally based, with my region encompassing the “Greater Sacramento Area,” which includes eight (8) community colleges. The goals associated with this positions are identified in the website and on the documentation relating to the grant application.  My hope is that I can make a real difference as I attempt to cross district and college boundaries and talk to other faculty about collaborating in a manner that both respects academic freedom but recognizes that through a collaborative approach to curriculum we can achieve better student outcomes and teach “job ready” employable skills.

If I am accepted for this role, I plan to maintain my faculty connection with Sierra College, teaching a reduced load (20%) and continuing to serve on its curriculum committee. Both of these efforts are I believe key to success in the new position in that I maintain a level of credibility among my faculty colleagues (being faculty) and I can use Sierra’s curriculum committee as a vehicle to promote change.