Flypast (Introduction) - Negative Ghostrider, The pattern is full .... \-]->

[Ghostryder]

Hi folx, I'm an old head coming back to the IT world. Initially started in IT back in 2001 doing my NC and on to my HNC and by 2003 I was sent off to war in Iraq and didn't get to finish my HNC. Since then I've worked in banking and currently a Commercial Gas Engineer. Unfortunately lugging around a toolbox all these years has taken a physical toll and now I'm coming back to Easy Strasse' (easy street for the non military people out there). Ok, I know it's not easy and I'm considering myself as a total noob again to the Industry. I have a book being sent out to me just now on COMPTIA A+ to get my head around the basics again and then I'm looking to expand further into Networking, Web Design and Dreamweaver. If there are any hints, tips, advice or even offers of work, I am officially Dumbo, (All ears).

In my rare spare time when I am not being pestered/hounded by family and friends to fix their boilers or heating issues, I am often found coaching football, hillwalking or following Formula 1.

If you see me online consider the pattern full and my Flypasts will proceed.

Ghostryder

 

[ubuysa]

Hello Ghostryder and welcome!

Another F1 fan here too, looking forward to the Silverstone double header.

 

[Ghostryder]

Hi Ubuysa,

Yes the Silverstone double header looks like it will be great this year, I think it's all about Hamilton again, he is the one to beat but Mercedes have been almost flawless in their strategy and teamwork. I do like Max Verstappen, he has a set of cohune's on him and is a fair driver. Hammy is just that cut above these guys at the moment. However all good things do eventually come to an end and his time in the sun will eventually end, not without plenty drama between now and then I hope.

 

[ubuysa]

Hi Ubuysa,

Yes the Silverstone double header looks like it will be great this year, I think it's all about Hamilton again, he is the one to beat but Mercedes have been almost flawless in their strategy and teamwork. I do like Max Verstappen, he has a set of cohune's on him and is a fair driver. Hammy is just that cut above these guys at the moment. However all good things do eventually come to an end and his time in the sun will eventually end, not without plenty drama between now and then I hope.

We'll have to disagree about Max. There's no doubt of his huge talent but his arrogance and sense of entitlement is too much for me. His dad clearly spoiled him - he bought an entire karting team so his boy would havd people to race against for example. I'm not a particular fan of Christian Horner either!

 

[Ghostryder]

We'll have to disagree about Max. There's no doubt of his huge talent but his arrogance and sense of entitlement is too much for me. His dad clearly spoiled him - he bought an entire karting team so his boy would havd people to race against for example. I'm not a particular fan of Christian Horner either!

It's maybe just me mate, I do like a bit of arrogance in sport, it shows a desire to be a winner, I do like that. I like Christian Horner, he tells it as it is and his missus ain't too bad ;-)

 

[Tony1044]

Hello and welcome.

A+, Network+ and Security+ have always been decent introductory qualifications to get.

Microsoft have some decent free online training content these days, mixed into their usual paid-for stuff.

Take a poke around here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/

Amazon had similar from memory.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Very welcome! Good to have you. I’d second the free MS courses which they’ve done to help people being hit hard by the pandemic to help retrain:

Microsoft launches initiative to help 25 million people worldwide acquire the digital skills needed in a COVID-19 economy - The Official Microsoft Blog

Around the world, 2020 has emerged as one of the most challenging years in many of our lifetimes. In six months, the world has endured multiple challenges, including a pandemic that has spurred a global economic crisis. As societies reopen, it’s apparent that the economy in July will not be what...

blogs.microsoft.com

Training

Master core concepts at your speed and on your schedule. Whether you've got 15 minutes or an hour, you can develop practical skills through interactive modules and paths. You can also register to learn from an instructor. Learn and grow your way.

docs.microsoft.com

There are also free Cisco courses for networking:

Cisco Networking Academy. Build your skills today, online. It’s Free

Cisco Networking Academy. Build your skills today, online. It’s Free

www.cisco.com

I would strongly suggest getting acquainted with cloud stuff also which combines basic IT and networking, everything is moving that way, even networking will be virtual within a few years.

Loving the movie references !

 

[ubuysa]

Loving the movie references !

When is the new one out? It's been delayed by COVID I think??

 

[Ghostryder]

Hello and welcome.

A+, Network+ and Security+ have always been decent introductory qualifications to get.

Microsoft have some decent free online training content these days, mixed into their usual paid-for stuff.

Take a poke around here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/

Amazon had similar from memory.

Thanks for the advice and the link. Much appreciated.

 

[Ghostryder]

Very welcome! Good to have you. I’d second the free MS courses which they’ve done to help people being hit hard by the pandemic to help retrain:

Microsoft launches initiative to help 25 million people worldwide acquire the digital skills needed in a COVID-19 economy - The Official Microsoft Blog

Around the world, 2020 has emerged as one of the most challenging years in many of our lifetimes. In six months, the world has endured multiple challenges, including a pandemic that has spurred a global economic crisis. As societies reopen, it’s apparent that the economy in July will not be what...

blogs.microsoft.com

Training

Master core concepts at your speed and on your schedule. Whether you've got 15 minutes or an hour, you can develop practical skills through interactive modules and paths. You can also register to learn from an instructor. Learn and grow your way.

docs.microsoft.com

There are also free Cisco courses for networking:

Cisco Networking Academy. Build your skills today, online. It’s Free

Cisco Networking Academy. Build your skills today, online. It’s Free

www.cisco.com

I would strongly suggest getting acquainted with cloud stuff also which combines basic IT and networking, everything is moving that way, even networking will be virtual within a few years.

Loving the movie references !

Thanks for the advice and the links, I'm looking into doing Cloud management as well, it was just a wee bit further down the list of my to do list. I appreciate the info.

 

[Ghostryder]

When is the new one out? It's been delayed by COVID I think??

I'm not sure although my wife reliably informs me it's now due summer 2021

 

[Tony1044]

Thanks for the advice and the links, I'm looking into doing Cloud management as well, it was just a wee bit further down the list of my to do list. I appreciate the info.

Azure or AWS are where it's at and I'd genuinely recommend that track to anyone thinking of changing career paths.

Both have free tiers as well for you to start and have a play around with although what you get access to tends to be somewhat limited.

Cloud is definitely still growing and what I've seen since March is that lockdown has done more to spur working from home than anything we've been saying for the last 20 years. By which, I mean that the blockers haven't been the technology for well over a decade - we've had access to remote desktops/applications, forms of collaborative working (SharePoint and Office Communicator/Lync/Skype for Business/Teams) but the blocker was always the lack of trust. Managers in companies didn't want to lose the control they perceived to have and allowing staff to work from home was anathema to them. Same with some HR departments.

What we've actually seen is people have a much better work-life (well within the bounds of not being allowed to go very far) balance. Because they're not burning 1-2+ hours a day commuting they can get up a bit later but start and finish earlier. Or start later and finish later.

With the metrics available to Office 365, there's a clear increase in productivity because meetings tend to be shorter on Teams than face-to-face and there's none of that spending the first 10-15 minutes of each meeting wasting time getting screens, conference calls and the like working.

Teams usage went from around 27 million concurrent daily connections post-lockdown to almost 90 million during. At one point Microsoft had no spare capacity in all of their global data centres because they'd used it to create new Teams servers and infrastructure - if you wanted to create a new Azure server...tough.

It's a delight to finally see companies and individuals within companies using things like Teams and OneDrive for Business to actively work on the same document in real time - no more firing emails around with multiple versions that dozens of people have created and then trying to merge them manually.

It saves untold hours of wasted time and effort. I was once part of a bid response team for a huge MOD refresh project. The response ended up being around two dozen large A4 folders of double-sided printed media. One person had the unenviable task of going through the entire thing to check for inconsistencies - down to font size and type.

Then there's the ability to see who made which edits in case something is wrong or roll back to earlier versions - automatic ransomware protections built in.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Azure or AWS are where it's at and I'd genuinely recommend that track to anyone thinking of changing career paths.

Both have free tiers as well for you to start and have a play around with although what you get access to tends to be somewhat limited.

Cloud is definitely still growing and what I've seen since March is that lockdown has done more to spur working from home than anything we've been saying for the last 20 years. By which, I mean that the blockers haven't been the technology for well over a decade - we've had access to remote desktops/applications, forms of collaborative working (SharePoint and Office Communicator/Lync/Skype for Business/Teams) but the blocker was always the lack of trust. Managers in companies didn't want to lose the control they perceived to have and allowing staff to work from home was anathema to them. Same with some HR departments.

What we've actually seen is people have a much better work-life (well within the bounds of not being allowed to go very far) balance. Because they're not burning 1-2+ hours a day commuting they can get up a bit later but start and finish earlier. Or start later and finish later.

With the metrics available to Office 365, there's a clear increase in productivity because meetings tend to be shorter on Teams than face-to-face and there's none of that spending the first 10-15 minutes of each meeting wasting time getting screens, conference calls and the like working.

Teams usage went from around 27 million concurrent daily connections post-lockdown to almost 90 million during. At one point Microsoft had no spare capacity in all of their global data centres because they'd used it to create new Teams servers and infrastructure - if you wanted to create a new Azure server...tough.

It's a delight to finally see companies and individuals within companies using things like Teams and OneDrive for Business to actively work on the same document in real time - no more firing emails around with multiple versions that dozens of people have created and then trying to merge them manually.

It saves untold hours of wasted time and effort. I was once part of a bid response team for a huge MOD refresh project. The response ended up being around two dozen large A4 folders of double-sided printed media. One person had the unenviable task of going through the entire thing to check for inconsistencies - down to font size and type.

Then there's the ability to see who made which edits in case something is wrong or roll back to earlier versions - automatic ransomware protections built in.

Couldn’t agree with this more!