I want to talk about my experience taking a computer technology course in college. I can tell you that the first day we had this type of orientation. I don’t know if the orientation was really necessary but it was part of the course. When I first came to class I had a level of anxiety because of all the new people. I found though that once I started to get to know people, I was more comfortable and my anxiety mostly faded. We had a test the first day we started class but thankfully he was a multiple-choice test. We used VMware to install different operating systems depending on the class. The first class I started was the easiest class which focus exclusively on Windows 10. This was great for me because I didn’t start off with a harder unit as other people from other groups have to do harder subjects like Cisco. I would eventually do Cisco but I started with Windows 10. I think the beauty of VMware was that you could make all these changes to the operating system within the container that you’re running and not in the actual operating system running within the computer. I know that when someone installed Windows server on the actual computer by mistake and not VMware it is funny to us. This was a mistake though and they would have to install Windows 10 again which is easy b it’s still kind of an inside joke to us. For the Windows server class I have to pick up more RAM for my own computer. This was because I would have to run Windows 10 on one container with VMware and then run Windows server on the other. I need to have enough RAM on my computer at home so I could practice the labs I did over and over and over again to be ready for the exams. They would have one exam that would be theory and the other exam would be practical. If you practice your labs over and over again you would likely to better on the practical exam. It was interesting to also learn about Microsoft exchange server which was a separate class. You would need more RAM for Microsoft exchange server while you ran Window 10 on another container in vmware. Microsoft exchange server allows you to have certain censorship within the company with emails. This would be done based on the company that has hundreds of thousands of people. I did not do too well the practical exam for exchange by did better in the Cisco level Il class. I can tell you that for Cisco level 1 most of it is based on subnetting using math. You would learn how to do the math for subnetting which would allow you to have a big diversity of IP addresses to set statically for different computers. I know that most the time people use DHCP but there may be a certain area where you need computer to have their own IP address instead of created automatically by DHCP. I had a tutor outside of class that helped me a lot with learning how to do subnetting by doing the math required. If you can do the math for subnetting then I think you’ll do well in the first Cisco course. when I did Cisco level 2 I learned more much more of the commands that are in Cisco routers. I know that Cisco routers are very expensive so it’s not as common to see companies. I know that some students from high school came to the college and had a course in Cisco. They knew most of the basic commands and were quite mature for their age. I think Cisco is trying to be focused more commands like Linux. I know that Power Shell which is built into Windows 10 eleven is also based on commands to be similar to Linux. I think the hardest course for me was definitely Cisco although how difficult it is could be subjective. I would say that without my tutor I don’t know if I would’ve passed the course because I really struggled learning how to subnet with math from the way the teacher taught me. I had my tutor taught me a much easier way for me to understand how to do it. I know that people learn differently and some people might like the way the teacher did it. I found for me that the tutor’s way of teaching it was the best way for me to learn. I found that honestly the students could be more helpful than the teachers because the students were more available to help in the teacher might be busy with something else. If you help a student they are more likely to help you back if you were stuck on a certain part on the lab. I might be stuck at a certain point of the lab and they’ll help me on that point. If I could help them with something they’re stuck on within the lab I will try to as well. I think it’s good to be friendly with your students and try to be helpful because then they’re more likely to reciprocate and help you. I was disappointed by how many students actually got IT jobs in the course. I talked to a student who said that for all the people she knows that took the course they’re all doing different jobs. I know of two people within the course who did get I.T jobs I ran into one person who had a couple interviews but was not hired. The work practicum was unfortunately cancelled due to covid 19. There were a small number of students who got work practicums but I was not one of them. There’s a lot of factors when you consider getting hired for a job. There’re your interview skills and likability. Then there’s how much experience you have in the industry. If you know someone can be a factor for getting a job as well. You have to consider luck as a factor to get a job too. I’m just generally speaking that it was quite disappointing how few people got IT jobs from the course but that’s life there are no guarantees. I hope you enjoy sharing my experience of going to college and taking a computer network technician course.