New Horizons 20697-1: Implementing and Managing Windows 10

With the upcoming migration of our computers to Windows 10, the BIA opted for select IT personnel to travel to Albuquerque, NM for training through New Horizons. Sure, many of us IT-geeks have already been using Windows 10 since release day, anxious to get our hands on a new OS and see how we like it, but I am not one to turn down free tech training and I am always looking for an excuse to travel. The New Horizons Windows 10 course is actually two parts, but we were only approved to take part 1. Considering it was only one half of the class, I was pleasantly surprised to see how in-depth the training went, covering much more than just the basic interface of Windows 10. For anyone that has taken Microsoft certification exams, you know that you need to know much more than what the title topic is. This course did a good job going into those extra areas, including networking, DHCP, DNS, and some management through Server 2012 R2. The class provided a nice balance between lecture time and lab time. I may have started the trip unsure if taking a week out of the office for a Windows 10 class would be beneficial, but I am glad I attended. When you teach yourself a new OS, as us techies usually do, you often continue with old habits or find out about new features as you stumble across them. Having a certified Microsoft instructor guide you through the new features and showing their benefits is a tremendous help and highlights how beneficial many of the newly implented features are. The only downside that I can see for these courses is the price. Our one week course, which is only part one of two and includes no certification or testing vouchers, costs nearly $3,000 per person. While one of New Horizons' primary focuses is getting businesses to provide training for their employees, I can only imagine how much more business they would receive with more competitive and consumer-friendly pricing. In an age in which sites like CBTNuggets, Lynda.com, Linux Academy, and PluralSight exist, providing full, in-depth and hand-on courses for a few dollars per month, it makes it hard to recommend that one go out and spend potentially a month's salary on something you can receive for $30 if you are comfortable building your own lab environment at home. While I didn't receive a certification from this course, the course did provide an excellent jump-start towards meeting the qualifications for Microsoft's Windows 10 exams. I have been wanting to take the knowledge I have gained over these past years of working as an IT professional and work towards one of Microsoft's new MCSA/MSCE certifications now that they have been revamped. If you were unaware, Microsoft has eliminated the model in which their certifications expired every 2-3 years, causing you to have to renew in the same technology in which you were already certified. Your certification is now relevant as long as the technology you are certified in is in use - the way it should be. So I have decided to take advantage of the head-start this course has provided and will be taking the 70-698 and 70-697 exams in order to achieve my MCSA, and then will take the 70-695 to complete my MCSE. I will update here along the journey, and hopefully will be able to help others who are following the same path. Until next time -