OK, I'll bite.
If you are going through what is called a "boot camp" you are wasting your money, you will spend a week on each "topic" or certification, take the test and move on to the next one. In the end you tend to only know what is on the exam. Yes you may remember a few things, but not enough. Now if you have a degree in Computer Science you might be a little better off, because you should understand how the computer works to some extent.
I would suggest that you take the time to actually learn the technologies that you are going to use. I would also start off learning something that would map to CompTIA's A+, Network+, Server+, Linux+, Security+ (Not in any order, just how I thought of them). CompTIA's A+ deals with how a desktop/laptop computer works, as well as other basic computer aspects. It also deals with the basics of The Windows operating systems. CompTIA's Network+ deals with the basics of computer Networks. CompTIA's Server+ deals with the specific differences that are presented in computer servers such as SCSI, RAID, back ups and other semi-advanced hardware topics. None of these are extremely difficult to understand or learn. CompTIA's Linux+ deals with the basic operations of the Linux operating system, Not Red Hat, Not Debian, Not Ubuntu, but just the basics. CompTIA's Security+ deals with basic security, safe computing practices and similar topics. CompTIA's web page has a whole mess of information on their certifications (comptia.org). I would suggest navigating to where they offer information on their certifications (warning you must provide your email address and answer a couple of questions to download from the site). Another helpful thing might be this email address pulled form their web site;
Info_India@comptia.org this should put you in touch with someone that can help you there in India.
Now before you go stating that I'm trying to advertise for CompTIA wait a sec. I'd also suggest looking into getting your own computer (if you don't already have one). I'd look at downloading a few Linux distros to try out and practice with. I also know that Microsoft is willing to provide people in "developing" nations with extremely cheep copies of Windows (Don't remember where I heard that, I'd double check if I were you.). As far as your CCNA statement goes, wait until you understand networking in general before you go for that level of training. As well as their equipment can be a little expensive to purchase. This would help you out quite a bit, yes it might be time consuming, but it would make you a better IT person in the end. If you are looking for more training in any one area look at the web site of the company, sun.com/training is Sun Microsystems site for training; in there (a little looking required) there is a listing for a course titled SA-119 (Solaris 9) or SA-100-S10 (Solaris 10) this is a Sun’s into to UNIX class, it is not very hard (biased answer) and will teach you the Solaris way of how UNIX works. Red Hat offers a similar course for Linux (specific to Red Hat Linux) titled RH003 this is Red Hat’s equivalent to Sun’s SA-119 or SA-100-S10. Microsoft offers a course titled Course 2273 which is an intro to Windows Server 2003 course. Cisco offers a course titled 640-801 CCNA, which is their intro to Cisco networking.
Another good thing to do is purchase a few books on each topic you are interested in. Sit down and read them and when you come across something in the book that is an example, hop on your computer and do the example, see what it does on your computer; if the book has printed output from a command, run that command on your computer to see the differences. This can make a world of difference in your learning. Amazon has a huge listing of books under Computer & Internet -> Certification Central. Not to mention a section on each one of these topics individually. I like to use Amazon.com to find books, then I purchase them else where (bookpool.com comes to mind).
Mind you this is just my option, there is nothing wrong with you taking my advice and forgetting that you read it, go on with your plan and your life. If you want to know this is how I have studied and learned how to do my job. I’ve been in it for 7 years and have just recently been sent to training to learn the technologies that I use everyday. Currently I’ve been to advanced Windows Server 2003 with Active Directory classes, and Sun System Administrator classes. They have all helped, but none of them taught me anything that I didn’t know to some extent. But they did instill confidence in me and my ability to do my job better.
I Hope this helps,
I was thinking of getting RHCE so that i have options of moving into sys administration in the future. Furthermore, it's likely knowing the OS in detail will help in my current job as well esp. when performance monitoring and tuning. My question will be, how much do you think my current experience with Linux/AIX will help in getting through the course? Would someone without any experience in sys administration have difficulty in passing the exam?
