This week’s first question comes from Joanne who asks, “I am making a decision to go back to school and want to know what is required to become an IT professional?” That’s a tough question to answer because there’s so many different levels of IT (information technology) professionals. Some of the many types are networking, maintenance, programming, and server professionals.
A good start to developing your professional career may be taking a few classes at a local college. Mount Wachusett, for example, offers many different introductory classes you can enroll in to get an idea of the area you want to specialize in. Another option is to talk to people you know who are working in this area to narrow down your choices.
There are many different IT certifications you can acquire as you advance in your career. You will have to look at the value the certification has to you personally prior to spending the money. I know that in my personal situation, certifications have very little merit and many of my contemporaries rely on their experience rather than professional certifications. However, for some networking jobs and server administration positions, being certified by Microsoft and others is necessary.
No matter your choice, you have to decide if it’s something you want to do for 40 hours per week. Talk to people and take a few general classes. If you have experience, then you should just send your resume out and see what you get. Good luck with your future.
Tom asks, “I am buying a new router and see some options I don’t understand. What are the benefits of wireless N and gigabit?” Tom, gigabit and wireless N are both the most current networking specifications found with the most current networking equipment. Wireless N has the highest transmission rates and distances of all wireless; gigabit is almost ten times faster than previous wired technologies.
Wireless N, also referred to as 802.11n, allows multiple transmissions of data both in and out of wireless devices at rates up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps). One of the benefits of 802.11n technology is its ability to transmit multiple data streams simultaneously. As a frame of reference wireless G transmits at 54Mbps, so it’s almost twice as fast as its predecessor.
Gigabit networking is a faster wired networking technology which transmits data at rates up to 1000 Mbps. This speed is ten times more than the older standard of 100Mbps. Benefits of gigabit technology is the ability to move large amounts of data over the network much faster.
No matter the technology you choose to setup at your office or home, all portions of the network need to be brought up to speed at the same time or there will be no benefit. Most people we talk to at the shop purchase a $100.00 router expecting it to be a complete solution.
To fully utilize the benefits of wireless N, you will need to upgrade both your laptop wireless card and the router. Internal wireless N cards are usually around $80.00 including installation. Gigabit upgrades usually mean upgrading the network interface card in your computer as well as upgrading cables to handle the improvements. My final thought is to make sure you can take advantage of the benefits prior to making the investment.
Tech Tip of the week: If your computer fans seem loud chances are it’s caked with dust. Keep a can of compressed air handy and blow out the chassis occasionally. You may notice an increase in speed and certainly will increase the life of the computer.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can e-mail him at Jeromy@LocalComputerWiz.com or call him directly at (978) 919-8059.)