For many years helped a lot of people reach their goals, and get what they want in life, let me help you.

For IT training and even more IT certification it is very important to understand what the framework of what you are doing.
Many certifications are difficult, not just because of the knowledge you need, but also because of the way they ask the questions, and the point of view of that particular certification.

Looking at the CISSP certification as an example, it is very important to understand you are a manager or a risk adviser, you are not a technical resource, answer all questions from that point of view.
There may be 4 correct answers, understand which is the right one (or the most right one) from an IT security managers point of view and in the (ISC)² world.
Look for the indicators (not, most, least, best) and the keywords (asymmetric, risk analysis, fail-safe).
It is a difficult exam, but having the right approach can help you succeed.

Throughout my life and career I have made a lot of lateral moves when up doesn’t look appealing, this has given me some great adventures and an amazing life.

A long that path I have done amazing things, worked on some very cool projects, and had truly inspiring colleagues, but the things I remember the fondest are the people I trained, mentored, and helped get ahead, and the ones that did the same for me.

Learning, and through that, growing both as a professional and as a person has always been something I have enjoyed a lot.
To find what I enjoy the most I have switched careers several times, some to something entirely new and some to a similar complimentary path. It is always OK to switch paths (as long as you plan it out).’

I have:

Taught in-person and online classes on a variety of topics including: IT security, networking, productivity, computer hardware, MS office and certification training on CISSP, Security+, CCNA, Network+, A+, etc.
Owned my own businesses.
Worked for political movements coordinating election and referendum campaigns.
Worked as a Network Administrator on the IP backbone of an entire country (Denmark, I know tiny country, but we are still a country!!).
Led some awesome projects at a large hospitals data center.
Been an IT manager at a large credit union.
Managed big enterprise wide projects at separate large hospital as an IT Project Manager.

With my love of learning, IT has been a good place to grow, there is so much to learn and it is always evolving.

I hold a good deal of IT and project certifications and I am sure more are going to show themselves in the future.

My current list of valid certifications:

CISSP Certified Information Systems Security Professional
PMP Project Management Professional
CEH Certified Ethical Hacker
SCP SolarWinds Certified Professional
CompTIA Security+
CCNP Cisco Certified Network Professional Routing & Switching.
CCNA Cisco Certified Network Associate Routing & Switching.
CCNA Security Cisco Certified Network Associate Security
CCENT Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician
4011 Certified Recognition: Information Systems Security (INFOSEC) Professional
KCBS Certified Barbeque Judge <- by far the tastiest!

Some certifications I let lapse, when I am no longer interested in working in that line of work and they do not compliment what I want to do moving forward. The ones I give up I don’t see as wasted at all, they got me to where I am now and I am grateful for that.

Mahalo Nui Loa (Thank you very much) for being here: I hope you I can help you get ahead in life through my courses. If you have any questions, suggestions, or things you think I can improve on, please post them on the course Q&A page (preferable, then other students with same question doesn’t have to ask it again) or send me a message here.

Thor Pedersen

Teaching, sharing knowledge and paying it forward!

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