active directory job challenge

[johnyb98]

Hello everybody.

Please, I would like your opinion on the following...

Talking about Windows Server 2008 or 2012 or 2016, and only its part/role of Active Directory, and just that.

We know that Active Directory is a huge part of server and networking. But, as far as it concerns only this role of MS server, for your opinion, or your experience, could you please tell me the subjects that I should be prepared in order to have chances to challenge a job?

If you could for e.g. make a list of 1. 2. 3. 4. etc

 

Thank you for your time!

[LAwLz]

I don't understand your question. Can you please reformulate it?

 

Are you saying that whenever you try and study Windows Server, you only find information about AD?

And now you're asking about other Windows Server related things to learn about?

 

I mean, AD is a pretty big thing by itself. A lot of other services usually just hook into AD to validate credentials, before applying their own policies on top of that.

 

Windows Server is usually also used for DHCP and DNS roles, so learning a bit about that would be useful.

Maybe some Powershell too, so that you can automate things in AD.

[johnyb98]

I am sorry if I made my question misunderstood. I will try to make it as clear as I can.

If you see the following job advertisement:

"Wanted persons with Active Directory knowledge" and nothing more, what is the knowledge that I should have in order to challenge the job?

p.s. I make a self-study of Active Directory. What is the minimum enough knowledge that I should have in order to challenge the job? The enough minimum knowledge.

[Urishima]

Define self-study.

[LAwLz]

58 minutes ago, johnyb98 said:

I am sorry if I made my question misunderstood. I will try to make it as clear as I can.

If you see the following job advertisement:

"Wanted persons with Active Directory knowledge" and nothing more, what is the knowledge that I should have in order to challenge the job?

p.s. I make a self-study of Active Directory. What is the minimum enough knowledge that I should have in order to challenge the job? The enough minimum knowledge.

Self-studying usually doesn't matter that much to an employer. They want some proof that you have experience, such as passing a course in it, or work experience. 

 

It's kind of hard to study AD as well since you really need to set it up and play around with it to get a decent idea of how it works. If you manage to get a license from somewhere (they are not cheap) then you can set it up in a VM and try it out.

 

It's kind of hard to recommend some step by step learning course because it really depends on what the position is. If it's just first line then chances are it will be enough to know how to create a user, change password, maybe add to groups and OUs. If it's more of a sysadmin job then they might want more experience regarding things such as the different FSMO roles, and other Windows Server features (DHCP, DNS, maybe exchange, and so on).

[johnyb98]

7 hours ago, Urishima said:

Define self-study.

I have begun studying with this book:

 

http://www.dummies.com/store/product/Active-Directory-For-Dummies-2nd-Edition.productCd-0470287209,navId-322449.html

 

It's really a very good book for active directory novice students like me. It analyzes really good the DNS system in both Internet and an intranet, trees, forests, OUs, containers, etc, and, up to the chapter I am till now, it gives student understand everything really good.

From the other hand, because I am a networking geek, and I really adore networking, if in book reading I find some detail that I do not understand very well, I will go to internet, and via google search, pages, diagrams, from page to page, from link to link, I will for sure understand it.

I will definitely agree with you that as much as somebody reads something this huge networking stuff like active directory, there is no doubt that he/she has to make practice to really understand how it works. Virtualization is the next step (after some more reading) that I will go to.

Definitely I agree with LAwLz that proof like job experience or course certifications are the ones that employers should ask first. But, unfortunately, none of them do I have. Experience because now I study on it, and, of course, I have never worked on something like that. And, no certification for two reasons:

a. shoestring budget

b. even if I found from somewhere money for the courses, who could guarantee that date that I would have the certification in my hands, such a job would be available?

I know it is a risk self-studying Active Directory, but, for now, it is the best solution I have.

[ReXiX]

that books seem to be a good start! just keep learning stuff all the time and you will be ok dude!

[Urishima]

Well, really nothing else you can do with AD. Even a Windows 2012 R2 Essentials license would run you about 160 €

 

You need to understand that if you land a job in the field, your 'booksmarts' will only land you an entry level position.

 

I also wouldn't say that AD is related to networking in any real sense. There are layers of abstraction between AD and the actual network. The most in contact you come with networking via AD is when you are trying to make an AD work across two different Networks. I would wager that you could make a simple AD work, without needing much indepth networking knowledge.

[dalekphalm]

19 hours ago, Urishima said:

Well, really nothing else you can do with AD. Even a Windows 2012 R2 Essentials license would run you about 160 €

 

You need to understand that if you land a job in the field, your 'booksmarts' will only land you an entry level position.

 

I also wouldn't say that AD is related to networking in any real sense. There are layers of abstraction between AD and the actual network. The most in contact you come with networking via AD is when you are trying to make an AD work across two different Networks. I would wager that you could make a simple AD work, without needing much indepth networking knowledge.

Keep in mind if the OP is a Student w/ a student email address (issued by his school), he might qualify for the Dreamspark program (whatever they renamed it to), which will give him free licenses for educational use.

[Urishima]

2 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Keep in mind if the OP is a Student w/ a student email address (issued by his school), he might qualify for the Dreamspark program (whatever they renamed it to), which will give him free licenses for educational use.

That is correct. In fact, during my apprenticeship we all had access to free Windows to install and play around with as we wanted.