Tom, what courses do you currently teach for ASPE?
I currently teach a Windows 7 administration course, a SQL Server administration course and a Hyper-V course for ASPE. All three courses deliver the skills needed to implement and administer the technologies covered in large and small businesses.
Can you tell our readers a little about your background? What recent activities have you been involved in that are relevant to the courses you instruct?
In 2009, I wrote a book on SQL Server 2008 for Sybex, which covers the most important tasks a SQL Server DBA will have to perform. This was my eighth book and my second on SQL Server. I really enjoy teaching SQL Server and Windows technologies as well as wireless networking. I’m a big believer in understanding the entire path from user to data storage so that you can best optimize the experience for the users. While you can’t be a guru at every aspect of IT, you can certainly gain enough knowledge so that you can improve the user’s day-to-day operations. This is why I’ve written about databases, operating systems, network infrastructures and even VoIP.
What real-world skills can these courses teach people that they can take directly to their jobs?
They will learn to install the systems, but they will also learn how to optimize them. I’m a big believer in getting all the benefits you can out of any technology. The simplest way to do this is to optimize and tweak the system for your specific needs. For this reason, every class I teach has a section on performance analysis and tuning for the covered technology.
What kind of hands-on training do you use in the courses you teach?
We perform everything from installation to backup and restoration in the classes. In the Windows 7 classes, I provide the domain environment and the students go through an installation of Windows 7, including adding it to the domain, configuring network settings, assigning group policies and more. In the SQL Server classes, we install SQL Server 2008 in the morning of the first day, and then perform all major administration tasks, including creating databases, implementing jobs, backing up and restoring databases, securing SQL Server, performance tuning and troubleshooting.
What are the professions of your students?
My students are mostly IT support professionals; however, programmers and IT managers have found excellent value in the classes as well.
What organizations are you a part of that help you keep in touch with the technologies you teach about?
I am a Microsoft Certified Partner and a close partner with the CWNP program, which provides vendor-neutral wireless certifications.
Why did you decide to teach the courses that you teach?
These courses cover the technologies I am most passionate about: well-performing clients, optimized servers and network infrastructures.
In the rapidly changing environment that we live in, can you give some insight as to what the future may hold for the courses you teach?
We’ll see some minor changes with the released of SQL Server 2008 R2 in 2010 and Exchange 2010, which has already been released. As companies start to roll out Windows Server 2008 R2, this will impact what they can do on the Windows 7 clients. I expect that late in 2010 we will really see the push begin to move the majority of enterprise clients over to Windows 7 from Windows XP.
Tom is the author of “Why Windows 7 is Better Than Vista” which can be found along with other free downloads on ASPE’s Special Offers Page.
You can find Tom Carpenter’s thoughts on twitter, or on his blog TomCarpenter.net and Tom’s books are available through Amazon.com.
Tom teaches public courses but is also available for a personalized on-site training courses that can be tailored for your companies needs, for more information please visit our On-Site page.
