Just a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend a boot camp training in Atlanta.

Before I go on to describe the experience, a little bling:

Yeah, that’s mine. I didn’t bother putting the MCTS certs on the logo, but I’ve got those, too.

100% success. Now, on to the story!

This was my first ‘boot camp’ training experience. Most employers I’ve worked for in this industry have responded to questions about training with comments like “We prefer the OJT experience here”. I can’t help but feel that that translates to “You’re not really worth investing in” or perhaps “We’d rather sink our money into more visible departments than our IT staff”.

I think it’s both bizarre, and a little reassuring, to find myself today in the smallest IT department I’ve ever worked with, managing the largest direct environment I’ve ever worked in, and to now have a boss who seems to love the idea of sending his IT staff for additional training and certifications.

So after I did my market research on who was offering training, where, how much it would cost, and how long that training would be, I brought my winning pick to my boss, and went through my pitch. I initially wanted to attend an 8 certification camp that would include MCSA, MCSE, CCNA, CCENT, and the Security related certs, but after some discussion, my boss decided to upgrade to this 7 cert MCITP camp.

I was apprehensive getting onto the plane to Atlanta. I’ve been a husband for 8 months, so it’s hard to leave that newlywed vibe and go alone to do absolutely nothing but study and take exams for 16 days. I was also nervous on a professional level, having rarely gotten to work with Windows 7 at that point, and never having had direct experience with Server 2008. I had expected to get to Atlanta and crush the MCSE related exams, having plenty of experience with the operating systems involved. Instead, I got the enviable task of learning mass deployment and upgrade techniques with an aim to move our existing environment over to 7/2008. Terribly exciting, and a bit stress inducing.

The arrangements for hotel and transport to the facility were handled by CED. I flagged down a cabby from the airport and off we went to the hotel.

I’d like to mention as an interesting aside, everybody at ATL airport, the cabbies, the hotel staff and CED’s staff were unfailingly friendly. I felt pretty upbeat after a few days of dealing with all of these people.

I stayed at Country Inn & Suites in Atlanta. I told them my name and got into my room inside of a minute. It was pretty strange looking around the hotel room and realizing I’d be calling it home for 2 weeks. I’ve never really spent a great deal of time in hotels. The room wasn’t huge, but the bed was enormous, and the writing desk was perfect for the shocking amount of studying I’d soon find myself doing. My room had a small coffee pot, a fridge, a TV I never once turned on, a nice armchair that was extremely comfortable, and most importantly, free and reliable wireless access. I didn’t have any problem pulling down Patapon 2 from the playstation store with my PSP (the playing of which saved my brain from total meltdown in between the studying). I brought a webcam with me to keep up with my wife; the same weekend I flew to Atlanta, she had auditions, so it was great to be able to see her and talk to her. It was also great to grab my tablet and spin in circles with the office chair, and watch her get dizzy on my screen. :) That’s the sort of guy I am.