The Raging Tech

Certifications can Boost Your Hireability

This is a no brainer, but if you’re struggling out there in the job market, try to get some certifications. You may find that your field experience or self-research and training qualify you for a certification already. Or, you may learn something new by studying a “For Dummies” or exam prep guide.

Currently, I hold two Microsoft certifications – Microsoft Certified Professional, and Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician. These are great, but hardly enough on their own to get an awesome job. That’s why one of the things I am for sure doing with some of my inheritance money is getting my Apple Desktop Support certification and a Vista upgrade to my Microsoft certifications. Then I’ll probably get my A+ and start looking into a Cisco cert of some sort.

Cisco certs are neat, because that’s where the REALLY big bucks are at. You can go almost anywhere you want with the right Cisco certification. Why? Because nearly every enterprise-class network has Cisco hardware somewhere – either in their network infrastructure, or their phone systems, or somewhere in their data centers.

Cisco has certifications that can lead into any of these career paths, and even if the company you go to work for doesn’t have Cisco-brand equipment, they look highly on the certification during the hiring process. These certs aren’t cheap, but they’re well worth the investment in your time and equipment.

Getting your Cisco certification is fairly straightforward though, you just start at their website and begin researching the first level, the associate certification (or CCNA).

By itself, the CCNA is plenty to get you a good job. Like you’d expect though, a higher level certification gives you better chances and better money. The next levels are going to be even harder though, and you’ll want to find yourself some access to Cisco equipment so you can practice and train for your exam. Usually if you have a job where you can use your CCNA, you’ll have higher-level staff who can help you with that, though.

JustTrade: A New Digg for Stock Trading Tips?

If you’ve been looking into ways to save or invest your money lately like I have, you might have taken a daunting look over at the stock market exchange. If you’re already familiar with trading stocks, you may already have been helped or hurt by OTC (over-the-counter) stock trading tips, or maybe a shady broker.

JUSTtrade is a neat site because you can rate individual tips and posters to the site, meaning that their future tips might be rated higher and be considered more trustworthy. Also, you can pick up some good advice on how to trade and what to trade.

A post on the homepage, for example, hasn’t been rated much yet, but sounds like a neat tip on buying gold low this morning and if the price holds, could see a huge rise later in the day for a nice profit. If I had the money to invest, I’d have gone through to the exchange mentioned and invested in gold and made a killing by this afternoon.

I don’t have the stock savvy or the finances to lose while learning right now, but maybe some of you who do own stocks could take a look at this site and gain some more insight into OTC trading, or maybe even offer some to others.

How Do You Put Away Savings?

In this era, you just can’t rely on social security for retirement. Also, when you’re my age, you might be thinking about the future: marriage, a house, kids, kids’ college funds, vacation money, hire a hitman for the in-laws money, etc. Or maybe you’re just thinking about how to get out of debt.

Recently, I received my Economic Stimulus payment from the U.S. government. And as a single person, I qualified for the full $600. I thought “whoopee! 600 bucks to blow!” and then immediately went – “No, I’m broke nearly 1/3 of every month. I need to buckle down, form a budget, and open a money market account,” which I did. I opened a money market account at the credit union and deposited almost half my payment. I hope to try and match that each month and once my car is paid off (27 months from now) I’ll try to put my car payment into that account as well, since I won’t miss it.

I did some basic math, and not including what I’ll earn from dividends, in five years I’ll have saved up about $24k – not too bad if I can stick to it and not spend it all.

What I can’t decide is – instead of putting so much into savings, should I instead pay off my higher-interest debt and then as those are paid off start saving the money I was paying in my Money Market account?

Know some better ways to put away for another day? Leave me a comment below on how you do it.

Put Your Ugly Mug on Anything

That’s right. You can put your ugly mug on anything, even an ugly mug! Or a t-shirt, or a mouse pad [Note: despite popular opinion, mouse pads are not feminine protection for mice], or a calendar, or just about anything else that can be printed on.

What’s even better is you don’t have to sacrifice quality to get them cheap! The last two or three times I’ve needed business cards for several enterprising ventures of mine, I’ve had them printed up with VistaPrint. If you’re a first time customer, they can give you some basic cards for free (you just pay shipping). You can also get other free stuff as a way to try out their services.

If you’re a regular customer, they send you e-mails with huge discounts on stationary, calendars, business cards, and other cool print items and personalized office accessories. If you haven’t heard of them before, be sure and check them out for just about any of your print needs. You can even order checks with your design on it! Shipping is fast and inexpensive, and their packaging is unique! My cards always come in a white box that can be easily folded back and used as a display holder for my desk. I’ve also purchased a cool metal business card holder, so my cards don’t get all bended in my wallet or pocket.

Show Some Love: Advertise on Raging Tech

Hey everybody, I just wanted to take a moment to point out a new page on the site, a link to the right detailing some information about advertising on my blog or sponsoring a post. The Raging Tech currently has several sponsors for posts, but is now offering banner ad space on the right.

Right now, for $35 USD, you can have your banner ad appear on the sidebar to the right (where the Raging Tech ad is now) for an entire week as the only banner ad on the site. That’s right. For just thirty-five bucks, you can have complete exclusivity on this blog for an entire week.

If you don’t already have a tower banner ad, I am in contract with a graphic designer who can make something awesome for you to use for a negotiated price.

For just $15 (for 50 words), I will give your site or business or product a review here, or let you sponsor a blog post on a topic of your choice, and you can get exposure to a group of really cool readers. Click here for more information on advertising with the Raging Tech.

SPECIAL: The first 4 advertisers / sponsors to sign up will receive a special promotional Buy 1 Get 1 Free deal on whichever type of advertising is purchased upon receipt of payment.

I.E., buy a banner ad for a week, get an extra week free, sponsor a post, get an extra post free. Schedule of free post or ad to be settled on between advertiser and The Raging Tech on an individual basis.

SocialSpark: How I Survived Google Spanking Me

As you’ve probably noticed by now, I often write content that is sponsored, and I am pretty open about disclosing such things. At the bottom of most sponsored content, you’ll notice a small blue bubble that will say “Sponsored by” and then the advertiser name. However, some folks didn’t take kindly to any of my content being sponsored, and said it wasn’t cool that I write the same quality of content whether it’s sponsored or not.

Ever since I got my page rank slapped down to zero from it’s former beauty of 3, I had been totally killed on the sponsorships I could take. I’ve previously written about how I’d be taking a break until I could work out sponsorship again. Well, that time has come, as you might have noticed. I have signed up for SocialSpark, which may prove to be the revolution for which the blog monetization game has been eagerly waiting.

SocialSpark uses a system called RealRank, based on actual page views and traffic to your site. It’s also a fun social network that gives bloggers ideas, or “sparks” on what to write about when you’ve got writer’s block. It hooks up bloggers with advertisers and other bloggers, and lets you comment, vote, and leave feedback for each other. Think of it as a MySpace for blog owners, only without all the crap.

You get a friends list, as well as a “fav 9″ to highlight your favorite bloggers. You can send messages, invite people to be your friend, give “props” to those people you like or opportunities that you like. You can see the stats on a blog you’re interested in advertising on if you’re an advertiser.

My favorite part of this system is the pure distinction between blogger and blog. You can give props to a blog instead of directly to a blog owner, which is especially great for people who have more than one blog.

SocialSpark requires 100% in-post disclosure, 100% transparency (no games, man!), actual blogger opinions – they don’t tell us what we should like or dislike, and I only take the opportunities I think are appropriate for my blog and my readers. Sign-up is easy, and payment goes out to your PayPal account, so if you don’t have one of those already, be sure and sign up for one.

It’s free to sign up, even though it’s still in beta, and if you have a blog or are an advertiser looking to spread the word about your product or service, give SocialSpark a try. I’ve never regretted being a part of SocialSpark, and so far it’s been a blast!

Taxes Due Tomorrow & Jack Black on Piracy

Tomorrow is April 15th, the official deadline for us here in the United States of America to file our tax returns. If you haven’t filed them yet, you better get them postmarked by today. Also, don’t forget you can e-file, sometimes for free! Check out irs.gov for more information.

As a member of my state’s State Employee Credit Union, I had my taxes prepared and filed electronically for free because I make less than a certain amount per year – you might want to see if your financial institution provides a similar service. They also told me if I made more money I could always use their free online version of TurboTax in member services on the web site.

While we’re talking about money, I’d like for you to take a moment and watch a very special video presentation from the very conservative Jack Black on piracy. Remember, don’t be a douche.