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CBT
Nuggets Newsletter - September 2003 In this issue: In case you missed it - Sale Prices! Salary
Surveys, Certification Surveys, Hiring and Spending
Forecasts…does any of it make sense?
We think you can piece together a good idea of how things
are going by getting as much information as possible.
So, here’s a couple of studies that show some promising
news. Microsoft
Certified Professional Magazine announced the results of their
annual Salary
Survey in the August issue and found that overall
compensation was up slightly for the first time in a few years.
In fact, 56% of the 6500 respondents increased their
earnings, while only 3% had a drop in income. Not
surprising, however, individuals with SQL, VB6 and .NET skills
average up to $20,000 more income than those with only an MCSE.
Multiple certifications or specializations with
databases, security and programming focus lead the way when it
comes to compensation. While
MCP Magazine does focus their coverage on the Microsoft
certifications, CompTIA, Cisco and Citrix certifications do
increase your worth in the marketplace.
According to the survey, just adding the CCNA
certification to an MCSE title provides an average $3800
increase in pay and those with a Security+ certification earned
over $9000 more than the typical MCSE 2000 salary. Okay,
you’ve made the decision to get the Security+ certification
and study SQL or .NET so you can make the big bucks, but are
there jobs available? According
to Robert Half Technology’s Information
Technology Hiring Index and Skills Report, companies are
starting to hire again. A
5% net hiring increase is expected for the fourth quarter of
2003 coming off a 7% increase in the third quarter.
Job growth the second half of the year is good news and
business expansion was sited as the leading factor driving IT
hiring. The
report also showed that employees with Microsoft Windows
administration skills were needed by 79% of the respondents, SQL
administration skills were needed by 40% and Cisco
administration skills were needed by 29% of the executives
surveyed. .NET
skills were also in demand with significant hiring increases
expected for developers in Executives
from the largest companies, those with 1,000 or more employees,
were most optimistic about their hiring plans with 13%
indicating they would be adding personnel. In
case you missed it - Sale Prices We
would have to agree with both studies that SQL and .NET are hot
right now judging by the excitement and interest generated by
our new releases over the summer.
Things got going early this summer with the launch of our
Security+
Certification Package. Security+
is the perfect complement to just about any certification and,
as the MCP Magazine Salary Survey indicates, it definitely pays
to have that one framed on the wall. June
brought SQL
Implementation & Design videos along with a SQL
Combo Package that contains SQL
Administration. With
so many organizations using SQL, having knowledge of this
product is becoming very important. In
July, we released Introduction
to Programming with .NET and the Intro
to XML title. Both
are great videos that provide a base of knowledge for
administrators as well as those preparing for the MCAD and MCSD
certifications. July
also brought all the updates to the Cisco
CCNA and CCNP-BCMSN
training and new videos for CCNP-BSCI.
And, last but not least, we introduced training for Citrix
CCA certification. The
popularity of Citrix continues to grow and we want to help you
gain the skills to install, configure and manage MetaFrame XP. Developing
Web Applications with VB.NET was released in August along
with training for Microsoft exam 70-292, the MCSA
2003 Upgrade. This
summer also brought a release of our Supplemental Questions
products which are now available for MCSE, SQL, CCNP and
Security+ videos with more questions coming soon. The other big announcements were the availability of our Download Service and the redesign of our Videos in Development page. Rest assured, we do have more on the way. Exchange 2000, the 70-296 exam to complete the MCSE 2003 Upgrade, more Cisco, more VB.NET, and the list goes on. Keep watching that Videos in Development page to stay up to date with our latest news. In
the event that you weren’t able to take advantage of the sale
prices on our new products over the summer, we are offering
another chance to get all the new releases at their new release
price during a special 9-Day Sale. It
always gets crazy about this time of year as corporate and
government budget years are coming to a close, but we’re here
to help. Yes, we are
willing to assist you in spending your training dollars.
Seriously though, budgets are a complicated issue and we
understand what you have to go through in dealing with
the intricacies of your organization’s policies.
There are a couple of options that can make your year-end
or new budget year purchasing a little easier. Our
Nugget
Archive Server was designed for training your entire IT
staff. It contains
every video in our inventory on an 80 GB Snap server and we’re even including all the
new videos released until At
an average cost of $500 per day for an instructor-led class,
you’d be hard pressed to put even one person through a couple
of certification tracks, let alone your whole staff.
Best of all, you own it.
We don’t require an annual fee or charge you for an
expensive upgrade service. If
you wish to purchase additional videos or licenses in the
future, you’ll save 30% off our retail prices.
Another
option that will help you with your “use-it-or-lose-it”
funds, is our Credit
Vouchers. This
is an easy way to pre-pay for your future training needs.
The Credit Vouchers are available in $10 increments and
can be redeemed at any time, for any product.
They’re also a great gift idea. Some of you
wondered why there wasn’t a 3-Day sale in July and August.
We didn’t forget, we just saved them up for a 9-Day
sale this month. In
case you missed out on any of the New Release Specials because
you were out of town, or working overtime or the dog ate your
e-mail, we are going to give you the sale price on every new
product we released over the summer.
Don’t miss your chance to take advantage of this offer,
just place your order before Remember that you'll never pay too much with the CBT Nuggets Low Price Guarantee. Use the "Add to Cart" links below or phone in your order to 888-507-6283 or 541-284-5522 and use the following discount code: 3LTR9.
* Prices posted above are valid through midnight September 19, 2003. |