This was a course that, in many ways, prepared me for the coming years as a part-time student at Noroff. I found the topics of learning and reasoning theory fascinating. The course really was an eye-opener that gave me tools that I relied heavily upon during the entire study program.

The course had a nice flow, but at the same time, I think each topic was covered too briefly for my liking. Many of the topics were covered so briefly that I felt we barely touched upon them without giving me the time to dig into them and truly understand them. This class could easily be extended into an excellent one-year philosophy and pedagogy study program.

I probably should have spent more time on extracurricular activities during this class. I did not really take my time, and probably took it to light in the class because I had experience from other studies in many of the topics covered. 

The course lasted for six weeks, plus two weeks of repetition and exam preparation.

- 18. October 2020

This was an incredibly interesting and good class, and I "finally" understood how a computer works. I think this class was an excellent introduction to computing in general.

However, I don't think the required reading was particularly good for students like me who had little insight into C programming. Most of the examples used in the book that explained communication with the OS kernel were written in C, with functions and concepts the author expected the reader to know about.

I spent quite a lot of time on this class, and I feel that I learned a lot from it. The required reading was Tanenbaum A.S., Modern Operating Systems. In addition to the provided reading material, we watched various videos on YouTube and LinkedIn Learning that helped us understand the material. The lectures were entertaining, but unfortunately, I struggled to understand the teacher's accent, which made me watch all the lectures several times.

In addition to the material provided by Noroff, I read and watched Mike Mayers' Udemy course on the CompTIA A+ certification and a book called "But How Does it Know?" that helped me really understand how CPUs, RAM, and I/O work on a computer system.

The class was estimated to take 160 hours divided over six weeks with provided learning material and self-study. This estimate aligned well with the amount of time I spent studying for this class.

- 13. December 2020

This was an extensive introduction to on-prem Windows servers and the management of network devices using Active Directory. The focus of the class was practical work on Windows Server 2019. Since my main fascination and daily need for system administration was on Linux servers, it took a lot of willpower to power through all the GUI-based programs we learned to use on the Windows servers. But thanks to well-organized labs, I learned a lot. I even got my first introduction to PowerShell during this class.

The course covered the installation, configuration, and management of Active Directory and the use of Group Policy Objects. We used VMware workstation to virtualize multiple clients and servers in a complete but small corporate network. We learned to configure software RAID, manage file permissions on directories and AD-level, firewall rules, RDP, and backup. We also configured SMB file shares, DNS, DHCP, printer services, and a HyperV server for virtualizing. Finally, we touched briefly upon Azure and what was then known as Azure Active Directory.

The teacher did a great job of keeping the course to the point, but the video lectures often became dry and uninteresting, even though he did his best to keep them entertaining. I spent a lot of time on related LinkedIn learning courses on Server management. I also read a book covering the curriculum for CompTIA Server+ to make the class more interesting, and to fill knowledge gaps I discovered.

The course spanned eight weeks of classes, and two weeks of repetition and exam preparation. I got an A in this class, but I must admit that I think we barely scratched the surface of what Windows Server offers.

- 7. March 2021

This was an incredibly fun and engaging class that I really loved studying for. The first two weeks focused on getting a deeper understanding of topics I had surface-level knowledge about before the class. Then, we spent the following weeks digging really deep into how Linux works and how to configure Debian and Redhat-based distros. Before this class, I felt that I knew my way around Linux, but after this class, I can confidently say that I feel more at home in the Linux terminal than I feel using Windows - which I have used all my life.

The course covered broad use of Linux, and the feeling of installing Ach Linux at the end of the course, where I actually understood the entire process, and realized that I could build my own OS, covering my specific needs, felt amazing.

The teacher in the video lectures was entertaining and had a very good pedagogy, but most of the topics were covered by reading the provided material and doing self-studies.

The CompTIA Linux+ Portable Command Guide was the required reading for this class. In addition to this book, I read several other books covering the same certification and took several Udemy and LinkedIn Learning courses covering topics I struggled to understand fully. The course estimated 200 hours of study time, spanning eight weeks of tutoring and (most) self-study, and two weeks of repetition and exam preparations. I went beyond and above and spent almost 300 hours studying.

- 22. May 2021

This was one of the classes I was actually not looking forward to. This was mostly because the class lasted almost six months, and students who had taken it warned me about how tough the material was to understand and master. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised and discovered a topic I would never have imagined as fun, and this was just that. This class was a perfect introduction to computer networking!

I especially liked how the class was divided into theoretical concepts and then dived into the practical hands-on configuration of Cisco routers and switches. In addition to learning a lot, I gained respect for the profession of those working in data centers as network engineers.

The class was divided into six modules split across 12 weeks as a part-time student. Parallel to this class, I studied for and passed the CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) certification. The overlap between the class and the certification was great, and in many ways, they both provided equally great repetition for the class exam, and certification exam. However, it has to be said that the CCNA covers much more than this class does. It seemed to me like the class overlapped almost perfectly with the old (pre-2020) Cisco CCENT certification, which covered about half of the CCNA certification. 

Because the class started before the summer of 2021, and ended after the supper vacation, I got the chance to spend the summer drilling networking concepts and absorbing the material. 

This was a great course that really enabled me to understand the networking portion of system administration and application design. If I someday don't want to do programming anymore, this class made med realize that networking might be a fun option.

- 31. October 2021

This was the class I had been looking forward to throughout the entire Network and System Administrations program at Noroff. Unfortunately, the class did not live up to my expectations in any way. As the name suggested, this was an introduction to IT security, but a large portion of the class was a repetition of what we should have learned in previous classes. The few new topics that were introduced had poor explanations.

The video lectures were at a level that I don't think any professional tutor could be proud of delivering, and the written online learning material was written in an uninspiring and boring way. I managed to read through the content with the sheer power of will. On a positive note, the accompanying book to this class: "Introduction to Information Security" by Michael Goodrich and Roberto Tamassia, was well-written, entertaining, and easy to read.

After completing every class in the Network and System Administration program at Noroff, this was clearly the weakest class of them all when it comes to pedagogical approach and learning content. I think I managed to get an A in this class despite the learning material provided.

The class was estimated to require the students to use 200 hours, spread across 8 weeks of classes and self-study, and 2 weeks of repetition and exam preparation. I ended up spending 203 hours on this class plus a lot of time spent on TryHackMe.com to gain practical experience with the subject matter.

- 23. January 2022

Generally, a good course that made me learn a lot of stuff I did not know I needed to learn.

Although I wish there were a bit more hands-on work, not only learning by reading and watching. Because of the passive nature of the course, I struggled to keep momentum and learn all the things I need to learn.

I liked the way we got introduced to security policies like ISO 27001/27002. I do think this was a very relevant class for my career as a cybersecurity expert. I also finally got a pretty good understanding and insight into GDPR, which is helpful in my job as a web developer.

The class dedicated quite a bit of space to discussing how cyber warfare compares to traditional kinetic warfare, and the problem of non-repudiation. Based on the current invasion and war in Ukraine this felt extremely relevant.

The class was estimated to require the students to use 168 hours, spread across 6 weeks of classes and self-study, and 2 weeks of repetition and exam preparation. I ended up spending 138 hours on this class. No book was defined as required reading, but I did spend a lot of time reading through laws, rules, regulations, standards, and frameworks.

- 23. October 2022

I really struggled with motivation in this course. The first half of the course was pure repetition from previous classes, and the second half was unfortunately boring. The instructor-led videos went from being engaging, and enthusiastic in the beginning, to monotone, and to a point where the instructor himself seemed bored at the end. This was unfortunate because the lack of engagement in the video and written material came at a time when I struggled with motivation myself due to study fatigue.

This class provided a very solid foundational level of knowledge about a vast array of cyberdefense topics. It was purely theory-based, but I appreciate this class because I don't think I would be able to force myself to really understand these basics without the desire for a good grade. Fundamentals like the ones covered by this class feels very important.

Since the class covered material very close to the old old Cisco CCNA security class, I decided to spend time studying for the new Cisco CyberoOps Associate certification. This helped me focus less time on the material from Noroff and more time on material from other channels, such as CBT Nuggets, Linked-in learning, and the book. The same week as I took the Noroff Exams, I took and passed the Cisco CyberOps Associate certification exam. This class helped me pass the CyberOps certification, and the certification helped me get a good grade in this class.

The class was estimated to require the students to use 210 hours, spread across 8 weeks of classes and self-study, and 2 weeks of repetition and exam preparation. I ended up spending 213 hours on this class. For reading material, I read through the Cisco CyberOps Associate cert guide by Omar Santos. This was a long, and great book that I really enjoyed reading.

- 15. January 2023

This course was definitely a low point in my learning experience at Noroff. The video lectures had several audio issues, the teacher seemed uninspired, and the written material was hard to retain.

I'm sad to say that this course felt like a minimum-effort project by Noroff, and the way the class was structured made it hard to retain the knowledge. A lot of the topics covered by the written material that was copy-pasted from Microsoft's own website expected previous experience and insight gained from certifications like the AZ-104. My class had not even had a basic introduction to Azure before this class, so we had no foundational knowledge to build upon.

The hard-to-grasp material came at a time when I struggled with study fatigue after more than 2.5 years of hard studying after a full day's work and family life. So the low quality of the learning material only increased the level of fatigue.

The good part of this course that really helped me learn was a collection of labs from Skillable. These labs really helped me get hands-on experience and helped me understand the concepts and methodology in Azure. Unfortunately, these labs were just tacked on as bonus material I started to work my way through during the last week of the course, as an exam cram.

Even though the labs from Skillable were excellent, they were a huge missed opportunity by Noroff that could have been used to really help us retain the material in a much better way by simply using them as bonus assignments mentioned across the material. The course had practical assignments, but they were too few and too short. After all, the AZ-500 is a practical certification and not a theoretical one.

This course, like all other Noroff courses, had two online open-book exams: an essay exam, and a multiple-choice exam. The essay exam had theoretical and practical tasks that challenged our understanding and hands-on skills. But my exam featured a problem that I had to solve that was not covered by the course material, this made me do research during the exam. The exam tasks were also written in a way that felt designed to make me misunderstand them. Both of these issues added unwarranted stress to the exam. The multiple-choice exam featured many questions about tiny details like default encryption algorithms that made me relive trauma from a previous CompTIA certification experience.

All in all, I'm glad this class is in my past... The only thing saving this course from a score of 1/6 was the Skillable labs.

- 12. March 2023

This very good course offered a very gentle and nice introduction to programming for students without any previous experience. The course was well-structured and is by far the best course offered by Noroff I have participated in. It's obvious that the teachers did their best to provide explanations for every part of the course material. Noroff even had two teachers provide the same lectures but with different teaching styles. To top it up, every task in the course had a complete video walkthrough that demonstrated and explained how to solve each task.

For advanced students, Noroff provided an entire module with an advanced deep dive into how Python can be used to craft custom IP packets using the "scapy" package, and as a tool to perform network management on the SNMT protocol.

I personally used this course as the backbone for a very deep dive into the fine details of Python by pursuing the certifications provided by the Python institute (PCEP, PCAP, PCPP1), working on HackerRank challenges, reading books on algorithms and data structures, and taking Udemy courses that made me understand at a much deeper level the details of programming and computer science in general.

This period in my studies was a blast, and really helped me grow as a programmer.

- 27. August 2023

The course was estimated to take 160 hours of study time and had no required reading outside the material provided by Noroff.

The course provided a high-level overview of database design concepts such as data normalization and relationships. It did cover "everything" regarding relational databases, but I think the material was too shallow and the explanations felt too rushed.

I had to look outside the provided material by Noroff to truly get a feel for the theory and practice of SQL queries and database design theory. This course could at least have been twice as large, and still felt too short.

My biggest disappointment was with the lack of a proper introduction to SQL injection attacks and mitigations. The course had some material on the topic, but only enough to get our feet wet.

During the class, I spent time doing HackerRank SQL and database challenges. These challenges in combination with a fantastic Udemy course taught me a lot about the topics Noroff failed to teach me. I also went above and beyond trilling database design and SQL queries on my own.

I'm very happy with the learning outcome of participating in this class, but unfortunately, I don't think the knowledge can be attributed to the learning material provided by Noroff.

The exam was probably the best at this point during my Noroff studies. I felt it really tested my understanding of database design and SQL queries.

- 22. October 2023

This course was the one that made me apply for the Network and Information Security program at Noroff back in 2020. I had very high expectations for the course. Unfortunately, it was nothing like what I had hoped for. I already knew the tiny bit of hands-on hacking we were taught from my time spent on TryHackMe. The course and exam mainly focused on the theory and concepts surrounding ethical hacking and penetration testing.

Although it was nothing like what I hoped for and expected it was a great put-together course heavily inspired by the learning objectives of the CompTIA Pentest+ certification. The course made me appreciate the business part and the impact of ethical hacking in a much deeper way.

The exam was theory-only but asked questions that I think tried to validate the learning objectives pretty well. Unfortunately, I think the grading focused on listing concepts instead of validating real-world insights and understanding of the topics.

Of all the exams on Noroff, this was the most unfairly graded of them all. It was obvious to me that the grading teacher was looking for keywords on his evaluation sheet, and not evaluating the general competency shown by the student.

- 13. January 2024

This course was led by an engaged instructor passionate about Digital Forensics and Incident Response. Although short, it had quality content that helped me familiarize myself with the most common and essential artifacts that could be used to collect evidence on Windows hosts.

I think the course gave us good enough insight into the profession to make us respect it and help us decide whether this could be a profession suitable for us or not. I found it equally fascinating and frustrating. However, as a result of my studies, I do feel I have a much better insight into how the Windows registry works and is structured. This cleared a lot of the mystery on Windows for me.

The exam had questions that were easy to answer but hard to answer well. It tested me well and allowed me to show what I had learned during the class.

- 23. March 2024