Working with Citrix technologies for a number of years, I realised there's a lot of misconceptions when it comes to the technologies involved and the fundamentals of Citrix, to give a good grounding in understanding concepts and key terminology.
FREE Citrix Training Course? Yes, I've developed a FREE Citrix Training course to help people get an insight into what Citrix technology is all about including some of the following:
Once the fundamentals about Citrix and it’s technology are learnt, it becomes a lot easier to get a deeper understanding. May be you're already working in IT and need a grounding in Citrix to help advance your IT career. Understanding the technologies Citrix Systems develops could help. I believe the course gives an essential understanding of Citrix, allowing progression to move onto advanced learning and certifications later.
Check out the FREE Citrix course here
Before starting any learning journey it's important to understand what the terminology means and by understaning what Citrix means is the first step. I'll explain in my course what Citrix actually is and what it's not. Once you know this then it's easier to get to grips with the details.
My course introduces how Citrix technologies work in an easy to understand manner, introducing concepts using analogies. This is different from many other courses and training materials about Citrix, which kind of do the 'deep dive' into the technologies, without giving any opportunity to grasp a non-technical understanding before hitting the technology head on.
Let's be honest first, had you heard of Citrix technologies before visiting this web page? If you had heard about Citrix, did you know what the following were?
These are all the leading products developed by Citrix Systems which have allowed it to carve up an impressive market share of various IT sectors it is involved in. Trying to understand how these products work without knowing the fundamentals is going to be difficult and will simply become overwhelming.
A lot of the learning labs and videos I see about Citrix, tend to focus on the technology and try to do a deep dive and this can be uncomfortable for many people. When I try to learn a new technology, I try to find ways of learning the fundamentals then progressing into more detail. This approach has allowed me build up skills in Cyber Security, DevSecOps, Agile, Solutions Architecture and so on. Simply because I have learnt the fundamentals and progressed on from there, without ever getting overwhelmed.
When my colleagues have asked me about how Citrix works, I tend to explain the fundamentals as I’ve done in my Citrix training course, making it a lot easier and quicker for them to get a good understanding. Many have commented how using other means to learn about Citrix has been too much too fast, making it difficult to get to grips without feeling overwhelmed.
It’s very important not to get overwhelmed when trying to learn something new, as this in a worse case scenario, puts people off the learning experience. My goal in providing learning materials is to always make sure people don’t end up quitting as they find it too hard and ensure its easier to retain any new skills or new knowledge learnt.
Having experience in any of these products can open up many opportunities for salaried as well as freelance work. I have met many IT professionals proficient in Citrix products who earn substantial amounts of money compared to their contemporaries in other IT sectors. A lot of these professionals don't have years and years of experience either.
I always view Citrix technologies as potentially providing an easier pathway into IT than many other technologies. Just by having some experience of Citrix products can help vastly in establishing your profile and increasing the chances of attaining a decent IT role.
Once the fundamentals are learnt, the Citrix technologies can be quickly grasped and experience in how they work and how to use them can be quickly built up. So you can build up your resume (CV) like one of my friends did after using my course. They didn’t know anything about Citrix when they first started and by using my course, they were able to spring board onto more detailed technological aspects of Citrix, picking up skills in Microsoft Windows, VMWare and AppSense products along the way.
Citrix Engineer
Brought into design and migrate existing XenApp environments based on older versions of Window Server to latest Windows Server version for key clients.
Citrix Engineer
Brought into deploy new Citrix XenDesktop 7.1 sites and XenApp 6.5 farm to replace the legacy XenDesktop 5.6 sites and XenApp 5 farms.
Citrix also provides a number of Citrix Certifications in the different products they supply and some people find certification an excellent way for them to progress. Certifications can provide a road map on what needs to be learnt to get on and succeed but it’s important to get a grounding in Citrix technologies first before trying to run with Citrix certification instead of learning to walk.
From the introductory Citrix Certified Associate – Virtualization (CCA–V) certification aimed at administrators working with XenApp and XenDesktop to the Citrix Certified Professional – Virtualization (CCP-V) certification aimed at engineers and consultants. Leading to the Citrix Certified Expert – Virtualization (CCE-V), which is for designers and requires pre-requisites of CCA-V and CCP-V certifications.
I’ve worked for a number of years with Citrix technologies and managed to achieve high Citrix Consulting rates which would not have been possible in other comparative technologies. My roles have ensured that I have been involved with designing, testing, deploying and supporting various Citrix technologies for many years, with the remuneration in salaries and fees providing me with a good living.
The major benefit for many of these technologies has been their sort of 'niche' status, resulting in lower entry requirements for jobs involving this technology, with any experience being considered important.
Many of the companies I've worked for predominantly as a freelancer have always dictated a relative lower level of a year's experience required compared to other technologies.
This has meant I've not really struggled to find work and have enjoyed good rates and salaries. My friends who work with other IT technologies haven't fared as well as I have and have either struggled to find well-paying work, or in some unfortunate circumstances, struggled finding just a job.
I think experience with Citrix products is an excellent career choice, check out my FREE Citrix training course.
Most of the Citrix products I’ve mentioned, Citrix Virtual Apps, Citrix Virtual Desktops, Citrix Hypervisor, Citrix Gateway, Citrix Content Collaboration and Citrix Endpoint Management, look like new Citrix technology products.
Initially this is what I first thought when I saw these products as I had been used to products such as Citrix XenApp, Citrix XenDesktop, Citrix NetScaler, Citrix XenServer, Citrix NetScaler, Citrix ShareFile and Citrix XenMobile. However, the new products are just new versions of existing Citrix technology products. It’s part of the Citrix’s marketing campaign to emphasise itself more as the brand and not the product names it had been using previously, such as XenApp and XenDesktop.
I think it’s a smart approach, as for years people have just been saying ‘How does Citrix work?’ and not explicitly going into the details of saying ‘How does XenApp work?’. A branding exercise like this will also help Citrix attract more customers for it’s excellent products, meaning more demand for people with Citrix skills.
For me, this is nothing new. When I first started with Citrix technologies, the first product I used was Citrix WinFrame around 1997. This product’s core functionality hasn’t really gone away, it’s just evolved to be what Citrix Virtual Apps is today. Along the way it’s been updated to Citrix MetaFrame in 1998, Citrix MetaFrame XP in 2002, Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server in 2003, Presentation Server in 2005, XenApp in 2008 and then Citrix Virtual Apps in 2018.