Network Engineer/Admin Career Path

PhilDawn

Hi all,


Looking for advice from any network professionals.

Im making a career change to IT and seeking some sound advice.

My plan is to complete the following;


ECDL
I
CompTIA A+
I
CompTIA Net+
I
CCNA
I
Volunteer 6-12 months
I
Gain entry level role in desktop support/call centre
I
CCNP
I
MCSE



Any advice on the above path would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

L1011

Don't bother with the ECDL. Its 100% worthless in an IT role - it is a secretarial qualificaiton.

Look at getting an MCSA before the CCNP. Maybe even the CCNA. Many more places use Windows than use Cisco gear.

You likely don't need to volunteer anywhere at all - there is currently a horrendous skills shortage in IT and we've had trouble finding L1 support people for months now.

PDAWN

MYOB wrote: »

Don't bother with the ECDL. Its 100% worthless in an IT role - it is a secretarial qualificaiton.

Look at getting an MCSA before the CCNP. Maybe even the CCNA. Many more places use Windows than use Cisco gear.

You likely don't need to volunteer anywhere at all - there is currently a horrendous skills shortage in IT and we've had trouble finding L1 support people for months now.

Thanks for the response!!

That's reassuring- i was really worried I would find it extremely difficult getting my foot in the door!


So basically you're saying:

A+ > NET+ MCSA ??

Kinet1c

I'd agree with MYOB on the ECDL, unless you're completely new to computers then skip it.

CompTIA/Network+ will help you get your entry level roles but even the knowledge will help you. Get reading asap.

Once you've started your career path, you'll get a feel for what area you want to specialise in.

PDAWN

Kinet1c wrote: »

I'd agree with MYOB on the ECDL, unless you're completely new to computers then skip it.

CompTIA/Network+ will help you get your entry level roles but even the knowledge will help you. Get reading asap.

Once you've started your career path, you'll get a feel for what area you want to specialise in.

Thanks!!

L1011

PDAWN wrote: »

Thanks for the response!!

That's reassuring- i was really worried I would find it extremely difficult getting my foot in the door!


So basically you're saying:

A+ > NET+ MCSA ??

Yes. The A+ might also be unneeded but that's really up to you - its not a bad certification at all, but it doesn't prove much. If I was back where you were I'd look at the Net+ books and practice tests.

Kinet1c is correct in that the CompTIA certs will get you an entry level role on their own.

I'm currently in an senior field engineer / sysadmin (due to what we sell) role having gone from Leaving Cert -> call centre -> MCSE + CCENT -> current role. I have SQL and IIS/Sharepoint certification also but it was picked up along the way more than anything.

When I was getting the MCSE I did seriously consider the A+ as it was swappable for one of the 7 MCSE exams on the old system (this was nearly a decade ago) but decided against it - on reflection I would have prefered the variety as otherwise I ended up doing three nearly identical exams on Active Directory.

PDAWN

MYOB wrote: »

Yes. The A+ might also be unneeded but that's really up to you - its not a bad certification at all, but it doesn't prove much. If I was back where you were I'd look at the Net+ books and practice tests.

Kinet1c is correct in that the CompTIA certs will get you an entry level role on their own.

I'm currently in an senior field engineer / sysadmin (due to what we sell) role having gone from Leaving Cert -> call centre -> MCSE + CCENT -> current role. I have SQL and IIS/Sharepoint certification also but it was picked up along the way more than anything.

When I was getting the MCSE I did seriously consider the A+ as it was swappable for one of the 7 MCSE exams on the old system (this was nearly a decade ago) but decided against it - on reflection I would have prefered the variety as otherwise I ended up doing three nearly identical exams on Active Directory.

Thanks again for your in depth answers- there is so much crap on the Internet so it's refreshing to hear positive news from someone actually in a networking position.

How long did it take you to get into a networking position?

L1011

PDAWN wrote: »

Thanks again for your in depth answers- there is so much crap on the Internet so it's refreshing to hear positive news from someone actually in a networking position.

How long did it take you to get into a networking position?

I was in a field role within about 20 months of my leaving cert - via a completely unrelated job (in a TV station), helldesk for British Telecom and then phone support for the company I still work for. Its networking, server admin and software support for the software my employer writes. They would like someone in my role to have a degree but they have the sense to realise its not always going to happen - that said, I'm getting a degree through the Open University at the moment to try get further advancement.

I get paid enough to afford buying a house and having a fast (if extremely cheap) car on the driveway, so I'm happy out in that regard.

Kinet1c

Early in your career you'll spend most of your time in front of the customer... that customer could be internal or external and you'll most likely take a lot of crap. Keep smiling and get the job done.

PDAWN

MYOB wrote: »

I was in a field role within about 20 months of my leaving cert - via a completely unrelated job (in a TV station), helldesk for British Telecom and then phone support for the company I still work for. Its networking, server admin and software support for the software my employer writes. They would like someone in my role to have a degree but they have the sense to realise its not always going to happen - that said, I'm getting a degree through the Open University at the moment to try get further advancement.

I get paid enough to afford buying a house and having a fast (if extremely cheap) car on the driveway, so I'm happy out in that regard.

That gives me a lot of hope. I have myself driven mad looking at job adverts requiring a degree in a technical field.

I lived in Scotland for four years. Had my own chauffeur car company that went tits up. Back in Ireland two years now but am going back to Scotland ASAP as my 3 year old daughter and girlfriend are still living there. She can't come here as she's a school teacher and doesn't speak irish.

My plan is to avail of FAS and get my certs for free. I'm working as a truck driver part time but my dream would be to complete a few certs, move back to Scotland and get an entry level role. Then, if possible, up skill with CCNP,CCIE, MCSE etc and hopefully hit the £50k mark in within 5 years.

Do you reckon this is possible?

I seem to have a natural flair for computers with a genuine interest and I'm very motivated.

PDAWN

Kinet1c wrote: »

Early in your career you'll spend most of your time in front of the customer... that customer could be internal or external and you'll most likely take a lot of crap. Keep smiling and get the job done.

I've heard that! Thanks for your reply

wexie

Kinet1c wrote: »

Early in your career you'll spend most of your time in front of the customer... that customer could be internal or external and you'll most likely take a lot of crap. Keep smiling and get the job done.

I can confirm this, most likely external customer if you end up in a callcenter. Which can be hard work and very stressfull depending on what you're doing. But it depends on what you're there for. A lot of company also have a wealth of online training available to you and quite a few of them will pay for exams if they're related to what you're doing. My employer have their own Pearson Vue exam centre onsite.

So regardless of what a lot of people say call centres can definitely be a good way to get ahead.

And from what I know the guys were right on the ECDL, don't do it, yes it's a cert but it won't be taken very seriously. (and if colleagues find out could well be the source of relentless slagging).

Depending on where you want to go and what you want to do I can very much recommend looking into HyperV and VMware (you can download esx for free) and getting familiar with it. You'll probably won't get a Vmware cert as you can't take the exam without a course and the courses are very expensive if you have to pay for them but it's good to be familiar with it.

wexie

PDAWN wrote: »

That gives me a lot of hope. I have myself driven mad looking at job adverts requiring a degree in a technical field.

I lived in Scotland for four years. Had my own chauffeur car company that went tits up. Back in Ireland two years now but am going back to Scotland ASAP as my 3 year old daughter and girlfriend are still living there. She can't come here as she's a school teacher and doesn't speak irish.

My plan is to avail of FAS and get my certs for free. I'm working as a truck driver part time but my dream would be to complete a few certs, move back to Scotland and get an entry level role. Then, if possible, up skill with CCNP,CCIE, MCSE etc and hopefully hit the £50k mark in within 5 years.

Do you reckon this is possible?

I seem to have a natural flair for computers with a genuine interest and I'm very motivated.

I'm not quite sure about pay in the UK, I wouldn't count on 50K in 5 years though, while certs are good experience is important. No matter how many certs, a lot of customers won't let you know near their systems without a good bit of experience, and rightly so.

And I woulnd't be overly concerned about the lack of degree, I know lots of people (including myself) that don't have one (or relevant one) that are doing quite well in IT.

PDAWN

wexie wrote: »

I can confirm this, most likely external customer if you end up in a callcenter. Which can be hard work and very stressfull depending on what you're doing. But it depends on what you're there for. A lot of company also have a wealth of online training available to you and quite a few of them will pay for exams if they're related to what you're doing. My employer have their own Pearson Vue exam centre onsite.

So regardless of what a lot of people say call centres can definitely be a good way to get ahead.

And from what I know the guys were right on the ECDL, don't do it, yes it's a cert but it won't be taken very seriously. (and if colleagues find out could well be the source of relentless slagging).

Depending on where you want to go and what you want to do I can very much recommend looking into HyperV and VMware (you can download esx for free) and getting familiar with it. You'll probably won't get a Vmware cert as you can't take the exam without a course and the courses are very expensive if you have to pay for them but it's good to be familiar with it.

Taking it all on board. You are all very kind for the advice you are providing. I'm really only doing the ECDL for my own benefit so Ill leave it out of my CV to avoid slagging :-)

PDAWN

MYOB wrote: »

I was in a field role within about 20 months of my leaving cert - via a completely unrelated job (in a TV station), helldesk for British Telecom and then phone support for the company I still work for. Its networking, server admin and software support for the software my employer writes. They would like someone in my role to have a degree but they have the sense to realise its not always going to happen - that said, I'm getting a degree through the Open University at the moment to try get further advancement.

I get paid enough to afford buying a house and having a fast (if extremely cheap) car on the driveway, so I'm happy out in that regard.

Can I go straight for my MCSE after doing the NET+ or should I do the MCSA to begin with??

L1011

PDAWN wrote: »

That gives me a lot of hope. I have myself driven mad looking at job adverts requiring a degree in a technical field.

I lived in Scotland for four years. Had my own chauffeur car company that went tits up. Back in Ireland two years now but am going back to Scotland ASAP as my 3 year old daughter and girlfriend are still living there. She can't come here as she's a school teacher and doesn't speak irish.

My plan is to avail of FAS and get my certs for free. I'm working as a truck driver part time but my dream would be to complete a few certs, move back to Scotland and get an entry level role. Then, if possible, up skill with CCNP,CCIE, MCSE etc and hopefully hit the £50k mark in within 5 years.

Do you reckon this is possible?

I seem to have a natural flair for computers with a genuine interest and I'm very motivated.

In Ireland I would consider this just about possible (50k sterling being 60k euro) if very competent and changing jobs frequently to rack up salary. In Scotland, erm, probably not unfortunately. IT salaries are nowhere near as good in the UK with the exception of London and, from what I've seen, Leeds - due to the NHS IT being based there.

wexie's advice on getting virtualisation experience is sound, it is definitely a massively growing market with very few skilled people.

L1011

PDAWN wrote: »

Can I go straight for my MCSE after doing the NET+ or should I do the MCSA to begin with??

You'll get the MCSA along the way - the first three exams required for any Windows MSCE pathway are the MCSA.

wexie

MYOB wrote: »

IT salaries are nowhere near as good in the UK with the exception of London and, from what I've seen, Leeds - due to the NHS IT being based there.
.

I've a friend living near Edinburgh and he's very good and very experienced (mostly Commvault) and I'd say he's in London nearly every second week as the work just isn't there for him in Scotland.

The problem is the more specialised you become the more you make. But the more specialised you become the fewer companies will have a fulltime place for you. So then you're looking at hardware vendors, consulting etc.

Very few companies would have a fulltime Commvault guy for example, almost no companies (in Ireland) would have a dedicated storage administrator etc. etc.

The 2 big things I see a skillsgap in at the moment are virtualisation, (although VMware really isn't that difficult) and converged networking.

PDAWN

wexie wrote: »

I've a friend living near Edinburgh and he's very good and very experienced (mostly Commvault) and I'd say he's in London nearly every second week as the work just isn't there for him in Scotland.

The problem is the more specialised you become the more you make. But the more specialised you become the fewer companies will have a fulltime place for you. So then you're looking at hardware vendors, consulting etc.

Very few companies would have a fulltime Commvault guy for example, almost no companies (in Ireland) would have a dedicated storage administrator etc. etc.

The 2 big things I see a skillsgap in at the moment are virtualisation, (although VMware really isn't that difficult) and converged networking.

What's the route for virtualisation??

I was looking at a job listing in Aberdeen a few weeks ago. It was for a network engineer with 3 years experience. No mention of a degree. Just CCNP, NET+ and then an outline of duties. £45k + healthcare + pension!!!

PDAWN

wexie wrote: »

I've a friend living near Edinburgh and he's very good and very experienced (mostly Commvault) and I'd say he's in London nearly every second week as the work just isn't there for him in Scotland.

The problem is the more specialised you become the more you make. But the more specialised you become the fewer companies will have a fulltime place for you. So then you're looking at hardware vendors, consulting etc.

Very few companies would have a fulltime Commvault guy for example, almost no companies (in Ireland) would have a dedicated storage administrator etc. etc.

The 2 big things I see a skillsgap in at the moment are virtualisation, (although VMware really isn't that difficult) and converged networking.

Was looking at courses in Dublin for VMware. €2600. I'm guessing I'm a long way from that just now but maybe worth looking into further down the line???

Kinet1c

I'm doing virtualisation self study right now. You definitely need entry level knowledge of networking/storage/OS' before looking at it.

wexie

PDAWN wrote: »

What's the route for virtualisation??

I was looking at a job listing in Aberdeen a few weeks ago. It was for a network engineer with 3 years experience. No mention of a degree. Just CCNP, NET+ and then an outline of duties. £45k + healthcare + pension!!!

Not sure there's much of a route for virtualisation. VMware have the VCP cert (VMware Certified Professional) as a start. For a starting position it should be sufficient to just have some experience. You can download ESX for free and it will run on a decent desktop.

Have a look here : http://mylearn.vmware.com/portals/certification/
There is also plenty of study material on their website and some of the certs I think are free although these are mostly sales related, even though they'd be good to have if. (VCSP and VCTSP I think they are).

Vmware are by far the most common (that I see anyway) but HyperV is catching up. Xen has only a tiny market share.

Keep in mind though I may well have a somewhat distorted view of the market as I would exclusively see customers who have SAN's.

wexie

Kinet1c wrote: »

I'm doing virtualisation self study right now. You definitely need entry level knowledge of networking/storage/OS' before looking at it.

Yeah the virtual networking can be a bit of a headwrecker alright

Stereomaniac

Is that not what we are doing right now, or did I miss the joke entirely, as I see your smiley there?

PDAWN

Kinet1c wrote: »

I'm doing virtualisation self study right now. You definitely need entry level knowledge of networking/storage/OS' before looking at it.

Yeah-think ill get the A+ and Net+ done first but I'm adding it to my list of certs.

I'm currently enrolled on an online relearning A+ and NET+.

There is hours and hours of video from Professor Messer who is meant to be brilliant. The courses run for 14 weeks so I'm going to dive into them and spend every spare second studying.


Ill move onto the MCSE after that and take it from there. I can also volunteer to refurbish used laptops/pcs for kids in Africa which can only add to my CV plus the doing good in itself for less well off people is a noble thing to do.

wexie

Stereomaniac wrote: »

Is that not what we are doing right now, or did I miss the joke entirely, as I see your smiley there?

LOL, no I meant actual virtual networking, as in setting up the virtual networks within VMware.

It's not that hard but you need to get away from traditional 'hardware based' thinking.

mbiking123

hello

best of luck with you new career path

If you feel that you want to improve MS Word, excel etc then do ECDL, whatever you do in IT, you will need to be able to write up documents in word etc. As an example if you do database work, and doing number crunching with SQL you will probably display results in excel and possibly may need to do a presentation in powerpoint.

when it comes to A+, well its only valid for 3 years now and so is CISCO stuff along with a lot of others. A third level qualification is valid for life

With regard to CCNA, do it if you want and then follow with CCNP. just remember the 3 year issue. if you do CCNA then do CCNP within 3 years (and pass).

identify an area you want work in and then specialise in that area, I appreciate easier said than done. a lot of work with oracle at the moment if you want to go down that route. just need to learn oracle SQL and PL/SQL to become a developer (not an easy exam!)

Cuddlesworth

wexie wrote: »

Vmware are by far the most common (that I see anyway) but HyperV is catching up. Xen has only a tiny market share.

Keep in mind though I may well have a somewhat distorted view of the market as I would exclusively see customers who have SAN's.

Nope, that's pretty much bang on. As a new entrant to the jobs market, I'd know all VM platforms to use, but push for in depth knowledge of HyperV and System Center. If Microsoft is giving out the product for practically free in the Enterprise market, your screwed in the long term if your trying to compete.

I'd be wary of networking. There seems to be a split in terms of skills required for ongoing roles, ranging from basic to extreme with very little middle ground. It just seems to be the way the industry is going.

Cuddlesworth

mbiking123 wrote: »

With regard to CCNA, do it if you want and then follow with CCNP. just remember the 3 year issue. if you do CCNA then do CCNP within 3 years (and pass).

Re-certification isnt exactly a bad thing. On the Cisco side, you get re-certified by doing a equivalent exam or better. So it doesn't have to be a slog through what you already know.

If you have a CCNA R&S, then a completed CCNA security refreshes both certs. Or a single CCNP exam(of the three) nets you another time extension on both of the above.

On a self improvement front its genius.

Edit:Damm auto correct

denlaw

Some great advice on this thread, I was made redundant back in 2011 after 26 yrs, I always had an intrest in computers and signed up through fas to do an ECDL along with comptia strata, after that I studied and took the A+ and passed, half way through doing network + and hope to have that by Xmas, I've inquired about doing the ccna through springboard next yr, I'm also going to do the windows 7 exam in the next yr..I'll be 47 in a week and I'm not ready for the scrap heap just yet ..just one thing, I took the a+ through fas in a classroom setting, I was the oldest by 5 yrs in the class, they're were kids with degrees in all sorts from computer science to electrical engineering, one chap had a degree in chemistry and a few like myself who'd lost their jobs in the recession, half of them failed the two exam first time round mainly because they pissed about on facebook and twitter in class, I wouldn't mind as the tutor was sound and would go out of his way to help ..
I view doing the a+ like doing the first yr of an apprenticeship and I have to laugh at some of the snobbish views I've seen on boards at the cert ...you've got to start somewhere ..

Kinet1c

denlaw wrote: »

I took the a+ through fas in a classroom setting, I was the oldest by 5 yrs in the class, they're were kids with degrees in all sorts from computer science to electrical engineering, one chap had a degree in chemistry and a few like myself who'd lost their jobs in the recession, half of them failed the two exam first time round mainly because they pissed about on facebook and twitter in class, I wouldn't mind as the tutor was sound and would go out of his way to help ..
I view doing the a+ like doing the first yr of an apprenticeship and I have to laugh at some of the snobbish views I've seen on boards at the cert ...you've got to start somewhere ..

You went through the same experience I did in FAS but as with anything, you get out what you put in and I was pretty happy with my time there. Which centre were you in? (you can PM if you don't want to say publicly).

I see the A+ as a way of getting in to IT whereas if you're already in for ~1 year then there's probably no need to sit it.

denlaw

Kinet1c wrote: »

You went through the same experience I did in FAS but as with anything, you get out what you put in and I was pretty happy with my time there. Which centre were you in? (you can PM if you don't want to say publicly).

I see the A+ as a way of getting in to IT whereas if you're already in for ~1 year then there's probably no need to sit it.

Pm sent

Cuddlesworth

Kinet1c wrote: »

I see the A+ as a way of getting in to IT whereas if you're already in for ~1 year then there's probably no need to sit it.

Depends on what the experience is. If its 1+ year in a helpdesk and your applying for a desktop support role, better pick up a book since its a good cert to have.