Which IT cert for employability

Newport81

Hi can anyone point me in the right direction of an IT cert i could do part time in Galway or online that could help me land an IT role, my interest would be in network maintenance etc. I only have admin experience at present and am looking for a career in IT

demanufactured

Newport81 wrote: »

Hi can anyone point me in the right direction of an IT cert i could do part time in Galway or online that could help me land an IT role, my interest would be in network maintenance etc. I only have admin experience at present and am looking for a career in IT

Start with the comptia A+ And then go and do the network + ...that's the best start imo.

Newport81

demanufactured wrote: »

Start with the comptia A+ And then go and do the network + ...that's the best start imo.

Thanks I was looking at the comptia a+ but read some people saying its a waste of time? Did you do it online or in a class?

L1011

What is your base level of IT knowledge?

The A+ can be superfluous if you already have decent knowledge as it extremely basic (and actually contains a lot of irrelevant ancient info also, albeit far less than it used to)

Both it and the Network+ (more useful) can be done without paying for anything other than the exam fee by using online resources - the training is realistically unnecessary.

Newport81

L1011 wrote: »

What is your base level of IT knowledge?

The A+ can be superfluous if you already have decent knowledge as it extremely basic (and actually contains a lot of irrelevant ancient info also, albeit far less than it used to)

base level not great I worked for a few months on an IT helpdesk 5 years ago but I wouldn't be as knowledgeable as i would like to be, can anyone here recommend best place online to do this course also how quickly could I get it done? thanks

L1011

Newport81 wrote: »

base level not great I worked for a few months on an IT helpdesk 5 years ago but I wouldn't be as knowledgeable as i would like to be, can anyone here recommend best place online to do this course also how quickly could I get it done? thanks

You may already have the A+ level already.

(horribly over) Simplifying it down to a few questions:

* Could you find out the correct replacement RAM for a computer (Desktop or laptop), and open it and fit it when it arrived
* Can you disable a service in Windows
* Could you (quickly) identify what is using disk space on a drive that's full

If you can answer yes to those three (And verify that you are right), don't bother with the A+...

Go for the Network+ or something more advanced, nobody is ever going to ask why you don't have it. Its basically the Junior Cert of certification, once you've something stronger nobody cares.

Newport81

L1011 wrote: »

You may already have the A+ level already.

(horribly over) Simplifying it down to a few questions:

* Could you find out the correct replacement RAM for a computer (Desktop or laptop), and open it and fit it when it arrived
* Can you disable a service in Windows
* Could you (quickly) identify what is using disk space on a drive that's full

If you can answer yes to those three (And verify that you are right), don't bother with the A+...

Go for the Network+ or something more advanced, nobody is ever going to ask why you don't have it. Its basically the Junior Cert of certification, once you've something stronger nobody cares.

I'd have a good idea but I still wouldn't be confident answering those correctly so I'd say I'm best completing CompTIA first, do you know how long it takes?

L1011

Newport81 wrote: »

I'd have a good idea but I still wouldn't be confident answering those correctly so I'd say I'm best completing CompTIA first, do you know how long it takes?

Few weeks max.

http://www.professormesser.com/ seems to be the most recommended site for resources these days. Don't pay for anything bar the exams themselves.

Newport81

L1011 wrote: »

Few weeks max.

http://www.professormesser.com/ seems to be the most recommended site for resources these days. Don't pay for anything bar the exams themselves.

that's brilliant i'll get cracking with that thanks a million

braniganl

Did the A+ last year through VTOS and it was a gigantic waste of time if you knew anything basic about computers. Wouldn't wish learning minimum system requirements and such for Windows XP on my worst enemy! If you really want the cert , it's easily doable in a month or two if you go through professor messers A+ vids on Youtube and read the Mike Myers all in one A+ study guide. That's how I passed, as the VTOS tutors weren't much use!

Doing CCNA + a full level 6 networking cert this year which feels like a massive step up!

VeilOfSun

Don't waste your time with CompTia certification.
Go for Cisco & Juniper certifications. There are plenty of tools which will allow to practice on your PC.

Newport81

VeilOfSun wrote: »

Don't waste your time with CompTia certification.
Go for Cisco & Juniper certifications. There are plenty of tools which will allow to practice on your PC.

which cisco and juniper certs do you start with?

VeilOfSun

Newport81 wrote: »

which cisco and juniper certs do you start with?

Cisco: CCENT -> then decide which path would be more interesting to you.(RS, VOICE, Security, etc)
Same way for the Juniper.

For the practice you can use:
unetlab_com
or
gns3_com

robarmstrong

I went down the CompTIA route -

CompTIA A+
Network+ and Security+ sort of go hand in hand and are really appealing towards potential employers, particularly for level 1 helpdesk - you won't just walk into a junior sys admin role unless you know someone.

After that though you could go down the CCNA route or Microsoft if you prefer - I went down the O365 and Azure route and it paid off massively.

L1011

I would consider Cisco or Juniper certs a *bit* of a jump in for someone who's not sure if they need the A+...

Thargor

Did anyone ever switch careers just by doing these certs and applying for jobs? Im in an 50:50 laboratory/office split at the moment but Id love to get into IT, I have good basic knowledge of pcs from a building/components/gaming perspective but no programming or networking really.

robarmstrong

Thargor wrote: »

Did anyone ever switch careers just by doing these certs and applying for jobs? Im in an 50:50 laboratory/office split at the moment but Id love to get into IT, I have good basic knowledge of pcs from a building/components/gaming perspective but no programming or networking really.

I kinda did yeah, I worked in retail for 2 years then decided to follow up with my interest in computers, went out got the A+ and Network+, got my first IT job, got an MCSA in Office 365, MCS in Azure, and an MCSE in Exchange 2013.

I'm now in my 3rd year of IT and it's quite enjoyable, I'm only 22 so I've yonks ahead of me.

Thargor

You'd get hired just with A+ and Network+? Sorry for hijacking the thread OP...

robarmstrong

Yeah, most basic entry level IT helpdesk positions require customer service more than anything else, so to them I had 2 years of customer service experience along with CompTIA A+ and Network+, impressed in the interview and got the job then built myself up and went further up the ladder.

Also - apologies if this is derailing the thread OP.

robarmstrong

It depends really.

I got my latest position over someone who had more experience but less qualifications.

For the likes of Microsoft Gold Partners they kind of need to hire people with Certs in order to maintain Partner status.

L1011

robarmstrong wrote: »

For the likes of Microsoft Gold Partners they kind of need to hire people with Certs in order to maintain Partner status.

I believe my former employer had some issues in that regard when I left actually :pac:

Musicman2000

In IT myself about 10 years working as a system Administrator . Its 50/50 really some complines ask for certs or experience . Went back to college part time myself to complete a computer science degree was a complete waste of time it was really out of touch with the Industry . It annoys me when i see companies asking for Computer Science degrees for support jobs. Its a trade at the end of the day.

But as mentioned above do some of the industry certs which will help you getting into a level 1 position and work your way up. Plenty of Desktop support jobs in and around Dublin. Could be a good bit harder if you are outside Dublin.

robarmstrong

Musicman2000 wrote: »

In IT myself about 10 years working as a system Administrator . Its 50/50 really some complines ask for certs or experience . Went back to college part time myself to complete a computer science degree was a complete waste of time it was really out of touch with the Industry . It annoys me when i see companies asking for Computer Science degrees for support jobs. Its a trade at the end of the day.

But as mentioned above do some of the industry certs which will help you getting into a level 1 position and work your way up. Plenty of Desktop support jobs in and around Dublin. Could be a good bit harder if you are outside Dublin.

I completely agree - some of the so-called "required" degrees are really quite irrelevant to what you actually do. In my opinion - unless it's a computer programming/systems architecture - you really don't need a computer science degree.

These companies do tend to forget that college does not teach you customer experience, troubleshooting in a live environment, etc, and that is obviously the most important characteristic to have in a Desktop support position. I know countless recruiters and I'm happy to call on a few favours to get a few people started on this career path.

Thargor

Is it hard work/long days? Are you always moving on to better money afetr a year or two or will you be stuck around a certain level forever?

robarmstrong

Well from my experience it's hard work and long days for only short periods of time. I moved from a job where I was being paid 25k a year for basic level 1 support to an Office 365 consultant on close to double that in the space of about 18 months.

It completely depends on you, your abilities, and how well you can essentially sell yourself.

Thargor

Thanks, do you think 31 is too late to make the switch?

robarmstrong

Thargor wrote: »

Thanks, do you think 31 is too late to make the switch?

Definitely not!! It's never too late to make a career switch, providing you believe it's the right switch to make.

Personally I think you should go for it. There's a lot of money in IT, I'm already earning a pretty damn good wage for a 22 year old with 3 years of experience and with my certs etc, 3 years to get to 45k isn't a long time!

Thargor

I think I am going to do it tbh, Im on pretty good money here but its a bit of a dead end and I only have a couple of hours work in the morning then nothing for the rest of the day, thought it was a dream job at first but it got old very fast.

Ant695

Thargor wrote: »

Thanks, do you think 31 is too late to make the switch?

I'm in the placement part of an IT course back to class in january and then start one year degree next september. I'm 27 but one of youngest in class. There is multiple people in their 30's on it and even a guy who is 46. All working towards a career in IT and from all kinds of backgrounds from hr, bar work, factory work to scaffolding.

So no you are not too old the only requriement is putting the time and effort in and asking questions when you need to. Beyond that age is not important.

Thargor

Thanks a million for that, what is the course if you dont mind me asking?

Ant695

Thargor wrote: »

Thanks a million for that, what is the course if you dont mind me asking?

It's a Higher Cert in IT support. Covers software development, networks, operating systems, computer systems (from the bottom up) and applications.

From january it will be more of the same but no computer systems, applications is replaced with databases and operating systems is focused on linux not windows.

This then leads into a degree in IT support or honors if you stay 2 years in computer services management.

I've also managed to push on and do almost all the practicals for software dev while on placement and have been doing cisco ccna as it's free through the college to push on with networks.

Links to the cert and degree:

Cert:

http://www.lyit.ie/full-timecourses/computing/lykitswclykitssc/


Degree:

http://www.lyit.ie/full-timecourses/computing/lykitspd/

Honors:

http://www.lyit.ie/full-timecourses/computing/lykitspb/

VeilOfSun

Nowadays IT is experiencing amazing times.
Cloud providers are continuing to kill IT Engineers(System Administrators) like a profession and replacing them by DevOps.

If you are thinking about to go to the IT field, them you can choose a few perspective paths:
1) Software development
2) Clouds technologies(Public and Hybrid). DevOps or Solution Architect & Consultant.
3) Security & GRC
4) System Integration
5) Business/Enterprise Architecture.
6) Project Management.
7) Networking(Virtualization)

I didn't take into account CRM/SAP systems.

IMHO.

Thargor

VeilOfSun wrote: »

Nowadays IT is experiencing amazing times.
Cloud providers are continuing to kill IT Engineers(System Administrators) like a profession and replacing them by DevOps.

If you are thinking about to go to the IT field, them you can choose a few perspective paths:
1) Software development
2) Clouds technologies(Public and Hybrid). DevOps or Solution Architect & Consultant.
3) Security & GRC
4) System Integration
5) Business/Enterprise Architecture.
6) Project Management.
7) Networking(Virtualization)

I didn't take into account CRM/SAP systems.

IMHO.

Yeah that was a concern alright as thats exactly whats happening where I currently work, IT department moving out and we're all moving to doing stuff in Sharepoint.

robarmstrong

Thargor wrote: »

Yeah that was a concern alright as thats exactly whats happening where I currently work, IT department moving out and we're all moving to doing stuff in Sharepoint.

If you get the MCSA in Office 365 you can then open yourself up to the roadmap to get an MCSE in SharePoint 2013 - you can either choose to be a SharePoint consultant specializing in migrating documents/data, building sites and sub-sites along with administration and app development (via contracting) and earn around 400-650 a day on the LOW end of the scale.

VeilOfSun

MCSE in SharePoint 2013 won't give you 400-650 a day, never.
Five or more years of experience of working with big/huge deployments + in addition you should have consulting skills.

Eire Go Brach

It's very positive reading this thread. I'm 38 and decided to change my career. Just got my MCSA in Windows sever 2012.
I'm a bit confused about what job to look for. It's been while since I looked for jobs. I was in the same job for 18 years.
Should I just look for a Level 1 support to get experience, or aim higher with the MCSA?

There are great resources for the unemployed out there to upskill.

VeilOfSun

Eire Go Brach wrote: »

It's very positive reading this thread. I'm 38 and decided to change my career. Just got my MCSA in Windows sever 2012.
I'm a bit confused about what job to look for. It's been while since I looked for jobs. I was in the same job for 18 years.
Should I just look for a Level 1 support or aim hire with the MCSA?
There are great resources for the unemployed out there to upskill.

Hi,
Congratulations with your certification achievement!
You can try to apply for L1 support or Junior System Administrator/Engineer.
I would recommend to take a glance to Office 365,Azure, AWS and Google Compute(choose one of them at the beginning).

VeilOfSun

Eire Go Brach wrote: »

It's very positive reading this thread. I'm 38 and decided to change my career. Just got my MCSA in Windows sever 2012.
I'm a bit confused about what job to look for. It's been while since I looked for jobs. I was in the same job for 18 years.
Should I just look for a Level 1 support or aim hire with the MCSA?
There are great resources for the unemployed out there to upskill.

Hi,
Congratulations with your certification achievement!
You can try to apply for L1 support or Junior System Administrator/Engineer.
I would recommend to take a glance to Office 365,Azure, AWS or Google Compute(choose one of them at the beginning).

robarmstrong

VeilOfSun wrote: »

MCSE in SharePoint 2013 won't give you 400-650 a day, never.
Five or more years of experience of working with big/huge deployments + in addition you should have consulting skills.

Yes, it does. Try Nigel Frank International, I was on 350 a day for 3 months for an Exchange 2003 to 2013 migration including an intertenancy migration involving a heap load of AD. Their SharePoint projects even for junior developers go between 550-650 a day for 3-6 months. Even basic SP admins get around 250 sterling a day.

Musicman2000

Eire Go Brach wrote: »

It's very positive reading this thread. I'm 38 and decided to change my career. Just got my MCSA in Windows sever 2012.
I'm a bit confused about what job to look for. It's been while since I looked for jobs. I was in the same job for 18 years.
Should I just look for a Level 1 support or aim hire with the MCSA?
There are great resources for the unemployed out there to upskill.

You would need to go for a level 1 position if you have no experience , but a great cert to have.

VeilOfSun

robarmstrong wrote: »

Yes, it does. Try Nigel Frank International, I was on 350 a day for 3 months for an Exchange 2003 to 2013 migration including an intertenancy migration involving a heap load of AD. Their SharePoint projects even for junior developers go between 550-650 a day for 3-6 months. Even basic SP admins get around 250 sterling a day.

Wow!
That's sound really great!
This means that after those young professionals, I will have enough work to bring everything to production level

BTW, I hate SharePoint. I will never go with it. For me it's a nightmare, despite I am working with a team on multi-national conglomerate customer )

robarmstrong

It's definitely worth looking into, I mean it's all well and good at my age to take those sort of contracts on for that money.

I interviewed for an Exchange Migration Specialist role with Nigel Frank a few days ago for 400GBP a day, works out at around 570 euro a day for 4 months, not too shabby for a 22 year old.

MCSA in Server 2012 is fantastic to have especially when you're going for a L1 role, the knowledge is obviously there but the experience isn't. I sit the final Server exam next Friday, 412 come at me!

IF you're really interested in getting involved in IT, give me a shout and I'll get in touch with a couple of recruiter contacts and see if they can find something for you!

VeilOfSun

Thanks for a hint.

But I am interesting only in permanent Solution Architect positions for MS Exchange, Lync, Cloud and Enterprise Architecture.

robarmstrong

Last part of my post was directed at Eire Go Brach, my bad.

Nigel Frank have some permanent opportunities for Solutions Architects if you check out their website.

Thargor

Whats the best way to get started in getting an MCSA in Office 365 or should I do some other stuff first? Where do you even start looking is my question!

robarmstrong

If you go onto the Microsoft Virtual Academy and start watching their videos on Office 365 you'll find some fantastic material that will help greatly with the exams, I recommend taking a few PowerShell courses too to add onto your study list.

It depends on what route you want to go down Thargor, there's only two exams to take for the MCSA in Office 365, and with an increasing demand for people certified in it even with basic L1 support experience, you'll be headhunted for a position.

Feel free to drop me a PM and I'll try my best to help out.

Thargor

I want the route with the most money

Nah seriously if you were starting again from scratch what would you look into today?

robarmstrong

I'd definitely look into Office 365 and Server 2012 right off the bat if I was to start again from scratch!

Musicman2000

Thargor wrote: »

I want the route with the most money

Nah seriously if you were starting again from scratch what would you look into today?

You might be better starting off with some of the basic MTA'S such as Os fundamentals , Networking and Security. Because if you have no experience using Server 2012 its going to be tricky. Its a lot easier when you are using it on the job every day.

Thargor

Hi again, whats the rough cost of getting certs like the MCSE in sharepoint for example? Ill probably do a few others aswell just wondering about rough costs.

Money really no object though I have to get out of the job Im in now...

robarmstrong

Thargor wrote: »

Hi again, whats the rough cost of getting certs like the MCSE in sharepoint for example? Ill probably do a few others aswell just wondering about rough costs.

Money really no object though I have to get out of the job Im in now...

The exams are usually 150.

Study material is free all over the web!