Author Topic: Question to you tech industry folks.
heiromancerdrackus 
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Subject: Question to you tech industry folks.
I recently landed a job doing tech support for Dell Business. After I'm done with training, I'll be DCSE certified, which means nothing. What certifications should I be gunning for if I want to continue in IT as a possible career path, aside from the obvious plus certifications? How much do you think it'll run me to get my MCSA / E?

 

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Blisteringballs 
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Subject: Question to you tech industry folks.
Well I'll list what I have. I'm just doing LAN engineer work now, but in the past I ran an entire data center and focused on storage and integration. It was a long road, and a degree and experience will go a lot farther than certs, but they help.

Associates in Computer Science
Linux+
Network+
MCITP (used to have MCSE)
CCNA (never updated it)
And I forget the name of my Netapp storage cert

I also was lucky enough to have a job that sent me to a lot of training over five years, everything from storage and team building to group policies and WAN networking. So that looks good on a resume but each class would personally run you between $2-4k for a week.

 

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Sprawl-zero1eye- 
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Subject: Question to you tech industry folks.
It depends what you wish to do in IT. IT is a very vast field. Are you a programmer? Web designer? Network engineer? System builder or administrator? Etc?

 

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heiromancerdrackus 
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Subject: Question to you tech industry folks.
Sprawl-zero1eye- posted:
It depends what you wish to do in IT. IT is a very vast field. Are you a programmer? Web designer? Network engineer? System builder or administrator? Etc?


I'd be leaning towards administration and networking. I have a BA but its not exactly in a related field. I got this job because I killed their assessment tests.

 

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Sprawl-zero1eye- 
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Subject: Question to you tech industry folks.
Network+ or CCNA and beyond is great if you want to get into Networking. For Systems Administration, you need to decide if you prefer to lean in the Windows or Linux direction, and probably grab the applicable MCP or Comptia cert. A lot is moving towards the cloud, so a VCP wouldn't be out of the question after you have a few Systems ones under your belt.

As mentioned above, certs aren't the end all be all, but they do show potential employers that you have a base level of knowledge and that you can learn something, anything taught to you, which can supplement a lot of missing experience. Most employers know the IT is ever changing. The guy that can learn and keep learning is the keeper.

 

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Ookane 
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Subject: Question to you tech industry folks.
Sprawl-zero1eye- posted:
Network+ or CCNA and beyond is great if you want to get into Networking. For Systems Administration, you need to decide if you prefer to lean in the Windows or Linux direction, and probably grab the applicable MCP or Comptia cert. A lot is moving towards the cloud, so a VCP wouldn't be out of the question after you have a few Systems ones under your belt.

As mentioned above, certs aren't the end all be all, but they do show potential employers that you have a base level of knowledge and that you can learn something, anything taught to you, which can supplement a lot of missing experience. Most employers know the IT is ever changing. The guy that can learn and keep learning is the keeper.


This.

Cisco also split up the CCNA (due to the creep of more and more tech coming into the network space the test got so friggin huge) and you can either take both tests at once for CCNA, or take part 1, get your new cert - CCENT, then take test 2 withing 2 years and get the CCNA.

 

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Blisteringballs 
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Subject: Question to you tech industry folks.
Ookane posted:
Sprawl-zero1eye- posted:
Network+ or CCNA and beyond is great if you want to get into Networking. For Systems Administration, you need to decide if you prefer to lean in the Windows or Linux direction, and probably grab the applicable MCP or Comptia cert. A lot is moving towards the cloud, so a VCP wouldn't be out of the question after you have a few Systems ones under your belt.

As mentioned above, certs aren't the end all be all, but they do show potential employers that you have a base level of knowledge and that you can learn something, anything taught to you, which can supplement a lot of missing experience. Most employers know the IT is ever changing. The guy that can learn and keep learning is the keeper.


This.

Cisco also split up the CCNA (due to the creep of more and more tech coming into the network space the test got so friggin huge) and you can either take both tests at once for CCNA, or take part 1, get your new cert - CCENT, then take test 2 withing 2 years and get the CCNA.


You can pick the portion of the test you want to take first too. The general networking, or Cisco IOS portion.

 

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