7 years work experience with no cert or degree

I've taken a couple of crash courses in windows administration and have been working in the field for about 7 years now. i manage/work with:
-network devices(routers, switches, firewalls, web filters etc)
-windows servers(iis, dc, exchange, dns, etc)
-vmware esxi 5
-androids, iphones, blackberry(bes)
-voip: 3cx and trixbox
-helpdesk software and remote software
i cant quite get over my salary hump and was wondering what type of certifications i should obtain at this point in my career? preferrably, i'd like to self study without any courses. i'm not sure if i should focus on windows administration or do a vendor neutral cert or something else.
-network devices(routers, switches, firewalls, web filters etc)
-windows servers(iis, dc, exchange, dns, etc)
-vmware esxi 5
-androids, iphones, blackberry(bes)
-voip: 3cx and trixbox
-helpdesk software and remote software
i cant quite get over my salary hump and was wondering what type of certifications i should obtain at this point in my career? preferrably, i'd like to self study without any courses. i'm not sure if i should focus on windows administration or do a vendor neutral cert or something else.
Comments
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ajs1976 Member Posts: 1,945 ■■■■□□□□□□
What interest you? Some options are the MCSA 2008 or MCSA 2012, CCNA/CCENT, Security+, CISSP (if you have or can get the experience).Andy
2020 Goals: 0 of 2 courses complete, 0 of 2 exams complete -
Slowhand MCSE: Cloud Platform and Infrastructure, MCSA: Windows Server 2003/2012/2016, CCNA Routing & Switchi Bay Area, CaliforniaMod Posts: 5,161 Mod
I'd like to expand a little bit on what ajs1976 asked: what is your current role? Are you on the sysadmin side of things, on the desktop support team, a NOC admin role, or perhaps in a network engineering position? The two factors to take into consideration is what you've been doing and what you want to be doing.
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kriscamaro68 A+, Net+, Server+, Security+, Win7 MCP, Server 2012 Virtualization Specialist, MCSA 2012 Member Posts: 1,186 ■■■■■■■□□□
I would also add that if your vendor neutral cert choices are anything from CompTIA then skip them. I would say you are past the point of these doing you any good. I would say follow a vendor or multiple vendors. Maybe an MCSA\MCSE and VCP 5 would get you somewhere you want to be. Also like Slowhand said it will depend on what your current role is. Sounds as though you atleast past helpdesk so I would still say those would be a good path. If you prefer networking instead of sys admin type stuff then the CCNA-CCNP would be a good path as well. -
iBrokeIT GICSP, GCIP, GXPN, GPEN, GWAPT, GCFE, GCIA, GCIH, GSEC, CySA+, Sec+, eJPT Member Posts: 1,308 ■■■■■■■■■□
The easy way to a higher salary at that point in your career is to specialize. Pick an area you want to specialize in an start working on vendor certs in that specialization.2019: GPEN | GCFE | GXPN | GICSP | CySA+
2020: GCIP | GCIA | eCPPT | eWPT | eCTHP
WGU BS IT-NA | SANS Grad Cert: PT&EH | SANS Grad Cert: ICS Security -
sasnimrod Member Member Posts: 99 ■■■□□□□□□□
The easy way to a higher salary at that point in your career is to specialize. Pick an area you want to specialize in an start working on vendor certs in that specialization.
+1
I think that picking an area of specialization is the way to go, if you want to secure a good salary. That being said - maybe I'm a bit biased over this since I hate being a jack of all trades (which is were I'm at, at the moment).