Intern oppertunites and dilemmas

Kai123

Hello.


I started an internship as a ICT tech last month, but after getting the lay of the land, the most I will be doing is helpdesk (it was advertised as more, but I cant complain since this is my first “real” IT job, and also being so new I know they cant let me near some of the systems, but it’s a 9 month contract and told now I wont be doing any networking).

I am getting exposure to VMware, Citrix, Active Directory but nothing more. An IT auditor recommended me getting them to do shadowing sessions, or be an observer in some of the projects going on.
This internship is govt sponsored. I can leave and go into another internship after a weeks notice. One internship near here has this as its description;

The intern will gain practical experience in Windows 2000/2003/2008 server, Windows Desktop Operating Systems and Office Environments. Active directory. SMTP/Mail Servers SQL Server. Mcafee VirusScan Enterprise. Microsoft ISA Server/Proxy Servers. MSExchange Server. Limited exposure to Cisco PIX/ASA & Fortigate firewalls & IPSEC VPNs MS SQL Server Cluster. The intern will receive formal/informal training in the following : Windows Desktop and server environments, active directory management, desktop roll outs. On completion the intern will have attained skills in day-to-day operations in a fast paced IT environment.

Massive improvement over my current placement. My dilemma come from chasing a network admin career. Sometimes a network admin role pops up but they are much rarer then System Admins, which seem to be a mix of sys admin and networking.
I don’t want to get that gig from the description and hop into a network admin one soon after, since some of of them are full blown network admin internships, rather then sys admin. Saying that, I could probably get some shadowing done with the network admin here.
If becoming a network admin was your ultimate goal, would you wait for months for the opportunity to do an unpaid internship, or jump into a system admin role, with some networking with the hope of getting a network role from it when you finish the internship?

srj

Go with your gut. That being said, sometimes sticking it out and proving yourself can pay off. I switched to the IT field recently and started in Help Desk. It isn't a glamorous job, but I was promoted to Systems Administrator within 8 months.

Job descriptions can be misleading in many cases. Take each with a grain of salt and speak to the hiring manager before making any assumptions.

Kai123

I didn't apply to the system admin internship, and plan on waiting for a purely network engineer internship. I'm caught up with gaining employment, which are still pretty bad but would improve with a better system admin role. None of that would matter if I get a network engineer internship. Its worth the wait.