What certification/ training skills move me beyond help desk/phone support

Treylmoore83Treylmoore83 Member Posts: 22 ■□□□□□□□□□
in IT Jobs / Degrees
I have been a help desk contractor for xbox live, FedEx application and web support and time warner cable tech support which all are heavy call center phone work with some chat and email support. 2 year degree in computer support specialist and tech school graduate in networking. I am trying to learn some new skills to help me move onto more upper level IT careers in Texas but as well considering relocating out of state in next year or two. I would love to go to Arizona, Oklahoma or west to California or Oregon area. I have two certifications on A+ and Net + and taking Linux now but interested more in MCSA and MCSE as well as to learn a bit of HTML 5 and PHP but not sure if programming is a strong point I can conquer. Can anyone recommend some good career skills to gain to be in a upper level IT administration role that employers would die to find in this market? Is MCSA worth much now or pretty much over crowded?
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  • Dakinggamer87Dakinggamer87 Member Posts: 4,016 ■■■■■■■■□□
    It truly depends on what you want to do and specialize in IT. Do you enjoy Windows or Linux? What type of role are you looking to move into?

    Systems Administrator - Windows (MCSA/MCSE)
    Linux Systems Administrator - (Linux+ then move into RHCSA/RHCE)

    Network Admin/Engineer - Cisco/Juniper route would be the best route I would recommend.

    Feel free to PM me if you want more info on certs or questions ;)
    *Associate's of Applied Sciences degree in Information Technology-Network Systems Administration
    *Bachelor's of Science: Information Technology - Security, Master's of Science: Information Technology - Management
    Matthew 6:33 - "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."
    Certs/Business Licenses In Progress: AWS Solutions Architect, Series 6, Series 63
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  • Treylmoore83Treylmoore83 Member Posts: 22 ■□□□□□□□□□
    Mostly I am into learning windows and have a strong interest in networking and working with Apache to. I signed up for linux because it shows a lot of potential and future growth and I am looking for better pay and to be someone very marketable.
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  • Dakinggamer87Dakinggamer87 Member Posts: 4,016 ■■■■■■■■□□
    You sound like you are most suited as a Linux Network Administrator based on your interests of specialization. I would highly recommend Linux+ as a foundation to the Linux world and as for networking maybe move into the Cisco CCNA as you have the Network+ so you have some foundation knowledge. ;)

    I would pick a distribution such as Red Hat/CentOS/SuSE to lab with and learn to become familiar with command-line and syntax.

    Linux is a great area to become an expert in and diversify yourself. I'm currently working on my Linux skill set in addition to my virtualization knowledge.
    *Associate's of Applied Sciences degree in Information Technology-Network Systems Administration
    *Bachelor's of Science: Information Technology - Security, Master's of Science: Information Technology - Management
    Matthew 6:33 - "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."
    Certs/Business Licenses In Progress: AWS Solutions Architect, Series 6, Series 63
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  • Treylmoore83Treylmoore83 Member Posts: 22 ■□□□□□□□□□
    So you would agree that Linux + and gaining skills in Linux would take me to a better career and offer me more advancement then MCSA or MCSE? I have used Ubuntu and Linux Mint Distros, should I get more into the RedHat side and do Fedora and CentOs on my home desktops.
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  • XavorXavor Member Posts: 161
    Focus on either Linux or Windows, whichever you feel comfortable with.

    If you go Linux, pick either Red Hat or Ubuntu because they have the most market share. I'd work with CentOS or Scientific Linux for Red Hat because they're clones of the Red Hat software, or work with a long term release of Ubuntu. SUSE, debian, etc have smaller market shares and your main focus is to get out of call centers. Fedora is the Red Hat test bed, and I wouldn't really bother with it for learning the OS.

    If you go Windows, these skills are pretty core to a junior role:
    - manage users and computers in Active Directory
    - apply Group Policy (do one of the ones on NIST by hand and you'll learn a lot)
    - install/configure Windows 7 and Server 2008/12 R2 for the basics (AD, DNS, DHCP, etc)
    - automated desktop/laptop installs, PowerShell experience, and networking troubleshooting (ipconfig, nslookup, etc)

    Either the MCSA for Microsoft, or the RHCSA for Linux, will take several months of study. Each would be a great way to break into a job.
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  • Treylmoore83Treylmoore83 Member Posts: 22 ■□□□□□□□□□
    Xavor I appreciate your insight. I know I need to choose one and I definitely want to be more then on a junior level or tier 1 or 2. I have been struggling in Linux a lot and Windows pretty much comes easier especially with all the GUI makes it very user friendly more then Linux but I want the respect and reward of having the best tech skills not the easiest way. What would be some good skills to learn to work in say web hosting or Apache/server careers and web service support, install and config
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  • galaxyexpressgalaxyexpress Member Posts: 16 ■□□□□□□□□□
    I am not offering solution here, just wanna share my problem :

    I have got CIS Bachelor degree, A+, Net+,Sec+ and CCNA RS, 2 years experience of being PC tech, currently unemployed. So far I got no luck in getting a job for network entry level, they are all need someone that has atleast 10 years of experience and know something that only a person with CCIE certified knows.
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  • XavorXavor Member Posts: 161
    If you want to learn more about Linxux, I'd recommend working your way up through the basics. If you look at Linux positions there are key skillsets which are always in demand such as scripting (Bash/Python) and services management. That said, the best use of your time would be to learn those basic skills which are in all Linux flavors which are:

    user management (creation, deletion, passwords)
    filesystems
    permissions
    networking
    install/configuration of basic servers
    SSH

    I have used several distributions, and I would recommend grabbing a copy of this http://www.amazon.com/RHCSA-RHCE-Red-Linux-Certification/dp/0071765654 . For about $30, you get one of the better manuals that walks through the basic core concepts of administration. Download and mess around with either CentOS or Scientific Linux and work through the first 9 chapters. Whether you take the exam, or not, you should have a solid understanding of core concepts in Linux. Part of the material covered is basic apache setup and ftp servers.

    The other thing to learn is basic redirection and scripting using a shell (Bash). You can very quickly find information on a system by taking one file and redirecting it to other programs until you find the result. Parsing logs for specific information like failed logon attempts or kernel errors takes seconds and helps automate your work.

    Lastly, you'll see things like puppet, chef, ansible, and salt mentioned which deal with the automated management and deployment of servers (like web servers).

    Learn the basics as it builds a foundation for the other stuff. Get comfortable with building servers, installing some packages, and see where it takes you. You'll learn more about core concepts and how they work together.
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