Advice on my next move?

Atmosphere1991

Hello everyone!
It's been a while since I have posted here. Since then, I landed my first job at small consulting firm, making 15 an hour in the St. Louis area. I have been here for about 6 months, and I really enjoy it! I passed my CCNA last summer which helped get me this position.My Job is not a typical "help desk", "desktop support", or "network tech" role.
I'm not sure how common what I do is. Since we are such a small team(8 people), I do pretty much everything. I make configuration changes in routers, mainly Sonic Walls almost daily. I work with managed switches. I deal with a little server 2008. I do VOIP stuff, we use cisco phones and freePBX servers. At least 60 percent of my day is spent doing tier 1 stuff, very simple things, answering the phone(Help desk), installing updates, imaging computers, swapping out HDDs, etc.
I'm not sure what to do next, as much as I enjoy my job I do not want to do this forever. I don't see any room for advancement, and our biggest network is about 75 users, I want something more interesting someday. I really enjoy networking, and was thinking about doing a CCNP class at the local community college this spring, and start working towards my NP. Do you guys think this a wise decision for someone in my current position? Do you guys have any advice for me? Does it seem like I'm headed in the right direction? When should I start searching for a new job?

philz1982

Atmosphere1991 wrote: »

Hello everyone!
It's been a while since I have posted here. Since then, I landed my first job at small consulting firm, making 15 an hour in the St. Louis area. I have been here for about 6 months, and I really enjoy it! I passed my CCNA last summer which helped get me this position.My Job is not a typical "help desk", "desktop support", or "network tech" role.
I'm not sure how common what I do is. Since we are such a small team(8 people), I do pretty much everything. I make configuration changes in routers, mainly Sonic Walls almost daily. I work with managed switches. I deal with a little server 2008. I do VOIP stuff, we use cisco phones and freePBX servers. At least 60 percent of my day is spent doing tier 1 stuff, very simple things, answering the phone(Help desk), installing updates, imaging computers, swapping out HDDs, etc.
I'm not sure what to do next, as much as I enjoy my job I do not want to do this forever. I don't see any room for advancement, and our biggest network is about 75 users, I want something more interesting someday. I really enjoy networking, and was thinking about doing a CCNP class at the local community college this spring, and start working towards my NP. Do you guys think this a wise decision for someone in my current position? Do you guys have any advice for me? Does it seem like I'm headed in the right direction? When should I start searching for a new job?

Have you identified what you want to do and then conducted a skill gap analysis against yourself. For example, find 3 people who do what you want to do. Then go to those three people and identify the skills you need. Then analyze your skills. Layout your gaps.

Also, if your on a small team that affords you the chance to get exposed to technologies others may not in a larger organization.

1) Layout your target position
2) Identify (3) people in said position
3) Identify top (5) skills for said position
4) Conduct skill gap analysis for (5) skills
5) Make a plan to close those skill gaps
6) Repeat Step 2-4 if all is good use network to find job.

Atmosphere1991

Thank you sir! That's a really good idea, I have a friend of a friend who works in a Noc. I will try to set something up with him.