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Cert Advice Question from a Newbie!
blemquist
Registered Users Posts: 2 ■□□□□□□□□□
Hey guys,
Long time lurker, first time poster. First off, I want to thank all of you folks on here who have helped a guy with a long-time passion for IT make a career change at the ripe old age of 30. Over the past two months, I have been able to obtain my A+ and Net+ certs thanks to the advice on these boards.
Anyway, here's my question: I will be completing the Sec+ before December 31st to complete my CompTIA trio. My goal is to be a systems analyst/admin. For my next cert after Sec+, should I take the CCENT/CCNA since Net+ is fresh in my mind, or should I just dive right into the MCSA: Server 2012 cert track? I feel the CompTIA certs have been relatively straightforward as far as difficulty, but obviously CCNA/MCSA certs will ramp up the difficulty level immensely.
If you were in my shoes, never had an IT job and have just passed the trio and want to be a sysadmin, what would you recommend? I know the straightforward answer is MCSA track since I want to be a sysadmin, but I do want to have both certs. Which one should I do next as far as difficulty? Would taking the MCSA first prepare me better for the CCNA, or vice versa? Any stats available anywhere on first attempt pass rates? (I'm poor and am paying for the certs myself with no reimbursement.)
TL:DR, thanks guys!:)
Long time lurker, first time poster. First off, I want to thank all of you folks on here who have helped a guy with a long-time passion for IT make a career change at the ripe old age of 30. Over the past two months, I have been able to obtain my A+ and Net+ certs thanks to the advice on these boards.
Anyway, here's my question: I will be completing the Sec+ before December 31st to complete my CompTIA trio. My goal is to be a systems analyst/admin. For my next cert after Sec+, should I take the CCENT/CCNA since Net+ is fresh in my mind, or should I just dive right into the MCSA: Server 2012 cert track? I feel the CompTIA certs have been relatively straightforward as far as difficulty, but obviously CCNA/MCSA certs will ramp up the difficulty level immensely.
If you were in my shoes, never had an IT job and have just passed the trio and want to be a sysadmin, what would you recommend? I know the straightforward answer is MCSA track since I want to be a sysadmin, but I do want to have both certs. Which one should I do next as far as difficulty? Would taking the MCSA first prepare me better for the CCNA, or vice versa? Any stats available anywhere on first attempt pass rates? (I'm poor and am paying for the certs myself with no reimbursement.)
TL:DR, thanks guys!:)
Comments
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Optionsfredrikjj
Member Posts: 879
There's no perfect answer, but in your shoes I would probably go heavy on the Linux side of things with a healthy dose of scripting. It feels easier to establish credibility in that area as an older guy with no experience vs. other things, and less of a focus on credentials, but I could be wrong about that. It also seems like it has a steeper learning curve, which is in your favor.
If you become really good could for example be the *nix hobbyist who is just now taking it to the professional level, or something like that. Basically, think of a credible story that would actually make someone hire you, and then become the character in that story. If you get the same certs and read the same books as everyone else is, you don't stand out, and you become whatever they decide that you are. Just another guy who says that he's "really into IT", and I don't think that's a good identity. -
OptionsIIIMaster
Member Posts: 238 ■■■□□□□□□□
CCNA and MCSA has nothing to do with each other. You may have to learn some networking with the MCSA but that is it. If i was you I would try to get into IT first and stop the cert chasing. You have the A+ and Net+ ..your thinking about security + but do you need it? If you wish to be a network admin then you need to move towards the certs that will actually get you there. But I must stress to you to get into IT now and gain some type of experience. Go to school and work your on your degree too. Several comptia certs will not make you qualify to be a admin.
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Optionsblemquist
Registered Users Posts: 2 ■□□□□□□□□□
Thanks for the advice, guys. As IIIMaster pointed out, there's a couple things I forgot to mention that may make a difference. I'm currently about 18 months away from my Bachelors in Computer Science. I'm taking the CompTIA trio simply because my school had extra vouchers that expire on 12/31/2014, so I figured, since they were free, might as well take them. Trust me, I wouldn't be doing the CompTIA certs if they weren't 100% free.
I definitely do not expect to walk on to a systems admin job, anyone who thinks that is gonna have a bad time. I've been looking for a Help Desk I entry level role, because I agree I absolutely need to get IT experience ASAP, and hopefully I will be starting a position around the first week of January.
I do eventually want to get both my CCNA and MCSA certs, just to increase my value. As a matter of fact, the company I will hopefully be starting with in January says they do not promote anyone to a System Admin or even a Junior position who does not hold both an MCSA in Server 2008/2012 AND a CCNA. So kind of looks like I have to get both to move out of help desk in about 6 months to a year.
Which should I tackle first once I've gotten my feet weet in helpdesk? I've heard the first time try failure rate on CCNA tests is about 80%, anyone have similar stats for the 70-410 and 70-411? I will probably be taking the Exhange test for the elective.