Seeking advice choosing between net admin and security path at wgu

Last week I started my first IT job, IT support, so far have done some desktop swaps and was shown a basic overview of AD and sonicwalls. While planning with the IT manager today to get the remaining desktops he mentioned they will be upgrading from 2003 to 2012 within 3-4 months, they don't have any cisco gear, and they don't plan on buying any in the near future as their network is working fine with the unmanaged switches and whatever the router is, it's a white rack mount with a few lights on but I have no idea what brand it is. However if I can come up with some good reasons to switch to cisco they might bite. The current sys admin has never really worked with cisco but he has a pretty decent setup here and he manages a few other SMB's so they'd probably need to hire an installer, which I might be able to find

They said MCSA 2012 would be a big benefit and to the company, and could put me into a sys admin role within a few months. I didn't ask about pay but asked if they would reimburse me and he said probably. MCSA 2012 is something I planned on getting eventually but have been focusing more on CCNA because I prefer cli over gui but not powershell. All the MCSA self-study books I see on amazon get really bad reviews and I prefer to read books over watch videos. I am scheduled to start WGU in January for security but I think I can still change it.

So a few options I've thought of are:
1) Delay WGU and work on MCSA 2012, the company will probably reimburse me for study guides and material. I studied A+ for about 2 weeks and passed comfortably, Network+ I studied for about 2 weeks and was pretty much ready but decided to wait for WGU to pay, might be a mistake now. CCENT was the first thing I studied and after 3 months I still wasn't very prepared, I think nowadays it would take me a month or two to be ready. My question is how long would it take someone be ready for MCSA 2012 while studying for 20-25 hours a week? Is it weeks or months?

2) Switch to WGU net admin and start focusing on Server 2012 immediately, is this allowed? Do they have good study material? Would a security degree look better for someone eventually getting into R&S? I might pursue a masters down the road if it helps me career wise, then I could switch to a network focused degree. CCENT\CCNA books are much better rated and I have no issues with the cost of study/test.

3) Start WGU security and take the MTA's to begin with then move on to self studying for MCSA 2012 while WGU sits. This would be the least hassle but also seems like a waste of money.

What would you do? I'm leaning towards option 2.

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Comments

markulous

The degree is going to look the same no matter what. So going Security or Net Admin is 100% up to you on which certs you want.

My advice is jump right into WGU network admin and grab the MSCA 2012.

snunez889

I would delay WGU till you have the MSCA. I know that will transfer a good amount of credits in their net admin track.

techfiend

Thing with waiting is I'm mostly covered for a 6 month wgu term with financial aid. Probably won't qualify in a few months if everything goes as planned. Also WGU's mcsa 'courses' could help a lot compared to reading the books out there now. I don't really mind doing the other certs, except MCSA 8.1, and I could use some basic web dev and javascript knowledge and security+ would be great. How long would MCSA 2012 study take? Is it as complex as CCNA? CCENT?

markulous

Yet another reason to jump into WGU in my opinion.

Do you have any experience with AD or Server 2012? I would imagine you could do it in a few months if you studied a lot, had a decent understanding of the material already, and learned quickly.

techfiend

I setup 2003 AD in college but we didn't do much beyond that, at work I've deleted and created users. 2012 I don't have much experience beyond adding and setting up roles and disk pools, I have it installed on a few vm's and a laptop and did some virtual labs. So next to nothing for experience but I have a bit of knowledge of what things are how they work.

I talked to WGU about transferring and it looks like I can as soon as I meet the mentor near my start date. So that's great, gives me a few weeks to decide if I still want to do it and doesn't push my start date back a third time.

Danielm7

markulous wrote: »

The degree is going to look the same no matter what

That isn't true anymore. I finished there maybe 6 months ago from the security program and it very clearly said IT Security on my diploma. I know it used to be accurate, but they've updated them.

markulous

Strange. My mentor even said that it was still like that just a week or two ago.

Danielm7

Don't know what to tell you, maybe they are going on old info? It's always possible they changed back but I don't know why they would.

techfiend

It's nice to know what the physical degree certificate looks like, I might frame it. What I meant is on a resume if I'm applying for security jobs would a BS network admin be looked at differently then a BS security degree, even if I had CCNA Security and possibly other security certs?

Danielm7

It really just depends on the employer. Some won't care that you have a degree, some will require it. Some will want a CS degree, some will be impressed you have it in something technical. Same way with certs, at my current job my (now) supervisor was interviewing me and even pointed out that he doesn't care about certs and he doesn't need any for his architect role, another networking guy interviewed me 20 minutes later and asked all about my certifications.

The WGU security degree really isn't 100% specialized in security, you'll pick up an extra class or two and do a capstone in it, but I didn't view it as extremely focused in security, that's why its a concentration of an IT degree vs a degree in "cybersecurity" Personally I enjoyed it, learned a lot, but for security specifically I learned as much or more that is applicable at my job on my own than I did in school. Of course this can apply to most college programs too.