Cert Advice

markulous

So I'm in the last leg of my BS Security degree at WGU (should finish within 5-6 months) and I'm deciding where to branch off in my cert path. As you can see now, my certs are geared toward Networking and Network Security but I work at a remote help desk currently. I'll have a Linux+ cert here pretty soon which should finish up my certs at WGU.

The next promotion would likely be from my Level 1.5 role (I take escalations from entry-level guys, write up processes for them and help manage/train them too) would be a Level 2 role here. Pay would go from around 45k to about 60-65k. But I'd need at least an MCSA and a good amount of experience working on servers. A virtualization cert may work too. I don't have the ability to do that type of work at my current position, but my role may expand or I may jump over to a different set of clients that do allow me to get more experience after I graduate.

I don't want to be a jack of all trades type guy, but at the same time, I only have around a year of IT experience and I'm not sure where I want to specialize. Considering the environment, I think it may be a good idea going after some Microsoft certs.

Thoughts on the next cert? MCSA 2012 maybe? My job reimburses for certs if I pass. One of my bosses said Server+ but thought I'd do better off going after an actual Microsoft cert.