Desktop Support vs Datacenter Technician

youssef350

Hi all,

I'm currently in a huge dilemma, I have been working for 4 months as a desktop support technician for a company. I work with AD, Exchange, Image laptops etc. I love this job and have no issues working for Help Desk. I recently received a job offer for one of the largest cloud computing companies to work for one of their Data centers. The job description is Data center tech deployment team so basically I will be deploying hosts and wiring up their switches with fiber, maybe some configurations work. My question is would I be taking a step back or would this experience be valuable for someone trying to move up in the I.T world. The Data center job pays alot more but money is not my main concern. Any advice/info would be greatly appreciated.

JoJoCal19

Data Center stuff is huge right now and at least in my opinion, a huge step up from Help Desk. Get the experience there, knock out VMware certs such as VCP and VCAP once you have the experience and you'll be set.

youssef350

Thanks for the reply, I don't think I will be working with VMs alot, but your advice was extremely helpful I was already thinking of getting those certifications

mweaver84

Sounds like it would depend on where you want your career to go. Right now your working with AD and Exchange which is on the systems side. And the new opportunity sounds like it be more on the Networking side.

So do you want to be an Systems Admin or a Network Engineer?

youssef350

I honestly would prefer Network Engineer but would not mind being a system admin which is why I am planning to make that move. I would stay at help desk but I feel like I am stuck in this position and will be for the next 2 years if i don't switch it up.

IIIMaster

I would say do it the exposure and chance of advancement seem huge at the new company. I'm kinda in the same issue, I love my job it so stress free I love the technologies I support but I have reach my ceiling, I need to go.

MeanDrunkR2D2

It doesn't sound like a dilemma to me. I would jump at that datacenter job in a heartbeat. More money, more exposure to what you want to do long term. I'd say jump at that and take it and learn as much as you can there and you could work your way up very fast.

anhtran35

youssef350 wrote: »

I honestly would prefer Network Engineer but would not mind being a system admin which is why I am planning to make that move. I would stay at help desk but I feel like I am stuck in this position and will be for the next 2 years if i don't switch it up.

Everyone starts off at help desk but usually get stuck there. You NOW have an immediate opportunity to move your chosen field of Networking. Take the job and learn. Even now as a System Administrator, I still get calls from recruiters for Help Desk positions since that was on my resume 8 years ago. LOL. So you can always go back to help desk.

LeBroke

I had the option of desktop support vs. datacentre. Even though it was $2 less ($17 vs $15), I went for the DC job. Except for graveyards, have't regretted it one bit. Learned CentOS at a decent level, and got more Cisco exposure than I could hope anywhere else. Leveraged the experience into a way better job (MSP network administrator) after 6 months, which I'll be starting in about 1.5 weeks.

youssef350

Thanks for the responses, very helpful. I think I will most likely accept the new opportunity and see where it takes me.

Anonymouse

Are networking certs required for most DC jobs? Any other certs to check out? New contract has free training on a ton of certs so I want to try to use it while I can.

networker050184

The DC job sounds more like a rack and stack field tech position rather than working with technology. If that is the case I'd probably skip it. Might want to get some clarification on the duties.

anhtran35

Anonymouse wrote: »

Are networking certs required for most DC jobs? Any other certs to check out? New contract has free training on a ton of certs so I want to try to use it while I can.

Nope. I worked for 2 companies that had employed me as a NOC technician. Most of the guys there were studying for their certifications within their chosen field.

LeBroke

I feel like if all you want to do is coast through life, there are probably other, less stressful occupation choices than helpdesk.

Like NOC, for example

Drovor

networker050184 wrote: »

The DC job sounds more like a rack and stack field tech position rather than working with technology. If that is the case I'd probably skip it. Might want to get some clarification on the duties.

I was thinking the same thing.