Data Center Technician Help

yolo23

Hi Guys, Since you guys are veterans on this. I wanted to ask I am trying to be a data center technician, I have looked and The Cnet training is the most relevant, It's CDCTP, Certified Data Centre Technician Professional. Is this really necessary to get hired as a data center technician?. Do you really need all this certifications like cisco and stuff?. Or can you get on the job training?. I really don't want to get ripped off by some "fancy" program or something and end up with debt. I don't have an IT background so I would like to know a good place to start.

cyberguypr

Plug that certification into Indeed or any other job aggregator and you'll see it seems irrelevant, at least for the US market. Most people I know who do this type of work have light Win/Unix networking experience, nothing major.

DoubleNNs

You'll most likely start off w/ rack/stack and some basic networking/systems. I'd wait to look into the CDCTP until after you've already started working in a Data Center.

Are certs necessary? No. But something like the CCNA combined w/ maybe an A+, Server+, or Linux+ would increase your chances of landing this role by a lot.

Techguru365

I currently work as a data center technician. as was mentioned, work on your A+, net+, server+ and linux+.stuff you will encounter in this environment is racking or decom of servers and net devices, running fiber/copper cables, or doing cable trace to replace a bade cable, lot of break fix(swapping mobo, ram, hhd, PS, etc), troubleshooting network connectivity issues, imaging servers and configuring ILO and Bios setting. alot depends on the particular data center you will be working at, in the sense of if you will be required to do more advanced stuff like configuring router/switches etc.

yolo23

Do you need to get some training to take those certifications or is self study enough?,Like the Cisco Certification , Should you take training for it or is it really not necessary?, I have found some training places in san fransico but they are really expensive, about 5k for just the training and the test you have to take it and pay it on your own. I dont know for Net+, A+ and stuff. If you do need training what's the cheapest, best one?. I see that there are A+, Server+, Linux+ and Net+. I don't know if you need all of them to get hired in a data center. what's the essential certifications?. Like a cisco certification and a+ enough to make it or do you need all of this to get hired.

networker050184

What kind of DC tech are we talking about here? What are the actual duties?

DoubleNNs

I did self-study for all my certs. It IS hard to do for some, but is much, much cheaper. Books for the A+ are currently $30 on Amazon and the videos on Professor Messer, CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+, Linux, Microsoft Certification Training are free.

Do you have any IT knowledge, skills, or experience?

yolo23

What I have seen from a lot of them are common to this. @DoubleNNs, I do have Win Experience but not so much IT, But It's easy for me to learn.

networker050184

Ok, you are talking about a field technician type role. You'd be much better off looking into things like fiber certifications rather than an A+ or other IT certs.

yolo23

networker050184, I would like to do the certifications rather than just cabling, so I am good with the IT things and would like the cisco stuff etc.

doubleddns, I do have win experience but not so much IT, But I find it easy to get this.

IIIMaster

A+, net+ or one major cert such as ccna, mcsa, linux+, study up storage+.

Server+ is cool to study up on but it is very thin in regards to real life knowledge . The A+ is good enough and if combine that with storage+ knowledge you are sit.

networker050184

If you want to do those certs regardless then have at it, but if you want to know which certs will help you with that particular roll those probably aren't it.

yolo23

networker050184, thanks for the help I know that some rolls require different certification and It depends on location too.

DoubleNNs

networker050184 wrote: »

If you want to do those certs regardless then have at it, but if you want to know which certs will help you with that particular roll those probably aren't it.

I disagree networker. I was a Data Center Tech for a year at my last role. And as such, have gone over quite a few job descriptions for similar positions at other companies during my job search afterwards. Most Data Center Tech positions are very hardware based - but seem more focused on server hardware, cable connectivity, and basic networking. Linux/Unix/Windows Server skills are preferred bonuses.

At my last 2 jobs dedicated cabling guys ran/tested/certified the cabling and others only stepped in on an as-needed (emergency) basis.

I think an A+ (or at least hardware knowledge) and a CCNA would be the best bet at landing a role in a Data Center, and then moving on towards some sort of systems cert. Additionally, those skills will help when one wants to move upwards after first getting in (or moving on when they are tired of the role).

Just my humble opinion.

LeBroke

My DC job is about 25% break-fix, 15% rack/stack, 25% Linux troubleshooting or network monitoring, and the other 35% Linux system administration projects.

But that was because I came on while we have just finished building our second data centre, and there was a ton of stuff to be implemented. Also, my supervisor really likes doing cabling so I don't have to touch it much.

I had a CCNA and A+ when I got the job. CCNA was really useful, A+ not so much. But then A+ is pretty out of date and a major waste of $400 unless you know absolutely nothing about hardware.

If anything, I'd have wished for more Linux knowledge/experience at the beginning. An RHCSA would be insanely useful, though borderline overqualified for just a tech job.

yolo23

LeBroke and DoubleNNs, I do have enough hardware experience and I find the A+ contents very easy to grasp, so I think the CCNA would be the perfect one to land a DC, for what the A+ teaches is not necessary to get that A+ certification in my opinion, I do have a very pivotal question though, there is Router and Switching and Data Center Tests, which one is it? Do you need both or just one.

LeBroke

You don't need either, but a CCNA increases your chances of landing such a job. Routing and Switching is typically the way to go, as it teaches the more important concepts of, well, routing and switching, such as VLANs and BGP that you will encounter in the day job.

CCNA: DC is stuff you may, or you may not encounter. But then, I'm not sure if any CCNA certs beyond the basic R&S one are worth it unless you're 100% sure you want to specialize in that field. Ie: CCNA: Security is firewall and ACL management. CCNA: Voice is for Voice networks. I'd look at job ads and see if they require CCNA: DC, though for the most part, R&S will serve you just fine.

DoubleNNs

I think the suggestion for most people would be to go for CCNA: R&S. But you might be a perfect candidate for the CCNA: DC.

Both are 2 exams. The first exam of both are very similar and give you the basics of routing/switching and either the IOS or NX-OS platforms. But then the 2nd exams of each veer off in different directions.

As a basic Data Center tech, you won't be doing any intensive configuration - at least not off the bat. Additionally, I know w/ my Data Center experience all the newer stuff was Nexus and not IOS. It'd be valuable to understand the Nexus platform, and maybe look up Arista, so you can hit the ground running.

After the CCNA (regardless of whether you do DC or R&S) you might want to look into some basic Linux skills. I heavily recommend this free book:
The Linux Command Line by William E. Shotts, Jr.
Or you can pay for a hard copy from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Linux-Command-Line-Introduction/dp/1593273894

Good luck.

GForce75

DoubleNNs wrote: »

I think the suggestion for most people would be to go for CCNA: R&S. But you might be a perfect candidate for the CCNA: DC.

Both are 2 exams. The first exam of both are very similar and give you the basics of routing/switching and either the IOS or NX-OS platforms. But then the 2nd exams of each veer off in different directions.

As a basic Data Center tech, you won't be doing any intensive configuration - at least not off the bat. Additionally, I know w/ my Data Center experience all the newer stuff was Nexus and not IOS. It'd be valuable to understand the Nexus platform, and maybe look up Arista, so you can hit the ground running.

After the CCNA (regardless of whether you do DC or R&S) you might want to look into some basic Linux skills. I heavily recommend this free book:
The Linux Command Line by William E. Shotts, Jr.
Or you can pay for a hard copy from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Linux-Command-Line-Introduction/dp/1593273894

Good luck.

I personally enjoyed studying CCNA DC. This may sound odd, but studying Cloud+ and VMWare exams gave me a greater apperception when I took the CCNA and CCNP DC. CCNP DC is four exams, but as the others said... it really boils down to a combination of things. Best of luck!