What to do after CompTIA Trio?

ProFamous

So I am currently in high school, the summer between my Jr and Sr year. Before my senior year starts, I plan to have completed CompTIA A+, Net+, and Sec+. I want to complete at least one more certification during my senior year of high school. So are there any "quick" certs that can be completed within 9 months? I will also have school obligations so I won't be able to study nonstop during these 9 months. Really into sys/net administration, thinking maybe MSCA or CCENT? Or a security cert. The only "easy" one I know of is the CEH. Suggestions?

Thank you!

TechGuru80

MCSA or CCENT are probably your best options. You will not be able to sit for the CEH since it requires 2 years infosec experience and even if they let you with going through their courses you would have to shell out some cash...just not that practical for you at this point. I would think at your age, you would be more likely to land a job in the near future as help desk....meaning MCSA would have more benefit. You could always take that 9 months and learn a programming language as an alternative...something like Python.

N2IT

MCSA seems like the canned response, most likely the correct one. It all depends on what your previous experiences are and where you want to go.

UnixGuy

Real world experience - try to get into a work experience program or volunteer. If this is not available, then setup a lab at home (virtual machines on your computer and start labbing and doing things practically). I don't recommend higher certs now without any kind of hands-on experience. Setup webservers/DNS/domain servers/ftp/virtual hosts/...learn scripting...learn subnetting and try to configure a switch. Learn a programming language (Python or C++..). Much better than being certified.

markulous

What do you want to do? CCENT/CCNA is always a good route to go even if you end up doing sys admin stuff.

ProFamous

Ah I didn't realize the CEH had a 2 year requirement. But as far as the CCENT/CCNA vs MSCA goes, I think I will go with CCENT/CCNA because I have heard it is easier and I also think my Net+ knowledge will be able to help me out a bit. Also, I agree real world experience is best; however due to my age and educational obligations, a "real" IT job or volunteer work is not practical. I am currently working in a computer repair shop so that is something.

I have also made many virtual machines with Hyper-V, my host OS being Windows Server 2012, and have already dabbled a bit in DNS/DHCP/AD.

I have wanted to learn Python for a while now, can't really get interested in programming that much, it's just boring to me. But maybe I can try learning it by applying it to sysadmin topics...not sure about that.

Any tips greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!

UnixGuy

I'm not sure about your location but here we have a work-experience volunteer program for young school students. For programming, pick an O'Reilly book and learn Python by doing everything practically. Write your own programs. Create web applications!