Which way to go?

Good day,

After being involved in the IT industry for 16 years (on an informal basis), I have made the decision to make a fulltime career change to IT, and get certified.

I have quite a few questions and would love to hear from some of you guys who are experienced as well as those just starting, where/how/what etc etc, as getting certified can become quite confusing.

A little background as to where I currently am at, and hopefully someone can shed some more light as to where to go.
I’ve never worked in the IT industry formally, however, I have been actively involved with small companies’ IT systems as a sideline. I hold a degree in psychology and have been working as clinical counselor, however, at all of my places of employment I have taken over the IT management as well. The largest setup was a SO/HO with 8 clients. I took care of all network related issues, software issues as well as hardware repairs/upgrades/troubleshooting. Last year it was a small business with still running winXP. I upgraded their systems to Win7 as I am familiar with it and figured it would be better suited for the company than Win8.This propensity to almost always drift into the IT section has prompted me to make this drastic shift.

IT has been a hobby, I build my own PC’s, configure them, do maintenance for friends and family (for free). I’ve never taken a cert exam before, however, I have done the A+ course way back in 2000 purely for personal gains. I then followed that up with a course in VB6 programming, after which VB changed over to .NET and I abandoned VB.

Now to get certified and implement this shift. Gosh where to begin! I finally decided on going for the MCSA Windows 7 (reason for Win7 is that I’ve been and still am using it as well as the fact that a lot of companies has only recently migrated to Win7 and won’t be migrating anytime too soon which makes Win7 “easier” for me by way of familiarity, as well as being a very relevant cert and am planning on going for a regular help desk position)and got study guides and videos to start preparing for the exams. I’m about halfway a third of the way through the 70-680 courseware, and find that while some of it is pretty basic and straight forward, I turn three pages and I get stuff that’s a bit over my head especially all the command prompt and powershell stuff.

I’m not sure whether I am in a bit over my head here, or whether it is purely because the 680 courseware is by nature pretty tough, so I kinda backtracked and gotten hold of courseware for the MTA Security Essentials as well as Networking Essentials. Now I’m finding the complete opposite here, I’m literally flying through it all and aced some dummy tests. The MTA stuff is very basic though I find that most of it I already knew, though there were some extra info that came in helpful. Do you guys reckon I should sit for these two MTA exams? Will it be worth it, or should I just continue with the MCSA? The other problem now is that Microsoft is retiring the Windows 7 MCSA at the end of November which puts me in a horrible predicament. I’d really like to get my MCSA, but am not sure whether I can pull it off in time. Should I not be in time, would the Microsoft Specialist cert be worthwhile replacement/substitute?

Whilst doing the MTA Security Essentials, I found that I really took to it and found it extremely interesting. When I started with the Darril Gibson book, I read the entire thing in one sitting, and the following day reread it again. Which made me think…….perhaps I should be pursuing a different line altogether? Are there any recommendations as to what route I should take given the above info? Should I stick with the Win7 MCSA and just buckle down and give it my best shot for the next three months and try branch out from there? Or should I, while its still early stages, start a different line (perhaps in security) ?

There are so many options, and trying to make the best decision whilst having a time limit is not cool so any input, recommendations, advice etc, will be very much appreciated! I’m really looking forward to an awesome career in IT, all I need is a starting point and start focusing.
Kind regards,

P Rossouw

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

NetworkNewb

Raxephion wrote: »

Whilst doing the MTA Security Essentials, I found that I really took to it and found it extremely interesting. When I started with the Darryl Gibson book, I read the entire thing in one sitting, and the following day reread it again.

Timeout! You read a 500+ page book not once, but twice, in 2 days!?!

Raxephion

The book that I have by Darril Gibson: Windows Security Essentials (for the MTA) is only 242 pages, but yeah, I found it highly interesting.

NetworkNewb

ahhhh gotcha, I was thinking his Security+ book... still impressive!

I'd recommend splitting up your first post with some spaces inbetween the paragraphs though. That wall of text is going to discourage a bunch of people from reading your post.

Raxephion

Thanks for the heads' up, I only realised that now!

Mow

If you're enjoying the networking stuff and flying through it, why not look at Network+ or CCNA?

KCHRISTOS

Ok, I'm impressed, too. That is a lot of reading, no matter HOW fascinating. I find the IT arena is as vast as the Medical field: there are so many options and paths you can take. Not to be misleading, I should first state while I am about to graduate with an MS in Digital Forensics, I don't have any practical experience in IT whatsoever. The only experience I have is working with my own network, re-installing equipment at work after moving an office, and a few helps I did for other places, that's it. I do repair my own stuff, but I do that with anything electronic anyway. I had a problem when I started school with not knowing what I really wanted to do in computers. Because Engineering is so easy for me, I began with Computer Electronic Engineering and got my Associates degree. But I quickly realized I had no idea how computers, networks, and the Internet really worked. So I switched gears and got a BS in Network Security. It was at this point, even though networking came easy to me, I knew I did not want to work at an IT help desk, but the security aspect intrigued me. I was in my last class for Cybersecurity, when I switched my degree to Digital Forensics. My point is, I had to look around at various jobs to see what I wanted to do. I took skills from my background, hobbies, and interests and put them together to see what field they might all fit. I looked at various job descriptions from companies to see what they are looking for. Will I get a job in it? I hope so. What certifications do I need? I have no idea. My suggestion is to try what I did: look at your background and interests to see if there is enough commonality to find the right field for you. You might be surprised at what you find.

Raxephion

Thank you very much for all the replies! I truly appreciate it and will look into the CCNA stuff. Would the win7 MCSA be worth it, especially with regards to my current "experience" level? Is it even possible to make it in 3 months (I suppose that is a very subjective question).... Would anyone reckon I'm a little too deep in over my head since I do not have any experience in >10 clients setup. Ok lemme say that if MS were not to retire the win7 MCSA in November, then I would have definately gone through with it even if it took me months and then after gaining knowledge plan my next move from there. As I go through the courseware I find that some of the stuff I already knew and then some things which I've never heard about, however, I understand it and the further I go things "fit" together better. In a way I find the 680 and 685/686 courseware very logical, and since I am that way inclined, it all makes sense.

I hope I'm making sense here. Perhaps at the worst the MCSA will fill in a lot of gaps and at best it might serve as a springboard to something better.

TheFORCE

Stick with the Microsoft cert.You might want to look into windows 10. Very similar to windows 7.

Raxephion

Thanks Force - I shall do that! Gonna try and buckle down for the 30 Nov deadline, if not then just have to take the specialist cert and hope I can do MCSA upgrade to Win10 sometime in the near future

Ethan62

Late to the party on this one.

The 680 and 685 exams cover quite a lot. Some of the questions are are fairly simple in nature and some seem like they are in the wrong exam (Personal experience), can't give too much info due to NDA.

I'd suggest doing the additional reading via the technet articles and workshopping any features you may not have used. Bitlocker, applocker etc.

It would also be beneficial working with server 2008 r2 as they run side by side and some of the topics are specific to a domain environment.

There should be a upgrade path from the Windows 7 certs to 10 in the coming months.

Last suggestion, as other people have said the field is incredibly varied. If you can find something you enjoy learning about and focus on that area e.g. infosec, networking,storage, Windows Sysadmin, Linux sysadmin etc.

mukta

Your decision is right. Go ahead. Best of luck.

Mike-Mike

NetworkNewb wrote: »

ahhhh gotcha, I was thinking his Security+ book... still impressive!

I'd recommend splitting up your first post with some spaces inbetween the paragraphs though. That wall of text is going to discourage a bunch of people from reading your post.

yup, I skipped the wall of text, but now I'm interested in this book, how can it be that interesting that you read it twice... although I did like Darril's Security+ book