Judge my Certification Path?

Malex

Hello all, just to briefly preface this with my current exp: 4 years experience working Help Desk(Got promoted to Team Lead during my time)

At the moment, I'm in a program that is covering the following cert path: I have A+, Network+, and a Windows 7 cert. I am studying currently for the CCNA: R&S Exam, and after that will be getting Security+ and hopefully my MCSA: Server 2012.

Ideally, I'd like to one day be a Network Engineer, or Sys/Network Admin. Given I have no admin exp. per se, how is my current path for my goals? Is there maybe a cert I should tack on to this to really make myself look good? I'm not sure what to expect job-wise once I'm done with all this.

Thanks for any of your time.

daschil

Network Engineer? Do you have a B.A. in IT? If not you could enroll in one? Just being a student in a B.A. program seems to get the ticket punched.

As far as network admin it looks good to me. CCNA, net+, and sec+ are generally enough to get your foot in the door when it comes to network admin stuff. I can only attest to DoD contracting/gov't side of things but it looks like a great start.

I would say get started with network admin, then move to network engineer. IMO nothing will get you promoted faster than a strong work ethic and word of mouth; and based on your leadership promotion in only 4 years I think you're doing something right.

Malex

daschil wrote: »

Network Engineer? Do you have a B.A. in IT? If not you could enroll in one? Just being a student in a B.A. program seems to get the ticket punched.

Unfortunately, I do not have any sort of College Education other than a couple credits. I was kind of hoping to get enough certs to compensate for not going to college when I was younger. Thanks a lot for the encouraging answer, I will keep working as hard as I can!

Dakinggamer87

You look to be in good shape with your certs and experience from what I see. I would maybe suggest doing a B.S. degree at WGU just to meet that HR requirement of having a degree and expanding your opportunities.

Good luck!!

Malex

You look to be in good shape with your certs and experience from what I see. I would maybe suggest doing a B.S. degree at WGU just to meet that HR requirement of having a degree and expanding your opportunities.

Good luck!!

Thanks for the response! I looked up some information on a WGU BA, it sounds like something right up my alley. While i'm in no particular rush, just out of curiosity how much faster is it than a B.A at a standard university?

Malex

You look to be in good shape with your certs and experience from what I see. I would maybe suggest doing a B.S. degree at WGU just to meet that HR requirement of having a degree and expanding your opportunities.

Thank you for the encouraging response! I was looking up some info on WGU and it really looked like something perfect for me. Out of curiosity how much faster is a WGU BA than a standard BA from a university?

markulous

Took me a year to finish WGU when I transferred in an Associate's. So for me it was about half the time. It depends on how much time you can dedicate to it and how fast you can learn the material to pass the exams.

Dakinggamer87

Malex wrote: »

Thank you for the encouraging response! I was looking up some info on WGU and it really looked like something perfect for me. Out of curiosity how much faster is a WGU BA than a standard BA from a university?

It took me around 18 months to complete my degree at WGU with my certs and Associate's degree that I transferred in prior to starting my degree.

fuz1on

Competency-based education means you can set your own path and time constraints, including accelerating when you already have the skill set for mastery. For me, I transferred in an Associates, certifications and high-level programming coursework. I plan on finishing my BS, IT Security degree in one term (6 months). I really hate/hated going to class and I've found success with online-based learning curriculum. I just started my term and I love it so far! Good luck!