Not sure where to go with my career. Been lazy and need motivation

So I have been a college graduate for about a year now and the only thing I accomplished was my CEH. I want to accomplish more but I don't know where I want to go with my career. I work in an SOC position (Security Operations) so i am on an on call rotation once a month with my team. I am stuck between doing Networking and doing Penetration testing as my 2 main fields of interest. I know I have a long time before I need to know what I want to do with my life in IT but the job I am at now isn't where I want to be with my life. I can't be the jack of all trades being the network admin/pentester etc. There are some fields in IT like databases that don't interest me. Do I like SQL for SQL injection sure. Can I work with databases 24/7? Nope. I'm only 23 and I feel like a loser because other then my CEH I did last year and my CCENT/CCNA, I haven't done much of anything. I bounce up and back between certification goals and I can't make up my mind. One day I want my MCTS the next day my CWNA then my CCNP then this and that. I am accepting that I cannot do all the certs out there as they are to much money and take up a lot of time. What should I do in this position? Can anyone shed some light as to if this has happened to them before?

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Comments

gespenstern

Never happened to me with the exception of "loser" part. I feel depressed and worthless about 85% of the time because of lack of accomplishments and not achieving much. I, however, have a pretty solid vision of where I was, where do I go, when it's going to happen and how I will finally die with pretty high probability and the rest of the world will move on as usual like nothing happened.

I say enjoy your life while you are 23 a bit more. As for direction it will resolve itself, you just try different things and measure how do you feel about them and how successful you are in them, just like you did with databases (also hate them). And don't worry, you are just 23. Almost whole life is still in front of you, plenty of choices, plenty of time to extract all the fun out of this life.

iBrokeIT

kMastaFlash wrote: »

So I have been a college graduate for about a year now and the only thing I accomplished was my CEH...
...but the job I am at now isn't where I want to be with my life. ...
...I'm only 23 and I feel like a loser because other then my CEH I did last year and my CCENT/CCNA, I haven't done much of anything.

Oh, buddy... you are way a head of where I was at when I was your age. I think I probably dropped out of University for a second time because I really really hate the Electrical Engineering classes for the Computer Engineering degree I was going for at the time and working as a computer repair tech making $10/hr. I've come a long way since then so here is what I've learned...

If you don't know what direction you want to go in life that's perfectly fine for the time being. Plowing through more certifications isn't suddenly going to fill that void you are experiencing, at least not in my experience.

For me, motivation comes and goes in waves. When you catch some ride it for as long as you can but when it dies down it's ok, enjoy the calm period. This reminds me of this scene from The Wire where a young detective is getting disillusioned with the progress on his case and career when the more experienced professional says, "A life, Jimmy, you know what that is? It's the **** that happens while you're waiting for moments that never come."

Stop comparing yourself to others because you will always come up short and there will always be someone smarter, more motivated and have more certs than you. Instead, strive to be best version of yourself possible and that means taking time to enjoy what you have accomplished not just immediately looking to the next cert.

No_Nerd

I think this part is key " Stop comparing yourself to others because you will always come up short and there will always be someone smarter, more motivated and have more certs than you. Instead, strive to be best version of yourself possible and that means taking time to enjoy what you have accomplished not just immediately looking to the next cert."

techfiend

Good replies and in my opinion a BS with CEH and CCNA at 23 is anything but lazy. You could go 2016 without getting a cert and as long as you have advanced and become a better human being it's a successful year. IT isn't all about certs and many have carved out great careers without ever obtaining a cert.

I'm currently figuring out what certs I want to do, AWS is getting boring. VCP-DCV was the most beneficial cert for me to figure out what I want do as it deals with all parts of infrastructure. It's also been the most rewarding for my career.

Deathmage

Honestly like techfiend says, get your VCP6-DCV. Hands down, right now, the best thing for career advancment.

It's exploded my career with that certification alone, and the #1 wanted certification to any HR person right now...

Just make sure when you get the interview you can walk the walk that the certification gives you...

Lastly, certifications shouldn't define you, the experience(s) along the way as in life is what defines you in this industry. A piece of paper is meant as framework to knowledge you already possess, but in no way should it define you...

My motivation comes and goes bro, in finally happened to me after my 4th attempt on ICDN2 when I realized the exam was not worth the aggregation or stress it put on me since I manage networks at the CCNP level. I can explain a CCNA scenerio to a Cisco Test Maker in words but express it in multiple choice that's pretty hard. But I was also burnt out. I'm just now, in the past 2 weeks getting back into studying but this time for VCIX. I literally did nothing but stuff for myself the past two months...

I got back down to 6% BFI, I was creeping up on 14% and was losing my abs. Bought a new wardrobe, shaved my head, got new Chrome rims for my summer tires, got a new set of snowshoes. Went skiing at Stowe, and took a trip to Vietnam with my hottie Vietnamese fiance.

Sometimes in life you need to take a break to recharge and all of 2014/2015 I spent doing studying and I lost part of me, I've realized I love studying but I need to pursue life as-well...

Danielm7

I was half unsure if you were trolling with the 23 year old part at first, you're doing fine! You're worlds ahead of most 23 year olds 1 year out of school. I think everyone has been in positions where they aren't sure what they want, in fact, when I meet people who are 100% sure all the time from when they are younger I find it strange. For example, a friend of mine is 50, she's been an English teacher forever, she wanted to be one from elementary school, to most people that is really strange.

Anyway, for certs, don't collect them just to have extra letters. If you're doing pen testing now I wouldn't really bother for VMWare or MS certs unless you want a more generalist approach as most companies hiring in that field aren't likely to care if you know the highest levels of virtualization administration or not.

You have tons of time, dig into everything at your current job that you can, find your passion, and with that it might even change in a few years.

[Deleted User]

It means a lot guys thank you!

I just feel that since I have been out of school that I'm not accomplishing much besides my job and the CEH I did while working. I think time will tell which career path is the best for me. That is why I have been working on certs so I can invest in myself and possibly move out of the job I am in now.

The_Expert

Dude, you have everything you need to be successful. I was no where close to where you are now at your age... Keep up the good work. As you gain more experience in the field, you'll surely figure out what you want to do.