Hey everyone,
I'm posting here to hopefully get some life altering information!
I have a BS ME, and for the last 3+ years, I have been working supporting custom data center equipment (not very much IT). It was okay for the first couple years, but with a new manager, and some reorganizations in the group, it’s become hell. Each day I go into the office I feel like I die a little more inside. There’s a lot more to it, but I’ll leave it there.
I'm trying to land a new job, and have been applying remotely to positions in Denver for over a year (my fiancé moved there for grad school last fall). I was trying to avoid quitting my job without something lined up, but sometimes there are things more important in life than a paycheck. My dog is in Denver too!
I started studying for the CCNA in Jan, but with work and applying for jobs, I can only set aside maybe 10 hrs/wk. It’s going too slow. I have some of the required knowledge already, got my A+ recently without much trouble.
Do any of you have any suggestions/advice for someone looking to enroll somewhere as a full/part-time student, for the purposes of fast-tracking my CCNA / CCNP? I’m not opposed to accruing a little more debt. If I just stop everything, and focus a few months on getting the CCNA, then my CCNP, I think the job opportunities would be there. Is this foolish?
In addition to getting hands-on some equipment, school enrollment would pause student loan payments, but maybe there are other options? Google searches have not turned up much in the way of going to school in pursuit of CCNA / CCNP, just a lot of self-help stuff.
My current situation is increasingly untenable. The work of a Network/Ethernet/IP engineer really interests me, and there are 10X more jobs for CCNA/P’s than for ME’s in Denver. Long term career-wise, I think this route is a smart move. I know this could be risky, but to a future employer, I think this route is defensible.
Any thoughts/opinions would be incredibly appreciated!
