Top skills/certs to work from home?

My goal is to work from home.

I have about 3 years sys admin and 3 years security work.

I have CISSP, CCNA, SEC+

What would be valuable skills to learn so I can start a transition to work from home?

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kiki162

Do you just want to work from home, or did you have something in mind? Might have a few options for you. PM me and we can talk.

DDStime

Honestly I don't care really. I mean I don't want to be a call center help desk, but I'm pretty flexible.

I have exp with enterprise, vulnerability management, VOIP, VTC, scanning, policy, security, networking, cloud (AWS), CISCO, brocade...

DDStime

Right now I'm at about 80k as a sys admin/security for an enterprise level organization. So realistically I would like t stay above 60-70k....if that's even possible.

BlackBeret

I know people in the 90's working from home as security analysts, and people making more as pentesters. The jobs are out there.

DDStime

BlackBeret wrote: »

I know people in the 90's working from home as security analysts, and people making more as pentesters. The jobs are out there.

What skills would you recommend?

I have exp with Kali, ACAS, retina, ArcNet, HBSS etc...

NetworkNewb

DDStime wrote: »

Honestly I don't care really.

Why don't you just pick a job that guarantees that you will work from home and then go into that if you no passion for anything specific? Freelance web developer

Or even better yet, if you just want to be at home, find a rich person to marry?

cyberguypr

^ /thread. LOL!

I don't think saying a specific skill/role is more conducive to WFH is helpful. I know sysadmins, network admins, security engineers, developers, cloud guys, etc. that work from home. However, for each of those that work remote there are dozens that don't have the benefit. Understand that WFH is very dependent on company culture. Do what you love, and try to make it intersect with your desire to telecommute. Rather than focus on particular skills I would look for those companies that allow remote work.

scaredoftests

My husband works from home (he has tons of experience..) hardly any certs. He is a Pre Sales/After Sales Systems Engineer. Sometimes, he has to travel to NYC for a couple of days or to Mountain View for the week for labbing. Top Skills (at least for him) are a BA in Engineering and a running lab at home. Also, an understanding wife with dogs that regulate his schedule (lunchtime..!)

E Double U

Working remotely is a luxury that varies from company to company. I don't think there is a specific cert or role that must be obtained. I was a full-time telecommuter years ago in my configuration role with just a CCNA.

--chris--

The biggest variable is not the certs/education but the culture. Either the organization promotes WFH or it doesn't.

A good friend is 100% WFH making 6 figures for a big firewall company, he has a BS from 10 years ago and no certs. Just 8 years of experience and the education.

I am certain there are just as many people equally qualified that can't WFH because of culture.

Chinook

I do most of my work at home. The biggest factor in a work from home situation is your employer (assuming you're not self employed). Pretty much any situation where you do not need to visit the client could allow for home based work. In the technology industry that's a substantial part of the business. You might first start by working for a Managed Service Provider (small ones up to IBM), earn their trust & then request to work from home.

Keep in mind you aren't likely to always work from home. It may be a mix of work at home/travel or you may be required (and should) go to the office once and a while.

As for specific companies that allow it, I know IBM does. In fact they encourage it as they don't want the real estate costs on the books. I understand Amazon Web Services hires home based workers. You might want to ask what companies offer WFH versus what jobs.

networker050184

Working from home is more about being good at what you do rather than finding a special career path in my experience. That and finding a company with that type of culture. If you're highly skilled people will want you. I've been working from home going on three years now through two different positions. The first wasn't a work from home position, but they valued my skills so they made it happen.

gespenstern

People say a lot about culture here, but I'd like to look at this from a slightly different angle.

Even if a company culture is okay with WFH, I'd say the biggest challenge is the pay. Remote works tend to pay less, less opportunity for promotion because of less visibility and remote folks opinions have a tendency to be taken more lightly as "they aren't here". This all affects what you get in the end.

I've had two remote jobs, none of them was 6 figures and I had to leave them for better money. I'd say that you are already underpaid, you aren't getting much, it depends on where do you live though, but still too low.

I would suggest a strategy of working your way up to 6 figures in office space and THEN transition to remote when you command a high salary history.

scaredoftests

gespenstern wrote: »

People say a lot about culture here, but I'd like to look at this from a slightly different angle.

Even if a company culture is okay with WFH, I'd say the biggest challenge is the pay. Remote works tend to pay less, less opportunity for promotion because of less visibility and remote folks opinions have a tendency to be taken more lightly as "they aren't here". This all affects what you get in the end.

I've had two remote jobs, none of them was 6 figures and I had to leave them for better money. I'd say that you are already underpaid, you aren't getting much, it depends on where do you live though, but still too low.

I would suggest a strategy of working your way up to 6 figures in office space and THEN transition to remote when you command a high salary history.

I beg to differ there, regarding pay and promotion. It all depends on the person. My husband is senior level and his pay is good.

networker050184

gespenstern wrote: »

People say a lot about culture here, but I'd like to look at this from a slightly different angle.

Even if a company culture is okay with WFH, I'd say the biggest challenge is the pay. Remote works tend to pay less, less opportunity for promotion because of less visibility and remote folks opinions have a tendency to be taken more lightly as "they aren't here". This all affects what you get in the end.

I've had two remote jobs, none of them was 6 figures and I had to leave them for better money. I'd say that you are already underpaid, you aren't getting much, it depends on where do you live though, but still too low.

I would suggest a strategy of working your way up to 6 figures in office space and THEN transition to remote when you command a high salary history.

I haven't been through any of this working remotely. Both of my remote jobs were after I made it into the six figures though so possibly good advice. I still think it depends completely on the company culture though.

billDFW

Any Project Management WFH jobs out there?

pevangel

It's more about the company/program rather than the role. The program I work on now is structured in a way that everyone has the option to work 100% remotely. We have PMs and engineers that live on the other side of the country, and we're all part of the same team working on the same projects.

DatabaseHead

I'm not sure about certs, but skills. Web Development or Visualization, such as dashboard design etc.

--chris--

networker050184 wrote: »

Working from home is more about being good at what you do rather than finding a special career path in my experience. That and finding a company with that type of culture. If you're highly skilled people will want you. I've been working from home going on three years now through two different positions. The first wasn't a work from home position, but they valued my skills so they made it happen.

I am working with a vendor this week who traveled to Boise Idaho 9 years ago and loved it so much he decided to quit his job and move there. He put his two weeks in and his boss countered it by offering him to WFH full time to keep him. So now he makes San Diego wages and lives in Boise.

IT HAPPENS people.

DatabaseHead

Chris it sure does. Not quite as sexy as you story, but we had an accountant do the same thing. Went from Jersey to Gainsville to be closer to her grand daughter. She put in her notice and was offered the same deal. it HAPPENS.

cablegod

I switched to a remote gig about a year and a half ago. One of the big storage vendors. Design, implementation and troubleshooting of object storage systems, and I travel when needed, which has been about a week out of every month. Way better than my previous office job, and pays way better.

brewboy

Look into the new Cisco CCWFHP or the Microsoft MCWFHE
Sorry I couldn't help it