Best use of time....
Staatzee
Registered Users Posts: 2 ■□□□□□□□□□
Hello everyone,
So I've found myself in an interesting situation right now in my life and I'm trying to make sure I maximize the time I currently have. I'm a recent graduate of UMUC with BoS in computer networks and cybersecurity. I felt it was a great program and helped me gain a ton of knowledge. Anyways to my current situation..
I've moved overseas with my wife and son to Australia. Unfortunately due to their nightmare of a spouse visa application process, I'm stuck on a visitor visa waiting for the spouse one to come through. While I'm on the visitor visa I cant work at all in Australia, which has happened to leave me with a fair bit of free time. Once my spouse visa is granted, I want to jump into the IT field straight away.
Currently I only have my degree to my name and dont have any previous IT job related experience (Used to play baseball, had to hang it up for a real job). I'm currently studying/about to take the CompTIA A+ cert to at least add something to my degree. After that I'm wondering how I should be using my time? I eventually want to end up in cybersecurity and know that I have a bit of distance ahead of me before I can land one of those positions.
Should I push ahead and study for the Network+/ Security+ or CCNA/CCSP or push for MCSA/MCSE? I took classes covering networking/system admin and Cisco so I'm at least familiar with all the cert topics. I guess I'm having trouble connecting the dots from A+ and most likely a help desk job (to start) to more certs and jobs that will get me to cybersecurity positions.
Also being close to black Friday, should I look into Vlab products at all? I still have some labs from my courses (Testout.com labs, their ok) but I've gotten emails for deals off Cisco's learning labs and I've tried to look into labs for more network administration or systems administration type stuff. Are the Vlabs even worth my time or should I just stick to be studying certain certs? I also have a full license VMware and have played around a bit installing OS and such. Would it be worth my time setting up more things in that to gain "hands on training"?
I know its a bit of a lengthy post but thanks for any advice. As you can see my head is a bit scattered on where I should be focusing. I want to make sure while I'm currently not allowed to work, I'm not wasting anytime if I could be doing something to land me a job/move up faster when I can.
So I've found myself in an interesting situation right now in my life and I'm trying to make sure I maximize the time I currently have. I'm a recent graduate of UMUC with BoS in computer networks and cybersecurity. I felt it was a great program and helped me gain a ton of knowledge. Anyways to my current situation..
I've moved overseas with my wife and son to Australia. Unfortunately due to their nightmare of a spouse visa application process, I'm stuck on a visitor visa waiting for the spouse one to come through. While I'm on the visitor visa I cant work at all in Australia, which has happened to leave me with a fair bit of free time. Once my spouse visa is granted, I want to jump into the IT field straight away.
Currently I only have my degree to my name and dont have any previous IT job related experience (Used to play baseball, had to hang it up for a real job). I'm currently studying/about to take the CompTIA A+ cert to at least add something to my degree. After that I'm wondering how I should be using my time? I eventually want to end up in cybersecurity and know that I have a bit of distance ahead of me before I can land one of those positions.
Should I push ahead and study for the Network+/ Security+ or CCNA/CCSP or push for MCSA/MCSE? I took classes covering networking/system admin and Cisco so I'm at least familiar with all the cert topics. I guess I'm having trouble connecting the dots from A+ and most likely a help desk job (to start) to more certs and jobs that will get me to cybersecurity positions.
Also being close to black Friday, should I look into Vlab products at all? I still have some labs from my courses (Testout.com labs, their ok) but I've gotten emails for deals off Cisco's learning labs and I've tried to look into labs for more network administration or systems administration type stuff. Are the Vlabs even worth my time or should I just stick to be studying certain certs? I also have a full license VMware and have played around a bit installing OS and such. Would it be worth my time setting up more things in that to gain "hands on training"?
I know its a bit of a lengthy post but thanks for any advice. As you can see my head is a bit scattered on where I should be focusing. I want to make sure while I'm currently not allowed to work, I'm not wasting anytime if I could be doing something to land me a job/move up faster when I can.
Comments
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EANx
Member Posts: 1,077 ■■■■■■■■□□
IMO, the first thing you should do is look to see what skills and certs are being asked for on the local economy. No point in chasing a cert that no one is asking for. Microsoft and Cisco certs are probably your safe play; once you have the A+ done, only go after the other CompTIA ones if organizations are actually asking for them. They tend to be rather regional.
Virtual labs are going to be a good bet for you. I like the Cisco learning labs product and they always have some sort of sale on cyber Monday.
In your shoes, once I got the A+, I'd go after CCNA and MCSA but again, everything depends on what the market is looking for.. -
EnderWiggin
Member Posts: 551 ■■■■□□□□□□
I agree with EANx, take a look at job postings for your area and see what they want. You can also take a look at cyber security positions, and see if there's any overlap. For example, if there are a decent amount of IT positions asking for CCNA R&S, and a decent amount of cyber security positions asking for CCNA Security, you could go through CCNA R&S, and then roll right into CCNA Security next.