Hello

sephiroth66

Hello everyone,

I'm new here and just wanted to say hi 👋

I've lurked on here a few times, so I figured I would post.

A little about myself |

I've been working in the IT field for almost 11 years now, but only recently started studying for certifications. I've sort of built myself up to the position I'm at now (Network Systems Administrator) with a combination of work experience and on-the-job training here and there. I started off as a desktop admin with my current employer about 6 years ago, and worked for BB Geek Squad (cringe..) for almost 5 years prior to that.

I am happily married and have 2 great kids.Traditionally I try to spend most of my time focusing on my family, and doing things outside of my IT work, but I realized recently that I'm shorting myself (and my salary!) by not pursuing education/certification paths. I just recently bought a new house, and that new mortgage is really motivating me to work hard on getting a few certs under my belt! 😛

Currently I don't have a degree or any certifications to showcase. I just recently started studying for the CCENT and VMware VCP certifications to start. I have lots of workplace experience, but not really any paper to prove it. I'm hoping to change that soon.

Infosec_Sam

Hey, @sephiroth66 - welcome to the community! The CCENT is a great cert to start with, but if you plan to do that, you'll want to decide whether or not to finish out the CCNA before next February. Cisco will be changing the CCNA on Feb 24, 2020 to only feature the single-exam pathway, which means they'll be doing away with the ICND1(CCENT), ICND2 pathway.

So, welcome again, and good luck with your certification journey! 

Johnhe0414

Welcome @sephiroth66 !

JDMurray

Welcome @sephiroth66 and I empathize about family expenses and a mortgage being great motivators for self-improvement.

sephiroth66

Infosec_Sam said:

Hey, @sephiroth66 - welcome to the community! The CCENT is a great cert to start with, but if you plan to do that, you'll want to decide whether or not to finish out the CCNA before next February. Cisco will be changing the CCNA on Feb 24, 2020 to only feature the single-exam pathway, which means they'll be doing away with the ICND1(CCENT), ICND2 pathway.

So, welcome again, and good luck with your certification journey! 

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Oh wow, thanks for the heads up on that. I have almost finished running through a course on Udemy, and I plan on getting a book or two to study as well. I would ideally like to have my CCNA given the position I am in now. I was hoping to take the exam before October and possibly the ICND2 by December or January so it may still work out.

sephiroth66

JDMurray said:

Welcome @sephiroth66and I empathize about family expenses and a mortgage being great motivators for self-improvement.

I live in the Austin TX area where housing is expensive and not getting any cheaper. On the bright side the tech industry here is booming like crazy. Lots of jobs everywhere.