New to the board Looking for advice

Myrdyn98

Hello all,
New to the board and IT in general. I currently have no direct IT exp. I worked as a Ground Radio Tech in the Marines. I now work as Cable Installer so I do have some LAN and Wireless exp from installing and troubleshooting HSD. I have also been using and troubleshooting computers for about 14 years now (started at age 11 on an 8086). I have my A+ and Net+. I'm working on my MCSA:Security, MCSE:Security, and CCNA. I plan to have those completed by December of this year. I'm going the 70-270, 70-290, 70-291, 70-293, 70-294, 70-298, 70-299 Security+ route. I'm about to start my Job search shortly. I live in the Raleigh/Durham research triangle area of NC. I'm curious as to how marketable I am and are going to be after I finish in Dec and also what follow up cert would be good after my CCNA. I'm definately going Security in some form or function. Thinking about CCSP or going Associate SSCP (since I lack any experiance). Any advice is welcome. Just getting started in IT so just trying to make sure I'm headed in the right direction.
Thanks again.

P.S. The VD's are on top of the microwave.

Edit: To answer the Where you wanna end up ?

All I know is something Security that i like to do. Since I have no experiance I have no idea what that might be.

Sie

Let me be the first to welcome to the family.

Any questions or problems you want answered dont be afraid to pipe up and we will do the best we can.

99% of the time theres someone here who knows the answer and if not knows where to find it.

You sound like you have made a good start and from what you have said are heading towards good choices.

I guess the question is: "Where do you want to end up?"

Enjoy your stay

NinjaBoy

Hi and welcome to Technet, glad to have you onboard.

It's great that you have the A+ & network+ already as they are great entry level certs. However to aim to get your MCSE by December with no direct IT experience is not advisable.

Microsoft wrote:

MCSE candidates should also have at least one year of experience implementing and administering network operating systems and desktop operating systems.

A more advisable route would be to gain your CCNA, MCP/MCDST and once you get into IT aim for your MCSA, then when you have a least a years experience supporting servers, desktops and the network, then go for your MCSE. These are higher-end professional certs and should go hand in hand with your job/experience. To be honest if by some chance you do get your MCSE without any "real" experience, when you do start to apply for jobs, you'll get (for the majority) 3 different views:

1. Some people will see a high end professional cert with no experience and think "Paper-MCSE" and won't touch you.
2. Some people will say "MCSE for an entry level job? This person will only stay for 6 months then leave" or
3. "Great an MCSE, we'll short-list him" but then you'll be put up against people with MCSE's and experience to back it up with.

I don't say these things to put you off, as what you want to achieve is very commendable. I do say these things as someone who sits on an interview panel for my company as well as an IT manager who expects a candidate with certain certs to be able to do certain tasks with little or no direct supervision. Remember sitting in a classroom learning (or self-study) about what you should or how you should be doing stuff, is not normally how it is in the real world (classroom setting are normally an ideal environment, eg pure MS, etc).

Good luck with your studies, these are just my opinions, others will voice theirs soon

-Ken

BeaverC32

1. Some people will see a high end professional cert with no experience and think "Paper-MCSE" and won't touch you.
2. Some people will say "MCSE for an entry level job? This person will only stay for 6 months then leave" or
3. "Great an MCSE, we'll short-list him" but then you'll be put up against people with MCSE's and experience to back it up with.

I don't agree that there are more negatives than there are positives in getting a cert like MCSE without much experience to go with it. While you present some valid points, I feel that if a candidate is able to get MCSE without experience (but with hands on training and much hard work), hats off to them.

I can say first hand that the process of obtaining this certification requires a lot of hard work and dedicated study time. That in itself would tell me something positive about the job candidate. To ensure that this isn't someone who obtained the cert through a braindump, you could always grill the candidate on topics they should know, being an MCSE.

Sure, MCSE's with experience are going to be more knowledgeable and better positioned to perform their job duties. I don't think this should be a reason to hold off getting a cert, though. I began studying for MCSA/MCSE before I worked directly with the technology, but I found that once I did start, the learning curve was not nearly as steep as it would have been.

Keep in mind that CompTIA suggests you have 6-12 months experience for certs like A+ and Network+ as well, even though most people who get certified don't have this level of experience.

Mishra

Main thing is to make sure to be excited and want to work in IT. Try to create yourself a passion if you don't have it already. If you want to be dedicated then I would play around with things at home.

Don't just try to know a work around to a problem, try to figure out WHY it happens. Rebooting is the cheap mans way around things 80% of the time.

You sound like you are looking in the right direction. I would be more focused on getting a job than getting certifications right now. Certs get you the money but experience and knowledge gets you the job.

Darthn3ss

2. Some people will say "MCSE for an entry level job? This person will only stay for 6 months then leave" or

Helpdesk jobs here in charleston want MCSE, CCNA, and bachelors in computer science with 4 years of experience, and security clearance as well.

Noe84

Darthn3ss wrote:

2. Some people will say "MCSE for an entry level job? This person will only stay for 6 months then leave" or

Helpdesk jobs here in charleston want MCSE, CCNA, and bachelors in computer science with 4 years of experience, and security clearance as well.

That's kind of an overkill. If I had those certs and experience, why would anyone work at the help desk. Bad way to scare off entry level job seekers.

NinjaBoy

BeaverC32 wrote:

I don't agree that there are more negatives than there are positives in getting a cert like MCSE without much experience to go with it. While you present some valid points, I feel that if a candidate is able to get MCSE without experience (but with hands on training and much hard work), hats off to them.

That's the whole point of these forums, different points of views, etc.

BeaverC32 wrote:

I can say first hand that the process of obtaining this certification requires a lot of hard work and dedicated study time. That in itself would tell me something positive about the job candidate. To ensure that this isn't someone who obtained the cert through a braindump, you could always grill the candidate on topics they should know, being an MCSE.

That is depending on whether or not a technical person is on the interview panel, some place just use the personnel dept and a general interviewer with no technical skills. And if you found out that the person did use braindumps what would you do, sack them on the spot?

BeaverC32 wrote:

Sure, MCSE's with experience are going to be more knowledgeable and better positioned to perform their job duties. I don't think this should be a reason to hold off getting a cert, though. I began studying for MCSA/MCSE before I worked directly with the technology, but I found that once I did start, the learning curve was not nearly as steep as it would have been.

But not everyone is like that. In my opinion someone with a MCSE should be able work on a server and design a network infrusturer, etc with little or no supervision - hence the engineer part of the MCSE. Besides I do like candidates to start studying for the MCSA/MCSE (for example the MCDST counts as an elective towards the MCSA), but to achieve the high end professional qual before getting any practical experience is something else. You might as well do an academic qual, like the BSc/AA, etc. Would you get into a cab if the driver never drove before and just used driving simulators? Ok a bit of a extreme example, but if a person tweaks a setting on the network (eg thru AD) because it worked in a home setting or classroom environment and it caused a failure, for every second the network is down that company is losing money. I've seen it happen.

BeaverC32 wrote:

Keep in mind that CompTIA suggests you have 6-12 months experience for certs like A+ and Network+ as well, even though most people who get certified don't have this level of experience.

But the A+ and the Network+ are really entry level certs, unlike the MCSA/MCSE.

Myrdyn98 don't be put off (just in case you are), these are different points of view. No-one is totally right. Everyone talks thru their own experiences.

-Ken

NinjaBoy

Darthn3ss wrote:

2. Some people will say "MCSE for an entry level job? This person will only stay for 6 months then leave" or

Helpdesk jobs here in charleston want MCSE, CCNA, and bachelors in computer science with 4 years of experience, and security clearance as well.

What company is this for? The Dept of Defence? If it's not, this sounds like someone in the personnel dept who just throws in keywords and hopes for a response

-ken

Myrdyn98

NinjaBoy wrote:

Myrdyn98 don't be put off (just in case you are), these are different points of view. No-one is totally right. Everyone talks thru their own experiences.

-Ken

Not put off at all. I completely understand that have the cert and having the exp are 2 different things. I personally would never take any job that I feel i would be unable to do. Im looking for a nice entry lvl position to learn the practical application side of all the certs I have/am getting.

My question now would be If I do get the MCSA before i get a job, which I hope to have a job prior to that, (I should definatly have a job before i get my MCSE) should I leave it off my resume (just a thought even though I'm 99% sure that I should not do that) or should I just mention that I only have Classroom experience as far as the areas covered by the MCSA?

NinjaBoy

IMO, if you do attain the MCSA (or any cert/qual) put it on your CV. There is no point hiding what you've attained and 2: for the times when it the personnel dept sorting out job applicants (instead of the technical dept) keywords stick out like "MCSA". And if you get questioned about it, just tell the truth - "hard work and study really pay off".

Good luck with your job hunt

-ken

binarysoul

Focus in one area. IT is becoming very specialized and we can't learn it all. Choose either networking, security, programming, the MCSCE track, just to name a few. If you try to do them all, you're gonna lose focus. Bottom line, focus in an area you like.