What next?

networker050184

I am a netwrok professional in the military with about six years of experience. I will be exiting the military in about nine months.:D Needless to say I will be looking for a job in the IT industry as network engineer or administrator. I have my CCNA, but no degree. I was wondering if i should go for my CCNP or widen my area of certification by doing some MS certs or I was also looking into the CWNA. I know a degree is the best way to go, but I need to get a job to support my family while I try to gain my degree. What do you guys think? I have also been in touch with a recruiter from Tek Systems, is this a good idea? Has anyone obtained a job through this company? I know this is a lot of questions, but I'm new to the civillian sector of IT even though I have years of experience. Any information you guys could provide would be very hepfull.

blargoe

What is your current skill set?

networker050184

My primary skills are routing and switching primarly with Cisco equipment. I also have working knowledge of VoIP, PBX, PROMINA as well as Callmanager experience. I currently do pretty much anything to do with our network and communications sytems. I don't really have experince on the systems administaration side of the house as that is handaled by the sytems admins.

ajs1976

With that skill set, why don't you look into the CCVP?

networker050184

I thought about that, but from what I've heard its better to get your CCNP before CCVP. I know it's not required. I will definatley take it inot consideration. Do you think it would be easier to find a job as a voice engineer rather than regular net engineer?

l33tgama

Well reading your post if you have had like six years experience thats plenty so you are sort of ahead of the game , also working for the army that carries a lot of weight. employers will value this and will think highly of you due to the reputation of the army being organized and extremely good at what they do. i would say if you can afford it go for the degree it will open lots of door's for you that might not have been open if you dont have one, but if you dont have the money just go for a low-mid paying job work then at least ur earning money i would definitely expand ur horizon's in terms of cert's i would go for a few Microsoft certs MCSA, MCSE,
that would be very sexy with ur experience and combined with ur CCNA in the world of I.T its deadly ruthless... if you have no experience you will struggle to even get an interview. so in a way u really do stand a good chance of being employed. and securing a high paid job. thats my two cen'ts anyway.... but out of all of the people that i interview i look at there experience combined with there previous company's. At the end of the day its all about experience i would rather choose someone with about six years experience and only CCNA,compared to someone who has 1-2 years experience & lots of certs and a degree. just because it say's you can do it on paper... but when you put it into practice its a whole different ball game. because when something comes up it puts my mind to rest. when i know they have had some sort of experience in the problems that will occur.

networker050184

I have plenty of money for college and money for certs as well (one of the perks of serving your country!) money is not an issue. Well, it is kind of an issue I need money to support my family and will try to do evening and weekend classes to persue a degree. Like I said the only experience I have with servers and such is ensuring users have network conectivity to these recources. Do you think I should still persue MS certs with no experience on the equipment?

l33tgama

Well i would not advise anyone to pursue MS Certs with no experience as you will struggle. but in your case you should go for the MCSA its entry level and will get you started on the road to MS Cert Heaven lol... not but seriously you can get there very easily by taking your A+ And Network + to combine these to go towards the MCSA and the fact that you have done the CCNA you will find the N+ easy. A+ is just common sense. Cisco certs combined with MS = High Paid Job.
(depending on experience as well..) at the end of the day i have countless advice available but you should go with what you feel most comfortable with

networker050184

Thanks for the input. I will look into the MCSA. I belive I will also go down the CCNP path before the CCVP path. Hopefully with my experience and industry certs I can find a decent paying job. Only problem now is finding one. I have never searched for a job before, so I dont really know how to go about it. I think I'll start posting my resume on some job boards. Oh, and the resume is a whole other beast to takle! Looks like I have my work cutt out for me. At least I am getting an early start I guess, still nine months to go!

blargoe

If you want to continue as a net engineer and/or seek work as a voice engineer, I don't see why you need to waste your time piddling around with Microsoft certs if you already have 6 years experience being a net engineer.

I think at the very least you can do very well for yourself right off the bat working as a contractor for some of these short term gigs, and sort of get a feel for the kind of civilian work environment that fits you best. When I was looking for my current job it seemed like requests for your experience and skill set were all over the job search sites.

You mentioned the money for college, DEFINITELY devote some time to getting that degree particularly since Uncle Sam is footing the bill. You will go much farther with that paper.

blargoe

One more thing - at this point in your life if you have never had the experience of polishing up a resume and searching for a job, maybe it would benefit you to look for an IT temp agency or recruiting firm to help you if there is a reputable one in your area.

blarg

networker050184

Thanks for the advice. I have kind of been talking to a recruiter from Tek systems. I'm not sure if they are any good. Its hard to get anyone to talk to me when I can't start for another nine months. As soon as I tell them that they just say "get back in touch with me around that time." I guess thats better than them not telling me to get back in touch with them. I guess I'll just keep studying untill then since I can't really line up something this far in advance.

networker050184

I have a rough draft of my resume here, I dont have anywhere to uplaod it for a link, so I will paste here. Any input from you guys would help out a lot.




A highly motivated Network Engineer with 5+ years experience in installation, configuration, administration and troubleshooting of secure LAN\WAN data and voice infrastructures.



SUMMARY OF TECHNICAL SKILLS


• 5 + years experience with networking technologies in a production environment
• Installed and configured secure LAN\WAN infrastructures using Cisco technologies
• Advanced network troubleshooting skills
• Knowledge of VoIP and legacy voice technologies
• Experience with Cisco Callmanger
• PROMINA and PBX experience
• Active SECRET security clearance


CERTIFICATIONS

• CCNA (Cisco certified network associate)


PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE


Network Operations Center Technician\Analyst
United States Army 2002 -- Present

Served as a Network Operations Center Technician\Analyst on the Army’s Joint Network Node system overseeing multiple remote sites and providing tier II network connectivity troubleshooting down to the end user level for voice and data networks.

• Installed, configured, monitored and troubleshot secure LAN\WAN data and voice networks consisting of CISCO routers, switches, firewalls, intrusion detection sensors, CISCO Callmanager, REDCOM IGX, and PROMINA multiplexers providing secure and non-secure parallel networks utilizing VPNs and General Dynamics TACLANE.

• Migrated from legacy voice to VoIP network infrastructure improving quality of service for users.

• Optimized network performance by monitoring all network assets increasing productivity and access to network recourses.

• Performed maintenance on all communications equipment resulting in zero equipment failures.

• Served as supervisor of a five man team responsible for mentoring, professional growth counseling and training of all team members.

• Awarded on several occasions for outstanding troubleshooting skills resulting in minimum network down time allowing vital communications to remain available.


I left the contact info off purposfully. You think it's any good?