Career Advice

Rockets34Life

Newb to the board. Love the site!

So to start off things, I have a dilemma that is desperately needing the assistance of the TechExam forum gurus..

I'm currently working for a company where I have dedicated 6 1/2 long years - 5 3/4 doing Help Desk/Tech Support and the last 10 months working some non-tech crap, which I want to blow my brains out. My company use to offer career advice to help us move around, but they removed that a few years ago. The only way to move up is to know the right people....in my case, I don't. Now I feel like I'm wasting my time at this company and I need to get out ASAP so I can broaden my career in IT.

I will be resigning from this position very soon....so in the meantime, I have been searching for IT jobs. It sucks that this has been the only full-time job I've worked since I left college in 2001. I have put my resume out on Monster, CareerBuilder, Dice.com, and some staffing agencies (Tek Systems, Matrix, Spherion, and Thingamajob.com). Are there any other places I should try out? What kind of jobs should I apply for with the background I have (I have a total of 7 years doing IT Help Desk)? I don't want to go back to a help desk career.

Education-wise, I would like to migrate into the networking field or become a DBA. I don't have any certifications, but I have a B.B.A in MIS and Marketing. What classes/certifications/associate degrees, etc. should I go after for those two fields? Any suggestions of places that are affordable to a frugal dude like me?

I am a lost IT soul who is trying to find the way to a better IT career. I don't want to fall back into the help desk blackhole.

HELP!

dax_kun

Wow, I feel your pain. But it wonders me is you stayed there for 6+ years without making yourself more marketable. You should have got at least the entry level certs. But dont lose hope, there are companies that dont weigh on certs that much, they still consider experience as the best teacher. You can still bank for you 6+ years exp.

There are other ways of widening you skills like volunteering for more duties if you have spare time. Like, if there are LAN jobs, you can volunteer to help implement it. Or if you have time during the weekends you can volunteer on you local library or hospital to help out. Or ask your Admin to shadow someone to learn new things.

Dont forget that you can always buy books and educate yourself. CCNA is entry level cert but common demand for a network tech.

Rockets34Life

dax_kun wrote:

Wow, I feel your pain. But it wonders me is you stayed there for 6+ years without making yourself more marketable. You should have got at least the entry level certs. But dont lose hope, there are companies that dont weigh on certs that much, they still consider experience as the best teacher. You can still bank for you 6+ years exp.

There are other ways of widening you skills like volunteering for more duties if you have spare time. Like, if there are LAN jobs, you can volunteer to help implement it. Or if you have time during the weekends you can volunteer on you local library or hospital to help out. Or ask your Admin to shadow someone to learn new things.

Dont forget that you can always buy books and educate yourself. CCNA is entry level cert but common demand for a network tech.

Thanks for the kind words. I know it's a wonder of why I stayed there 5+ years. The company and the dept. treated me right for the 1st 2-3 years, but in the last years of that job....I was just getting stressed out and I felt like an IT peon. I really hope my experience will be worth something.

Unfortunately, I don't work in the Tech Support Dept. anymore. We don't have any admins on the desk....just Level 2 support, but they know the same stuff I do.

I have checked out books from the library and have downloaded e-books, but I'm more a classroom person.......don't know why. I want to go the CCNA route, but the classes are expensive.

AlanJames

I would suggest trying to get a 2nd line / desktop support kind role, these are great roles to enhance your career.
Study up while you're unemployed, If you're wanting to get into networking. CCNA is the logical step, But hard to get a job in this line with out the experience.

dax_kun

Cisco does not require you that you attend classes. As long as you understand their technologies and pass their exams you are well welcomed to their certs. A good book and simulators can get you through CCNA, besides thats what Techexams.net is for. There are lots of people try to get certs and dont know where to start, we are here to help.