What type of job should i be realistically looking for

Shimami

I don't have much IT experience. I completed my education at a technical school. I currently only have about 6/7 months of help desk experience. (i work as a 1st level help desk analyst at a small company that provides telephone support to different company's). I have my A+ and my Net+.

Realistically, am i doomed to work help desk phone support for a another year or two until i gain the experience most employers desire?

i am desperate to find something more satisfying.

ULWiz

Personally in my opinion you should be able to land some type of Help Desk Job with minimun administrative tasks. Should be somewhere in the 13 to 20 dollar a hour range. Since you dont have to much experience i personally believe this is what your going to be in the range of.

I guess i should have read your post a little better. It takes time to advance in the IT field. Keep pushing away at the helpdesk job and start looking for more rewarding career. Getting your MCSE or CCNA is going to help you the most in landing a better job

This is just my personal opinion. Good luck with the job search.

undomiel

What are you wanting to work in? Figure that out first. Then work on building a certification path for that position. While experience is king the certifications can still get you in the door to demonstrate your skills and knowledge. Always work on sharpening your skills and make sure your resume reflects that. There is never any harm in looking around at other jobs. The worst they can say is no.

Shimami

i dont really know EXACTLY what i want to do. Though i know the next certification i am working towards is Secuity+ then my MCSE. i just know sitting on the phone all day and answering hypothetical what if's isn't for me. i want to be hands on.

paintb4707

Keep looking. I was in the same exact boat as you not too long ago. I landed a Network Admin position with only 7 months of help desk experience. How did I get the job? It was a career fair posting on my school portal. I was very fortunate since they were specifically looking for someone that was either in middle of a degree or freshly graduated with one so that they could pay on the lower end and reimburse you with experience. Of course I was hesitant because this wasn't mentioned in the actual job posting. I was thinking that the position may be way over my head. But.... I went and called them up and next thing I knew I had an interview and then a job a week later. I don't get paid much, only 32k/yr. It's good for my age I guess since I'm only 19 but the experience is P R I C E L E S S. I must say I love the company and I love my job, I really couldn't be happier. I'll be looking for a raise when I graduate. Even if they don't give it to me I know I can take my experience elsewhere and see what other doors are now open.

All I can say is keep your eyes open, something may come along. If you see something that strikes you (even if they're looking for more experience than what you have), don't ever pass up that chance. Just apply and see what happens because you never know... As many will say, it's usually HR putting up the job postings and they may be asking for big name certs like MCSE for a desktop support type position without really understanding the meaning behind it. If you can go in there and convince them that you are completely capable of handling the job responsibilities at hand, chances are you'll land it.

Slowhand

Since you're working towards more advanced certs, I'd say that two options also available to you might be something like Jr. Systems Administrator or doing a field-tech position where you travel around and work. The first would take a little bit of luck, and the Jr. title has some stigma attached to it, but if you stick with that job for a while it's usually easy to lose the Jr. and become a regular sysadmin. The second type would be similar to what you're doing now, essentially break/fix kind of stuff, but you'd be doing hands-on work instead of answering phones. Just some options.

Another piece of advice I can give you is to broaden your field of experience. Something to look into, in order to get you noticed by employers, is to learn not only Windows, but Linux/Unix as well, in addition to "other skills". Since you're on the CompTIA track, have a look at Linux+. Even if you don't stick to working with *NIX, it'll give you some basic skills that'll come in handy when you do come across that one ancient Unix server that just can't be upgraded or replaced.

Other good things to know are databases, email servers, and scripting. (Very generic, I know.) The one thing I've learned is that EVERYONE assumes that, because I administrate Windows, I know Exchange. I also get a lot work involving Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL; not so much development, but rather installation and maintenence of the software. As for scripting, it's a good thing to know at least one scripting language. A lot of people like Perl, Python, VBscript, etc., but since you sound like you're going to be on the Windows admin path, you may want to get familiar with PowerShell. It's powerful, versatile, and Microsoft has sank a lot of time and money into making it the next big thing in systems administration.

The things I've mentioned can seem daunting, even in comparison to the MCSE track. The idea here is that you can do these things over time, as you work, and you'll become more advanced. Start looking for something better now, start working on your certs and expand your skills, and you'll find a job that'll make you much happier in no time. The only other thing I can tell you is to give yourself a little time before doing Security+. I regret doing it in such a hurry, and I felt like I didn't have enough background with "regular" technologies to get the most out of what I learned. The more things you do, like learning Linux/Unix, learning more about scripting (and programming), and the 'other skills', the more you understand the security concepts. A good idea is to also get some additional security experience and doing some extracurricular reading before doing the actual cert-studying. Whatever you choose to do, though, just remember to have fun and be patient. You may be doing helpdesk work now, but a few years down the road, you might be one of those guys that talks about being a Sr. Engineer and working on some super-advanced cert.

Good luck on your job-search, and your cert-journey. Keep us posted on your progress.