IT Security in Saint Louis?

harkle3

I am currently 40 years old and my work background consists of working in factories until I landed a great paying job with a company who was contracted with Chrysler.

I am one of the unfortunates who was laid off from work due to a plant closing. Since 6/2008 I have been attending class to achieve my certifications in:

MCP, A+, MCSA, CCNA, Security +, and Network +

And I will have them all in 9/2009. My overall goal is to start a career in Network Security. My question is very basic. With the certifications listed above should I start on background experience in IT first and seek out employment with Help Desk? Or should I be focusing on what is related in some way to IT security?

Any advice would be VERY much appreciated. Thank you.

Scott

coffeeking

Usually IT security guys are technical experts, who have been there and done the technical work (you have to know what you are securing). I landed in information security with a Bsc and not a strong technical background. Once in there I realized that I had a big technical background hole that needed to be filled. Luckily people around me are very cooperative and gave me time to learn and provided a lot of help.

So the point is that if you can, then do obtain a tech job and then you can always move on to security later, even a 1-2 years in technical support should provide a good technical base.