Career Direction?

curtisdaleycurtisdaley Member Posts: 76 ■■□□□□□□□□
in General Certification
I've been studying IT for two years now, in this time i have provided extensive support to the Windows XP computers in the School/College labs, used for hardware maintenance/desktop support and CCNA activities. I've completed 3 classes there in 2 years, IT Essentials, CCNA1 and CCNA2, i'm off to University in a month, just wondering, where i should be aiming for Career wise? Thoose that have been working in the field, in several different scenario's, did you prefer the ISP field dealing with just routers and switches or the Office field dealing with the Server stuff too! I fancy myself a just a Network Engineer at an ISP once completion of my CCNA (I'm on the 3 mini course of it, LAN Switching and Wirless!) aswell as other things! In a world which is being very competive would be good to also have an MCSA aswell as a CCNA even though i want to work in an ISP and not a Office?!
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  • networker050184networker050184 Mod Posts: 11,962 Mod
    If you don't want to work with Windows then the MCSA is worthless to you really. If you want to work as a network engineer at an ISP then you will want to look more into Cisco and Juniper certifications.
    An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made.
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  • curtisdaleycurtisdaley Member Posts: 76 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Thats what i was thinking, i'm doing CCNA, once i get Olive sorted out, i will do JNCIA! What do you do?
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  • kimanydkimanyd Banned Posts: 103
    He pimps routers and switches.
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  • curtisdaleycurtisdaley Member Posts: 76 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Network Engineering : Routing & Switching vs System Ad: Servers?
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  • networker050184networker050184 Mod Posts: 11,962 Mod
    curtisdaley wrote: »
    Thats what i was thinking, i'm doing CCNA, once i get Olive sorted out, i will do JNCIA!


    Sounds like a plan to me icon_thumright.gif
    curtisdaley wrote: »
    What do you do?

    When I'm not trying to take over the world I'm an engineer at an ISP.
    An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made.
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  • AldurAldur Member Posts: 1,460
    curtisdaley wrote: »
    Thats what i was thinking, i'm doing CCNA, once i get Olive sorted out, i will do JNCIA!

    Sounds like a great plan. Getting a CCNA and a JNCIA will set you up nicely to be a network engineer.

    Someday, when work and family permits, I'm gonna get certified in Cisco equipment as well. I figure with a CCIE and 2 or 3 JNCIE's I'll be unstoppable! :D
    "Bribe is such an ugly word. I prefer extortion. The X makes it sound cool."

    -Bender
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  • curtisdaleycurtisdaley Member Posts: 76 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Times a killer, not enough hours in the day, spent most of the time this summer helping my dad out with some stuff, its a shame all that lovely time could been invested in the Cisco Net Acad, classes 3 and 4!
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  • curtisdaleycurtisdaley Member Posts: 76 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Do you like working at an ISP? Have you worked previously in an Office environment as a Manager perhaps?
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  • networker050184networker050184 Mod Posts: 11,962 Mod
    curtisdaley wrote: »
    Do you like working at an ISP? Have you worked previously in an Office environment as a Manager perhaps?

    I love working at an ISP. I do a lot of implementation work for new technologies we are testing out or improving on current set ups. Working with a wide range of technologies is what I've wanted to do and I get to do that now.

    I've never really worked in an enterprise environment. It doesn't interest me really. Not enough variety.

    I managed people when I was in the military, but not since I've been out. Don't want the responsibility for others actors any more :)
    An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made.
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  • AldurAldur Member Posts: 1,460
    networker050184 wrote: »
    I love working at an ISP. I do a lot of implementation work for new technologies we are testing out or improving on current set ups. Working with a wide range of technologies is what I've wanted to do and I get to do that now.

    I've never really worked in an enterprise environment. It doesn't interest me really. Not enough variety.

    I hear ya there. ISP's tend to implement bleeding edge technology and it's amazing being in the middle of that. Also, there are alot of old technologies hanging around which makes for a wide variety of stuff to play with.

    Another thing I've noticed, ISP's tend to have amazing labs to test and play around in. I've spent so much time in the lab up here that it feels more like home then my real home :D

    I agree about working in an enterprise environment. The interest isn't there for me either. Even after getting the Enterprise Routing JNCIE I have to say that I enjoy working with the service provider stuff much more.
    "Bribe is such an ugly word. I prefer extortion. The X makes it sound cool."

    -Bender
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  • curtisdaleycurtisdaley Member Posts: 76 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Thanks for input you guys, after a month of no proper studying, back onto the CCNA in the day time and A+ before bed hehe, just light reading!
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