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New career direction, need some input
CerealKiller
Registered Users Posts: 1 ■□□□□□□□□□
Hello techexams.net community! First and foremost, thanks for all the great information here. I have been pouring over it trying to figure out what to do cert-wise, while pondering my career options. I am looking for a bit of advice in what direction to go with my career, and while friends and family are great in this aspect, they aren't in the IT field. Please forgive me for being long winded.
I will try and shorten the long back story a bit. I have an associates degree in computer engineering technology. I have spent the last 7 years at an unnamed on-site computer support company with funny cars. 3 of those years were spent as a sub servicing residential and businesses, and I was making excellent money. I started with the company in its initial startup and was working long hours, but was building up a very large clientèle. I was the most requested tech and had aspirations of the company going big and public. I was even given control of the training of new techs coming in and a contract insuring me a percentage of stock if the company was ever bought.
In 2006 the company went through the process of becoming a franchise, the road had been rocky but here was a model that could be something big. All the employees at the time were offered a discount toward their own franchise. The franchises were carved up territories that weren't currently brining the company any income, but had the potential to. I was hesitant, but after many meetings with the owner I was convinced I could succeed. I was given a territory that I couldn't service outside the bounds of about 20min away from home. I emptied my savings and mutual funds and purchased a franchise outright in Aug 2006.
Fast forwarding a bit, I managed to re-build a new client base of businesses and residential customers and have grown the business to where I can as a single tech. I'm not unhappy, but as a business owner money can be tight and debt growing, and the amount of work from accounting to administrative has grown substantially. I make a good living, but it's very hard to save anything and I have a wedding coming in 2011 and a mortgage that needs paying every month. Don't even get me started on the cost of health, life, disability and blah blah insurance.
Things at the home company have gotten a lot sketchier, 4 or 5 franchises have opened and closed or been brought back into the fold. All the tech who bought a franchise like me are either back working for the company or out of work all together. People who bought a franchise site unseen out of the state folded pretty quickly. I came to the decision that I needed to get out of this relationship after the owner started pushing all of us to do whatever it took to open a retail store (not the original business model). After being told I needed to put my house and assets on the line to do this, and the ever increasing fees being assessed me for the privilege of using their brand, I had had enough.
I've started actively looking for jobs in the IT field, but I am hampered by an 18 month non-compete in regards to competitors. I've had a lawyer look over the wording of the contract and I am only barred from competing directly against the company or working for a competitor. Which means I can get into desktop support, admin work within a company. Trouble is I never got any certs while I was working, I was always too busy or the cost was too high. In hindsight I should have been growing myself as an asset instead of making myself a slave, but hey hindsight is 20/20.
So, I was looking at starting with an MCDST. I have supported XP for a quite a long time and figured it would be a good starting point. I'm anxious to hear input, even if all you have to say is "wow that's crazy". If you made it this far, thank you that was cathartic as hell.
I will try and shorten the long back story a bit. I have an associates degree in computer engineering technology. I have spent the last 7 years at an unnamed on-site computer support company with funny cars. 3 of those years were spent as a sub servicing residential and businesses, and I was making excellent money. I started with the company in its initial startup and was working long hours, but was building up a very large clientèle. I was the most requested tech and had aspirations of the company going big and public. I was even given control of the training of new techs coming in and a contract insuring me a percentage of stock if the company was ever bought.
In 2006 the company went through the process of becoming a franchise, the road had been rocky but here was a model that could be something big. All the employees at the time were offered a discount toward their own franchise. The franchises were carved up territories that weren't currently brining the company any income, but had the potential to. I was hesitant, but after many meetings with the owner I was convinced I could succeed. I was given a territory that I couldn't service outside the bounds of about 20min away from home. I emptied my savings and mutual funds and purchased a franchise outright in Aug 2006.
Fast forwarding a bit, I managed to re-build a new client base of businesses and residential customers and have grown the business to where I can as a single tech. I'm not unhappy, but as a business owner money can be tight and debt growing, and the amount of work from accounting to administrative has grown substantially. I make a good living, but it's very hard to save anything and I have a wedding coming in 2011 and a mortgage that needs paying every month. Don't even get me started on the cost of health, life, disability and blah blah insurance.
Things at the home company have gotten a lot sketchier, 4 or 5 franchises have opened and closed or been brought back into the fold. All the tech who bought a franchise like me are either back working for the company or out of work all together. People who bought a franchise site unseen out of the state folded pretty quickly. I came to the decision that I needed to get out of this relationship after the owner started pushing all of us to do whatever it took to open a retail store (not the original business model). After being told I needed to put my house and assets on the line to do this, and the ever increasing fees being assessed me for the privilege of using their brand, I had had enough.
I've started actively looking for jobs in the IT field, but I am hampered by an 18 month non-compete in regards to competitors. I've had a lawyer look over the wording of the contract and I am only barred from competing directly against the company or working for a competitor. Which means I can get into desktop support, admin work within a company. Trouble is I never got any certs while I was working, I was always too busy or the cost was too high. In hindsight I should have been growing myself as an asset instead of making myself a slave, but hey hindsight is 20/20.
So, I was looking at starting with an MCDST. I have supported XP for a quite a long time and figured it would be a good starting point. I'm anxious to hear input, even if all you have to say is "wow that's crazy". If you made it this far, thank you that was cathartic as hell.
Comments
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OptionsKikode
Member Posts: 74 ■■□□□□□□□□
Wow thats Crazy....
If your dead set on staying IT then get your MCP just pass any microsoft test preferably an OS or Active directory test then maybe your A+ it's a requirement for some job and both the MCP and A+ will be instant pings on recruiter job searches. It's really a mixture of Experience/Certification/Education that gets you employed. With your experience you may be able to Land a Job as a manager or financial assitant as I said experience matters most so it looks like you learned a boat load. I would certainly say the certifications have merit but if you can spin your experience to match the job roles you apply for you can probably get a decent job without any.