A few beginner questions

lurker53

Hi, I'm new to this site and it seems the General section would be the best place to say hello, and to ask some questions. If that's not the case or if my reading comprehension of this site is bad, I'm sorry ahead of time.

A little background, I'm 19, I consider myself a quick learner, and I have no issues with social interactions (ie customer service). Currently I'm attending a 2 year college which offers an AAS (Applied Science) degree, and the degree coursework covers a variety of beginning certifications ranging from A+ to CCNA. Ideally by March '11 I would have my CCNA, Net+, and maybe Security+ done.

So, starting off with those certifications and no on-the-job experience, what job titles would I be qualified for? I'm not too worried about base pay since I'll keep improving my skill set, but to start I'd prefer a job with consistency.

Long term, is it more valuable to go for the Professional level of certs (my school offers CCNP classes for cheap), or get a Bachelor's degree? Keep in mind by summer '11 in addition to certs I would also have an Associate's degree.

After looking around on this site, it seems that for certifications there's 2 main paths (plenty of others too), either MS or Cisco, and that Cisco is more hands on while MS deals with the software. Assuming that I choose to follow the Cisco path, should I still pursue any MS certification or is everything I need covered by Cisco?

Would I need to pick up any programming skills along the way?

Thanks, and sorry if those questions have been asked a million times before.

stuh84

I cant answer everything as some of it is based upon locality (you dont have the same degree structure as we do over here in the UK).

In terms of jobs you could get with them qualifications, I'd say anything like IT helpdesk, possibly NOC jobs, patching engineers etc.

As far as what you need in your career, it depends on the path you want to go down. For me, the path I enjoy is networking, so I am better served by learning the Cisco and other vendor tracks, along with possibly storage and virtualization due to the way the industry is going. Including MS in there is a bit useless for me, as it's not the career path I am on and/or want. However, if you want to be more of the head IT guy in a smaller company, then getting the MS certs would definitely help you.

As far as programming skills? They can't hurt, although it depends again what career you want. I know some basic Bash scripting so I can automate some tasks, and I intend to learn something else again at some point (possibly Perl), but in terms of actual programming languages and not scripting? It may not be required at all.

earweed

While getting your initial certs get the A+ as a lot of helpdesk and desktop support jobs I've seen posted require it. Even if you decide to go the Cisco route it couldn't hurt you to take at least the MS courses in school as knowledge of MS systems is a plus.
If the school offers an AS degree you should probably pursue that if you plan to go for a BS eventually as the AS takes care of more of your gen-ed classes.
Try to see if you can't get an internship/co-op/IT related work study type of gig while in college. The IT field is kind of flooded and experience is a big plus but hard to get.
I'd recommend you get some hands on practice with MS and Cisco while in school before deciding which path to take. Take some type of programming language while in school as it'll help you in the long run.
Just my 2 cents

[Deleted User]

I would say continue with the plan that you currently have. Getting the AAS isn't such a terrible thing but it is harder to transfer the degree to a 4-year school. Although, there are some schools that have something known as the Capstone option. These schools partner up with Junior and Community Colleges and allow students to transfer their AAS into a Bachelor's program. I would possibly look into that because the classes you will take for your AAS are going to be extremely valuable.

In regards to the question about the CCNP, if you have the opportunity to take these classes for cheap I would definitely do it. Even if you don't take the exam, you will gain invaluable hands on lab time and knowledge above the CCNA. After getting your A+, I would look into different job opportunities. There are plenty of places that you could either volunteer or work at to gain some experience.

I am currently in a situation where I have my CCNA but I am also taking on the MCSE. In my area there is a higher abundance of Microsoft jobs so I am almost forced to have both. You will never be hindered by having too much knowledge. If you have the time, money, and resources I would say go after the MS stuff too. If you don't maybe knock out an MCP to show that you know a little about MS. IT is so unique.. you may end up having to step sideways to get to where you want to be in the future. For example, taking a role as a Sys Admin may lead to opportunities in Networking in the future. While you may have wanted to jump straight to Network Engineering you may have to jump to being a Sys Admin from Desktop Support then eventually make your way to Networking. Everyone's job market is different, if there are a lot of NOC jobs try and land one of those because that would probably be the easiest way to gain experience in Networking.

brad-

lurker53 wrote: »

Long term, is it more valuable to go for the Professional level of certs (my school offers CCNP classes for cheap), or get a Bachelor's degree? Keep in mind by summer '11 in addition to certs I would also have an Associate's degree.

In my experience, no employer ever cared about an associates. They dont care about your GPA. You either have a degree or you dont.

That said, I would jump on the CCNP and if you need a BS later to elevate you above competition in your area, then do it. That kind of knowledge is hard to come by for me. I did a B.S., and it was almost all programming and database based, fwiw.

In the end though, it really is about what you want. Do you want to live a college lifestyle and work on a BS, or do you want to get to work ASAP and start making money?