Advice for Life

staub81

Hi,
Just found this forum and it looks awesome.
I have some questions that I think you guys might be able to answer for me.

I'm in an interesting situation.

I'm currently the technology director for a nonprofit organization. I've been here 10 years, make 65k. I'm looking to move jobs in the next year or so, so I'm trying to get everything in order to make finding a job easier.

At my current job I have literally done it all. I'm familiar with sbs2008, server 2008, exchange 2007, ISA 2006 and more. I do quite a bit of graphic design, web design all the tech support etc. It's a small network ~50 workstations and that seems to make things difficult because I don't have experience on a large network.


I don't have a specialized skill or career path, I'm open to anything. Right now Im looking at network engineer positions and system administrator positions.

I just finished my bachelors in MIS.

I'm trying to figure out which is the best path for me, so here are my questions.

1. I have been given a full scholarship to a university that doesn't have a masters program in IT. I've narrowed the choices down to the following,
Master of Arts in Management and Leadership. MBA in Leadership, Masters of Education in educational technology and online learning.

What should I choose? Right now I'm leaning toward the M.ed. because the classes for the management programs do not look fun at all.

2. I also want to start on my certifications.
I'm trying to decide which Microsoft certification is right for me and also if I should do my CCNA before or after the microsoft certification.

3. If I started looking for a network engineering or systems administrator job what do you think I could expect to make with that kind of background in Texas.(CCNA, MCITP, BS, Masters in progress, 10 years on small network.)

Thanks for your help!

Turgon

staub81 wrote: »

Hi,
Just found this forum and it looks awesome.
I have some questions that I think you guys might be able to answer for me.

I'm in an interesting situation.

I'm currently the technology director for a nonprofit organization. I've been here 10 years, make 65k. I'm looking to move jobs in the next year or so, so I'm trying to get everything in order to make finding a job easier.

At my current job I have literally done it all. I'm familiar with sbs2008, server 2008, exchange 2007, ISA 2006 and more. I do quite a bit of graphic design, web design all the tech support etc. It's a small network ~50 workstations and that seems to make things difficult because I don't have experience on a large network.


I don't have a specialized skill or career path, I'm open to anything. Right now Im looking at network engineer positions and system administrator positions.

I just finished my bachelors in MIS.

I'm trying to figure out which is the best path for me, so here are my questions.

1. I have been given a full scholarship to a university that doesn't have a masters program in IT. I've narrowed the choices down to the following,
Master of Arts in Management and Leadership. MBA in Leadership, Masters of Education in educational technology and online learning.

What should I choose? Right now I'm leaning toward the M.ed. because the classes for the management programs do not look fun at all.

2. I also want to start on my certifications.
I'm trying to decide which Microsoft certification is right for me and also if I should do my CCNA before or after the microsoft certification.

3. If I started looking for a network engineering or systems administrator job what do you think I could expect to make with that kind of background in Texas.(CCNA, MCITP, BS, Masters in progress, 10 years on small network.)

Thanks for your help!

I think you would get some work. I cant advise on the rates though as Im across the pond in GB. Educationally I would lean towards the MA in Management or the MBA. Do you have any supervisory or management experience? If you were sole provider of IT I imagine you have budget experience and/or project experience.

You want to leverage the hands on experience you have when you apply for jobs, so get all the improvements and projects you have accomplished in terms of infrastructure work down on your CV. Upgrades count. Coming from a small background can be an asset when you apply for jobs in larger shops because you can demonstrate that you can handle responsibility. But enterprise class IT work does hang together differently with separation of roles across IT. You can expect dedicated teams not only for desktop, server, application, dba and network, but also division of labour between support and design teams and a lot more process, auditing and standards and (sometimes) bullshit than you are used to. Familarity of ticketing systems, dealing with suppliers and examples of documentation and out of hours support experience will all be useful. If you are small then you want to demonstrate that you have worked in a structured way by putting some of the helpdesk type processes in place at your own shop. Even a simple database recording jobs and a ticket number is better than nothing. You also want some awareness of monitoring systems. Download some free ones and play around with them.

In terms of certifications, you definitely want to knock out MCSA to gilt edge your hands on as familarity isn't enough for some roles in larger shops, and the CCNA would be good. In terms of systems, in enterprise class shops you can expect datacentres and large scale storage, and shared infrastructure and VMs as well as separation of networks and a good deal of security i.e firewalls.