CompTIA trifecta completed today, what's next?

tech5621

Passed my Sec+ today to complete my A+/N+/S+ trifecta and I am looking for some opinions what my next option should be. Here is what I have come up with that makes some sense to me, which sounds best?

#1 - Pursue ITIL foundations cert asap. I work closely with Change Management/ITSM at my current job and I feel this cert would be beneficial now and later. I also like the fact that the material is less tech and more business practice, could be a nice change of pace. Complete within ~1 month.

#2 - Pursue ICND1 & 2 after a month break. Fellow employees in my position are gunning for their CCNA within the next few months. Since I am contracted I haven't been "told" a path to take unfortunately. My career goals aren't in stone yet but I feel having a CCNA is helpful for either a Sys Admin or Net Admin path. I plan on obtaining my CCNA at some point. Complete within ?.

#3 - Pursue MCITP coursework after a month break. Again, I see the benefit of having an MCITP in a Net or Sys Admin position and would like to obtain this cert at some point in my career. Complete within ?.

My current position is not what I would call stable being a contractor. Within the next 4-5 months if I have not been transitioned to fulltime I will be looking for a more stable position. Out of the 3 options above which do you feel would be best suited for my situation?

rogue2shadow

Its a rough call. I'm biased towards cisco naturally :P but in the end it really depends on your end goal (regardless of contracting). Telling you to go Cisco when you really want to be a sys admin wouldn't be of any help if your end goal isn't to be a network architect. In my op, since you're closely working with change management and ITIL, you should probably cert up there first then decide where to branch out to. With the contract ending they may be looking for someone who serves as the closest fit to their organization and having that cert to supplement your current experience could be the thing that gives you an edge over your peers.

ibcritn

Studying for CCNA gave me the best skills. I used CBT Nuggets as my main source (great video training...highly recommend it)

I think given the choice id rather have the networking background....everything boils down to it.

CCNA I feel will also be the hardest of those listed. The testing logic with Cisco exams have been by far much harder then (CompTIA, Microsoft) I mean by far a lot harder.

Mike-Mike

if you're already messing with it, I would say go for ITIL, it's way boring though

N2IT

ibcritn wrote: »

Studying for CCNA gave me the best skills. I used CBT Nuggets as my main source (great video training...highly recommend it)

I think given the choice id rather have the networking background....everything boils down to it.

CCNA I feel will also be the hardest of those listed. The testing logic with Cisco exams have been by far much harder then (CompTIA, Microsoft) I mean by far a lot harder.

I've heard this from our network group. Most guys have MS and Cisco certs and have made this claim. Wonder if you would hear this from the Windows guys

ibcritn

N2IT wrote: »

I've heard this from our network group. Most guys have MS and Cisco certs and have made this claim. Wonder if you would hear this from the Windows guys

I am by no means bashing the M$ certs....they are a lot of work no doubt about that. Just I think Cisco testing logic is harder.

badboyeee

I'll be completing my trifecta later this month.

I've just decided to take CCNA courses starting next year. I want to get at least my CCENT by mid-year. Also depending how extensive this course is, I really want to do a Microsoft Exam, not sure which one yet tho. I thought about doing CISSP but that will have to hold til after CCNA. Also depends on what kind of job I can get but this is my plan so far, hope its a good one.

earweed

Actually I think the CCNA would benefit a sys admin/ server admin type way more than MS certs would benefit a network person. I'm going for my CCNA after I get done with the MCITP:EA and WGU. I've already started studying it a little and have my lab partially ready.
The ITIL would probably be a good fairly easy cert for the OP to start off with. It'd be hard to say whether he should go Cisco or MS after that since he hasn't expressed whther he's more interested in the network world or the server world.

tech5621

Thanks for all the feedback. I think I have decided that the ITIL cert makes the most sense since I have involvement at my current position with the material covered. I also did a few job searches in my area and ITIL seems to pop up quite a bit.

My problem is that I enjoy both network and system work, so it's difficult for me to decide on a specific path. Ultimately my passion is more towards security so certs like CEH, CISSP etc. would be in my future. I'm thinking ITIL then to CCNA will be my next steps.

ibcritn

tech5621 wrote: »

Thanks for all the feedback. I think I have decided that the ITIL cert makes the most sense since I have involvement at my current position with the material covered. I also did a few job searches in my area and ITIL seems to pop up quite a bit.

My problem is that I enjoy both network and system work, so it's difficult for me to decide on a specific path. Ultimately my passion is more towards security so certs like CEH, CISSP etc. would be in my future. I'm thinking ITIL then to CCNA will be my next steps.

If your goal is security CCNA (Over Microsoft) would be far more applicable if the role you are looking into would require CEH. I think understanding networking is very valuable in security...as you can normally fix stuff when its not working and that gets you noticed.

Sounds like you have a good plan ahead of you. Good luck.