The Next Step

Hello to all TE members,

I've been browsing these forums for quite awhile now and have never made an account. I look to see if people ask the questions I would ask and what the answers are. I've noticed a lot of patterns and a lot of the users and the questions they ask and the responses they give. Overall I've come to take a liking to this forum and believe that it is a nice little community that often gives good advice.

Regardless of how long I browse this place I just can't seem to get an answer to the question I'm looking for. Not that the question hasn't been asked but I can't seem to find the answer as it relates to myself.

I'm currently in the military and work in the IT field. I have a TS clearance and have just recently completed my Associates degree in Information Technology. I am pursuing my Bachelors in IT w/ a concentration in Security. I currently hold A+, Net+, Sec+ (CompTIA) and MCP70-270 certifications as well as a few Homeland Security certs(Not related to IT though.)

I am trying to figure out where I want to go.. Or what the next step is for myself. I would like to honorably discharge from the military in about a year and I would like to net a job but I want to be someone that brings something to the company. I currently do more network oriented things however there it is a huge infosec environment. I do many things and know a LOT about cryptography and different types of CCI as I primarily work with it here.

So what's the next certification to go after? Even though I have th MCP exam, I had to learn EVERYTHING almost for it. I don't do any sysadmin type things in my job.

Do I got for ITIL? CCNA? Security certs? Would knowing Citrix be good? Would starting to learn the ins and outs of virtualization or cloud be good for a company? I work very little I mean liiiiittle with Solaris but would knowing that be good? I just don't know what to do.

Please, help me out TE forums!

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Comments

Hypntick

The eternal question of "what's next?" Honestly, you'll have to ask yourself that question. What do you like to do IT wise? Do you like security, virtualization, project management, sys admin or network admin type stuff? Once you figure that one out, you'll be in a better position to answer that question.

Myself for example, I know I don't care for security in depth, so i'm exploring what other options are out there. I think that the key to finding out what exactly you want to do is to try and get your hands on a little bit of everything. Get a little bit of experience and that'll give you a better understanding. Hope that makes sense, i've had a few glasses of wine to celebrate the weekend.

JustAnotherUser

Of course it makes sense! and I appreciate the response! Enjoy your 3 day weekend! (If you get one of course, I don't..Boo shift worker)

You know, I don't really know what I like to do IT wise. I know what I'm good at though. I can troubleshoot and fix WAN/LAN's, circuits, repair crypto and update Remedy and the like, like none other!

From what I happened to learn and mess around with regarding sys admin while earning the 70-270 I'm not sure if I like it too much.

Networking I kind of like, or at least what I know as networking.

I would like to delve into Security a little more I'm just not sure how.

I have 0 Project Management experience although I am taking a college course on it come March!

I've no idea about virtualization. I would like to know how to get into it a little more. Or how I could check it out / get use to it without doing it professionally.

See, where I am there's not much leeway in doing other things then those that are here that we currently do. I am moving into a new department that provides Tier 2 support come March. As of now I just troubleshoot circuits.

I would like to explore each of these areas a bit further, dabble in them on my off time, so that I can maybe get a feel for them and then have a better idea of which I like and dislike so that I can move ahead!

earweed

From what I can tell from your post a CCNA may be in your future as well as some security certs. I'm by no means an expert in any of these fields.
One thing I like to recommend to anyone holding an active clearance is that they do go inactive and after a period of time have to be redone completely (can't recall off the top of my head exactly how long) so after leaving the military go after the clearance jobs even if you must relocate. I let my clearance I had go dormant too long and I'm pretty much dead to any "clearance required" job posting.

JustAnotherUser

Thanks for the advise on the clearance man. Yeah that's one of the more difficult things at the moment. Location.

Anyone have any advise on what security certifications to go after, after sec+?

Any idea on how to go about tampering with other IT fields while at home?

I appreciate all input so far!

JustAnotherUser

So I took a look at the security forums and noticed some pretty detailed posts...

I suppose my question still remains.. how could I go about exploring different IT realms at home?

Priston

I think you should do some searching, look at different job postings and find out what job roles and job environments are out there that sound interesting to you.

Dakinggamer87

Priston wrote: »

I think you should do some searching, look at different job postings and find out what job roles and job environments are out there that sound interesting to you.

I agree it will help you narrow down your options to see what will be the best overall fit.

This helped me when I decided to start my IT career that I would start in Help Desk/Desktop Support/PC Tech then move into a Network/Systems Admin. or Network Engineer which is the job role I'm pursuing.

JustAnotherUser

Well after doing a lot of research I found that I'm qualified for many LAN/WAN and Systems Engineer jobs... I still don't know what cert to go after!

I think right now I'm trying to decide between ITIL and CCNA...

Btw, thanks to all that have posted so far

mezeker

I believe you should shot for the ITIL exam. When you work with networking equipment and have to submit an CR to change a setting on a switch that will effect the entire user group you might not what a Change Request is, ITIL will teach you that. If you what to know the impact on a service and how it will effect your SLA with your user group on the outside by upgrading all routers, well you need to justify why this upgrade is needed and how by doing this will effect users and maybe even your boss, ITIL will help you.

I think if you understand ITIL it will help you many times over to become a better tech.

I am ITIL v3 certified soon to be ITIL expert.

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10 Salary-Boosting IT Certifications - Careers (on side 9 ITIL is listed)

mikedisd2

JustAnotherUser wrote: »

Well after doing a lot of research I found that I'm qualified for many LAN/WAN and Systems Engineer jobs... I still don't know what cert to go after!

I think right now I'm trying to decide between ITIL and CCNA...

Btw, thanks to all that have posted so far

ITIL Foundations v3 may only take you about 2x weeks of study and it's well worth it as companies prefer you to be familiar with some kind of workflow and best practices methodology. While you do the ITIL you can decide your path.

veritas_libertas

JustAnotherUser wrote: »

Of course it makes sense! and I appreciate the response! Enjoy your 3 day weekend! (If you get one of course, I don't..Boo shift worker)

You know, I don't really know what I like to do IT wise. I know what I'm good at though. I can troubleshoot and fix WAN/LAN's, circuits, repair crypto and update Remedy and the like, like none other!

From what I happened to learn and mess around with regarding sys admin while earning the 70-270 I'm not sure if I like it too much.

Networking I kind of like, or at least what I know as networking.

I would like to delve into Security a little more I'm just not sure how.

I have 0 Project Management experience although I am taking a college course on it come March!

I've no idea about virtualization. I would like to know how to get into it a little more. Or how I could check it out / get use to it without doing it professionally.

See, where I am there's not much leeway in doing other things then those that are here that we currently do. I am moving into a new department that provides Tier 2 support come March. As of now I just troubleshoot circuits.

I would like to explore each of these areas a bit further, dabble in them on my off time, so that I can maybe get a feel for them and then have a better idea of which I like and dislike so that I can move ahead!

CCNA --> CCNA:Security sounds like it is right up your alley.

JustAnotherUser

Both CCNA and ITIL3 sound good to me really! I just need to decide on which to do first!

We use ITIL here, so I know a bit about it!

Thanks to everyone for your responses so far!

I'll keep everyone updated on what I end up doing. Still kicking it around... Which to get first...

earweed

ITIL would probably be the easiest and quickest to get if that carries any weight. The CCNA would pack more pure punch on the resume. It would probably be a good idea to get the ITIL while assembling your CCNA lab or familiarizing yourself with whatever simulator you might use if not using real equipment. The CCNA will take more time.