Newbie to forum that needs advice...

I am a newbie to this site, but I am not a newbie to IT. I have worked in a Help Desk environment for over eight years. I am now the Team Lead over the Training Team. I am essentially a Technical Trainer, although that is not my job title. I finished my BS degree in Management of Information Systems last year. I currently do not have any certifications, which is the reason for this post.

My goal is to get out of the Help Desk environment and move into management of IT. Everywhere that I read states that I should get my A+ first. Is it really worth the money for me to get the A+ at this time? I am most interested in networking and learning how to manage and/or be the project lead over networks and servers.

I know there is not a fast track for certifications. I was told by the company I work for that a four year degree is the way to go if I wanted to move into management. Well, needless to say, this hasn’t worked out very well. I am looking for another job. The majority of IT jobs require certifications. I am sure that most of you have been in this boat before. I am not getting paid for the education and experience that I have.

Please advise. Any thoughts and/or suggestions on my next certification steps? I appreciate all of the help in advance.

Calvin

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Comments

Essendon

I'd suggest against the A+. This cert is for folks who want to get into the nitty-gritties of IT, not for people like you who want to get into Management. Your best bet would be to start on the ITIL v3 Foundations cert and then progress into the intermediate certs. Or after ITIL v3 foundations, you could go after the PMP (but I believe there are specific requirements for this one), Prince2 is also catching up. Research on what's in demand in your area and go for it.

And welcome to the site!!

BoneSpur

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Essendon

BoneSpur wrote: »

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Seems it copied in the default text for you!

BoneSpur

I'm an idiot, I guess. that's what I get for doing ten things at once. I am at a crossroads. ITIL may be the best way to go for me, but I'm really interested in networking and security. I just don't want my MIS degree to goto waste.

Essendon

BoneSpur wrote: »

I'm an idiot, I guess. that's what I get for doing ten things at once. I am at a crossroads. ITIL may be the best way to go for me, but I'm really interested in networking and security. I just don't want my MIS degree to goto waste.

Thing is, are you interested in the everyday hands-on part or the management of it?

1. You went the traditional hands-on way climbing up the totem pole. You'll probably start at Desktop Support, and you'll require the A+, the MCDST type of certs. After spending say a couple of years or so in Desktop Support, you start applying for sys admin positions and if you are lucky you may land a position which includes doing some security work. You'll probably be a sys admin for 3-4 years, maybe more. You should work on the security certs during this time, maybe getting the CCNA:S or better still the CCNP:S. Another 2 years pass, and if you get lucky you may find a job doing CISSP level stuff, firewalls and all. This is assuming things go your way almost every time.

You are looking at around 8-10 years before you get into Management. And you'll probably have to get the ITIL/PMP certs anyway.

2. The less trodden-upon way. You start working on the ITIL/PMP/Prince2 certs now. You already have years of experience as the Helpdesk Team Lead. Dress up your resume, tack on some of these certs and start flooding out your resume for Desktop Team Lead/Systems Team Lead type positions.

This way you might get where you want to quicker. Maye 4-8 years instead of 8-10.

Just my 2 cents!

Panzer919

BoneSpur wrote: »

I'm an idiot, I guess. that's what I get for doing ten things at once. I am at a crossroads. ITIL may be the best way to go for me, but I'm really interested in networking and security. I just don't want my MIS degree to goto waste.

Me personally, I say take the red pill, its much more fun over here

If you want to get into networking and/or security, figure out how far you want to go and in which direction. Meaning that there are multiple vendors, with multiple products. You can do like I did and go all Cisco, get plenty of knowledge and experience but be limited to one vendor (although a lot of the knowledge can transfer to other vendors products), or you can make yourself diverse and mess with multiple vendors. That is a question that only you can answer, if you want to go into security and/or networking, go all in. Get the books, simulators/emulators, video's and use these forums to help you. Granted nothing can replace experience, but if you go into an interview after doing multiple labs the night before, you should be able to impress the person your talking to enough to at least get a shot to prove yourself.

Good thing about a degree though, it never expires. You could do the networking or security thing for a while and always go into management later on when your tired of late night maintenance's and something blowing up.

kiki162

Think of getting certifications as learning something new on the path to where you want to be. Although I understand your questioning whether you want to waste your time taking the A+ exam. Getting some of the basic/mainstream certs (like A+, Security+, MCP, etc..etc...) will help you to learn different aspects of IT that you may or may not be completely familiar with.

You really can't jump directly from Help Desk to Management right away without some experience in between. If you had maybe a Master's/MBA and like a ITIL, or PMP cert under your belt, then maybe you can jump into a management position. But going back to your question, you need to figure out which area, or areas you want to have experience with help to guide you as to which certs you need to take next (MCITP, MCTS, CCNA...etc) and there is a lot of areas you can learn or cross train in.

Another note is that management is a great area to get in to, but a lot of times you will find that you aren't getting your hands dirty with all the IT stuff that people under would be doing. Management is more focused in that area, and who are done with getting their hands dirty.

I think you have a great plan and idea in mind, and you have your degree along with some experience to help you in your journey. Good Luck!

xxxooxxx

My suggestion is MCSE (or MCITP:EA) plus CCNA. If you wish to work for a large company, then add ITIL V3

You will build up the fundamentals of Networking and Server Management while doing so.

You can't manage System Admins and Network Admins without knowing their jobs first.

Once this is done, you can use the combination of your supervisory experience and technical skills to move into IT management.

You can also learn the basics of Virtualization, Email, Database systems. Don't spend the time getting certified as these certs are rarely listed as requirements.

Turgon

BoneSpur wrote: »

I am a newbie to this site, but I am not a newbie to IT. I have worked in a Help Desk environment for over eight years. I am now the Team Lead over the Training Team. I am essentially a Technical Trainer, although that is not my job title. I finished my BS degree in Management of Information Systems last year. I currently do not have any certifications, which is the reason for this post.

My goal is to get out of the Help Desk environment and move into management of IT. Everywhere that I read states that I should get my A+ first. Is it really worth the money for me to get the A+ at this time? I am most interested in networking and learning how to manage and/or be the project lead over networks and servers.

I know there is not a fast track for certifications. I was told by the company I work for that a four year degree is the way to go if I wanted to move into management. Well, needless to say, this hasn’t worked out very well. I am looking for another job. The majority of IT jobs require certifications. I am sure that most of you have been in this boat before. I am not getting paid for the education and experience that I have.

Please advise. Any thoughts and/or suggestions on my next certification steps? I appreciate all of the help in advance.

Calvin

The company told you a four year degree was the way to go to get into management but they didn't say you would become a manager there. You have the degree and hopefully the company helped you financially to get that.

If you want to be a manager then you need to get some management experience quickly and you wont get that in helpdesk. You have some team lead experience and that counts and as a trainer you should be able to communicate with groups of people. You also have a degree. I would say thats a decent combination if you spin it right on your CV. You should be trying to land assistant manager or supervisor jobs, either running a helpdesk or other operational role. For certifications an MCP plus a CCNA would put you way over the qualifications of many service managers so look at those. You do want ITIL. Try knocking on the door of solutions companies or service providers for a break. Explain you enjoy leading small teams and want to grow into a management role. Many operations teams are small.

kurosaki00

Im not a manager and never worked as one
But I would really recommend skipping A+ at that point
With that experience A+ is just obsolete, just a pretty A for your wall/resume and thats it
Skip the basics (A+, N+) and move to the big stuff

BoneSpur

Thank you