Certification/Job/Career advice

Hi All,

I have been reading these forums for quite a while now and have made a couple of posts but not many. I have seen and read some fantastic information over the time I have been here and really thankful to this place for that!

I am really after some advice as per title of this post. I began my it career 8 years ago. For 3 years worked supporting homeusers with various products including home pc's, printers, scanners, routers and so on.

I then progressed into the corporate world of I.T support as a 2nd line support analyst. This job covers support for desktops, laptops, network printers, user profiles and so on. Used to include blackberry and mobile device support but we no longer do this. It also covers software support, installs, config and fault finding inc hardware. I also look after and maintain our hp webjet admin system and also a danwood secure swipe card printing system.

I have been working in corporate I.T for 5 years now, 2 years as 2nd line and 3 years as senior 2nd line. During this time I have learnt a lot and progressed my knowledge. I have gained an mcp in windows xp (70-270) which i studied for myself (my company doesn't provide much training)

After 8 years now I am really looking to move on with my career and would like to get away from the help/support desk
environment. Everything I have done so far has been phone based support and this is one of the things that is really draining me at the moment.

In the company I work for there doesn't appear to be any proper channels for promotion. Recently I have applied for a job on our network support team and was turned down for lack of enterprise experience. Fair enough, as i don't have any. But, one thing that i think my company could do better perhaps, is to provide secondments into these areas so that we can gain this
useful experience so that if jobs do come up, we stand a chance of progressing into them. I wanted to show my desire to
progress and i think by applying for the job hopefully that does show what I want to do.

My main problem over the last couple of years is trying to decide what area I would like to progress into. As mentioned
above their are no opportunities to sample life in other areas of the business so its hard to get a grasp of what they do other than briefly talking to people when you get the chance.

I am pretty sure I would like to move into the area of system admin. I have been searching for roles such as Junior
system admin/support in my area and also surrounding areas to where I live and they seem in very short supply. Have only seen one and it asked for quite a lot of things I am yet to see/touch/gain actual experience with.

So I guess what I am asking is to get into such a role, what should my plan of action be. I really, really want to get on and
progress but just need to nail down the best way.

Please help.

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Comments

antc

Anyone have any thoughts or advice?

I am hoping I have created this post in the correct section.

eserfeliz

antc wrote: »

Anyone have any thoughts or advice?

I am hoping I have created this post in the correct section.

Hey,

I'm in a somewhat similar situation at work. I start my new position in the NOC on Monday after being a Help Desk Analyst for the past five years.

My advice to you: start creating opportunities. If you are looking to become a Network Analyst or a Server Admin, try out a self study course and get certified. After you've done this, clean up your resume and knock on the doors of managers with hiring power in your current company. Sit down, explain to them what you want and why you're qualified to take on those responsibilities.

At least here in the US, it's not always about what you know, or applying for an open job. Sometimes it's about who you know, or introducing yourself to an entity that's in a position to help you. Sometimes these people will create positions for you.

Another tack you might consider is analyzing a need your company has, explain to management what they're missing and, most importantly, why YOU are the guy they need to fill that role. Offer to work for free after hours to accomplish this need. You don't need to do this for a great many hours or do it every day, and most likely, they'll turn down your offer anyway. But a few hours every week learning from senior technicians may yield dividends in the future.

Your supervisors aren't going to help you. They need you right where you are. It's up to you to change the tenor of the conversation with people that can do something for you, and who you can do something for.

I wish you nothing but luck.

Xcluziv

eserfeliz wrote: »

Hey,

I'm in a somewhat similar situation at work. I start my new position in the NOC on Monday after being a Help Desk Analyst for the past five years.

My advice to you: start creating opportunities. If you are looking to become a Network Analyst or a Server Admin, try out a self study course and get certified. After you've done this, clean up your resume and knock on the doors of managers with hiring power in your current company. Sit down, explain to them what you want and why you're qualified to take on those responsibilities.

At least here in the US, it's not always about what you know, or applying for an open job. Sometimes it's about who you know, or introducing yourself to an entity that's in a position to help you. Sometimes these people will create positions for you.

Another tack you might consider is analyzing a need your company has, explain to management what they're missing and, most importantly, why YOU are the guy they need to fill that role. Offer to work for free after hours to accomplish this need. You don't need to do this for a great many hours or do it every day, and most likely, they'll turn down your offer anyway. But a few hours every week learning from senior technicians may yield dividends in the future.

Your supervisors aren't going to help you. They need you right where you are. It's up to you to change the tenor of the conversation with people that can do something for you, and who you can do something for.

I wish you nothing but luck.

+1

To get something that you want in life you have to do something you never did. Take INITIATIVE and go out and find something worth while the company needs and act on it. Also, as eserfeliz stated, self-studying for higher level certs will show that you are ready for a change. In addition, I would always inform my supervisor/manager that I would like certain tasks more geared towards what you would like to do. No need of being in an environment where you are limited

MrRyte

Don't wait for the company; start working on your CCNA asap. If after acquiring they still choose not to give you a chance; then it's best to move onwards...

antc

Thanks for the advice so far in this thread! Makes a lot of sense and I really appreciate it!

Definitely going to get on with identifying opportunities to progress!

Also about to start work studying for my MCITP:SA. I have now purchased the ms press books for this. From the 3 exams, 70-640/642/646 which would you advise to start work on first? I also have the book for 70-680 (win 7) as well but would like to start work on a server exam first of all.

Mike-Mike

if you already have the MCP, you don't really need the Win 7 cert right? unless you just want the Win 7 cert to have it

antc

Thats why I think its a good idea to begin with one of the above server certs. As i already have a client exam i can worry about that later.

Mike-Mike wrote: »

if you already have the MCP, you don't really need the Win 7 cert right? unless you just want the Win 7 cert to have it