Some career advice?

drumrolfe

Hello Folks:

I would like to solicit some advice from the I.T. community here at TE.

I have been going to school for several years to study for I.T. I got my A.A. last year in I.T. with an emphasis on networking and my B.S. this year in I.T. w/ emphasis in Security (from WGU).

When I started my A.A., I worked in a retail franchise computer repair shop. I started doing bench work and moved my way through to service calls and business consulting. When I finished my A.A., I took a new job with the working for the government in mainly a SysAdmin role for an older platform. 3-4 years total experience now.

My goal is to get into networking and/or information security. I am currently working on my MSISA and I am curious if I should continue down the security path, or back up and obtain my CCNP. I never pursued the CCNP before because I wanted to get some more network related experience, but my area does not have a lot of opportunity for networking positions.

So, would you pursue the CCNP now w/o much professional networking experience or continue with the MSISA and revisit CCNP in the future?

Thanks!

N2IT

drumrolfe wrote: »

Hello Folks:

I would like to solicit some advice from the I.T. community here at TE.

I have been going to school for several years to study for I.T. I got my A.A. last year in I.T. with an emphasis on networking and my B.S. this year in I.T. w/ emphasis in Security (from WGU).

When I started my A.A., I worked in a retail franchise computer repair shop. I started doing bench work and moved my way through to service calls and business consulting. When I finished my A.A., I took a new job with the working for the government in mainly a SysAdmin role for an older platform. 3-4 years total experience now.

My goal is to get into networking and/or information security. I am currently working on my MSISA and I am curious if I should continue down the security path, or back up and obtain my CCNP. I never pursued the CCNP before because I wanted to get some more network related experience, but my area does not have a lot of opportunity for networking positions.

So, would you pursue the CCNP now w/o much professional networking experience or continue with the MSISA and revisit CCNP in the future?

Thanks!

Do you have the time and resources to do both? It's an option.

Personally since you have started the Masters program in Information Assurance I would complete that. IMO more companies including the government will respect your masters degree in security over the certs, with the exception of the CISSP. Now if you are going for a strictly networking position it would be the opposite. Again this is just my opinion, but I think it holds true. You hold the CCNA security which is a nice certification in it own right. I think you are good to go from a certification standpoint and would continue the masters program.

The bottom line to all of this is which one do you value more? Security or Networking? I know they play off of each other in some regards. If you make that decision I think the other decision to follow will be more clear.

Just my 2 cents.

drumrolfe

Thanks for the input.