How have been your career development?

NightShade1

I was wondering how have been your career development ? in what kind of job have you been and all that

Ill start

After the university i started with my first job which was in an ISP as a NOC Technician, they gave me an opportunity cause i had the CCNA haha i was there for like 3 months and then i got an offer from another ISP as a NOC Engineer it seems i impressed the manager... and well i stayed there for like 4 months and now i landed now in my actual for more money of course... which is a company that install configure troubleshoot Networking devices, security devices and also Servers, and well thats a total of 3 years working at total

what about you all?

the_Grinch

Graduated with my BS in Computing and Security Technology, took about 8 months, but I landed a gig as an IT Tech for a small chemical company. Stayed there about 8 months before they began to burn me out (staying late basically every night, an hour drive there and back every day, and monthly trips to an office about 3 hours drive from where I am). Moved to a MSP as a NOC Tech, got moved to the helpdesk and the drive was about 15 minutes. We moved to another office (company forewarned me of this move prior to my hiring) drive became an hour again. Continued on the helpdesk for over a year and then switched to night NOC (just missing the 2 year mark). Finishing up my last 25 days, then moving to deskside support at a college and starting my Masters (as long as I am accepted). After that, who knows!

Everyone

I've had pretty steady progression. I started out in computer sales, did that for about 3 months, then moved to running cable and setting up displays for just short of 2 years. Then I Enlisted in the Air Force, and hit the fast track.

While in the Air Force it went like this:

Help Desk - 3 Months.
Messaging Systems Administrator - 1 year 6 months.
Assistant Manager of Application Services/Webmaster - 1 year.
Assistant Manager of Network Security - 1 year.
Manager of Network Security - 1 year.

Left the Air Force, since then it has been like this:

Lead Messaging Systems Administrator - 3 years.
Exchange Administrator - 2 years and 6 months.
Lead Analyst, Enterprise Messaging - 4+ months (Current).

Also I've been in the Air National Guard since leaving the Air Force, and have had a couple part time (1 weekend a month, 2+ weeks a year) roles for that.
Senior Systems Administrator - 3 years.
Air Operations Center Systems Administration Manager - Almost 3 years (Current).

For those familiar with the US Military, my 10 years of service so far has gone like this.
Entered Active Duty as an A1C (E3).
Made SrA (E4) "below the zone" with 22 months time in service.
Made SSgt (E5) on my first attempt, had it on with 3.5 years time in service.
After leaving Active Duty, my promotion rate slowed down due to how things work in the Guard (gotta wait for someone to die or retire sometimes). Made TSgt (E6) with about 7.5 years time in service.
I'm eligible for promotion to MSgt (E7) now, but need to lose a few more pounds and pass my PT test before that will happen.

altjx

My progress in IT have been growing at a pretty good pace!

I've been pretty much doing desktop support/security since a kid, but I got enrolled at a technical college at 16 1/2. Took some classes towards MCITP and CCNA, and just graduated last year (I'm 20 now). I've been pretty much everyone's motivator, lol.

I've been studying on and off for the past 3 years and now working on my CCNA, which will be my 7th certification. A lot of the people in college was a little procrastinating about their certs, but I've always been a go-getter.

I started working at 17 at all in one IT company doing desktop support. Got laid off after 3 months since the workflow just shot straight down. Got hired by LSU to do some desktop support for a year. That went well, but it was a student position so I started working at a federal credit union for a year doing some network administration work... Worked there for a year, but after new management, things became more restrictive and my job became extremely boring. Half the duties I were hired for became things I started having to ask permission to do, and that was a huge disappointment... Anyways, I'm working in IT Security (6 months), getting a promotion in January, and loving every bit of it!! It'll be right on time for my 21st birthday!

pham0329

help desk > system analyst > system administrator (got my MCITP: SA here) > system/network engineer (Got my MCITP: EMA here) > network administrator (Got my CCNA/CCNP here) > network analyst

snokerpoker

I started out as a Computer Tech with A+ and N+ certs. I did that for about a year and half. Next job was a NOC tech. While working as a NOC Tech I completed my MCSA. I worked there for a year and eight months. Next job was a Jr. Sys Admin. I didn't do many certs at that job which lasted a year and eight months as well. My current position is a Staff Engineer with a consulting firm. I've been at my current position for just over a year and have upgraded my MCSA, got Cisco certified and finished my BS Degree. I plan on staying with my current employer for a while.

darkerz

2007- Freelance Support
2008- College Intern IT Support
2009-2010- College full time, A.A.S. Network Admin
2011- Helpdesk Analyst
2011- Desktop Support II
2011- Computer Operator
2011- Datacenter Operator
2011- Jr. Datacenter Engineer, enrolled in WGU

...

20 years old and making 50k a year with a Healthcare provider.

Many of my friends decided not to work during HS/College. Or pursue certifications. Or internships. Many of them serve me my coffee and fast food now... I have to admit, it brings a little bit of satisfaction to see hard work pay off. Kekeke.

drkat

2002 - Jr Programmer - Perl - ISP
2005 - IT Deployment Technician - Contractor
2005 - Operations Analyst - Hospital
2005 - Desktop Support for IBM
2006 - Xerox Helpdesk
2007 - IT Helpdesk for Citizens Communications
2008 - Field Technician for ARC
2008 - Desktop Support for MVP Healthcare
2008 - IT Administrator for PAETEC
2010 - NOC for PAETEC
2011 - Data Engineer for Earthlink Business
2011 - VoIP Engineer

NightShade1

Thats interesting all the career deveplment of you all guys
keep them coming

ConradJ

Started in the drawing office an architectural metalworks. They realised I knew about computers so I started helping the IT guy.
I got headhunted to move into estimating. Then the IT guy left so I took over as the in-house tech for 25 users.
Moved to Canada, got a job working as the partner of a one-man-band doing all the onsite stuff for mostly home and not-for-profit organizations.
Then I moved to a small IT support co, where I'm at now. We specialise in support for SMBs. Everything from design, implementation, deskside & remote support, some degree of networking, and everything in between.
Very, very varied work. We try to be the one-stop shop. If I can't do it, I'll make it happen.
Love the work, love where I work but the total lack of reasonable pay considering everything I do is driving me into a bad place.

LinuxRacr

1999 : I started in I.T. at the age of 19 working the graveyard operations/support for a local hospital while attending school I.T.T. Tech's EET associate degree program. It was a cut-throat work environment where turnover happened at break-neck speed due to management treatment of employees. After 2 months, I was the senior person on shift...

2000 : After 9 months of that, I had enough of the B.S. One of the people who mentored me (before leaving to go to greener pastures) showed me a link to a contract position. At age 20 I took a chance and went for a 6 month contract position doing operations support (graveyard shift again) for a large telecom company. After six months of hard work, the position turned into a full-time permanent position. In this position, I was able to peruse vendor training, and career development was important to management.

2003 - Shortly after the dot com burst we had to cut costs (and apparently corners). Outsourcing began under a new C.E.O. direction. Shortly afterward, the telecom company had some problems, and was bought by another well-known telecom company. So began the culture integration. The buying company was based on the East coast, while the buyee was based on the West coast, with more of an open, laid-back approach to things. As you can imagine things began to change, and career development was slowed somewhat at a steady rate every year as the companies integrated.

2004 : Over the past year we had been told we had to train our possible replacements, and on top of that, 10 of us were getting laid-off. I ended up switching to a morning shift for about a month. What I didn't know is that all of my years in operations is that I was being "interviewed." An opportunity popped up to fill a system administration position, and was requested for an interview. I got the job, and was working on a team of SA's learning to support several different UNIX flavors under a great manager who believes heavily in successful career development. I had several mentors.

2005-2009 : The company re-orged, and I was told that I would be moving under a new manager. As an SA that was so green, this concerned me. Some of my then current co-workers told me they had interacted with members from that team, and painted them in a negative light. All of the experienced SA's found other gigs before the switch happened, and I was left being the only person moving on to the other team that was from the company that had bought ours. As I started, my attitude was one of keep my mouth shut, and my ears open to see what was what. I remember one of the first meetings with the new team. The manager basically told me that I was going to be thrown into the deep end. Either I was going to become a stone-cold troubleshooting, configuring killer, or I was going to go home crying to my mom.... What I found out is that there was a lot of things I could learn from this team. Now mind you, this manager was a HR nightmare waiting to happen, but he takes care of his folks and gets results. I'd work for him again. Several years later, and several rounds of lay-offs later, I was still employed, and had added considerable knowledge due to trial by fire. I actually had stuff to offer to the team! Just when I was starting to feel like a integral part of the team, the company reorged again, and I had a decision to make. Stay, or branch out into the security side of things.

2010 : I made the jump to doing UNIX security, under a different manager. Since we were a brand new team, there has been a lot to do, and a lot of procedures that needed to be created, while preparing for audits. There has been hardly any time for career development. That is why I made the decision to go back to school to complete my bachelor's degree. In this present climate, I feel vulnerable. I don't want to possibly be laid off, and have to compete with other job applicants that have a bachelor's...