What is the right path after Solaris certification

Dear Pals,

First of all I'm glad to be a part of group which consists of experienced professionals and technical geeks, experts.

I'm Kannan Engg graduate working in Tata Consultancy Services, Chennai, joined on jan 2012. I can proudly say that I'm a part of Asia's IT monster, but then I'd die of guiltiness because my job is not one can be proud of.

I been recruited in ITIS, but ended up in SERVICE DESK. Yes, handling calls and tickets raised by employees along with science grads. This is not the right job for a engg grad, but I haven't had any other option.

In order to get release from SD, we've to do certification and so I planned to do CCNA. But then, I been convinced to take Solaris course by coaching center official. I'm gonna complete my course and about to take exam within a month.

Now, I'm really scared about my future. To be precise, confused , what to do next. Definitely, my management won't let me out of current team before september, 2013. Then only I can move into another team. I realised, working in tcs more than 2 years will never aid in career, as they focussed on 'what they need from us, rather what we actually need'. So I planning to quit after 2 years and to join another firm.

So how can I shape my career during this period? I'm willing to do CCNA after solaris as I'm interested in Networking too. Will CCNA helps by any chance to my Solaris qualification? Moreover, I haven't yet decided, in which field I have to move on, in Solaris or Networking.

I was told by my trainer, after Solaris, if I cover Linux and some Unix basics, move into storage path (emc2 kinda), it ll serves much scope to career.

Sorry if the post is too long to read, I'm a fresher for this forum too. I expect your advice and guidance in this. I'd be grateful to you if you spare a piece of information.

Regards,

IceKana

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Comments

paul78

Hello Kannan - Welcome to TE.

The Tata companies are very well respected. And in the US (at least among the multinational companies), the freshers that come out of their programs are considered better skilled than most. I suspect that being in Chennai, you will have a broader range of opportunities. Starting in the SD isnt too bad, I assume that the Solaris requirement was to serve a Tata need.

If you have a greater interest in systems, then parlaying your Solaris experience with Linux makes sense. Doing Linux and then virtualization experience makes sense.

But if you really want to be on the network side, a CCNA can help. But that is a very different career path.

pram

Storage is actually a fantastic path to pursue imo, especially NetApp/NetBackup. I work with a lot of guys from Bangalore and they're always looking for more Storage experts in India. Another interesting niche I've seen is System i (AS/400) if you can manage to get experience. If you want to head down the Unix path, picking up an AIX sys admin cert is also a good option. I've worked with AIX/pSeries for a few years now and the experience has been very invaluable. Most of the time I'm the only one with experience, like the only guy who knows how to log in with the HMC if ssh is dead haha. Heres the AIX cert btw:

IBM Certified System Administrator - AIX 7

If you want to stay in Unix I'd suggest specializing. While networking skills are valuable, you typically don't do much outside your role in an MSP organization.

varelg

Solaris is a great path to follow, if the cost of those mandatory classes is covered by somebody else it makes your stepping stone into a better position that much easier.

Zorodzai

Considering the current job climate I would say service desk is not actually a bad place to start. You need to consider that, as a recent graduate, you don't really have that much experience (if any) so service desk lets you build up your skill set. If your emplyer is actually going to pay for the Solaris training and certification that's brilliant - you are basically getting a certification and experience whilst on service desk. My basic point is - don't just look at the negative side, there are actually some positives to starting off on service desk.

icekana

paul78 wrote: »

Hello Kannan - Welcome to TE.

The Tata companies are very well respected. And in the US (at least among the multinational companies), the freshers that come out of their programs are considered better skilled than most. I suspect that being in Chennai, you will have a broader range of opportunities. Starting in the SD isnt too bad, I assume that the Solaris requirement was to serve a Tata need.

If you have a greater interest in systems, then parlaying your Solaris experience with Linux makes sense. Doing Linux and then virtualization experience makes sense.

But if you really want to be on the network side, a CCNA can help. But that is a very different career path.

Dear Paul,

Thank you for valuable comments. As you predicted, in chennai more than 30k people working for Tata and opportunities are high. Probably I'll complete solaris within next month. I heard Linux is 50% similar to solaris and it'd be easy to learn after solaris. Is it true?

icekana

Zorodzai wrote: »

Considering the current job climate I would say service desk is not actually a bad place to start. You need to consider that, as a recent graduate, you don't really have that much experience (if any) so service desk lets you build up your skill set. If your emplyer is actually going to pay for the Solaris training and certification that's brilliant - you are basically getting a certification and experience whilst on service desk. My basic point is - don't just look at the negative side, there are actually some positives to starting off on service desk.

Dear Zorodzai,

I agree that Service desk is not a bad place to start. By working in it, I've learnt the structure of a Mnc and the background processes. But it is not a right place to work for a long time. Hope for the best.

paul78

icekana wrote: »

I heard Linux is 50% similar to solaris and it'd be easy to learn after solaris. Is it true?

Most Unix variant operating systems are very similar and some even use the same tools. So if Unix sysadmin is of interest to you, learning Linux may be a good idea.

Also @pram made a good point about AIX. The AIX operating system is also a Unix variant. This IBM operating system is used by some large enterprises and I am sure a lot of these companies are Tata customers. AIX running on p-series hardware is great. But doesnt have as broad appeal as Linux since it is enterprise class.