Current Situation and Future Job Prospects

magpul

Hello everyone. I lost my job recently, ran out of money and had to move back in with my parents for the time being. I did desktop support with the federal government for over 5 years. Currently I am taking online classes for a bachelors in Information Technology and am starting to study for CCNA. I have a job interview tomorrow and am actively applying for help desk and desktop support jobs as they become available in my area. I don't want to work in this kind of role over the long term, but want to get my CCNA certification and get into the network side of things. The only problem is I have about 1.5 years left of school, maybe more, if I am taking 12 credits a semester. If I end up getting a job at 40 hours a week I think it is going to be next to impossible for me to continue going to school and study for the CCNA.

Do you guys think it would be better for me to first attain my CCNA cert, and then after I find a job in networking to enroll back into classes for my Bachelors?

Also, are there many jobs out there for people with just a CCNA cert? My experience with the USDA does help on me resume, but it didn't have to do with networking.

Thanks.

Roguetadhg

You can study for school, and study for the CCNA and keep a full time job. Study Certifications M-F. Study School on the weekends. Something like that.

Consider yourself a studier!

There are jobs out there for people with CCNA only. Depends where you feel like moving, if you feel like moving. With the time you'd need to invest in getting a degree, I wouldn't drop out of it. The CCNA exam, probably 6 months at most, if you keep applying some effort into the studies. It may be more. A CCNA and a BS is going to help keep doors open.


As much as I'd like to say my current "IT" job is Networking experience, it isn't. We'd start off at Entry-Level, experience wise. However, Degrees and Certifications can help off-set "Entry-Level" to a point... That's where you'd need to sell yourself as better than Entry-level.