How to move out from help desk

I am approaching my 5th year working as Help-Desk and would like to move up the ladder. I already got ccna but im still stuck here.

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lsud00d

If you are 5 years in and haven't moved up then you need to look outside your current place of employment.

With the A+ and CCNA you should be a good candidate for a junior sys admin position.

What is it that you want to do?

sizeon

I like networking and Virtualization

fiftyo

sizeon wrote: »

I like networking and Virtualization

Start looking for a new job or try to begin hanging out with the networking/virtualization guys at your current job, eventually there will be an opening and if you are already associated with them, you will likely get the new opening.
Knowledgewise look into VCP/ccna:sec/jncia.
My 2 cents anyway..

loxleynew

Helpdesk + ccna doesn't do much for you as you don't use your ccna. You should look for a noc job then as that's the "helpdesk" of networking and with your ccna i would imagine you could get it fairly easily. Either that or look for a small company that wants a jack of all trades jr admin.

N2IT

You really don't need more than you have. The A+ and CCNA are good certifications to achieve. I agree with the DOOD completely. Look outside the company. CCNA and 5 years of service desk is not a bad place to be. You can leverage that and make it happen. \

Look for system analyst position maybe more software support so you can learn web services, etc. That could put you in a good place.

Iristheangel

I know I've posted in other threads about my "two year" rule but I don't think I've ever mentioned it directly to you, Sizeon. I would recommend jumping ship and finding a new company/role if you stay somewhere for 2 years and your job title hasn't changed. At least you should adopt this practice for the first 10 years of your IT career. If you do not get a title change in the first 2 years of your job, it is highly unlikely you will change roles internally. It's better to take a risk with the unknown than to be stuck in the same role for long periods of time.

As far as what to do now, I would recommend looking at other companies ASAP. If I recall correctly from past posts, you're in NYC and very underpaid for your experience (I hope I'm not confusing you with someone else) so moving up from that should be a lot easier than waiting to be promoted. I would recommend jumping on Dice, Indeed, Monster, Hotjobs, and Craigslist and applying away. Not only should you apply but you should also create a profile and post a SEARCHABLE resume so recruiters can call you. Also consider the idea of temp-to-perm. If you're good at what you do or can learn fast, you could find an amazing job this way. That's how I found my last two jobs.

As others have mentioned, networking is great as well. You could find local networking chapters. For me, I socialize with "Women of IT" type groups and am able to expand my network that way but there are tons of groups also aimed at virtualization, Cisco, networking, monitories in IT, etc where you might be able to get a leg up. I wouldn't recommend 100% on word of mouth but it's a nice thing to have and a great place to learn (like these forums).

Good luck, Sizeon!

pinkydapimp

solid advice above as always.

1. Start looking for a new job.
2. post your resume for feedback.
3. While you look continue to build your skillset. - Sounds like VCP would be a great addition to your skillset.

Psoasman

Iristheangel wrote: »

I know I've posted in other threads about my "two year" rule but I don't think I've ever mentioned it directly to you, Sizeon. I would recommend jumping ship and finding a new company/role if you stay somewhere for 2 years and your job title hasn't changed. At least you should adopt this practice for the first 10 years of your IT career. If you do not get a title change in the first 2 years of your job, it is highly unlikely you will change roles internally. It's better to take a risk with the unknown than to be stuck in the same role for long periods of time.

Good advice as always. I've been in the same role for about 5 years now. I think my Help Desk must be different than other companies. The years have flown by and I am quite comfortable in my position, but it is time to move up / out. I've got a part-time sys admin position which is gaining me valuable knowledge and experience. I promised my wife I would start applying for higher level positions and so I am.

Iristheangel

What kind of role are you looking for, Psoasman? Too bad you can't move up in your current company since it sounds like you enjoy that company.

Psoasman

I am very interested in information security. My rough plan now is to start on the CCNA >>CCNA:Security>>SSCP? I know I need more networking knowledge and experience, in order to be able to secure networks. Any advice is welcome.

YuckTheFankees

If you are interested in a security job, I would suggest looking at all the hiring websites and see what kind of skills/certs/education/experience companies are looking for....and start working on getting the items companies are asking for.

Iristheangel

Information security can be a big field.

Cisco is definitely a big one to learn and I, personally, found it a ton of fun. If you're looking for a more technical security role, I would recommend CCNA>CCNA:Security> Get a network or security oriented job so you can put some of this to practice> CCNP:Security & SSCP

If you're looking for more of a policy and information assurance role, CCNA/CCNA:Security are good to have for the technical basics but getting some auditing and compliance experience would be good to go from there and then move onto more security auditing or managerial certifications like the CISSP, CISA, etc - which will require four years of work experience but they are considered gold in that field. I thought I was going to go this direction and ended up in networking because it wasn't an fun to me