Attempting to Re-enter IT - What to Pair Cisco With?

In a former life I was an IT professional for over 6 years. For the past several years, however, I have worked in a completely different field. At this point, I am ready to delve back into technology professionally - hopefully for good.

To help counter my lack of recent experience, I obtained my CCNA last year, and am currently studying for the CCNP and am looking for something to supplement it with. My goal at this point isn't simply to amass a pile of certifications, but to feel confident and well equipped to perform well in both a technical interview and on the job.

I make decent money now, so a truly entry-level position is completely out of the question. Many of the mid-range jobs I'm seeing that pay closer to what I would need to make require more than Cisco experience only; many want someone who knows their way around Windows 2003/2008/2012 on the server side. I worked in the Windows world extensively, but that came to an end professionally way back in 2004.

Certainly, current real-world experience is king, but I'm in kind of a catch-22 situation where I need experience to get the job I want, but I'd need that job to get the experience. So, in the meantime I'm looking to equip myself as fully as is practical for the interview circuit. My question is: what would make the most sense as a supplement to a CCNA (and eventually CCNP) given my situation?

Really, I just want to bring my former professional experience in the Windows enterprise world up to current levels as much as possible. I neither want to look like a fool in an interview, nor do I want to "fudge" my way through it only to be completely dumbfounded when I'm thrown into a real job. Whether that involves going for a certification (perhaps an MSCA?) or simply studying some books and practicing the material, I'm open to it...

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

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Comments

nerdinhiding

I would recommend the MCSA 2008 or 2012. You could buy or build an inexpensive server and install hyper-v on it with a couple of trials of Windows Server to get some real world make it and break it experience. Also a mix of some Cisco security helps cover the bases for what you will come across in the wild. Cheers.

instant000

What field do you currently work in?

You could try to angle into IT within that field, as you'll be more familiar with it, and the transition won't be as difficult, as you already understand "how the business side works".

Hope this makes sense to you.

pert

Are you going Cisco networking or are you going IT? They don't overlap much at all. Getting MS and Cisco certs is a waste of time in most jobs.

Alexf302

pert, Cisco is my preference. However, I have more of a professional background in Windows and many of the networking-specific jobs that I am finding are either pure entry-level or too advanced (5-10+ years of experience needed, certifications or not). The IT jobs in the middle almost always require Windows experience as well as CCNA or CCNP level networking skills. I figured I'd try for the well-rounded approach as that would seem to open up the most opportunities for me specifically. I am open to any and all suggestions should there be a better way to go about it.

gbadman

Alexf302 wrote: »

The IT jobs in the middle almost always require Windows experience as well as CCNA or CCNP level networking skills. I figured I'd try for the well-rounded approach as that would seem to open up the most opportunities for me specifically.

Four years ago I had the same thoughts as you, and my experience was 3 years in mostly software testing. I had just completed the CCNA and wanted to grab the MCSA to "round myself out". I passed 3 MCP exams but could never get over the hump of the Exchange exam to actually complete the MCSA. Along the journey, I realised that adding MS knowlege was pretty pointless and irrelevant to my desired field, which was engineering in the SP world. I eventually got into a role that interested me, but the MS certs had nothing to do with it. I've often wished that I'd stayed focused on Cisco rather than taking a wild detour into MS.

I would advise that you decide precisely what you want out of your career, where you see yourself in 5 years time. If it's in an advanced Network Engineering role, then block the MS out of your mind and focus on that CCNP. Beyond entry level, Network Engineering roles are often distinct from Systems Admin roles. And certainly at the more advanced level, you're not going to see many places where Network Engineers have anything to do with Microsoft.

Given that you have many years of general experience and therefore most probably have certain broad professional competencies that are pretty valued, I suspect that with a CCNP you'd probably be able to get into a role slightly above entry level. Then you can take control of your own development from there.

ITMonkey

I agree with the comments regarding the predominance of becoming specialized. I.e: one choses a networking path or a platform path or a database path (with perhaps a sprinkling of management in each of these categories).

Its worth adding, though, that there is an angle where cross-dicipline knowledge helps in your job search: that of sales engineering for various vendors. A degree of specialization is needed in this career role. After all, one needs to come across as "the Expert" in that vendor's product space. Often, however, sales engineers need to communicate intelligently with the previously mentioned specialists.

pert

Alexf302 wrote: »

pert, Cisco is my preference. However, I have more of a professional background in Windows and many of the networking-specific jobs that I am finding are either pure entry-level or too advanced (5-10+ years of experience needed, certifications or not). The IT jobs in the middle almost always require Windows experience as well as CCNA or CCNP level networking skills. I figured I'd try for the well-rounded approach as that would seem to open up the most opportunities for me specifically. I am open to any and all suggestions should there be a better way to go about it.

I'm sure taking classes in culinary arts and accounting would open up more opportunities for you as well. I just don't think that's a relevant point. The only place high level MS + Cisco combine is small shops where you do buildouts for 3rd parties, or high end integration of Cisco voice and Outlook features. For the vast, vast majority there is no overlap. Pick one and become an expert at that. If you pick networking you may have to work sysadmin job to get enough experience to transition, I know I did. Just don't confuse that with the MS / general IT fields having any meaningful overlap with networking.