Going beyond Helpdesk/Field Tech Position

jbishop

Hey All,

I stumbled into the IT field while studying Communications which essentially was public speaking and presenting. I had an interest in IT but was told by the college I attended that I didn't have the aptitude for it because of my Math scores (Algebra still evades me). One year later I got a job in IT performing Helpdesk duties. I ended up really liking it but not finishing school because I learned a lot more on the job and of course I don't have the aptitude to study IT.

3 months ago I got my A+ certification and will be taking my Network + test here soon. I now have a total of 2 years and 10 months of IT experience and really want to move into a Business or Network Analyst role. I really enjoy the networking side of things and would like to pursue that some more. This brings me to my question for anyone out there that may know what certifications or degree I should focus on to move into that roll.

I find myself stuck in Helpdesk which has become very easy for me. The job I'm at now said that I would be working a lot of OT. Which was cool because they don't pay very well! So I came in, changed some of how they processed things, reduced their response times by about 9 hours and have a steady flow of resolving 90% of their calls. I credit this to what I've studied in Network+ and playing around with applications at home. I also have written some scripts to make program deployments easier. I'm starting to wonder if I have the competency to study IT now, probably not. In a nutshell, they are considering dropping my full-time status because I'm really only needed for about 30 hours a week. Fun.

Anyways, to the point (sorry a little stressed and needed to vent about the situation), what would be my best course of action for getting out of the Helpdesk cycle? I've identified that I need to go from 'supporter' to a configuration role but on the same side I don't want to fluff anything. I've seen network guys come in fresh from college and I end up teaching them Terminal and CMD prompt commands. It's fun. Essentially I feel like I have this label of Helpdesk that people see when they look at my job titles on my resume and though my Objective states something like Network Analyst, I get calls from recruiters wanting me to work Helpdesk.

I thank you all for your time and any input you provide. I'm pretty sure there's some way of marketing myself that I'm missing which is keeping me in the Helpdesk role.

Thanks again,

-Jeremy

DoubleNNs

Get your CCNA.

Edit your resume to be tailored towards the job you want to get. You can't do much about the job titles you've held, but what you put down in the bullet points, summary, skills section, and what certs you get, are all up to you.



And I don't buy the "don't have the aptitude to study IT." bullspit. The few math classes you'd have to take might be harder to grasp for you than other people, but you could plow thru them w/ effort. That's also the reason they have tutors.

In all honesty, IT has very little math in it, esp when compared to Comp Sci or Comp Engineering. You usually only need to learn your basic algebra and pre-calc. Don't even have to get to actual calculus for most programs (although,personally, i think calc 1 is not only easy but fun. lol)

clouder

I completely agree with DoubleNNs. Don't let something like math, which you will rarely use in IT, keep you from your study of choice. I've been in the field for almost 12 years and haven't needed to do much math at all.

paul78

Hello Jeremy and welcome to the forums. It sounds from your description that you do seem to have a knack and passion for IT. Having that right passion for your career choice in-itself is probably more important than having an aptitude for math. It could also be that certain teaching styles don't work for your learning style. Anyway - as DoubleNNs mentioned, if you do like the network aspect of IT, starting with something like CCNA could help as you look to advance in your career. If the CCNA seems to daunting, perhaps start with the Comptia Network+. Note however, that there are certain aspects of network administration that do require a firm understanding of certain math concepts - in particular with sub-netting of IP addresses.

DoubleNNs

I feel subnetting isn't anything close to "high-level" math. At least at the Network+/CCENT level, subnetting has been nothing more than basic mental arithmetic, pattern recognition, and some memorization.

Learning subnetting might take more effort for someone who doesn't like math, but once learned, it's pretty simple, even for someone who doesn't do well w/ other math.

Just my opinion.

paul78

True - it's only 1's and 0's - Actually - I was thinking about understanding binary and 1's complement math to understand IP addressing. But as I ponder on it - you are right - the techniques that I was thinking of are typically used when developing network software and probably not need for day-to-day network administration.

Nemowolf

I am going to be the dissenter here, be forewarned.

Your college, i am guessing brick and mortar, was probably not talking about IT in the sense that you know it now but instead more of Comp.Sci which is programming and does require math. Your ability to learn the Math required may have been a big challenge but as others have noted, you wont be using much "advanced" math.

Now, more to your question. I wouldn't start with CCNA as that is vendor specific and can be an overly large target from the get go with no previous experience prior to your current role. The Network+ will give you a broad overview that is not specific to any one vendor and probably the best way to get exposure to more of the fundamentals of networking. Beyond that would be the CCENT which is the first half of the CCNA if Cisco ends up being where you want to go. There ARE other vendors out there that do have some of the market share but if you travel those paths, expect to find it harder to use those skills unless you are in a position to rip out the current equipment and put in your vendor of choice's.

Having your Net+, CCENT, CCNA, etc will be great for you but you may also want to round out your other knowledge trees with a security+, MS certs, etc. You are at the start of a life long road and the worst part is that you can only see so far ahead, there is no reason to not expect forks in the road in the future that may take you down a completely different route than one you can see right at this moment.