Looking for career advice from established IT professionals

moneygk

I'm looking for some advice of what direction to go in IT. I've done searches and read a lot on this topic but couldn't find one that was similar to my situation. If anyone can speak from experience and help me out, I would greatly appreciate it. I am the first one in my family to graduate with a degree so I can't rely heavily on family members for advice. Here's my story...

I graduated from a community college with my AAS in network administration in 2012. I've recently passed the CCNA:RS exam and LOVE networking. It's definitely my passion in the IT industry. I currently work for a mid-sized company and do everything from desktop support to mild network administration tasks. I make decent money and am by no means not happy with the work I do. Here's the problem...

My boss came to me the other day and let me know there is a DBA position that will be available within our company next year. Our IT department is only the manager, a systems admin and myself so there's definitely room for advancement. While I like the company I work for and the people I work with, I'm afraid the database admin job would be pretty boring. Not that DBA work is that boring... I'm just a networking nut. My second issue that I really want an experienced networking guy to advise on is salary. I understand that salary isn't top priority if you do something you love to do but let's be honest... The goal is to make the most money doing the thing you love most. If I was to take this DBA position, that might be wasting time I could be spending certifying higher with Cisco.

I hope someone out there can elaborate on my questions with life experience. I'm uncertain on where to go from here and appreciate any of the advice I can get.

Thanks in advance for the answers!!!

World1337

If you don't want the job, don't take it.

Another option is to take the job, study for the your CCNP while working the DBA job, and if you end up liking the DBA job stick with it, if not move on to a network admin position once you get the CCNP.

j23evan

I have a strong dislike for databases, but that's my thing. I would suggest following what you enjoy, which would be networking.

In my experience DBAs on average make more than network admins/engineers. When it comes to salary in any IT field, I have learned it comes down to a few principles (hopefully this doesnt come across as jaded).

1. Companies want the best IT people for the best price.
2. You are less likely to get a meaningful raise/promotion by staying in one place than job hopping.
3. The idea of job hopping is that a company will not pay you less than you are making now, and depending on negotiations can pay you more. See #1
4.Your salary will be based (at a new place, or if you use it as leverage to stay with your current employer) on your relevant skills, education, experience, average salary in your location based on the position and how you demonstrate your worth.
5. I had to learn most of this the hard way over 15 years of being naive and thinking that if I dedicate everything to the company the company will reward me. After I got disillusioned, my salary in a few short years went from 28k,35k,42k,55k,63k,82k,90k,110k. If I had stayed with my first IT gig and didn't dedicate to personally improving myself, taking classes and paying for exams myself because my company didn't feel like it aligned with their needs my salary would probably be in the 40k range and I would be miserable.

N2IT

Going from desktop support to DBA is a nice jump and going from DBA to networking is a heck of a lot easier than going from a desktop JOAT role to networking. Not to mention the skills you were learn will forever keep you getting paid. IMO.

docrice

From what I've seen, good database admins make better pay than good network admins.

That said, I'm highly uninterested in database work. Interacting with them occasionally to do simple queries is one thing (that is, being a user of a database), but doing DBA work seems bland to me. I work alongside a number of DBAs everyday, but I also don't know exactly what that work life is like.

I personally would stick to doing networking infrastructure. If managing databases were the only opportunity in life for me in the IT sector, I would consider changing careers. That's how averse I am to the subject. But that's just me.

Read through some DB management books and compare them with your Cisco books to see the difference. Who knows - you might find databases fascinating.