Some advice needed please...wanting to transition in to Infrastructure

GBAKER2204

Hi all,

I am looking to transition in to an Infrastructure role from a Desktop Support role, however I need some advice on the best way to accomplish this?

After approaching almost 10 years in the industry, in a few roles (in mixed desktop/infrastructure support JOAT roles, and Application support for a range of clients), I feel that I may be back in the age old catch-22 situation a lot of people face when they enter the industry, wanting to find work in a particular field but needing experience to be considered for those roles.

I have been doing VIP support for a well know media company for over 2 years (a number personal reasons have kept me in this role for this long), this is essentially a desktop engineer/support role where there is an SLA of "fix it yesterday", so challenging in that respect, however it's not a very technical role. Due to the way the organisation is set up (and it's size) I work with a variety of other teams (e.g. infrastructure, or messaging) to get issues resolved, because I don't have the right access to certain systems fix some of the issues that come up. In the last 2 years I have achieved ITIL Foundation v3 certification paid for by my employer, and in the last year I have studied for VCA certifications, paid for and completed VCP5-DCV, and upgraded my MCSE 2003:Security to MCITP: Enterprise Administrator. I am not currently using these at work.

My questions are these:

1. How best to gain hands on experience with infrastructure technologies when not in an infrastructure role?
2. Are labs deemed to be an acceptable way to do this?
3. Are there any courses or certifications that may provide some of the skills required for such roles? Are they of immediate value or will experience also be required?
4. Do salaries of £25-35K ($41K-57K) sound about right for 2nd/3rd line engineers who are MCSE, MCITP:EA and VCP certified?

For 2014, I am considering doing the 74-409, then upgrading my MCSA:2008 (MCITP:EA) to 2012 (definitely need the 2012/Windows 8.1 experience - have started the MVA courses to update those skillsets) and possibly do one or more advanced VMware certs, or even CCNA (all of my networking in MS-based).

Thank you for your time! Any thoughts and advice would be appreciated.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

GBAKER2204

Apologies all for the above post. I had hoped I would be able to get some advice from the brilliant people on this forum and guess I posted to the wrong place (I thought this section was for those wanting advice on how best to improve their prospects or find work). Best of luck to those seeking work or wishing to change direction in 2014.

xenodamus

GBAKER2204 wrote: »

My questions are these:

1. How best to gain hands on experience with infrastructure technologies when not in an infrastructure role?
2. Are labs deemed to be an acceptable way to do this?
3. Are there any courses or certifications that may provide some of the skills required for such roles? Are they of immediate value or will experience also be required?
4. Do salaries of £25-35K ($41K-57K) sound about right for 2nd/3rd line engineers who are MCSE, MCITP:EA and VCP certified?

1. Labbing is the most common choice, unless you can find some type of volunteer work. Maybe a small business or non-profit that would let you provide some server/network consulting for them?

2. Labs are a great place to start. Get a beefy desktop with plenty of RAM, install vmware workstation or virtual box and get after it. You can build an entire Microsoft infrastructure on a single workstation with enough power. Being able to say you've set up domain controllers in your lab is always better than saying you've read how to do it.

3. I don't think courses or certifications are what you need that this point. I think the CCNA may be an exception because it would round out your skillset, which at this point is server/systems focused (unless you want to specialize in systems moving forward). You could always go through a CCNA text without taking the exam, though.

4. That salary range is typical of desktop support where I work (US Healthcare industry). To me, 3rd line is system/network administration, and $60-70k+ is the norm at that point.

Overall, what you really need is a position that's going to give you the opportunity to grow. It doesn't sound like you have that now. If I were in your shoes, I would take a serious look at my potential for growth/advancement in my current company. If the opportunity isn't there, I'd start looking for L1/Junior System Administrator positions. Even a JOAT/one-man-show at a small company would be a step in the right direction. At the end of the day, you need to get your hands on some servers and network gear to start moving in the right direction. For me, that meant a job change and leaving a company I liked but that gave me no path for advancement.

GBAKER2204

Thank you for your advice xenodamus.

1. I may have to investigate if this option is even viable. I have a wife and young kids to support, and my company (like most, I guess...) doesn't allow it's staff to do certain types of work outside of your work life.

2. Labbing is most likely to be way of working on my skillset. I have a lab machine I used for my VCP5-DCV. It has 16Gb of RAM and my VMware Workstation license obtained when I passed the VCP.

I have previously built W2K3 and W2K8 domains (for testing and troubleshooting). Time to build out a W2K8 R2 and a 2012 domain to work with I think. The lab coupled with VMware's HOL and Microsoft's MVA/Technet HOL/Techlabs should be right steps in the direction I want to go in.

3. I agree with you about the CCNA. Anyone with interests in infrastructure and/or virtualisation should know networking and storage well. I can potentially use GNS3 and/or a Cisco Nexus 1000 virtual switch to supplement the virtual environments mentioned above.

4. I am based in the UK, and I guess supply is exceeding demand in the market at the moment (low salaries being offered for a lot of roles). I need to find a role close to my current salary (or perhaps slightly less) - which is more than the range mentioned, given my home circumstances.

I will look at completing the VCA-NV, SCP (Solarwinds) and 74-409 first (due to time limits on these), and build out a test lab and then start reading up for the CCNA.

Ideally if I can't get time at work with the infrastructure, I'll need to look again for other opportunities to enable me to progress.

Thank you for you time and advice.