Need to choose specialty (Networking / Virtualization / Linux / AWS)

Greetings!

I'm currently working as a Network/Virtualization Admin and need some insight from my fellow geeks on what I should specialize in, heading forward. Any help is greatly appreciated.

A bit about me:

I currently have CCNA and VCP5-DCV certifications. I'm 43 years old and live/work in New York City.

For the past 5 years, I've been working in a small/medium shop so I do a bit of everything. Our environment includes two Cisco 4500 series switches, which I had the privilege to rack, cable, and configure myself this year.I started this journey a few years ago with networking in mind and all gung-ho about Cisco, but a few years ago I also got exposed to VMware through work and started getting into it.

I realize these are completely different technologies, and before you tell me to just pick what I'm most interested in, I'll just say that I like them both and I'm having a hard time choosing, but I feel it's important at this point in my career to pick something to specialize in as these are big big topics all on their own.

So, I thought I would reach out to the community and ask what you think has more of a future at this point, which is the most lucrative, and most exciting out of both these paths?

Do I continue to pursue a career in networking and go for the CCNP?
Do I dive further into virtualization and go for VMware's advanced certs, such as VCAP?

I thought about combining networking and virtualization with VMware NSX, but I don't see too many job postings out there still for jobs. Not sure it will be the furture of networking yet. Thanks very much for your feedback!

For those of you that will say I should get both the CCNP R/S and the VCP-NV, please tell me which you'd do first.

Networking:
CCNP R/S, then Juniper JNCIA, as well as learning ASA and Checkpoint Firewalls, possibly the VCP6-NV as network virtualization sounds very interesting.

Virtualization:
VCP-NV, VCP-Cloud, possibly VCAP, learning Microsoft Hyper-V, and maybe Citrix. Possibly head toward AWS.

Thanks a lot.

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Comments

BuzzSaw

Hey Jack,

Welcome to the forum.

I come from a similar background and can relate to what your saying. Networking and Virtualization are so closely tied together that its nearly impossible to really separate them.

In my experience, the VMware certification realm is an interesting breed. Now, I don't live in New York city, but in my area, if you have multiple VCP level certifications it puts you ahead of the "competition". I guess my point is: You may not need to go for the heavy certifications like VCAP to get "ahead". If you expanded and added VCP-Cloud and maybe NSX to your resume, you would likely be in better shape than others in your area \ market level looking for similar jobs. And the good news is, you already qualify for them by holding a current VCP level cert. It's just about studying and passing the test.

To your point about job postings. Most job postings I see (in my area) about VMware usually only list something generic like "VCP" - The only ones I see that require VCAP are the positions that are either building software that couples with VMware, or a large VMware cloud provider

I think Cisco certifications always serve the holder well. Even if you aren't applying for a Cisco related job it proves that you have a pretty deep level knowledge of networking even if it is vendor specific it still spreads a broad spectrum.

You seem pretty set on staying within virtualization. I would consider expanding your VMware certification base to include more than just VCP-5. From there, I think learning AWS would serve you very well. That is a growing market for sure!

NetworkNewb

I've looked at AWS job postings and ALOT of them want you know/have programming experience. Just a heads up on that front.

dmoore44

Since you have a diverse array of interests, I would think the best choice would be the one that allows you to apply or qualify for the greatest amount of jobs in your area. I know that sounds kind of like a cop-out answer, but the ability to have career mobility in a large market like NYC gives you a ton of flexibility. Additionally, you may want to scope out other nearby markets too (in NJ and PA), just in case there's something there that appeals to you.

mbarrett

Jacktivated wrote: »

So, I thought I would reach out to the community and ask what you think has more of a future at this point, is the most lucrative, and most exciting out of all these paths?

You didn't mention any background or exposure with AWS. I woujd go with something you already have a decent exposure to, unless you hate everything you are doing to the point that it would be better to just go in a different direction.

As far as future, VMWare I would expect to be a hot field in the next few years. CCNP is always in demand but the market might be saturated by now, in your area. It's hard to tell without knowing much about the NYC market. If you have VMWare on top of networking skills & credentials, you will be in demand. Maybe there not a lot of explicit postings for that skillset, but with things in networking are trending towards virtualization so you will be valuable to hiring managers once you get past the HR resume screen.
Linux skills are good to have, depending on where you are. I've seen some shops using it more than others.

In general, just find something you like to do and become world-class in that. You won't have to worry about chasing trends, and it won't feel like work if you are doing what you like to do.

Verities

Linux isn't going away and the demand for skilled admins/engineers continues to be huge. This means salary ranges are generally much higher for those of us who are capable with Linux. With your background you could round out your skills with Linux, then work on some AWS or OpenStack, and leave that company you're currently with to go make a six figure salary.

Kreken

I would say go with Linux and support trading systems. It will be easier path than doing networking in NYC.

Jacktivated

BuzzSaw wrote: »

Hey Jack,

Welcome to the forum.

I come from a similar background and can relate to what your saying. Networking and Virtualization are so closely tied together that its nearly impossible to really separate them.

In my experience, the VMware certification realm is an interesting breed. Now, I don't live in New York city, but in my area, if you have multiple VCP level certifications it puts you ahead of the "competition". I guess my point is: You may not need to go for the heavy certifications like VCAP to get "ahead". If you expanded and added VCP-Cloud and maybe NSX to your resume, you would likely be in better shape than others in your area \ market level looking for similar jobs. And the good news is, you already qualify for them by holding a current VCP level cert. It's just about studying and passing the test.

To your point about job postings. Most job postings I see (in my area) about VMware usually only list something generic like "VCP" - The only ones I see that require VCAP are the positions that are either building software that couples with VMware, or a large VMware cloud provider

I think Cisco certifications always serve the holder well. Even if you aren't applying for a Cisco related job it proves that you have a pretty deep level knowledge of networking even if it is vendor specific it still spreads a broad spectrum.

You seem pretty set on staying within virtualization. I would consider expanding your VMware certification base to include more than just VCP-5. From there, I think learning AWS would serve you very well. That is a growing market for sure!

Hey Buzz,

Thanks for the warm welcome, as well as the response. I appreciate all the info.

That makes sense to focus on broadening the VCP level to include NSX or Cloud. NSX seems very interesting.

I'm not actually set on staying within virtualization. In fact, that's kind of the point of this whole post. I believe I have at least narrowed it down to Networking vs Virtualization as a specialization, but I can't decide between the two!

I may, if anything, be leaning in the direction of networking, especially since I've invested so much time in it already, but looking at the medium salaries each year, it seems that for 2016, a CCNP ($95,881) is actually worth less than a VCP-DCV ($99,334), which is much easier to obtain. Even a CCIE ($112,858.) is not much higher than the salary of a VCP-DCV, considering how hard it is to obtain. Now, while I realize these salary postings are not that accurate compared to real-world, they can still help give a rough idea of what's hot and pays better, compared to others. The other thing I keep reading, is that Cisco is now putting a lot of focus into Cloud and Internet of Things (IoT) technology and that Network Engineering may not be what it once was, moving forward.

So, for me, since I like both topics, I feel like dedicating most of my studies in the one that pays the most, has the most demand moving forward, and is the most exciting, overall, may be a good deciding factor to break the tie.

Thanks again!

networker050184

I'd say you should throw those median salary by certification things away. Pretty useless.

Jacktivated

Verities wrote: »

Linux isn't going away and the demand for skilled admins/engineers continues to be huge. This means salary ranges are generally much higher for those of us who are capable with Linux. With your background you could round out your skills with Linux, then work on some AWS or OpenStack, and leave that company you're currently with to go make a six figure salary.

That's interesting. Do you think can compliment my Cisco cert and experience or is it just a completely different animal altogether once you step into the position of a Linux Admin?

As was pointed out by NetworkNewb, how much programming/scripting knowledge will I need to get into AWS, Openstack, and even Linux, in order to be successful? And what language(s) should I be focusing on (Python, Bash, or possibly even Powershell if we're talking about a blended environment or virtualization)?

Thanks.

markulous

Knowing Linux is never a bad thing, even if you're a network admin.

Jacktivated

markulous wrote: »

Knowing Linux is never a bad thing, even if you're a network admin.

Thanks. But, would you say that I should consider it as my specialty, above networking and virtualization?

That's really what this is about for me. I still plan to learn Linux, but trying to decide on a major focus.

Anything you could add to this would be appreciated. Thanks.

Verities

Jacktivated wrote: »

That's interesting. Do you think can compliment my Cisco cert and experience or is it just a completely different animal altogether once you step into the position of a Linux Admin?

As was pointed out by NetworkNewb, how much programming/scripting knowledge will I need to get into AWS, Openstack, and even Linux, in order to be successful? And what language(s) should I be focusing on (Python, Bash, or possibly even Powershell if we're talking about a blended environment or virtualization)?

Thanks.

You don't need to know how to program, but need to know how to create scripts. AWS and OpenStack do have utilities that allow you to create scripts, but with Linux, you should learn BASH at a minimum so you can pass interviews. Its not very hard to learn and there's tons of free resources available. However, I believe BASH is being supplanted by CM products like Ansible, which uses playbooks, because maintenance is much lower and they're extremely easy to read. I've pretty much phased out almost all my BASH scripts in favor of Ansible playbooks.

Networking is a foundational subject in my opinion and having experience with networking specific products is only going to benefit you when it comes down to troubleshooting or implementation. You need to understand how your network operates to be a successful admin since everything relies on it, including the services you may be providing (FTP,DNS,DHCP,etc).

markulous

Jacktivated wrote: »

Thanks. But, would you say that I should consider it as my specialty, above networking and virtualization?

That's really what this is about for me. I still plan to learn Linux, but trying to decide on a major focus.

Anything you could add to this would be appreciated. Thanks.

Getting a red hat cert is like gold if you want a linux job. Could be more desirable than a Cisco cert simply because of the supply/demand. I guess I'd say go that route. Even if you wanted to switch to a sysadmin or get into virtualization, your Linux experience would carry you into that so it gives you flexibility also.

Jacktivated

Verities wrote: »

You don't need to know how to program, but need to know how to create scripts. AWS and OpenStack do have utilities that allow you to create scripts, but with Linux, you should learn BASH at a minimum so you can pass interviews. Its not very hard to learn and there's tons of free resources available. However, I believe BASH is being supplanted by CM products like Ansible, which uses playbooks, because maintenance is much lower and they're extremely easy to read. I've pretty much phased out almost all my BASH scripts in favor of Ansible playbooks.

Networking is a foundational subject in my opinion and having experience with networking specific products is only going to benefit you when it comes down to troubleshooting or implementation. You need to understand how your network operates to be a successful admin since everything relies on it, including the services you may be providing (FTP,DNS,DHCP,etc).

Thanks for the detailed response, Verities.

So, in your opinion, should I maybe treat my existing Cisco networking experience as a foundational knowledge and move on to Linux as a major focus, devoting most of my energy there and have a more rewarding career?

I was initially going to go for CCNP-R/S, Juniper JNCIA, And learn about Cisco ASA and Checkpoint firewalls.

Should I learn Linux first, say go through the whole RHCSA series and then learn Bash? Or should I learn Bash first, followed by RHCSA?

and then, after learning Bash, learn Ansible and kind of phase out Bash?

networker050184

Which one leads to a more rewarding career depends on you. No one can really tell you that. You will have plenty opportunities and make plenty money in networking, linux, virtualization, whatever. The key is finding the one you'll enjoy and excell at.

I know, not really the answer you want to hear, but it's true.

Jacktivated

networker050184 wrote: »

Which one leads to a more rewarding career depends on you. No one can really tell you that. You will have plenty opportunities and make plenty money in networking, linux, virtualization, whatever. The key is finding the one you'll enjoy and excell at.

I know, not really the answer you want to hear, but it's true.

Haha, I hear ya. And while I realize that, I am looking for people's professional opinions, based on personal experience, mixed with a little intuition, I suppose.

While I have been focused on Cisco networking for the past 5 years, I'm starting to see some indication that it may not be the wisest choice moving forward, and I would hate to waste a lot of time, money, and effort studying for the CCNP, when I can focus on something just as interesting with a lot more reward and geared more toward where things are headed. If that makes sense.

Thanks again. I have to say, I'm impressed with the quality of the posts and replies that go into these forums at TechExams, compared to others I've seen out there. I hope that I may be of some help to someone as well sometime in the future.

EANx

I think I would lean toward the virtualization side, using the CCNP as a foundation. Then layer a VCP-DCV and a VCP-NV on top of that and maybe some vRealize for the management and monitoring.

Verities

Jacktivated wrote: »

Thanks for the detailed response, Verities.

So, in your opinion, should I maybe treat my existing Cisco networking experience as a foundational knowledge and move on to Linux as a major focus, devoting most of my energy there and have a more rewarding career?

I was initially going to go for CCNP-R/S, Juniper JNCIA, And learn about Cisco ASA and Checkpoint firewalls.

Should I learn Linux first, say go through the whole RHCSA series and then learn Bash? Or should I learn Bash first, followed by RHCSA?

and then, after learning Bash, learn Ansible and kind of phase out Bash?

I think Linux is very rewarding because its extremely versatile and you have to know what you're doing. If you become proficient with Linux (takes a lot of effort), opportunities come out of the wood work. Studying for the RHCSA will definitely help you on your journey to Linux admin, you'll learn BASH along the way, and gets you a very solid entry level skill set. The RHCSA certification is looked upon highly as its a practical exam and not multiple choice/drag and drop. Not to mention Red Hat has done an excellent job in getting their version of Linux stable and proliferated through the IT industry, so jobs are everywhere!

Something that most people don't know is that Ansible can also be used on networking equipment. So learning Ansible is going to benefit you in whichever way you decide to go and should just be another tool in your box.

gkca

Verities wrote: »

Something that most people don't know is that Ansible can also be used on networking equipment. So learning Ansible is going to benefit you in whichever way you decide to go and should just be another tool in your box.

+1024

PS I would also add Zabbix for monitoring.

Jacktivated

Verities wrote: »

I think Linux is very rewarding because its extremely versatile and you have to know what you're doing. If you become proficient with Linux (takes a lot of effort), opportunities come out of the wood work. Studying for the RHCSA will definitely help you on your journey to Linux admin, you'll learn BASH along the way, and gets you a very solid entry level skill set. The RHCSA certification is looked upon highly as its a practical exam and not multiple choice/drag and drop. Not to mention Red Hat has done an excellent job in getting their version of Linux stable and proliferated through the IT industry, so jobs are everywhere!

Something that most people don't know is that Ansible can also be used on networking equipment. So learning Ansible is going to benefit you in whichever way you decide to go and should just be another tool in your box.

Thanks! And that also answered my question on the other thread about the order of BASH and RHCSA studying, as well, I believe.

That's interesting about Ansible. I definitely did not know that.

Jacktivated

gkca wrote: »

+1024

PS I would also add Zabbix for monitoring.

I have some experience with Nagios core already. I set it up at work to monitor our Windows servers and network printers, mostly. Would you say Zabbix is even better, as well as better to know career-wise?

Verities

Jacktivated wrote: »

I have some experience with Nagios core already. I set it up at work to monitor our Windows servers and network printers, mostly. Would you say Zabbix is even better, as well as better to know career-wise?

Amen to Zabbix; its free and you can literally monitor anything with it. We use SNMPv3, but it functions with other versions, including having agents, IPMI, and WMI (windows). The downside is the learning curve for configuring templates with the proper items but its totally worth it and you'll learn a ton in the process. You can have it alert you via email, you can configure APIs like Grafana to show you nice graphics of historical events and even created red light/green light dashboards for services (nice for help desk people).

Jacktivated

Verities wrote: »

Amen to Zabbix; its free and you can literally monitor anything with it. We use SNMPv3, but it functions with other versions, including having agents, IPMI, and WMI (windows). The downside is the learning curve for configuring templates with the proper items but its totally worth it and you'll learn a ton in the process. You can have it alert you via email, you can configure APIs like Grafana to show you nice graphics of historical events and even created red light/green light dashboards for services (nice for help desk people).

Sounds really good. I will include it in my studies after completing the RHCSA.

Thanks very much.

varelg

Jacktivated wrote: »

Thanks. But, would you say that I should consider it as my specialty, above networking and virtualization?

That's really what this is about for me. I still plan to learn Linux, but trying to decide on a major focus.

Anything you could add to this would be appreciated. Thanks.

I like your reasoning that you applied when you decided to go for Linux. The direction you chose plays quite nicely along your already established virtualization and networking base. Providers/employers that are already using virtualization love Linux because it's probably the only OS out there that is free itself and that its pretty regular updates are also free, so that when you replicate it within containers you don't have to deal with licencing stuff per copy of the OS or its support. You could install the OS as a desktop and with few commands you can turn it into an enteprise server in a very short time. And since it's virtualized, you don't have to deal with hardware compatibility, Linux's biggest thorn.
Since your ambition seems to be the enteprise, go over RHCSA exam objectives and try to do them on your own, without study material, just by googling stuff. Then get Sander's guide and provided that you have a PC at home with plenty of RAM and a strong processor, set up few CentOS 7 virtual machines that will act as servers and clients to each other. Look at guides at Cert Depot on how to set up servers, their guides are pretty solid.
During my RHCSA preparation, the largest share of my time spent was on tasks related to getting the client incorporated into the enterprise network. Even with my fairly strong exposure to Linux, I have never felt the need to enable clients for NFS or Samba shares or making the client log in via LDAP, deal with Logical Volume Manager or customizing logging...

Jacktivated

EANx wrote: »

I think I would lean toward the virtualization side, using the CCNP as a foundation. Then layer a VCP-DCV and a VCP-NV on top of that and maybe some vRealize for the management and monitoring.

Thanks. I am a bit confused, though.

You're saying take all three CCNP exams, and then use that as a foundation, before going for the VCP-NV?
I already have a VCP-DCV, but I don't have the CCNP yet. Just a CCNA.

Jacktivated

varelg wrote: »

I like your reasoning that you applied when you decided to go for Linux. The direction you chose plays quite nicely along your already established virtualization and networking base. Providers/employers that are already using virtualization love Linux because it's probably the only OS out there that is free itself and that its pretty regular updates are also free, so that when you replicate it within containers you don't have to deal with licencing stuff per copy of the OS or its support. You could install the OS as a desktop and with few commands you can turn it into an enteprise server in a very short time. And since it's virtualized, you don't have to deal with hardware compatibility, Linux's biggest thorn.
Since your ambition seems to be the enteprise, go over RHCSA exam objectives and try to do them on your own, without study material, just by googling stuff. Then get Sander's guide and provided that you have a PC at home with plenty of RAM and a strong processor, set up few CentOS 7 virtual machines that will act as servers and clients to each other. Look at guides at Cert Depot on how to set up servers, their guides are pretty solid.
During my RHCSA preparation, the largest share of my time spent was on tasks related to getting the client incorporated into the enterprise network. Even with my fairly strong exposure to Linux, I have never felt the need to enable clients for NFS or Samba shares or making the client log in via LDAP, deal with Logical Volume Manager or customizing logging...

Thanks very much, @varelg.

I haven't actually made a final decision on this yet, but Linux is something I've always wanted to learn. I almost feel like I'm turning my back on networking after all the hard work I've already put into it, but I want the most rewarding career possible

I've heard from people on this thread to pursue VMware, Linux, even AWS. But not one person has advised me to stick with Cisco, get the CCNP, and go all the way with networking. I wonder why.

One thing that concerns me is possibly being too spread out with my certifications. While I want to have a good broad base, I think being certified in too many different technologies can look bad. Jack of all trades, paper certs, etc. Would adding the RHCSA, and possibly the RHCE, be a good addition to my resume, or would I be in danger of what I was just describing?

Verities

Jacktivated wrote: »

Thanks very much, @varelg.

I haven't actually made a final decision on this yet, but Linux is something I've always wanted to learn. I almost feel like I'm turning my back on networking after all the hard work I've already put into it, but I want the most rewarding career possible

I've heard from people on this thread to pursue VMware, Linux, even AWS. But not one person has advised me to stick with Cisco, get the CCNP, and go all the way with networking. I wonder why.

One thing that concerns me is possibly being too spread out with my certifications. While I want to have a good broad base, I think being certified in too many different technologies can look bad. Jack of all trades, paper certs, etc. Would adding the RHCSA, and possibly the RHCE, be a good addition to my resume, or would I be in danger of what I was just describing?

I've been a VMware admin, a Windows admin, and currently I'm a Linux admin. I have VCP, RHCSA, and a bunch of CompTIA certs. Not once has anyone commented on me having too broad a range of certs. There is nothing wrong with being certified in multiple technologies, especially when a lot of environments use the VMware stack for virtualization. So you have VMs that run either Windows or Linux on top of that and you need networking to tie them all together. At some point you do want to only have a few high level certifications since most are only current for 2-3 years and you don't want to spend all of your off time working on certs for the rest of your life.

RHCSA and RHCE are guaranteed to be higher value than most other It certifications because they are hands-on instead of multiple choice. Again, there is a huge gap in Linux talent within the IT industry, resulting in much higher pay rates than other specialties. In my opinion the networking field is flooded with people and being a one-trick-pony is not going to get you far in that field any more.

LeBroke

NetworkNewb wrote: »

I've looked at AWS job postings and ALOT of them want you know/have programming experience. Just a heads up on that front.

In practice, you don't really need programming. You're good if you have experience with Git and managing an application stack (i.e. Java/LAMP + database layer like MySQL or what have you).

On the other hand, pretty much all AWS jobs are very Linux and configuration management (i.e. Ansible, Chef, Puppet) heavy.

No matter which way you go, adding Linux to your resume is probably the most useful and will make you the most rounded. AWS, VMware, Openstack, etc is just an abstraction layer. At the end of the day, you're still working with Linux.

Kreken

Jacktivated wrote: »

I've heard from people on this thread to pursue VMware, Linux, even AWS. But not one person has advised me to stick with Cisco, get the CCNP, and go all the way with networking. I wonder why.

Five years of hard work studying networks and only CCNA? Granted that certifications don't necessary judge the knowledge acquired but still, the progress isn't visible to outsiders like me.

You are coming from a small network environment. To be a network engineer and not a joat, you need to transition to large/enterprise environments which have dedicated networking teams. In the process of transitioning, you will have to acquire experience with high end equipment used by them. This will take some time and you will be required to get CCNP, maybe some other certifications.

So now back to certifications again, if it took five years to get CCNA, how long will it take for CCNP?

networker050184

Jacktivated wrote: »

I've heard from people on this thread to pursue VMware, Linux, even AWS. But not one person has advised me to stick with Cisco, get the CCNP, and go all the way with networking. I wonder why.

Probably because most of the people answering aren't on the network side which is why I said there are plenty opportunities in all these fields. Find the one you enjoy regardless of what other people enjoy themselves.