Trapped in a corner...

kanecainkanecain Member Posts: 186 ■■■□□□□□□□
I'm currently studying for a career in IT Security. Currently I work in help desk. My company is being bought by a much larger company. Our main VMWare guy trained for the last two years with little VMWare experience, and now has his VCP, and is our main VM guy. This guy is most likely about to get a higher paying job else-ware. My boss will contract this lost position until someone else is hired. Should I step up and educate myself on VMWare until this guy is replaced? I do not want a career in Virtualization, but these days I feel pressured to do so. What do you guys think?
WGU - Bachelors of Science - Information Security
Start Date: Jan. 1st, 2012
Courses:
Done!!!

Comments

  • ptilsenptilsen Member Posts: 2,835 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Do want you want. If you already know you don't want virtualization or VMware specifically, don't do it.

    Now, if they're going to pay for you to go training and work you into that role, it's better than helpdesk and doesn't really hurt you. Just don't go study it and pay for your own VCP just because the position is opening up.
    Working B.S., Computer Science
    Complete: 55/120 credits SPAN 201, LIT 100, ETHS 200, AP Lang, MATH 120, WRIT 231, ICS 140, MATH 215, ECON 202, ECON 201, ICS 141, MATH 210, LING 111, ICS 240
    In progress: CLEP US GOV,
    Next up: MATH 211, ECON 352, ICS 340
  • kanecainkanecain Member Posts: 186 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Thanks for the reply. It just seems that if you're not pursuing a career in Virtualization, then you're not going anywhere. I love IT Security, and I absolutely hate server administration.
    WGU - Bachelors of Science - Information Security
    Start Date: Jan. 1st, 2012
    Courses:
    Done!!!
  • ptilsenptilsen Member Posts: 2,835 ■■■■■■■■■■
    That's just your company. There are plenty of other areas with lots of jobs and money to be made, especially in security. Virtualization is only one component of infrastructure.
    Working B.S., Computer Science
    Complete: 55/120 credits SPAN 201, LIT 100, ETHS 200, AP Lang, MATH 120, WRIT 231, ICS 140, MATH 215, ECON 202, ECON 201, ICS 141, MATH 210, LING 111, ICS 240
    In progress: CLEP US GOV,
    Next up: MATH 211, ECON 352, ICS 340
  • kanecainkanecain Member Posts: 186 ■■■□□□□□□□
    ptilsen wrote: »
    That's just your company. There are plenty of other areas with lots of jobs and money to be made, especially in security. Virtualization is only one component of infrastructure.
    Thanks man.
    WGU - Bachelors of Science - Information Security
    Start Date: Jan. 1st, 2012
    Courses:
    Done!!!
  • blargoeblargoe Member Posts: 4,174 ■■■■■■■■■□
    An alternative viewpoint:

    Learn virtualization, and learn how to secure it. You'd be surprised how many leave their VMware environments at out of the box settings without tweaking anything. If you're going to be securing IT infrastructure, I believe it would be to your advantage to learn a little bit about virtualization.

    Yes, most of the day to day work is more around VM administration, but understanding the environment encompasses host, network, storage, and security layers.

    Even if you do not want to work as a virtualization admin long-term, it has to be better than helpdesk, right?
    IT guy since 12/00

    Recent: 11/2019 - RHCSA (RHEL 7); 2/2019 - Updated VCP to 6.5 (just a few days before VMware discontinued the re-cert policy...)
    Working on: RHCE/Ansible
    Future: Probably continued Red Hat Immersion, Possibly VCAP Design, or maybe a completely different path. Depends on job demands...
  • BloogenBloogen Member Posts: 180 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Do it if you can. A system admin with virtualization skills is really where you want to be if you are staying on the systems side.

    EDIT: I had this saved as a draft for a bit so didn't see you didn't want to do system administration.
  • tpatt100tpatt100 Member Posts: 2,991 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Like blargoe said, learn virtualization and how to secure it. Even if you hate server administration odds are you need to know your way around server administration anyways to be effective in security. Unless you end up a scanner jockey, scanning and generating reports all day.
  • docricedocrice Member Posts: 1,706 ■■■■■■■■■■
    IT security generally encompasses things like virtualization, especially with servers and networking starting to become virtualized top to bottom. Even if you're just scanning targets, you'll get vulnerability data that you need to parse through and if you don't know anything about systems administration, you won't be able to put things into context.
    Hopefully-useful stuff I've written: http://kimiushida.com/bitsandpieces/articles/
  • dave330idave330i Member Posts: 2,091 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Had a vulnerability test done against our ESXi host while back. The gal told us she found all sorts of vulnerabilities. I took at her list of vulnerabilities and most of it applied to Cisco network equipment.
    2018 Certification Goals: Maybe VMware Sales Cert
    "Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
  • kanecainkanecain Member Posts: 186 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Thanks to all for your responses. I really need to talk to my boss.
    WGU - Bachelors of Science - Information Security
    Start Date: Jan. 1st, 2012
    Courses:
    Done!!!
  • ZartanasaurusZartanasaurus Member Posts: 2,008 ■■■■■■■■■□
    What's your experience with server administration or virtualization? How do you know you don't like it?
    Currently reading:
    IPSec VPN Design 44%
    Mastering VMWare vSphere 5​ 42.8%
  • jibbajabbajibbajabba Member Posts: 4,317 ■■■■■■■■□□
    Long story short : If you don't like it and don't really want to do it, you will end up hating your job / being miserable so hence no point. Just my $0.02 ... Do what you enjoy, only when enjoying what you do, you will be able to excel in your job and become SME ..
    My own knowledge base made public: http://open902.com :p
  • pamccabepamccabe Member Posts: 315 ■■■□□□□□□□
    It might be a great opportunity as others have pointed out about securing virtualization. Not only that, but if we have learned anything, it's that to stay relevant we need to learn new skills and adapt.
  • kanecainkanecain Member Posts: 186 ■■■□□□□□□□
    What's your experience with server administration or virtualization? How do you know you don't like it?
    Even though I'm in a help desk role, I do light Win2003-2008 administration and AD stuff. It's just not for me.
    WGU - Bachelors of Science - Information Security
    Start Date: Jan. 1st, 2012
    Courses:
    Done!!!
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