When are you no longer "Entry Level?"

When can you consider yourself above "Entry Level?" What do you even define as Entry level?

I passed my ICND2 exam just yesterday. I've been looking on the job boards since. I want my next role to be a challenge - something that not only pays well but also would teach me a lot and motivate me to stay for longer than a year. I also strongly want to refrain from making a lateral move. I'm having difficulty gauging how high I should reach. Even though I'm eager to learn and catch on quick, I don't yet have any quality experience I can lean on.

Everyone has to start somewhere on their upward climb. What brought you into the mid-level? When did you feel ready to tackle those calibre of jobs? What skills did you feel were important to have a grasp on before making the jump upwards?

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Comments

zxbane

What kind of position do you work in now, i.e. title and responsibilities?

Verities

If you've been in the IT industry 3-5 years, you're no longer entry level and you should start opening yourself up to take on more responsibility. Based on how you feel, I think you should look at moving towards positions that will require you to manage/administer technology that you understand, but don't necessarily have expertise in. In that sense you'll need to sell yourself and those key points are your willingness to learn and enthusiasm for challenges. Hope this helps.

networker050184

As soon as someone is willing to give you a job doing more than entry level work. That may take one person 5 years and another 6 months. Work hard and learn all you can and it will go by quicker.

olaHalo

A shotgun approach to job applications got me in the mid level.
It was just after I got my CCNA too.
Just practice your interview skills. My interviewer (now my boss) told me he didnt like me on the phone but loved me after we met in person.

DoubleNNs

zxbane wrote: »

What kind of position do you work in now, i.e. title and responsibilities?

I'm currently unemployed, following a short contract position. I decided to finally finish my ICND2 now while I had free time before moving forward to my next position.

My last position was a "Jr. Network Admin" - but I saw it more as simple grunt work to be honest. Setting up host networking settings and escalating connectivity issues to vendors, then closing tickets when they were solved. During the downtime, I did workstation hardware replacement (Motherboards, CPUs, RAM peripherals), re-imaging and wrote reports.
Most of the configuring I performed was industry specific. Most of the network connectivity resolution I performed was simply instructing the restart of a site's modem, confirming the cables were plugged into the correct ports, and remoting into workstations/servers to confirm the network settings were correct, before escalation.

I have less less than 2 years of experience.

Moving forward, I'd like to do something that'd make use of my CCNA, even if barely.

I still think of myself as very entry-level. The problem is, I don't see much entry-level Networking/Cisco postings out there. But I do see a lot of mid-level jobs. Additionally, I want a position that'd challenge me and be something that I can grow into. If I've learned everything by the end of day 1, and bored by the beginning of week 2, I won't have the motivation to stay in the position long.

the_Grinch

I feel your pain as I didn't know when I was no longer entry level either. After I made a lateral move I vowed to not do it again and basically applied for jobs where I met most of the requirements. I went with "let the interviewer decide I'm not right for the job" and it served me well. At that point I had about four years of experience and never had a bad review nor a technology I couldn't figure out then fix. My current position I had applied for an Investigator spot (less pay, but lots of room to grow) and they happened to pull my resume for another position. Ended up with more money, more responsibility, and now when I do move to be an Investigator the pay will match.

gadav478

I recently have been asking myself the same question. I acheived my CCNA last year in September but haven't had real world experience on Cisco (or any vendor for that matter). Hoping that this data center position comes through so I can get my hands on the technology.

Keep at it OP.

JasminLandry

I believe you just know it when you're no longer "entry level". I've been in IT for only 15 months, Systems Administrator for the past 6 months and I believe I'm not entry level anymore. Before having this job, I always got emails and calls from companies that offered me entry level jobs, mostly help desk. But now for the past 4-5 months or so, I've been getting only lateral or better offers. Most of them are with the "Senior" title. I'm only 22 and I actually got a couple of offers that were paying more than 100 000$. If companies believe you are worth more than entry level, I think it's a sign that you're not entry level anymore. And when you,re looking for jobs, don't always look for the jobs that you fill all the requirements, that's not how you'll learn, look for jobs that you would like to do and that you'd learn. My boss told me this a couple of weeks ago, he said "You were not the person with the most experience, with the more knowledge, but your willing to learn and your passion had me saying this guy deserves a chance." He was asking for someone with 4-5 years of experience and at that time I only had 8-9 months. He told also told me he didn't regret choosing me (I was actually pretty happy he told me that!

) .So keep learning and one day you'll wake up knowing you're more than entry level!

N2IT

networker050184 wrote: »

As soon as someone is willing to give you a job doing more than entry level work. That may take one person 5 years and another 6 months. Work hard and learn all you can and it will go by quicker.

This is my answer.

RouteMyPacket

When someone could hand you some paper and a pencil and have you draw them out a basic solution for a local LAN?

Say small office, 100 users with 4 departments, printers, wireless, 45MB DS3

Ok, now go....haha

Seriously, I would think when you can troubleshoot and resolve basic L2/L3 issues

DoubleNNs

I can troubleshoot and resolve basic L2/L3 issues... if it's been covered in CCNA curriculum lol.

I'm sure I could pick up skills fast on-the-job. And anything that's difficult to grasp, I'd willingly put the time in outside of work to learn on my own. But most positions seem to want someone who will hit the ground running on day 1 - an "I'll get right to work after you show me where the coffee and my desk is, in that order" type of person. Which I know is not me.. yet.

I'm sure I'll be tempted when the recruiters tell me a Help Desk L1 job is "PERFECCTT" for me. But I'm not entirely sure if I want to aim for a Help Desk/Desktop Support job that I know I can land, solely based on hopes that I'll eventually get to touch technology that interests me, or decide to only go for high-hanging fruit and apply for roles above my current skill level in hopes that someone will eventually take a chance on me.

I see both options as gambles.

RouteMyPacket

DoubleNNs wrote: »

I can troubleshoot and resolve basic L2/L3 issues... if it's been covered in CCNA curriculum lol.

I'm sure I could pick up skills fast on-the-job. And anything that's difficult to grasp, I'd willingly put the time in outside of work to learn on my own. But most positions seem to want someone who will hit the ground running on day 1 - an "I'll get right to work after you show me where the coffee and my desk is, in that order" type of person. Which I know is not me.. yet.

I'm sure I'll be tempted when the recruiters tell me a Help Desk L1 job is "PERFECCTT" for me. But I'm not entirely sure if I want to aim for a Help Desk/Desktop Support job that I know I can land, solely based on hopes that I'll eventually get to touch technology that interests me, or decide to only go for high-hanging fruit and apply for roles above my current skill level in hopes that someone will eventually take a chance on me.

I see both options as gambles.

Don't let your ego get in the way, you are looking for your foot in the door here and Help Desk/Desktop Support is just that. having a CCNA means little with no experience so whats wrong with working your way up? You have to start somewhere.

DoubleNNs

RouteMyPacket wrote: »

having a CCNA means little with no experience so whats wrong with working your way up? You have to start somewhere.

I agree. I'm just apprehensive because the last few jobs I've taken didn't provide me w/ much usable experience. I don't want to repeat the pattern. I understand paying my dues, even if at a dead end job, in order to get LENGTH of experience on my resume. But at some point there has to be an upward progression and the introduction to QUALITY of experience.

There's the gamble that another Help Desk role might end up being yet another dead end.

ande0255

I had a short stint at Qwest for 9 months before Centurylink bought them out and cleaned house, and since then it took me 3 years of helpdesk purgatory to get back into a L2 / L3 intensive role.

I think the biggest thing you can do to help yourself is make every interview you can for network job roles, and stay employed in some type of IT position. If a hiring manager asks why you're not currently employed, maybe the worst possible thing you could do is portray that your above a desktop support role.

I'd advise to take what you can get, network with other IT professionals / managers / recruiters on Linkedin, and approach interviewing as a skill to pass an exam - practice makes perfect!

SweenMachine

DoubleNNs wrote: »

There's the gamble that another Help Desk role might end up being yet another dead end.

You make this gamble every time you take a new role, in any company, in the history of ever.

I worked at the same help desk for 7 years. Started at the bottom, got to a lead level, stopped learning and gaining momentum and now I am in a much better role for a much better company; learning much more about the business level, and making much more money.

Coming to the interview here, I thought I made a mistake leaving the comfort level. But the 7 YEARS in one organization sold them on me, and they called me back immediately, liking the stability I appear to bring to their organization.

I would say in my situation, it took me a DECADE to get out of entry level. But, I also bought a house, started a family, went on vacations and built a life with the 'entry level' job - it is ALWAYS a gamble. When I signed up for level 1 help desk, I figured I was 6 months and out the door. You just don't know, my friend.

Best of luck!