career advice needed

I just passed my CCNA last week after taking the Cisco Academy classes. I don't have an IT background, but I have a MA in psychology. What are my chances for landing a job? Will it be possible for me to get right into network administration?

Thanks in advance!

ETA: I was thinking of getting the A+ cert as well. Would it be worthwhile?

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sprkymrk

With a Masters in Psychology, why would you want to get an entry level tech job for? Wouldn't you make a lot more mony in your other chosen field?

MQuinn6

sprkymrk - I've been interested in a career change for several years now. I guess you could say that I lost my passion for psychology. A few years back, I took some programming classes, but didn't enjoy it. Then I tried networking & I really like it.

sprkymrk

Well, I can understand that. I was an electrician for 12 years before entering the IT field and I have no regrets. Gotta do what you enjoy.

I'm not sure if you can get into network administration right away, unless you are very lucky. Usually it takes a couple of years at lower levels, such as help desk, computer tech, or such. Any additional certification you get will be helpful if you have no experience. If administration is where you want to go, I would recommend going for the Microsoft certs first. A+ is good, especially if you've never built your own computer or torn one apart before. But it won't help too much for an admin position.

webistan

I would say with almost certainty that a CCNA or any certification alone won't get you into network admin. It also depends where you are. But overall, experience counts. It's a catch 22: You can't get experience without a job and no job without experience !!! You have to work from a job in tech support, help desk.

12thlevelwarrior

yeah, i would say helpdesk or an extremely good "connection" would be the only way to start.

JDMurray

A Help Desk person with a Masters in Psych? Sounds like somebody who is well-qualified to write a book on counter-social engineering.

12thlevelwarrior

yeah, you could just pull a mind-trick on the user and make them think they aren't experiencing problems.

Sie

you could just pull a mind-trick on the user and make them think they aren't experiencing problems.

Are we talking psychology or jedi mind control? Both would be quite useful in a Helpdesk!

Hmmm... problem with your computer you have not!

strauchr

I'm interested into to going into Psychology! How did you get into it and exactly what type of work did you do.

As far as your situation is concerned if you want and Network/Systems Admin job then go for a help Desk job in a medium size company. usually a few aspects of Admin work gets pushed down to Help Desk so you get a bit of crossover and its an easier path.

Being out in the field, or just doing strictly desktop support/tech you can easily lose touch with whats going on in the 'background' as well as contact with Net Admins.

MQuinn6

Thanks for all the advice, guys! Looks like I'll most likely be looking at a help desk position. Not what I was hoping for, but I guess you have to do what you have to do. One more question: How long would I have to stay in a help desk position before trying to move on?

Strauchr - I went to school for psych. However, after earning my masters, I realized it wasn't what I wanted to do anymore. I worked in a group home for autistic & developmentally disabled kids for several years . Hard work with a really high burn-out rate. Unfortunately, you need your PhD. to make the big bucks.

sprkymrk

It all depends on your drive, ambition, skill, contacts and luck. I would say 2 years would be minimum. But don't despair, those will be fun years and you won't burn out in that amount of time. During that 2 years you can aspire to advancing within the Help Desk area such as moving to level 2 type calls or becoming a team leader or POC/Go To Guy for a certain area such as network trouble shooting or whatever. Once you get a couple of years under your belt you gain confidence and become much more marketable. One note of caution is to try not to "pigeon hole" hole your career in Help Desk (unless of course you end up really liking it, which some people do). It can be hard to shake the image if you don't continually work on self improvement and expand your skill set.

wizarddeath

In the same area you are(minus the masters!). Im trying to get an entry level PC tech position at a local training company here. Hopefully stay there for around 6 months to a year, and have gained an MCSE and possibly CCNP in that time, so it will be easy to move on. Think that is a workable goal?

Without experience its super hard to get a job, but even with 6 months experience, everyone says that wall is broken. My teacher has the saying, you find the first job, the rest find you.

trick000

Get into a computer operator position. The guy that sits in the NOC and watches everything and does backups. Learn everything in that room. Most of the time you will be working with kids who are usually unmotivated. You will outshine them no problem, you will get noticed and in a year you will probably move up to either PC support or be part of a network admin team. I've seen this happen. But no, CCNA alone will not get you a network admin job. Chances are you won't know anything about Windows/Linux servers which are different beasts of their own.

MQuinn6

I'll have to check out the NOC thing. Any idea on what to expect for $$? Would it be similar to a help desk position salary-wise?

Another question I just thought of: Would I be better off going through a headhunter or looking on my own?

trick000

In Houston about $24-$25k a year with benefits.