Computer Careers Advice!

[Dudejoss]

hi there

i have been working as a IT support tech for nearly 2 years mainly on 1st and 2nd line support and i have hit a brick wall in where i am in my current company and i have been looking for another job/career but everything seems to bring me back to IT so i have decided to stay in IT but i am looking at maybe going down another route other then the support side of things and i was hoping for some advice/suggestions of different routes i could try or maybe a course i could take.i almost forgot to say i live in england.
thanks

my current qualifications are:
Advanced Apprenticeship in IT Services and Development
ADITP (Advanced Diploma for IT Professionals) City and Guilds
NVQ Level 3 IT Professional
MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional)
MCDST (Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician)
CompTIA A+

[usiris]

What are you thinking of doing?
networking, design, development?

[Deleted]

Clearly support based on his 2 MCP's to make his MCDST.

I skipped out after getting my MCITP: EA while working as a 3rd line engineer to be a developer however (Having worked freelance as a designer/developer for many years to earn a little extra).

If you're for continuing the engineering though, your best bet is to either go for your cisco CCNA and go towards networking (Comtia security and networking too), or diverge to virtualisation like I did (No choice; company made the decision but also paid for the exams) and grab your Citrix and VMware qualifications. Going into storage and backup solutions is also a choice, and widely sought after especially if you can start getting stuck into EMC certs.

[Dudejoss]

ty for the suggestions i am just looking for something different as i found working in support very easy 1st and 2nd very easy and boring so i just wanna try something else out maybe not even in the support side of things i am only 19 so maybe going back to college or uni might be a idea

[Milkshake86]

ty for the suggestions i am just looking for something different as i found working in support very easy 1st and 2nd very easy and boring so i just wanna try something else out maybe not even in the support side of things i am only 19 so maybe going back to college or uni might be a idea

Your qualifications limit you to what you can do, that being said you could look into production job or business of your own.

[Deleted]

ty for the suggestions i am just looking for something different as i found working in support very easy 1st and 2nd very easy and boring so i just wanna try something else out maybe not even in the support side of things i am only 19 so maybe going back to college or uni might be a idea

Unfortunately a lot of places won't take you on without a degree (unless you push yourself to MCITP/MCSE/VCP level). Probably a good idea. Worth noting a lot of University tech departments take on CS students for support.

[Dudejoss]

i was looking about at courses to do maybe going into programming or networking. it is just the support side of things is very boring at this level i would not mind something a bit more gritty and harder but i would need to change company's to do this as so i am just looking at what people could suggest if i went back to college or uni to learn.
thanks

[Deleted]

Based on current IT demands there are a few paths:

1.Network Administrator - take a CISCO Networking Academy for CCNA, CCNP

2.System Administrator - take a Red Hat Certification course for RHCE,RHCA. You have already got MCP so You can progress further.

3.Database Administrator - either take a look at Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certified Professional and/or MSSQL certs

4.Programmer - it depends on Your math skills etc. The safer solution is either go for Java Developing J2EE, C# .NET ASP Web Developing or lower lvl C/C++ programming

Of course as System Administrator You should take a look at bash/perl/python/powershell programming, got a knowledge about ISO OSI model ,networking etc. for fast problem solving.

And last thing, You should focus a bit on obtaining Master Degree in Information Technology. Its needed for getting in to jobs interviews.

If You are good you can earn 110k$ -120k $ per year in some countries

[Dudejoss]

ty for that yeah i was doing a level maths untill i dropped out of college did not find it interesting and went and did my it qualifications. i am just trying to find another area of IT i can try as the support side of things is just boring and stressful at times not what i was hoping from a IT job i dont mind stressful if i find the job interesting

[Deleted]

Masters degree? 110k$?

I got £25.5k as a third line tech, with an MCSA, MCITP:EA, VCP, CCNA, A+ S+ N+, EMCISA, CCA (x3) and CCEA. Ireland sucks. Having said that I was in line for a promotion.

Linux administrators are massively in demand as Alanexe mentioned above at the moment I've seen (Something I'm woefully weak at, truth be told), and I'm glad to see he backs me up on the CCNA. Same goes for staying in Sysadm, picking up powershell if you're a windows admin is very, very handy.

[Deleted]

I got £25.5k as a third line tech, with an MCSA, MCITP:EA, VCP, CCNA, A+ S+ N+, EMCISA, CCA (x3) and CCEA. Ireland sucks. Having said that I was in line for a promotion.
.

No worries, im earning about 17k in Poland (calculating PLN to IEP)

I said 110k but not for Masters degree only but for other knowledge i mention

[Dudejoss]

hmmmmmm these are all things i am going to look into i just need something to do untill sept 2013 as i missed everything for uni in sept 2012. so i was thinking of a college course i could do to keep my mind running untill then.

with uni courses what ones were u thinking of?
as i am very open to suggestions i am just looking for advice being 19 and only had one job which i fell into after finishing my it qualifcations and been there since but i think it is time for me to go up in the IT world but i need more knowledge hence why i am looking at a college course untill i can apply to uni

also been looking at jobs that are close to me only people who are hiring are java developers and high end network admins. and they want people who have gone to uni or 10+ years exp so i think i need the uni exp to go somewhere

---------- Post added 2012-06-13 at 06:41 PM ----------

any1 else with ideas for college and uni courses i could do

[Deleted]

I can't speak for every aspect of IT, but in software development a degree will help you get your foot in the door (though isn't always vital). A lot of companies are interested in taking on graduates as a lot of the time they can land someone who has an interest in programming and will work cheaper than the more "experienced". Don't be fooled though, a degree in no way guarantees you a job, it's just going to help you get a foot in the door!

[Deleted]

any1 else with ideas for college and uni courses i could do

Depending on whether you want to stay in Support or not (like Service Desk/Desktop Support) or maybe go into Managment, it would be well worth your time doing ITIL and maybe look at relocating to just west of London (easy commute to Waterloo which is 1 tube from the City and you often see Service Desk roles at 26k in the City). I work in IT as well and I have a friend who is an IT recruiter and she is always telling me how they struggle to find people to fill the jobs they have (in the City).

The advice I would give to you would be to get the base qualification for the area you want to go into and then specialise, specialise, specialise.

The qualifications I would look at doing are (in this rough order): ITIL, CompTIA Network+, MCITP: Server Administrator on Windows Server 2008, CCNA. ITIL first because with your experience/qualifications, it will allow you to find a new job easier due to 'desired attributes' and so you can do the others while at the new job.

Also if you can self learn (grab the PDFs and tests online; it's what a lot of us IT guys do ;-D), it's much cheaper than going on a course. If you can prove to your company that you can self learn, it might also be worth trying to get them to send you on a short course (3 -5 days) that finishes with the exam, purely because that would reinforce everything you have learnt; or maybe even get them to part fund the Computer Science Open University course (<---- more something you propose after being with a company for a while).

Finally if you want to go down the Desktop Administrator route, it would be well worth learning Linux. Best advice I've ever been given was to install Gentoo. You learn Linux crazy fast if you try and run off Gentoo by itself for a month (as well as experiment with it) (http://forums.gentoo.org/; friendly bunch that are willing to help if you have tried to fix it yourself first).

[Dudejoss]

oooo ty for the info the only reason i am looking for a course is mainly cause i am dyslexic so reading is not the most productive way on me learning but if i see it infront of me i learn very quickly