Bored Of Support - What Next?

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Hello to all, just thought I'd get some opinions on a dilemma I am having. Now I've been working within IT support in one form or another coming upto 6 years now and somehow managed to get through this time without doing any note worthy certs (passed some MOS exams but that is it).
I suppose I have been somewhat lucky in some respect, as I have managed to find roles (contract) in the past at some major banks which have probably helped give my CV bit of a boost. Currently, I'm doing a Desktop Support Role (the classic, picking up incidents/tickets that 1st line/service desk are not able to resolve and either solving them or escalating them to the specialist teams).

Now I have been thinking seriously about adding some certs to my CV to consolidate my experience but what i'm finding is that I'm actually quite bored working in a support role (maybe dealing with users has worn me down over the years ) and thus not too sure what direction to take. The ITIL Foundation is something I will definately be looking to take on as I think its useful regardless of whether I carry on within support or not. Also the PRINCE2. But apart from that, I really feel a bit rudderless at the moment.

Application Packaging is an area of interest, however with experienced packagers struggling to find positions what with roles being offshored, It looks and sounds as though it will very tough going getting a break for a newbie. Getting involved within Project Management also has an appeal, but again not too sure how difficult it is going to be to break into that area considering my background.

If I were to continue in line with what i'm am currently doing, I think I would probably look at a role such as a System Administrator and then I would definately look at the MCSA/MCSE (or their equivelents today) route.

I just feel I'm at a crossroads and it's time to push on and move away from a pure support role. Would be interesting hear from anyone else who has been through something similar and what they went onto? Opinions and thoughts would be appreciated

 

Hi, a little bit off topic - but what steps / jumps did you make to get into security?

 

I moved from a support role working on 1st and 2nd line desktop stuff, plus desktop projects, to a 3rd line role.

Initially I was hired as an SMS/Apps packaging contractor for 3 months but was then made perm on the server team.

I had no certs or real server experience, just was damn good at SMS related stuff at the time which seemed to be hard to find by employers

I've since continued a bit with the config/asset management side of things (at one point I was wanting to move to a pure SAM role) but have also gone down the security route as well.

I had no certs when taking the job but since then have done a few things, started off with ITIL (we were all made to do it), then Sec+, a couple of vendor certs from the likes of Qualys and Microsoft, CISSP and more recently an ISEB Architect thing.

I did the certs that were relevant to what I wanted to do, but to an extent I was already in the role before doing them. However they have helped me massively in finding my next job.

I'm now leaving for a senior security consultant position somewhere so that I can be in a pure security role.

So what does that all mean?

Well first and foremost, try hard to decide what it is you want to do and where you want to be. Even if you don't know in much detail, as long as you know the general direction you want to take you can then start to plan how to get there.

So say you like apps packaging (we're a rare breed ), yes you'll struggle to get a decent perm job doing that as it tends to all be contract or offshored lately, but tie it in with an asset and configuration manager type role and it starts to become something more attainable. Look into products such as SCCM, look into software asset management if that's your thing, the policy side and also the technical side of different license management and discovery tools. This can also open up the world of project management for you as well, running a successful SAM programme can look good on a cv from an organisational point of view.

Get your CV looking good and then just apply like hell for anything you see!

 

Thanks for the replies guys, definately encouraging. Monkeychops -I think maybe tying in something like packaging with another area may well be the way to go. Certainly an eye opener. I will definately ponder over things and decide where I want to go. Even though i'm bored working within a support capacity, I'm going to think carefully about by next step and not just look to jump into anything for the sake of getting out of support. In terms of packaging tools, I'm currently just messing about with Installshield and Wise. It's just getting that break. IT Job ad's are pretty straight to the point, in terms of the technologies employers are looking for, so I know i'm going to have to be very patient and in the meantime read/skill up in my chosen area and hope someone gives me that chance