career paths

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Ive just started a IT support engineer apprenticeship, with a brand new company (Got IT Covered Ltd based in birmingham).

There are certain mandatory units that I have to do as part of the apprenticeship, but the company director has basically told me he will personally train me and provide professional experience in pretty much anything I want to learn!

Obliviously I'm extremely excited, but could do with some advise. I have a customer support background and enjoy problem solving so I've always thought support roles would be great, but I'm not sure where that leads I know generally you start as 1st line support and then after 1-2 years move on to 2/3 line support, but I don't know where people progress to after that?

I dont want to waste this fantastic opportunity by training as a support tech only to find that 5 years down the line Im stuck in a dead end job, so I would like to hear from people what career plans they have followed and what they would recommend.

 

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Congrats on the new role and job opportunity. Well you've pretty much answered your question.

IT as a career is challenging as well as technology of today is obsolete tomorrow.

Hence, experience is your best bet as long as you're willing to learn then this would also lead to progression. I think you're on the right track.

Best wishes

 

genius

 

lmao :d:d:d

 

No he's wagbo

(harry hill )

 

I've been doing quite abit of research into this now and have decided to aim towards systems administrator (I wanted to have a 5 year plan (yes I know 5 years is ambitious))

This is one of the qualifications I must complete on the apprenticeship;

http://www.cityandguilds.com/docume...ompetence_handbook_v3.0_(7540-03_and_-83).pdf

these are thew units I*'m looking to do;

CompTIA a+ (as everyone seems to surguesst its the best entry level certy on here)
CompTIA n+
Technical fault Diagnosis
Technical fault Remedy selection
Remote support of products and services
Customer care in IT (compulsory)
Develop personal and organisational effectiveness (compulsory)
Interpersonal and written communication L2 (compulsory)

I'm also thinking of doing the CompTia Linux+, as I would like to learn more about unix with the option of specailising in it further down the line.


Could you please tell me wether you think these units sound right for what I want to do, my thinking is that the way into a systems admininstrator role is through being a dam good support engineer so thats what I ve tried to aim towards.

 

As i would say a system administrators career should start from a support role such as helpdesk i would say a NVQ or BTEC IT practitioner qualification with the A+ would be ideal. Its refreshing to see that your also looking into customer service and communication skills as well. I personally would leave the Linux+ until you have worked a little more towards your goal, but do play around with Linux. I do think 5 years is a lot to ask for especially with gaining experience and promotions etc. but not impossible.

 

Okay, there are alot of cisco certs that I can choose from maybe that would be better, is there any areas that you think I have over looked.

I'm interested in web design but as that doesnt fit into what I want to do I think I will leave that to done in my spare time (hopefully I will get some sparetime at some point)

 

The CCNA should only be done if you work with cisco kit at the moment. There are certs for people wanting to get into IT and certs for people who work in IT to back up their experience.

Certs for people wanting to be in support and working towards goals such as admins are: A+, Network+, MCDST and the upgrades for windows 7 and Vista.

Certs to backup peoples experience level is just about everything else such as: CCNA, MCSA,MSCE etc.

 

deleted

 

I totally agree with greenbrucelee there is no point to doing CISCO until you are working with it on a daily bases and have the desired experience. The same can be said with Server and Linux certification.

 

Young padewan, learn to walk before you try to run.

 

the cisco units are choices on the City & Guilds lvl 3 diploma in ICT professional competence (a qualification that makes up the apprenticeship), and the assesor says cisco routers, switches ect. are the most used in networking.

Cisco ICND – Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices (CCNA parts 3 and 4)
Cisco INTRO – Introduction to CISCO Networking Technologies (CCNA parts 1 and 2)

these are the units as I say they are classed as lvl 3 (the same as the N+),but they are worth more points than other lvl 3 units....So definatley not worth doing it yet?!?

 

CCNA is not for someone who hasn't been working with CISCO equipment. Certainly from my days in recruitment I wouldn't hire a CCNA without the proper background.

Generally the rule of thumb, as pointed out on these forums, is you work with a product or in an area for a good length of time then take the certification for it. Not the other way around. This is the problem with zenos, QA and the likes

The only certs i encourage people to take whilst getting or building experience is the A+, N+ and MCDST.

Cisco and Microsoft are generally good at outlining who a certification is designed for, take a look on the websites.

Perhaps you should go through the list with your employer.