Hi all, bit of advice if possible please

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Hi all hope everyones well i havent posted in a little while been to mixed up with other stuff such as trying to get a job lol had loads of interviews but with no success as yet.
Basically i would like a bit of advice with qualifications, i have been studying an HNC over the last year however due to work etc.. i didnt get as many modules completed as i had hoped and i am seriously thinking about putting it on pause and studying to be a MCSA/MCSE and possibly CCNA over the next year or 2 and then returning to complete my HNC, as after bein made unemployed and attending a lot of interviews i am now starting to think that the microsoft and cisco quals would do me far more justice in gaining employment not to mention more financial rewards. Am i right in thinking this do you think? I have only been working in the IT industry for just over a year now and wish i had did more research before starting the HNC but i do have another 4 years to complete it if need be. Any advice or suggestions would be great as im really not sure what route to go down all i know is i would like to do well in my career and would most likely be drawn towards the support sector of IT as this is what i seem to be v good at thanks in advance and hope i have made sense lol

roost3r

 

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Hey Roost3r,

Not long completed the HNC myself and trying to asure myself that it was worth my while, i was a complete novice when i began the course.

I now wish that i went down the certs road instead of the HNC, i am currently learning at home working on the A+ at the mo. I've been looking aroung quite a lot to see what sort of work the HNC may be able to get me but my tutors as good as told me it wouldnt get me anything! Excellent i thought, why did they let me take out a £3000 student loan to tell me that at the and of it!

Personally i think that if someone is going down the HNC route they should be giving serious consideration to going right through to degree level as having searched desperatly in all sorts of resources i hardly ever see HNC/HND mentioned in job requirements, usually degree level if there is further education mentioned.

My reason for not going further was out of my hands at the time, i live in Inverness and there is only one college there, the HND didn't run that year as there was not enough interest in it to justify teaching it, im thinking maybe though it was a blessing in disguise because i feel i've learned so much more in the short space of time compared to what i learned at my college, thats my opinion, not a fact. But hey, if you can get a degree and your certs all the better as i've noticed looking though this forum that a lot of employers nowadays ask for both, some work to do though eh! You also need a little hands on experience too!!!

If your thinking about doing CCNA though, the common practice seems to be A+ N+ then your CCNA, i'm not aware of other progressive routes towards that though.

All the best to you!

 

Well, speaking from experience.......

I went down the MCSA road on the way to MCSE, and got sidetracked. After I got my MCSA Cert, I went on numerous interviews which all looked good until I got to the money part......finding out the job payed on average $5 less per hour than I was already making. I got a serious case of "what's the point", so I put my studies on hold and stopped even trying to get into IT.

And just as soon as I stopped looking, I got the job I have now and a nice little pay raise. However, being in data support, I stay logged into Cisco, Adtran, and Vina routers all day long, configuring and rebooting them.

Work then decides to sign me up for the first part of CCNA certification, so I start reading books and using practice exams.

I thought I was pretty smart at networking until I started reading these books.

My point is this. If you achieve your CCNA WITHOUT hands on experience, potential employers are gonna raise an eyebrow at you during an interview.

Do yourself a favor. Find a couple of used Cisco 1700 series routers. I was very lucky to find 2 of them (with WIC cards) for $100 for both. Now I have my own setup and if I type the wrong commands and blow them up it's a simple reset and I'm back in business.