Network Admin ladder

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Does anyone have a good idea of how best to clime the corporate ladder toward becoming a Network admin/System admin starting with zero IT work experience? If anyone has somewhat of a step by step process of how to get there then I'm all ears.

 

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Step by step up the IT career ladder:

Help Desk Tech / Field Service Tech / Level 1 Tech / PC Repair Tech
Desktop Support Tech (preferably, where you can assist with server administration)
Systems Admin / Server Admin (preferably, where you can assist with network administration)
Network Admin

Get certifications that are relevant to what you are doing so you can show employers what you can do. Don't get certifications that aren't relevant to what you do just so you can show employers what you want to do - that's not the purpose of certifications.

 

Thanks a ton this is exactly what I was looking for. I'm in school for IT/Networking, so I should have a decent understanding of the theory behind a lot of the tech, hopefully right around the time I graduate I can pull down a decent Network admin job. Is there any possible way you could give me a normal time line of how long it would take in each position, with a person steadily learning and completing A+, Network+, MCSA and CCNA?

 

It all depends on how much experience you have in those areas. IT certs are there to show you experience in the field that cert relates to. So if you do not work with CISCO switches etc then do not do the CCNA or if you are not a server admin then do not do MCSE. Having certs that are higher than your experience level make you over qualified and can make it harder for you to get a job.

As BM said most people have to go step by step, not many people walk into a network admin job as it would be very unwise of a network manager to let someone loose on their network with no experience especially at lower level of the IT world.

 

Ah ok gotcha, my next question is should I go ahead with getting my Network+ cert if I might not be using it right away, it is my ultimate goal to work with networks and it is still a fairly basic cert next to A+ and Security+?

 

Network+ is a pretty basic cert... basic enough that you'll likely use a good bit of it even as an entry-level tech.

Security+ isn't as basic. CompTIA recommends two years of security experience before pursuing Security+. Although I think that's overkill, you should probably wait a little while before pursuing it.

 

Make sure you're working in IT while you're in school... otherwise, you won't be jumping into anything after graduation but an entry-level job. It takes more than theoretical knowledge to land an upper-level job; otherwise, everyone would do it.

 

Think you may need to take a step back and realise you have to start somewhere as we all do, and if that somewhere was network admin we would all have been on better wages and half way to the top

 

Also I would have to add that there are a lot of very good IT people looking to do the same thing, so be repared to work hard, not just on IT skills, but people and self management skills and always give 100% in a role, showing as much initiative (within boundaries of course - such as bringing in ideas, not messing with things) and showing that you bring value to the organisation.

 

This is a great idea, and I just kind of realized this the other day, I am looking into getting an internship at the local repair center, at least I'll have some experience when I start seriously job hunting in another 6 months or so.

 

that would be a good idea