The Future

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I'm now A+ working on my N+, just for fun. In 4 years i'll have to move jobs. I'd like it to be in the IT world. What should i do to help me get a job in four years?

 

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First thing, Welcome to CertForums. Second, I've moved this thread into a more relevant forum.

Third, I guess if you've got 4 years then that’s plenty of time to plan a good training strategy. You've made the first steps in completing the A+ but you don’t say what experience you have. Personally I'd suggest you focus on your goal, what end result do you want? I know you want to work in IT but in which area (web design, systems engineer, field technician, help desk, annalist, programmer).

I'm sure the others here can give you some excellent advice on ways to get your foot on the ladder in IT. Speak to you soon.

SimonV

 

Also take a read here, some points you may find intersting.

http://www.certforums.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=483

SimonV

 

Thats right, but the whole point is i'm not sure what part of the IT world i'd like to go into. And having the time i have left i don't want to waste it on Quals i might not use. I guess i need to put more thought into what might be going on in the IT world in 4 years time

Please any more comments would be helpful

Thanks in advance

 

Hi f...., and welcome again,

I ain't no guru in any area if IT (there's plenty here who are), but I'd reckon you might as well use the Magic 8 Ball to guess where we'll be in 4 years of IT. Further on from now, i'd say ... :P

Where you want to be ? Well, why not spend time in here and elsewhere on-line, and see which areas you end up spending most time reading about. Get some general PC mags, and narrow down the articles that grab you most.

Then once you've got an idea, then you can start to plan where you want to go, and how to go about it - I think you'll find that that's where CertForums has a bit of a strong-point :P

We're pretty much all involved in varying degrees of self-certification, so you should be able to get any help or advice you need. If you can't, then we'll damn well get it for you

 

Four years is like an eternity in computing and networking technology. My crystal ball isn't that good, so I wouldn't even know what to suggest doing then. What I'd suggest doing now, if you can fit it in, is getting some real world tech experience.

I'm in the US and I don't know if my experiences will apply where you are, but I'll give it a shot. Just about all my IT experience so far is as an independent contractor. I got my first job doing hardware installs pretty much as a shot in the dark. I posted my resume on a few job sites and out of the blue, a recruiter from the other side of the country called me on my cell saying he had a job for me tomorrow and am I available.

It just about blew my socks off. I'd never actually done a real world job so I was a bit intimidated. Nevertheless, I geared up, bought a small tool kit (turns out I didn't actually need it on that job, but I've used it plenty since), got my instructions via conference call, e-mail attachments and fax, and away I went.

Getting a long term project as a contractor is a pain, but there seem to be a few one day, a few days, and week long projects around. It's a great way to get practical experience, see different sides of IT and, if you're lucky enough to work on a team, network with other IT newbies and gurus...pick their brains and see what they like and why.

The A+ cert is a great place to start, not only because it's foundational, but because there are a lot of jobs that require basic hardware and networking skills. I have to admit though, that one of my more interesting jobs was offered to me because of my CCNA. Microsoft certs are probably the better choice though (I've always been a non-conformist). Since you're studying for the Net+ now and already have your A+, just three more exams afterwards and you're an MCSA.

JMHO.

 

Thanks fellas,
lots to think about, due to the nature of my work i would'nt have time to do much apart from holidays. But i am thinking about going into the network side of life, after doing alot of reading. So would MCSA or MCSE be better. But don't these run out after 5 yrs? As i do enjoy problems, that need more then just exchangeing parts and hardware. Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

MCSA is just a sort of "staging post" towards the MCSE, ie 4 MCPs = MCSA, then 3 more gives you MCSE. Or, alternatively 3MCPs and A+ and Network+ = MCSA, but then you need to do FOUR more MCPs for MCSE - is anyone following this ???

As for expiring - no, you get that particular MCSE for life (eg NT4, w2k), but to stay current you would want to do the upgrade exams, ie for Win2k, there are now exams you can take to bring you up to Win2003/XP MCSE (I think I'm right on that point - will stand corrected)

I'd agree with Trip - get the real world experience, but in the meantime, get a feel for what interests you most.......... :P

 

what he said.

 

Two words: home lab. If you can't get experience any other way, build a home lab and start doing exercises on it. Depending on what you want to do, it might not be too expensive. You could get some older machines and a cheap 10 MB switch and network them. The minimum requirements to run Windows 2000 Pro aren't set too high, but try to get machines that perform as high above the minimums as you can. 2000 can be real slow on machines with minimum RAM.

Places like Retrobox: http://www.retrobox.com/rbwww/home/

and TigerDirect: http://www.tigerdirect.com/

can offer deals on hardware. You can also do a google search on cheap computer hardware to find half a dozen other places. Also, in your community, there's probably at least one place that sells used hardware for inexpensive prices.

One of my former instructors is the master at doing hardware rescue. He'll find some private or government office that's basically throwing away legacy hardware and offer to haul it off for them. I hear his house looks like a computer museum. Some of the better rescues went as donations to students who couldn't afford to buy PCs and servers. I still run a couple of old IBM P 166s for some simple labs.

Straight through and crossover cables are pretty cheap but you might want to look up the pinouts on the internet for each type, buy some bulk cat 5 cable and some RJ45 connectors, the wire strippers and cable crimps and try your hand at making a few. There's always going to be a time when you just need a piece of cable or two and making them on the spot is easier than going out and buying them.

The operating systems...windows at least, are pricey, but you can order evaluation copies of Windows 2000, XP and 2003 server from MS or, they come in certain texts put out by MS Press. If your interest runs in the Linux direction, they're free as internet downloads, but you better have a high speed connection. Otherwise, you can either buy them off the shelf as commercial products for a fraction of the cost of a Windows OS or again, in a number of Linux texts, the CDs with the OS on them including the source code is included. Also, since it's open source, there is no legal problem for a friend who has some Linux CDs to just burn you a copy (if someone offers to do that for you with an MS OS, it's called "piracy").

This way, you can create and play with a network in the evenings and on weekends or whenever you have free time.