Where is IT heading?

Discussion in 'Employment & Jobs' started by adamramsey91, Jun 24, 2013.

  1. adamramsey91

    adamramsey91 Bit Poster

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    Hi

    Before I ask this I would like to re-iterate that it may sound like I am asking this for the wrong reasons and not for the love of the job but I assure you I do enjoy working in IT.

    Currently employed as in house IT and provide support to our user base but I cannot see myself progressing up the ladder. I would like to do some certs and (obviously) earn as much as possible but which field in IT would be the most profitable moving forward? looking at doing 70-680 but thinking long term won't these certs be redundant? Where can people see IT moving?

    Thanks

    - - - Updated - - -

    Sorry all that was meant to read - 'where is IT heading'.
     
  2. dmarsh
    Honorary Member 500 Likes Award

    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    IT is a very general term, I'd learn more about specific area that interests you and follow that.

    Newer industry trends include things like :-

    Virtualisation
    Cloud computing
    IAAS / PAAS
    Big Data
    Elastic Grid
    Open source
    Ubiquitous computing
    Machine Learning
    Bioinformatics

    However there is still a lot of activity in more traditional areas.
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2013
  3. Josiahb

    Josiahb Gigabyte Poster

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    If your intention is to stay on the support side of things then wherever the technology is heading solid desktop and server skills will still be important for a while yet. The large majority of small to medium businesses that I work with have only just begun reinvesting in their IT infrastructure following a fairly long hiatus, they have little to no interest in jumping to the cloud, or in any of the other big technology buzz words of the moment (despite my best efforts in some cases).

    Basically, 70-680 is still definitely worth it, as are the MCSA/MCSE both desktop and server versions.
     
    Certifications: A+, Network+, MCDST, ACA – Mac Integration 10.10
  4. adamramsey91

    adamramsey91 Bit Poster

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    Thanks for your replies both, would cloud based certs be VMware? I have little to no interaction with cloud based products. When things do turn to the cloud what should I be looking at getting myself certified for?
     
  5. simongrahamuk
    Honorary Member

    simongrahamuk Hmmmmmmm?

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    In terms of 'In House' support I believe the role is changing to more of a co-ordination role.

    The on site support person will become the middle man who co-ordinate with the specialists who do the cloud / virtualisation / VOIP / etc. In house IT will know enough to support their users needs, but will call on the specialists when needed.
     
    Arroryn likes this.
  6. SimonD
    Honorary Member

    SimonD Terabyte Poster

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    This +1111.

    In house IT is definitely becoming more of a smart sourcing solution for companies now, keep a small contingent of personnel on site and use a managed solution to provide the heavy lifting so that you bring in the expertise when you need it and not have it around the company when you don't.
     
    Certifications: CNA | CNE | CCNA | MCP | MCP+I | MCSE NT4 | MCSA 2003 | Security+ | MCSA:S 2003 | MCSE:S 2003 | MCTS:SCCM 2007 | MCTS:Win 7 | MCITP:EDA7 | MCITP:SA | MCITP:EA | MCTS:Hyper-V | VCP 4 | ITIL v3 Foundation | VCP 5 DCV | VCP 5 Cloud | VCP6 NV | VCP6 DCV | VCAP 5.5 DCA
  7. Arroryn

    Arroryn we're all dooooooomed Moderator

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    This.

    And therefore as an in-house member of staff you would want to look at longer term focusing on your soft skills. Project Management will always be desirable and depending on what your business does, ITIL and SFIA, whilst not always directly applicable to real-life scenarios, does throw an interesting light on some topics.

    I made the move from in-house to MSP and it's a move that's made my career. I was going stale in house, and not only do you struggle to progress up a slow-moving (or sometimes static) ladder, there is little investment in training (generally) and there is little to no evolution of technology - certainly not enough to keep up with the cutting edge. And let's face it, technologies evolve pretty rapidly these days.

    I think there are some management certs in the pipeline for Azure, and longer term I'd be interesting in seeing if small to medium businesses take up on this as a solution, instead of having the hardware in-house. They'd virtually be locked in to upgrading, which is no bad thing... would the costs work out better for them?

    As with Josiah, I'm only just seeing customers prying their clammy cold hands from around the neck of SBS 2003, and that's only because SBS 2011 will only be available until the end of this year, then licensing-wise a lot of SMBs will have screwed the pooch licensing-wise if they haven't sorted themselves out.

    So as for your question - if you want to do support as a longer term career prospect, I'd get out of in-house and find work with an MSP (personally). The technologies you can deal with will be varied and quite often fresh. You'll learn far more than you would in one place. And I'd have a look at the soft-skill certs anyway - having Prince in your locker (badum-tush) can hardly be a bad thing?
     
    Certifications: A+, N+, MCDST, 70-410, 70-411
    WIP: Modern Languages BA
    adamramsey91 likes this.
  8. adamramsey91

    adamramsey91 Bit Poster

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    Exactly my predicament. As a fresh faced college grad got into in house 3 years ago and have no real certs just experience on the job of supporting a Windows server 2008 enviroment (ie admin of AD, creation of new users.. blah blah blah..) can see no real progression in the role and I am becoming the dogs body stuck on a poor salary. I think I would relish the challenge of working with a MSP/outsourcing company. Is it a good idea to get myself in a helpdesk role with MSP/outsourcer and work my way up the food chain? whilst studying for my certs.

    Thanks for replies all much appreciated.
     

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