Career advise, abroad?

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Hi all,


I'm looking for some advise/help here, hopefully somebody can help me...

But first of all I think that a short introduction is necessary, otherwise it's going to be hard for anybody to give proper advise/help.

Computers/Internet/technology has been my hobby for a long, very long time... It all started with the good old Commodore 64, and worked my way through pretty much everything that was invented after that until now. I've always been know amongst friends and family as "the computer guy", so needless to say that I've done my fair share or (re)building computers, removing viruses, installing/securing wireless networks,... Because IT was my biggest interest I also decided to start a Master in Engineering (Electronics with option Information and Communication Technology). This study however I didn't finish. There were various reasons for this, the main one however was that I made the wrong choice. Although I was extremely interested in computers/networks/OO programming/... I couldn't really care less about transistors, capacitors, resistors,... Because I did finish the first year of my Master I received a diploma/degree (not sure what the name would be in England or USA) but obviously no bachelor or master. After quitting these studies I traveled around this beautiful world of ours for a couple of years doing various jobs which weren't even remotely connected to IT and/or computers in general. But now I'm back, and ready to build up a career in IT.

Obviously with my background/resume I couldn't walk into a Network/Server Admin role. So I decided to take one step at the time and start from the bottom of the IT ladder, better known as 1st level technical support. I've been doing this for almost a year now. During the past year I managed to get some certifications under my belt, such as A+, Network+, 70-620, 70-685 and I'm currently working towards getting MCSA certified. The past year was really good to brush up my knowledge and get some hands-on experience with AD, SCCM, Exchange,... (things I didn't know that much about before I started this job). However I feel that I've almost reached the point to move on. I don't believe that there a whole lot new for me to learn in my current role. Unfortunately the opportunities within my current company are pretty sparse, so I'm going through the different options I have.

The next step, in my opinion, would be 2nd or 3rd level support, desktop support or even a junior system/network admin position. I realize that these positions are currently very hard to get. So I've been broadening my searches to countries outside of the UK (since I don't have any commitments at the moment). One that seemed particularly interesting was IBM in Brno (Czech Republic). After doing some research I found out that wages aren't very high over there, but that's a price I'm willing to pay. I would look at it as an investment into my IT career.

So, now after this "short" introduction finally my question... Does anybody know any other countries/companies/regions/... that would be worth looking into for my next step? Please don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to find a shortcut, I know that it's currently a hard time to move up on the career ladder. I'm just trying to make sure that I'm not missing opportunities by not looking into the right direction(s).

Thanks to everybody who took the time to read all the way through this message ;-), and hopefully somebody can give me some advise!


St. Even

 

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Hey

As far as I know the costs of living are accordingly lower in Czech Republic. Or did you take this into account and it's still low salary?

You could try Sweden. I heard swedish girls are lovely

 

I'd recommend Gibraltar, English speaking and there are alot of online gaming companies that are always looking for IT staff, money is good as well.
Have a look on jobserve and in your search put 'not UK' and see what comes up!
I used to see alot of roles in Holland, Germany and Belgium, but the numbers have gone down quite a bit due to the economies going tits up. The ones that are still around require you speak the language so it could be tricky.