CCNA or MCSE

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Hi there

Im looking to get into Sys Amdin at some stage and am MCSA Sec+ qualified working on Level 1 support.

Im currently job hunting to get a desktop support/junior system administrator job.

Do ye think Id be better to finish MSCE Sec+ (3 exams) or do ccna to prepare my for sys admin job when it comes along.

I can leave out certs incase I seem over qualified for jobs applied for just would like to study away

Thanks
Noel

 

Do you have your A+, Network+, and MCDST? If not, that's the way to go.

Remember, certifications don't exist so you can learn a buncha new stuff... certifications exist so you can show an employer what you can ALREADY do.

 

A mcse is more suited for a "sys admin" role.ccna is more for someone looking at being a network engineer.

Though I'm looking at it from a large corp view where there is not one "sys admin" doing bits of everything but more teams with people that specialise in one field.


One piece of advice I was given early on is that you need to specialise in one field if you want to make big money!

So either be a Server Guru (mcse etc) or Network Guru (CCNA etc).

 

I disagree. I've been a successful generalist, and I know many others who have done the same. On the other hand, I've known quite a few specialists who burn out on the one technology they have to support day after day after day after day. Plus, specialists limit their job opportunities to ONLY large companies and ONLY in their field of specialization.

Not saying that one shouldn't become a specialist... but you cannot simply say, "Become a specialist to make big money!" There are other factors that should be considered.

 

The "general" IT guy is suited for small companies but large corps are not interested in a guy that can install their server, administer their cisco kit and fix their MS office issues.

I enjoy networking and hence thats what I specialise in.The job market at the moment I think is great, I have to fight off the interest in my CV and get interviews without applying for a job.This is what comes with someone being good in one discipline of IT.

The one thing I will say though is Experience is the most important thing in IT and Corp/financial experience even better.Get that under your belt and the rest is easy!

@Sparky,

These days I consider £350+ p/d good money and is normally the minimum I aim for when looking for a contract.

 

These days you need to know Juniper/Cisco/Nokia if you want to be a network specialist.

Current role I manage about 1000+ cisco switches/routers but have to be able to deal with about 100 Juniper wan acceleration devices and about 10 Checkpoint firewalls (also a handfull of asa ones).This is outside of other misc network equipment like probes etc.

This is the norm in large companies as though cisco are the best at switches/routers, their competition in firewalls/wan acceleration sometimes are better.

Hence you need to be a "network Specialist" not a cisco sales person to run a large network.

 

Thats the goal in a few years but I want to achieve CCIE before then.

 

Depends on what they're looking for. If they're looking only for someone to do one specific task and nothing more EVER for that position, they'll look for whoever is the most experienced in that task, whether or not they've specialized in that one area. All the better if they can find someone to do that AND another task! Never know when someone will have to wear two hats.

It's all about being multi-talented, mate... valuable in several areas, not just one.

Guess we will have to agree to disagree.

 

Large entreprises only expect a network engineer to do work on the network, at then end of the day thats what they pay him for.

Though I'm capable of troubleshooting most server related issues, I expect those issues to be passed to the server team who manage our servers.There are not enough hours in the day to deal with all the network related issues, I cant imagine trying to deal with other teams work aswell.

But like you said, agree to disagree.

 

Well from my understanding, and I could be wrong, but before you specialize in something, it's really important to understand the general sysadmin/network admin tasks. I mean I could be an all around network guy, meaning managing a 500 person company. This includes, server issues, juniper firewalls, 3com switches, etc.. on a daily basis and then perhaps with more years of experience start specializing in something like messaging or security. That would give me a much better understand of everything. It's like you gentlemen stated, a specialist is capable of doig general sysadmin tasks as well... I mean isn't that the way to go before specialzing in something? Also the amount of money one is getting paid is dependant upon his/her experience, the company, etc... so a specialist could be making less or more money then a general sysadmin.... Also you can't really compare an sysadmin working for company of 100 vs a specialist working for a company of 1000. The specialist is going to have way more stress, responsibilty, severity of issues, etc... so yes he deserves to get paid more.

Our company is 400 employees, we have a pretty complicated network with SAN, VMware, AD/DC/DNS/DHCP, juniper firewalls, 3com switches, file servers, web servers, SQL, Citrix, BES, Exchange, etc... and we don't have a specialist, just a general network team...

 

In the company I work at its about 20k internal users, about 600+ servers and 1000+ comms equipment.

There are teams specializing in exchange,Vmware/citrix,networking,server,applications.
This is excluding teams set aside for design and improvement of server/network etc.

This is the structure of a large company, no manager/director expects their network person to be able to login to a domain controller and configure DFS links.He gets paid good money to keep the network infrastructure up and hence needs to concentrate on only that.


Though my mcse has come in handy in proving issues are not network related, its more of an advantage than a need when being a network engineer.