What to do after A+ ?

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

I hope to settle my mind on a path of certifications and work my way through them each one after the other, I need to know what to work towards after completing the A+ I've started. I know it should be one step at a time, but looking ahead is a source of motivation for me and I am afraid of ever losing the motivation!

My ideal aim is to become a network admin and/or obtain a 2nd/3rd line job, hopefully with a focus on security -- and failing that I want to purely on a personal level obtain the skills and knowledge of looking after servers and large networks as this fascinates me anyway.

I have a lot of real-life professional hardware/technical experience and I hope that will assist in passing the A+. My knowledge on networks on a whole isn't so strong however.

Please advise me on a "certification" path, basing your advice on either my aims or what you think would be better

 

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

Do you currently have a real-world IT job?

 

Well, the Network+ cert seems the next logical step. Beyond that, there are any number of directions you can go in and no one will be able to map out the possibilities for you. I am going to post a number of links that might help you get at least a partial look at those possibilities:

http://searchnetworking.techtarget....gebaseAnswer/0,289625,sid7_gci1237933,00.html

http://www.sun.com/training/certification/solaris/scna.xml

http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/learning_career_certifications_and_learning_paths_home.html

http://www.cwnp.com/certifications/index.html

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/default.mspx

That should give you plenty to think about.

 

Yeah, currently in a contract as a help desk adviser in a Windows environment, we have a user base of over 7000 users. I am just going to temp for the time being whilst I get my certs and try to get an ideal permanent job -- I am actually more interested in working overseas, perhaps the Middle East or the Far East, but for now it's temping and gaining more experience.

 

Network+ would be a good start for you. Afterwards, the MCDST can help you become a better desktop support tech, and might give you the boost you need to get to the next level. You could also choose to skip the MCDST and go for your MCSA/MCSE... it's up to you.

 

How good is the Linux+ cert for trying to break in to the UNIX/LINUX job roles? I have been a long time user/admirer of Linux and hope to do the Linux+ cert at some stage, if I can fit it in.

 

IMHO Linux+ is not well-enough known and regarded yet in the UK, which detracts from it's value a bit. But studying and passing it would be beneficial as it would give you a structured intro to Linux.

I treated the ECSD is much the same way - nobody at work was interested, but it gave me a good overview of Office, rather than the ad-hoc way I had been proceeding.

You might want to investigate the LPI certs for Linux as well.

Harry.

 

Couldn't hurt.

 

Harry could you please elaborate about the LPI certs, any info on them in this forum? (I couldn't find any, but then again I'm always useless with forum searches)

 

Here is a pretty good discussion on the relative merits of Linux+ and LPI.

And here is the LPI web site.

Harry.

 

Thanks, will research in to this in due course.