Graduating from the School of Hard Knocks into an IT Career

IT Certification guy Ed Tittel helps a young man steer his IT career into long-term career building mode, after some unplanned detours intervene. With short-term plans for VMware certification and completion of an Associate’s degree, and longer-term interests in Brocade and Cisco credentials, his future has lots of promise and interesting options ahead.

Mr. Tittel,

I'll try to answer your questions as best I can, working from your “Help Me Help You” post. I answer the questions you raise by number.

1: What is your educational background?: High School Diploma (2007). I took a semester of college towards an AAS in Networking (Your typical spread of Cisco and server courses), half of which I wasted being young and stupid. The whole experience concluded with me not pursuing the second semester and eventually entering the work force.

2: What is your prior work experience?: Two years working for a two man (I was the second man) PC repair and consulting company - serving residential and commercial customers. I'm sure you can imagine the wide variety of hardware and software, as well as hardware and software problems a person would be exposed to in such a position. Virus cleanups, registry corruption, dead lizards laying dried up on the motherboard, et al. 2yrs working for a public school district as a "Computer Technician"- which is my current position. I wear many hats. Everything from utility locating (we own and maintain our own ~200 square mile fiber optic network) to fiber optic splicing, to surveillance systems (IP cameras and the server that runs the system) and VoIP. Typical network and PC troubleshooting in a Novell environment.

3: Where do you live?: Rural Mississippi. I can't tell you much about the job market from my own investigations, but I can tell you that the general consensus from others I've talked to in the industry is that advancing my career will likely include relocating to at least a major city like Jackson or Gulfport. A few people have even recommended I get out of Mississippi. All of which I am open to, particularly the latter.

4: Are you interested in working in management, or would you prefer to stay on a technical track?: I think it would depend entirely on the position and what exactly I was managing. I can see the appeal of it, but I have always trended towards being a "do-er". No experience with or education in project management.

5: What kinds of certifications interest you?: I'm particularly interested in VMware VCP, but the cost for one seat in the boot camp alone exceeds my current employer's "professional development" budget for the whole department. VMware and virtual environments in general fascinate me. I'm also interested in Cisco CCNA (and higher) or Brocade's equivalent (my current employer uses all Foundry/Brocade equipment). I currently hold CompTIA A+ and Net+ certifications (which I got while I was in high school, so they're old enough that they don't have to be renewed. They are also old enough that the subjects they covered are pretty much obsolete), which I believe were still on the 2003 objectives. I also hold an MCP in Installing, Configuring and Administering Windows XP (70-270), which I kind of winged, all I went into the test with was about a year of work experience with my previous employer.

6: Do your long-term career goals nclude staying in your current position?: I love my current job, mostly the people I work with and for, but there is little to no chance of advancement. They would have to create a position for me to advance into, and that is not at all likely. There is the potential to be exposed to the switches, routers and more advanced areas of networking (All I really get to do right now is the Physical Layer side of things), as well as our virtual environment, but those responsibilities all belong to my boss and it is unlikely that I'll really get to mess with much of it. To advance (and I want to). I believe I'll have to obtain more specialized training in one of the things I mentioned in #5, as PC tech peaks out where I'm currently at.

7: What kind of job are you doing now?: Primarily PC technician help desk type duties. PC hardware/software troubleshooting and repair. Printers, etc, and I'm burning out on it pretty fast. Occasionally we'll have to repair a fiber optic line, but there's less to that than a lot of people think. Surveillance cameras are sort of interesting, but again, there isn't much to those, either.

Ideally I'd like to get into the VMware niche of the industry. I've purchased a couple of e-books on the subject but they all read like they were written for senior level technicians. That doesn't intimidate me at all, I just have no idea how to get into the industry from my current position. Specializing in networking is also something I would be interested in, but primarily VMware. The problem I'm trying to solve is: Where do I go from here?

I'm 23, I'm confident in my ability, but I'm torn on what I need to go farther. I'd like to pursue an education, but that seems the most difficult path as it would require I leave my job in favor of a part time position, which would leave me in a fairly tentative situation financially. Certifications seem the "safe" option, since I have enough savings that I could pursue some of the more advanced certs on my own dime (and time) and remain employed full time. For example, a local community college offers night courses geared towards getting a CCNA for incredibly cheap.

Sorry for the novel, Ed. What are your thoughts?

Kent S., Mound Bayou, MS

Dear Kent:

Thanks for your recent email. It’s my pleasure to respond to someone like you, who does his homework and asks interesting questions. First, I very much appreciate you digging up and answering my initial questionnaire. That information makes dispensing advice and suggesting possible courses of action ever so much easier, and helps me focus in on those things most likely to do you some good.

I think your target of VMware is a well-chosen one, and you should probably look into pursuing the VCP5 certification. This does come with some considerable expense, though: you must take a $2,500 course to qualify to take the exam, which might be a bit of a financial hurdle for you.

My advice: save up over a year or so ($210 a month will do it) and keep your eye on current VMware certification info and announcements, so that if a VCP6 is to come along in the meantime, you can refocus your efforts there instead. You should also think long and hard about getting back into a community college program to finish your AAS, and possibly also to prepare yourself for a bachelor’s in Computer Science, Management Information Systems (MIS), or Computer Engineering.

You’ve certainly got the hands-on background to appreciate the opportunity for learning, and to get as much out of academia as you can (funny how a little study at the school of hard knocks increases one’s ability to benefit from training at a real school afterwards).

Beyond VMware, your other interests are also quite solid: Brocade is an excellent technology vendor and offers good training and certifications. Cisco is in a league of its own for the quality, diversity, and recognition for its certifications, too. You can’t stop with a CCNA, though: if you go that route you must plan for at least a CCNP and think about taking the long, hard, and expensive slog to earn a CCIE as well. That latter cert can be a total game-changer, and sounds like it could help you find your way into the kind of job, career opportunities, and earning power you apparently wish to attain.

For the short run, you should concentrate on earning your VCP5 and getting your AAS knocked out. I wouldn’t even recommend looking for another job until you get those under your belt. After that, you’ll find a great many more opportunities, especially if relocating to Jackson or Gulfport is something you’re willing to entertain. And if opportunities outside Mississippi beckon, you should consider them carefully, too.

All in all I think you’ve got a good grasp of your situation, and some pretty good ideas about how to improve upon it. If you really are a “do-er” as you describe yourself in item four of your e-mail to me, time to get cracking on knocking off your immediate goals. Your longer-term goals will undoubtedly change with time, but you’ll be able to draw on an increasing fund of knowledge, skill and experience as you refine those goals and objectives.

Best of luck to you, good wishes, and thanks for writing.

Ed

Ed Tittel is a 30-year-plus veteran of the computing industry, who’s worked as a programmer, a technical manager, a classroom instructor, a network consultant and a technical evangelist for companies that include Burroughs, Schlumberger, Novell, IBM/Tivoli and NetQoS. He has written and blogged for numerous publications, including Tom's Hardware, and is the author of over 140 computing books with a special emphasis on information security, Web markup languages and development tools, and Windows operating systems.

E-mail Ed at etittel@tomsitpro.com with your request for IT certification or career info, or your ideas for future blogs. If your e-mail leads him to a blog topic, he’ll have the Tom’s staff send you your very own Tom’s IT Pro t-shirt! Be the envy of your friends and colleagues, and help him help you with your IT career! If you do have a request for Ed, please read his How to Help Me Help You blog posting, and answer as many of the questions this post contains as are applicable to your situation and inquiry. Thanks in advance for helping make his job easier that way!

See here for all of Ed's Tom's IT Pro articles.

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