Mixed bag of college/job experience, not sure what to do next.

[CoreyJames22]

I graduated from college in 2012, two year college program and i'm a little unsure which direction to turn.

My program was very board, some of the topics covered were..

MS Office
Hardware Basic/Advanced
Cisco courses covering basics, routing,switching,vlans, security and WLAN protocols.
Active Directory
SQL
Intro to java
Linux
Security

Needless to say i got my feet wet in many different areas, but nothing to get me an easy job out of college.

After graduation i spent a year at a PC refurbishing center, mostly hardware,software installation pretty hands on experience but nothing ground breaking. This was a contract position and i was eventually laid off.

The next 18 months were pretty crappy. I moved to a big city, had a hard time finding an IT job. I could blame the economy but it was partly due to my mediocre resume.

I found another job last August doing contract IT for a small retail store, this lasted about three months before i landed a great job doing tech support for a CMS/digital solutions company.

We were recently bought out by another big tech company, and they offer Tuition as one of the benefits.

This leads me to my question....

I have about 2500/year in tuition to play with, and was looking for some input on what i should take going forward.

I use tiny drips and drabs from my college training in every day work but feel i have forgotten some stuff along the way. I would really like to specialize in one particular niche, but i'm not sure which one is worth while.

Any advice is appreciated

 

[carnageX]

I have about 2500/year in tuition to play with, and was looking for some input on what i should take going forward.

I use tiny drips and drabs from my college training in every day work but feel i have forgotten some stuff along the way. I would really like to specialize in one particular niche, but i'm not sure which one is worth while.

Any advice is appreciated

IMO, since your previous college experience gave you a taste of a range of things IT-related....the question you should ask yourself is "Which do I like better"?

Networking? Security? Hardware/software repair? Programming? System administration? Database admin?

 

[MidnightShadow]

IMO, since your previous college experience gave you a taste of a range of things IT-related....the question you should ask yourself is "Which do I like better"?

Networking? Security? Hardware/software repair? Programming? System administration? Database admin?

+1

Personally, I think that security is a big challenge and most likely pays the most, though I haven't done any research to backup that opinion. The rest of those are good as well, but like carnage said, it's really your choice and you would be happier basing it off what you like most.

 

[Yami]

+1

Personally, I think that security is a big challenge and most likely pays the most, though I haven't done any research to backup that opinion.

The pay in security is probably the highest, yeah. I would argue it also comes with the most responsibility, though.

 

[MidnightShadow]

The pay in security is probably the highest, yeah. I would argue it also comes with the most responsibility, though.

Absolutely! Not to mention probably also the most dynamic and quickly changing part of IT as a whole. It'd be great for anybody who loves a good challenge.

 

[CoreyJames22]

If I was to go the system admin route, what's the best way to get back into it ?

Which cert carries the most weight ?

Depending on what you guys think I will most likely try and find a course in my area and sign up for that.

 

[MidnightShadow]

My experience is that certifications (the general ones) are the best. I wouldn't specialize in a certification unless it's going to benefit a specific company that you're trying to get on with, such as you know Boeing uses Cisco switches on their network and you get your CCNA. CCNA is great, but what if the company you go to doesn't have Cisco? Quite a few good articles on that type of thing and how not to waste your money.

As far as what types of certification to get, visit CompTIA and see which of the certifications apply to what exactly it is you're looking to get into. For instance, if you're going to manage a Linux environment, you'll want to get the Linux+.

CompTIA certification - IT certifications

 

[cb600fshornet]

Networks, Security or Software Engineering are likely to land you the best paying roles.

In terms of generic certifications as an IT Systems Admin, you're looking at the CompTIA professional certifications such as the A+, Network+, Security+ and Server+

The Cisco CCNA and above aren't bad ones to get involved in if you want to get more heavily involved in the networking side.

The MCSA or above on Microsoft's certifications path may also prove valuable.

A lot of employers run keyword searches on your CV for certain certifications, so if you have Cisco, Microsoft and CompTIA on your CV then you're increasing the chances of your CV being looked at by an actual person.

Don't do the baseline certifications like CompTIA Strata, Microsoft Technical Associate, Cisco CCT etc, in my opinion they're not worth the paper they're printed on!

 

[Lexluethar]

Do what you are most interested in and what you are most passionate about. If you do that you can't go wrong IMO.

As others have said, security is generally the most paid position but it comes with the most liability and requires the most experience. You will rarely find a security manager that has less than 5 years experience or even more.

If you wanted to do sys admin work start working on your MCSA: 2012. It's encompasses 3 exams and if you pass all three you get the certification. That will look great on a resume.

Tuition reimbursement is tough because unless a local college specifically offers a certification course, you are stuck taking one-off courses like you have in the pas for a half backed associates.

I've found a few community colleges in my city that offer certification courses, they generally last 3 to 5 months and claim they prepare you for the exam (exam vouchers were included in the cost i think). Problem is the classes are few and far between, since they aren't part of the core curriculum for any associates degree, they were the first classes to be dropped if not enough people signed up.

 

[CoreyJames22]

I never thought of my education as half-baked but i guess it was.

A college near my house offers an A+ Prep course, no voucher though. My employer will cover the cert costs if it is related to my job, which it mostly is.

I think this is the route i will take and start from there.

Thanks Again.