IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[↓R↑LYB]

@bdizzle @Chris.B and whoever else can answer this. How the hell do I get up out of help desk or get a higher salary? I work for comcast as a level tech support rep for almost a year and this shyt is hell. I was hoping you guys could help me with what my next move should be as far as Certs. I already have my A+ and Windows 7 MCTS config certs. The guy in the video from a few post above says the mcsa2012 cert is a good look. Just wanted your opinion since you helped me get started before I landed the job.

Do what I did breh, lie on your resume

Also think about becoming a contractor. Take a 6 month contract, stack your money, and hopefully you'll get your contract extended. That'll give you a year of good experience, you'll have some bread stacked up, and you'll be out of help desk.

That's what I did and now I have 7 certs and 18 pawgs

 

[Chris.B]

Do what I did breh, lie on your resume

Also think about becoming a contractor. Take a 6 month contract, stack your money, and hopefully you'll get your contract extended. That'll give you a year of good experience, you'll have some bread stacked up, and you'll be out of help desk.

That's what I did and now I have 7 certs and 18 pawgs

night shift job at some noc for 6 months and he will know what a Cisco guy does

 

[↓R↑LYB]

does anyone know how to get into healthcare IT? i wanna get a job at the hospital or one of these medical software jobs where you train doctors and nurses on the different software. stuff like epic and emr implementation specialist.

Place I work is one of the largest Epic shops in the country. We just upgraded to the newest version a few weeks back. Most of the people that work on Epic came from an IT background. One of the cats used to be a UNIX admin. Not sure what other advice to give you breh, sorry

 

[↓R↑LYB]

I just wanted to thank you guys. This thread made me commit to going in on IT. I got my A+ cert a couple weeks ago because of the #certgang.

Now, I'm not sure what to put in my cover letter when I've got no IT experience. I do have a BS though.

Lie breh. Nothing wrong with lying. Cacs do it all the time.

 

[↓R↑LYB]

I need a accurate ccent brain dump, I set my test for may 20th. On me brehs

Don't do a brain dump. You're just cheating yourself. Learn the material, and become an expert in your field. The cert is just a representation of what you should know.

Don't be a fukk nikka breh

 

[↓R↑LYB]

U seem deep into this, what certs do u have?

I've been thinking about going for an a+ just to see if I can do it. I don't know if I want to work in IT, but I do like the challenge of learning something new. How long do you think it would take a novice? And should I know the sh1t in the A+ exam before I attempt programming?

That nikka ain't deep in shyt. I done told y'all bout taking advice from that nikka earlier in this thread. Pretty sure that nikka is busing tables at Waffle House and shyt

 

[Tony D'Amato]

That nikka ain't deep in shyt. I done told y'all bout taking advice from that nikka earlier in this thread. Pretty sure that nikka is busing tables at Waffle House and shyt

breh, I thought it was peaceful in here.

U said u got 7 certs? What Certs do u have and how old r u? if u dont mind me asking. Just tryin to get an idea of how long it takes to build that kinda resume.

 

[FastEddie215]

go for the CCNA/ MCSE and then get another job.

This is why I advise people against starting out at helpdesk....it's shyt and on top of that once you get comfortable you feel stuck.

Go for high level certs like CCNA/CCNP/CCIE anyone of them. They are much harder than you average cert.

if you are comfortable with Microsoft you may want to aim for the highest Microsoft certs.
Go straight to the top stuff.

Sit down for a few hours...think and make a decision

But since I only have 1 year experience, will getting a CCNA or MCSE help me land a higher level job than help desk even though I don't have much experience or will they just care that I have the cert and take a chance with me.

 

[↓R↑LYB]

But since I only have 1 year experience, will getting a CCNA or MCSE help me land a higher level job than help desk even though I don't have much experience or will they just care that I have the cert and take a chance with me.

It's overkill. CCNA and the Win7/Win8 and one of the AD Microsoft exam should be good enough. With 1 year of exp, it'll be hard to get a gig with a lot of responsibility (CCNP/MCSE level)

 

[FastEddie215]

Do what I did breh, lie on your resume

Also think about becoming a contractor. Take a 6 month contract, stack your money, and hopefully you'll get your contract extended. That'll give you a year of good experience, you'll have some bread stacked up, and you'll be out of help desk.

That's what I did and now I have 7 certs and 18 pawgs

I def agree about lying on the resume to a certain extent but I wanted to know which cert path I could take to get out of help desk. I plan on getting into the networking lane eventually but I have no clue on which certs I need which can elevate me out of this help desk BS and I don't want to get stuck there forever

 

[Chris.B]

But since I only have 1 year experience, will getting a CCNA or MCSE help me land a higher level job than help desk even though I don't have much experience or will they just care that I have the cert and take a chance with me.

Be 'creative' with your resume.

You have more experience than me when I got my first networking job. I quit that shyt within months once I got my CCNA and never looked back. I got tired of being on the end of abuse because some fakkit cannot open their outlook

You can also work part-time night shifts at a NOC (Network operation center) to gain networking experience.late night/graveyard shift.

Once you get the fundamentals...you are on your way

 

[GollyImGully]

hey brehs ive been working help desk since last august and im currently tryna leave by the end of the year early next year

im more interested in the network/server side of things and recently started studying to take the MCSA - WS2012...my question is would I be cheating myself by going for the MCSA instead of struggling it out and going for the MCSE WS2012?

Also what are some good study materials for the MCSA? I have two books so far and i am going to setup a lab as well as virtual labs. Any link to practice exams so i can get an idea of how their questions are formatted? what are some good study materials did you guys who took it use?

 

[↓R↑LYB]

breh, I thought it was peaceful in here.

U said u got 7 certs? What Certs do u have and how old r u? if u dont mind me asking. Just tryin to get an idea of how long it takes to build that kinda resume.

I'm a bytch ass nikka breh, I talk shyt to everyone.

I'm in security, bout 10 years of experience, making 5 figures a month. Broke 100k/yr after like 5 years I think. If you hustle and grind, you could do it earlier, but you gotta sacrifice.

 

[↓R↑LYB]

I def agree about lying on the resume to a certain extent but I wanted to know which cert path I could take to get out of help desk. I plan on getting into the networking lane eventually but I have no clue on which certs I need which can elevate me out of this help desk BS and I don't want to get stuck there forever

By networking you mean router/switch or server? If router switch, cisco. If server, learn Active Directory/Linux.

It took me bout 2.5 years to get out of helpdesk, but everyone's career path is different.

 

[RubioTheCruel]

@bdizzle @Chris.B and whoever else can answer this. How the hell do I get up out of help desk or get a higher salary? I work for comcast as a level tech support rep for almost a year and this shyt is hell. I was hoping you guys could help me with what my next move should be as far as Certs. I already have my A+ and Windows 7 MCTS config certs. The guy in the video from a few post above says the mcsa2012 cert is a good look. Just wanted your opinion since you helped me get started before I landed the job.

Get a new job. A lot of companies aren't promoting from within, they'd rather import someone who has done the job before.

There's no quicker way to make a huge jump in salary than to move on to a new position