Any Network IT people on here

I got some question for people in the networking field or in IT. Let me know if you can help answer some of my questions and I will PM you. Questions are career based and will help me decide which part of IT I wanna go into.

Thanks

 

I do computer tech support for everyone and everybody that asks.
Feel free to ask me any minor questions.
If your a Cisco Certified Network Associate CCNA, that packs in a grip of money for corporate companies that uses that network infrastructure.

 

Ehh.. I don't think CCNA brings that much of a grip of cash anymore like it used to back in early '00. You'd want something more then a CCNA for companys to really start shelling out the cash. CCNP or CCIE is where it's at.

 

Like experience...

 

yeah...because this economy sucks...so many seasoned vets are takin up entry level jobs just to survive cause they cant find jobs for their caliber but what KIND of IT field do you want? cause there are so many...hell you can even make your own position in some cases...

 

Yeah. I've got my CCNA. Guess what I'm doing. NOTHING CCNA RELATED.

Its pretty lame. CCNP and you're in pretty well tho.

 

From my understanding I won't be able to go for the CCNP until I complete my CCNA correct? What type of company would hire a CCNA certified person? I was also wondering how much if any of you are actually making with just a CCNA? Are your companies getting into SANs?

I'm taking CCNA classes for my A.A.S. then transfering to a 4-yr college for either more stuff in IT or something different to back me up.

 

I am going to school right now for Computer Networking. Mainly Cisco based so far. CCNA. Only in second year of a four year degree. I'll try to answer any questions also.

 

Mobile device services management. If you can get certified to launch and manage a blackberry enterprise server you will be doing just fine.

 

I will try to answer any questions you have. I am a senior network administrator and have been in the field since the 80's.

 

I REALLY need to get into somthing like this.

 

We have a blackberry enterprise server, windows mobile phones and iphones all running on our network (Exchange 2007). I dont have cert. for any of that, just taught myself by reading and working with the software. VMWare (virtualization in general) SAN's are hot tech right now. I would say in general certification can get you in the door but experience is better. You can download trial versions of just about anything and play with it.

 

Other than Virtualization, the other hot area right now is security. As more goes to the cloud, security will be even more in demand.

I haven't worked with BES, but I did configure our Exchange to use Direct Push without opening up POP or IMAP. It wasn't that tough.

 

I agree that security is a high demand area, any kind of certification in that would be worthwhile. It all depends on the size of the company you work for also. We have 300 or so computers here and I do a little bit of everything. If you work for United Health you might only work in one area of technology.

 

So what size company would be ideal to get to play with more then one thing everyday? I am still debating about getting certified in either security or SAN along with the CCNA and CCNP. Also if you guys could tell me your job titles and give a small daily job description it would help a lot.

Thanks for all the input, its been very helpful to me.

 

I have been in companies with 200 to 400 users and have been "the" network administrator with alot of variety. I am now the senior systems administrator, SAP, exchange, backups, new server builds, vmware, sql, patching, images, active directory, security, networking are all stuff I do.
Having some business savvy, communication, people skills and the ability to learn are just as important as the technical side.

 

I work in a similar capacity for the University of Minnesota Athletics department. As long as you work with non-technical people (and trust me, you always will), having good business and communication skills are very very important. And honestly, if you are looking to be in charge of and to do development for multiple systems, servers, environments, you'll also need to be very organized.

And to be honest, I agree with most of the statements made here, certifications don't really get you anything other then an interview (possibly). Experience is much much more important.

 

Experience working your way up the chains is what you guys are referring to correct? I'd like to be able to find something to start with, but going to school means that my availability is going to hindered and most IT work places do not work around school schedules. Got any advice?

 

Internships! even if it's unpaid. Super valuable experience you can put on your resume right when you're done with school.

I've had plenty of people come through my departments at work on internships, some I've hired on and some have gone on to get job offers from other places. I worked on an unpaid internship at Sun Micro and I ended up getting hired afterwards, pretty much owe my whole career to that opportunity since I learned a ton there and not just IT type stuff. It really is a great springboard.