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I've been doing IT support for the last 15 years and during that time I have no formal qualification apart from an old 70-270 XP MCP 7 years ago which is soon to be obsolete. I want to take the next step to undertake network infrastructure to hopefully lead me in to a more purposeful IT career, I've had basic Fortigate admin exposure along with DHCP in my current job, but basically nothing. I'm looking at the basic level Cisco stuff along with some old routers and switches to help me along the way. What exactly do I need, my budget isn't huge maybe £100-120 to get the ball rolling. There seems to be healthy market for old equipment on ebay aimed at the get certified market. Am I thinking right? If I leave it any longer I maybe at a dead end and be putting myself out of work.
Last edited by: nice but dim on Sat 15 Feb 14 at 11:46
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I thought about doing this but it might help you get a job but it won't get you the job. I thought about doing it at a college but it would have cost too much. I don't really use it in my current job and I want to get into teaching instead
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>> I've been doing IT support for the last 15 years and during that time I
>> have no formal qualification apart from an old 70-270 XP MCP 7 years ago which
>> is soon to be obsolete. I want to take the next step to undertake network
>> infrastructure to hopefully lead me in to a more purposeful IT career, I've had basic
>> Fortigate admin exposure along with DHCP in my current job, but basically nothing. I'm looking
>> at the basic level Cisco stuff along with some old routers and switches to help
>> me along the way. What exactly do I need, my budget isn't huge maybe £100-120
>> to get the ball rolling. There seems to be healthy market for old equipment on
>> ebay aimed at the get certified market. Am I thinking right? If I leave it
>> any longer I maybe at a dead end and be putting myself out of work.
Look at most IT support jobs these days and you need to be an all rounder in Network issues and configuration, that means knowing your way round the cicso admin functions, I would suggest as a minimum getting the CCT Routing and Switching qualification under your belt, and you need MS active Directory knowledge, as well as the usual know your windows server 2012 r2 knowledge.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 17 Feb 14 at 16:47
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Thanks for all replies, I have been advised to start with the basic level Cisco quals and leave hardware until its actually needed. I can work my way around the 2003/2008 server without too much issue in a basic sense and have working admin knowledge of AD/GPO and ISA although the latter not too advanced. I'm also responsible for Mitel IP phone system but the extra networking and IP knowledge would set that off even more.
The main issue at the minute, is that our company writes all its own software. I feel like i'm getting in to a dead end of just knowing that area and not a wider area of the industry. Honestly, I'd like to ditch the support dogsbody aspect (done it too long - my fault) and have a more respected role.
Anyhow I've bought the book to start with and plan to have an exam at least booked in 12 months - maybe I'm taking it too lightly, here goes.
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1587143852/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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You'd probably also do well to look for a sideways (salary-wise) job move into something to broaden your skills alongside the training. Even with the qualifications, without the experience it can still be difficult landing a job. Some of the best IT people I've known have had little in the way of formal vocational qualifications.
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