career/certification advice if you could share some….

[dball63]

I’m looking for a little advice from fellow IT folks at Tek-Tips. Good news. I just finished updating my MSCE for Windows 2003 after much procrastination. So I’m kind of back in the study mode and I’d like to continue with something else that doesn’t have a deadline again like my MCSE cert that I just got in under the wire.

A little about my background; I’ve been doing IT administration/network/desktop support for a little over 10 years now. I still really love my work and IT work in general. My current position is a government job has been very good for me been very stable for 7 years now. In my current office there are no opportunities to advance. No opportunity for raises and no real opportunities to learn anything new or use my skills much. I’m the only IT person in the office and my skills have probably eroded in this office since I arrived here in the year 2000. The majority of my work is simple stuff that I have been doing for many years. Printers, copy/fax machines, setup a laptop and proxima for staff, desktop support, help desk type duties. I do some very light server work but that has become less and less over the years. The office really likes me to focus on desktop support but occasionally they still expect me to be able to setup a new server every few years or troubleshoot a downed server when needed. Which is not easy if you rarely work on them. I really would like to make a move upward into a position with more responsibilities or work with enterprise wide technologies and I just don’t see that happening in my office. So to help me prepare for that next opening, I’m looking for some of your career/certification advice if you could share some….

This is what I’ve been thinking about now that I got that MCSE done.

My current organization uses
• Netware
• Microsoft/Microsoft SQL Databases
• Some SUSE Linux
• Cisco Routers/Switches
• Cisco VOIP
• Novell Groupwise with a small chance we might move to Exchange 2007
• Just starting to use VM Ware technologies

1. My first desire would be to do some training focused on Exchange. That’s where my heart is and what I think I’d like to be doing 5 years from now but if we don’t migrate from Groupwise to Exchange, that would mean any training would be a waste or I would have to leave the organization and my pension to make use of it.

2. VM Ware training. This might something worthwhile and the technology is very exciting. There is good chance that the technology will spread and there will be lots of work implementing virtualized environments.


3. Linux training, I’m a bit afraid to touch this one. I know linux is a great OS but I’m afraid learning another OS won’t get me much as I already have two OS related certs. CNE, MCSE

4. Cisco, I’ve always wanted to get my hands into Cisco technologies and have often considered studying for a CCNA. I’ve seen many job openings that would be right up my alley if I had Cisco experience. The reason I have never followed through with this that I am afraid I would not retain much from the studying or training because I would never touch a router a switch in my current work. Chances are it would all be lost after a few months.

DBall63

 

[DonQuichote]

If you have no chance of promotion, your boss may be glad to have another incentive in the form of training. I think you should discuss this with your boss. Especially if management decisions influence your choice (exchange / groupwise).

If you want to do more with networking, just say so. If your capabilities have eroded, say so as well. There may be better challenges within your company.

In short: now is the time to talk to your boss and/or Personnel department about career planning. If you want to study for the company as well, it could be better not to make this decision alone.

As I see it, all your choices can be valuable and you can estimate whether they are useful within your company.

 

[xwb]

You're in one of those jobs where they need a highly skilled person on very rare occasions. I've just finished a contract in a very similar situation. Most of the time there is nothing to do. On the rare occasion that there is something to do, you have to get into gear pdq. The problem is that you've been out of the loop for so long, it takes you ages but still faster than any consultant coming in. You are effectively de-skilling yourself when you get into jobs like these. Problem is you don't see it when you start.

Changing from Groupwise to Exchange. It depends on how much has been invested in Groupwise and what the advantages are of changing to Exchange. One place I worked for used Lotus Notes for everything: email, databases, online help, problem tracking etc. Another site just used it for email. The second site could have switched to any other system but the first site couldn't. You have to see what else Groupwise is used for. You could have a pet project, porting all the Groupwise apps to Exchange and then announce a parallel run for a week followed by a switchover. If anything, it is a nice feeling when you manage to get everything going.

Don't know a lot about VMWare. The current site has to use it but they have to use a DOS6.22 version because of some wierd feature that they use that is not supported in the later versions. Nobody goes near it unless they need to. Our local 'expert' knows how to set it going and that is about it. Doesn't know anything else about it.

Linux - why not. If anything, it teaches you what else you can do with an OS. Then you start probing and find that some things are really easy in Windows and others are really easy in Linux. If anything, it will tell you about things you never knew existed. Also, it may be a route out of your current position. There is quite a lot of demand for admins who know both Linux and Windows.

Cisco - that is something I've never had to use so I can't advise you on it.

 

[tfg13]

Depending on what "government" job you have, you have all sorts of options. Myself, I am government employed, and take advantage of all the training that is offered due to the new regulations guiding us (more like telling us what we need to have to retain our jobs).

Have you looked at the possibility of transferring/getting re-allocated to another section? We have individuals who move all the time. Start looking at the openings at sites like usajobs.com. Guess what, some of them pay relocation, and you get to keep your pension, and time in service.

VMWare is a strange beast. It's not that difficult to set up, or to administer, and there are different nuances, depending on what platform you'll be dealing with. Knowing our current situation with VMWare, I wouldn't bother training with it. Eventually, our "division" will be dumping it.

Absolutely go with Linux training, as well as Cisco. The more training you get the better for everything.

 

[58sniper]

I do a LOT of Exchange migrations from Notes and GroupWise (including a current migration from GroupWise for an entire state government). If there is a possibility that you may move to Exchange, you'd want to start at the top and make sure your AD is squared away. You don't mention whether you're using an AD environment that has some Netware in it, or the other way around.

Stay Microsoft focused. Nothing against the other vendors you mention, but don't spread yourself too thin. AD and Exchange go hand in hand.

Pat Richard
Microsoft Exchange MVP

 

[NickFerrar]

In terms of marketability I'd rank them as:
1). Cisco
2). VMWare
3). Exchange
4). Linux

I'd only rank Linux last as you'd have no experience to back it up and for an operating system experience is king IMO.

Virtualisation looks to be the big thing for the next couple of years but Cisco is pretty ubiquitous and helps in a lot of other areas. Exchange is obviously a lot more specialised and probably only needed if you're going for a dedicated Exchange role. I have the messaging extension to my MCSE and support Exchange but not really sure it's much real world help to me, I guess it all helps on a CV though.

 

[dball63]

Thanks for all the replies so far.

dball63

 

[dball63]

Well, I've decided on something. I signed up for 3 classes this coming year.

1. VMWare Install and Config(for myself and future jobs)
2. SQL Performance Tuning (for my current job)
3. VB Scripting

My employer was willing to pay for all of it. Surprise suprise!

Thanks for all the advice here!

dball63

 

[sillyVM]

1. Cisco is probably the hardest, and most marketable skills, also most rewarding. If you don't use it on your job, then you will be looking at spend 2-3 hrs a day after work to study for it. I recommend spend $100 get a small PIX firewall to play with at home.
2. Linux/Unis is a great marketable skill. Most recognizeable is the RHCE, but personally I think on job experience is much more important. Start by using it at home.
3. VMware is not that much, it's a great technology, but any unix/linux admin should be able to handle vmware with easy. Unless your whole company is to move to a vmware farm. Running small VMware server requires little or no training.
4. I see exchange as the least marketable job. Or at least it's something I hate the most. It's boring, it's buggy, to me it is a dead end job.

 

[tfg13]

dball63,
I see that you are planning on looking into VBScript. That to me is near and dear to my heart. I use scripts daily to do some very mundane tasks. Take a look at this forum, and just watch what some of the great guys can do:

forum329