Obtaining; A+/Network+/CCNA/CCNP, Salary?

[Alexcordy32]

Just last month I joined Techskills, a vocational school in Las Vegas, NV. I'm 19 years old and for the past two years I have been pondering which road to pursue in terms of technology and computers, as they are both my greatest interests. I am very dedicated and motivated, I am not afraid of failing, if I shall, then I will keep trying until I prevail. I currently work in the Food and Beverage industry, it pays the bills, but it is not what I enjoy doing. I'm nervous about getting my certifications, but not having enough experience and or credentials to land a well paying job. Now when I say well paying, I don't mean anything extravagant. But would it be realistic for me to say that after obtaining my four certifications I could land a job in the $35-40k range starting? Just curious as to what some people's response's might be.

 

[onoski]

Hi Alex,

I would advice that you go for the A+ first as it would give you a good grounding on PC hardware and operating system knowledge.

Try and get as much hands on though as this can count towards experience. Break and fix a PC with various operating systems and when your comfortable then move onto network+ and see how you get on.

Just go with your passion as it can be interesting and challenging working in the IT world. Best wishes.

 

[lerdalt]

I'd encourage you to start looking for jobs now in fact. Experience counts for a lot. Plus it doesn't hurt to sit through some interviews and maybe get an idea of what employers are looking for in skill sets.

 

[CiscoGuy33]

Alexcordy32,

At 19 you should get into college and be working towards a Bach.of Science degree in MIS or Computer Science picking up your certs along the way as well as getting some part-time experience at CompUSA or Best Buy while in school.

It might be great to be a tech making $25 to $35 an hour now while you are in your teens and twenties but some day you will want to hang the tool belt up and be the supervisor or manager - that is where you will find they want you to have a BA or BS to move into management. I have seen so many network admin, metwork manager, server manager etc jobs that pay GREAT but are looking for BS in a computer related field, Cisco/Microsoft certification and experience!

It is lots harder to do it once in your 30's and 40's - I should know - I am getting a BS in Management Technology and then on to my Masters!

Get your college done now - once you are in your 30's you might want to get your masters etc. as you get older - you will be less likly to want to pull cable in attics and when you are 40 you will just hate it to take orders from some 25 year old college kid with an MBA as well as his MCSE and CCNP.

Just some thoughts!


E.A. Broda
CCNA, CCDA, CCAI, Network +

 

[GM2005]

I gave this some thought when i read it and my advice to you is go with the comment from Ciscoguy33. The world is desperately short of engineers of all shades and once you are an engineer the world is yours. A Computer Science or Engineering Degree will enable you to move across a much broader set of related disciplines with confidence and genuine knowledge.

Do not go for the quick money in the short term and spend years in jobs you hate. You are young enough to try and to succeed, knowing that should you fail you are young enough to get up, brush yourself down and start again.

I worked in the same industry as you for 16 years, and had some great times, but for a decade I hated it and all through not taking the right route. Believe me, from experience in your shoes when its bad in IT, its still a tenfold improvement than F&B.

 

[Alexcordy32]

First off thank you all so much for the comments and advice. I moved out of my parents home just last year, and moved to Las Vegas. I lived with my cousin and landed a job in a restaurant, saved up enought to get a car, furnish and live in my own place. I regret moving out as such a young age. I developed a great ammount of responsibility and independence and for that I am greatful, however, I should have stayed home and went to get a four year degree from a university instead. As if now the only reason I went the certification route was simply because between school and work, there is not much time left for anything else. I'm hoping once I am certified, I can land a better job, make better pay, enjoy my work and hopefully go back to school and get a degree. Although, I am terrible at mathematics, I can get by but it is not my best subject so the words computer engineering/science put a bit of fear into me. Computer Information Systems I could definately do though..not too sure how that would pair with my certs? Thanks again for the comments and the advice, you all do not know how much I appreciate it!

 

[segment]

CCNP's out here can get as high as 70k if you know where to look. (East Coast/NY, NJ, CT). I've seen mention above of getting your degree in MIS, all I can say is this, I've been in the industry professionally since 1997 as a network engineer, security engineer, VoIP engineer. I never finished college in fact I dropped out 3 times. Not once, not twice, three times. During the dot com days/daze, I was earning 80k easily, right now I'm in the 60's. I know people in my company who have their Bachelors, their Masters, but they have little real world experience. It takes a lot of discipline to sit through college, but getting a degree doesn't suffice for experience. The only one who can truly dictate what you could make would be you. I also know of people with their CCNP and CCDP who are clueless. It makes me think that someone just sat memorized a book or two and passed without having a real clue. I know this from the Cisco VoIP list I'm on. It's up to you to determine how much you can make. Certs help but experience makes all the difference and I say this from first hand knowledge.

perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5,(40*2),sqrt(7600),(unpack(c,Q)-3+1+3+3-7),oct(104),10,oct(101));'

 

[helpdeskdan]

Indeed, it has been my experience that even the CCNP is not much use without years of experience. Some would say we can thank all the paper certs out there for that, but let's not bring that subject up here. It's a buyers market out there now and employers want all three - experience, certs and Education.

Computer Science vs. Computer Information Systems - hard to say! At times, I wish I had gone CIS as I struggled with all the Math. I'd find yourself a good community college and start to work on that math. Some good advice has been given by others here.

 

[Alexcordy32]

Thank you all once again for the comments. Currently making $22-24k a year, i'm hoping once I earn all of my certs I can start at a low but decent 30k salary. I know without the experience the better and more paying jobs will not be available to me, and the better paying jobs should be earned through years of experience. It is even possible that I would get a job in the IT dept. in the casino i'm currently working in although I believe the starting pay is $15/hr. I guess we will see where this all takes me in the following years. Thank you all once again for the advice and comments. Take care all!

 

[lerdalt]

I've had to sit back myself on this and think about it myself. Everyone has given excellent advise, and I guess I feel I should add my educational experience as an option as well.

Went to a 2 year community college and earned my Associates of Applied Science degree. Landed a job that started out mid-$20k, but they encouraged me and helped me to get my CNE by sending me to classes, and allowing me time to study on the job.

I then got promoted into another group and started working on my Cisco Certs after a couple of years experience. Again, was encouraged and given assistance to complete my CCNA and CCNP.

Throughout all of this I've always had the option available for me to go back to school....and about every year, I think about it, but always opt not to. When I first graduated college, it was going to be a lot of extra classes to pick up to finish my Bachelors. The nice part now, is more and more schools are not looking at credits, but whether or not you have a degree. Which would make going back and finishing my Bachelor's much easier. Even better is when you can find a school that will grant credit for certs.

I guess where I'm going at with this is just like other mentioned...only you can determine what you can make. The effort you put in, is going to benefit you later, just remember to not cut yourself short on the resume.

 

[techkiwi]

I might as well add my 2 cents worth

Good to hear you're not frightened of failing! I've seen many comments from people who have failed their first, second, even third (or more) attempt at gaining a Cisco qualification.

Of course you need skills and experience; having said that, some employers may still be interested in you even if you don't have the exact skills they're looking for, but do have the right attitude. I got my current job with my CCNA qualification and the right attitude towards customer service; they were looking for a CCNP, but couldn't find anyone that really suited the position, and eventually hired me (after initially rejecting me) because I had a history of really going all out for customers. Now I've got my CCNP!

Lastly, just another perspective to what Ciscoguy33 said: "... some day you will want to hang the tool belt up and be the supervisor or manager...". If that is what you want to do then his advice makes sense. I personally, however, intend to remain in the technical hands-on roles for as long as I can. At 37 I've done enough "inward looking" to know that I am not the type of person who would succeed as a manager. Furthermore I really enjoy what I'm doing, learning more about Cisco equipment and enjoying the challenges when it doesn't work! I also know personally two guys who are in their late 50's and still in the technical arena.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not disagreeing with Ciscoguy33. Just saying that you need to consider what YOU want to do and will enjoy doing. If you feel that eventually you do want to head into the network manager area (and as folks have already said, many people do - in fact my brother has gone down this road, and my current manager who started off in the exact same job I did 20 years ago!) then good luck to you, and definitely take Ciscoguy33's advice. Based on your comment about being terrible at mathematics, you may also need to think about the implications here. But then again it's not as if you need to be an expert at calculus and algebra! So you may well be good enough at the particular skills you will need.

All the best




Graham M. CCNP

 

[helpdeskdan]

Lerdalt, lol! Of course schools look for degrees! That's like saying Cisco is looking for Cisco certifications! A school isn't going to sit there are preach that a BS degree is the key to a good job while hiring high school grads! NOT that I'm saying a degree is essential or useless, that's not an argument I want to tackle. Rather, we know exactly what side of the argument schools are on.

You're still young; I'd say get the degree. Without a degree, a fair amount of employers will not even look at your resume. I'm not arguing for or against it's effectiveness on job performance, I'm just noting a fact.

Two cents of advice - find a good community college. You can take your math classes at a University with a hundred students and a teacher who doesn't know your name and doesn't care if you pass. Or, you can take it in a class with 10 - 30 students with a teacher who can give you personal help, other students whom you can befriend and study with, and maybe even a teaching/tutoring center where you can get help. Not to mention, the price can be a little as half of a large university. Just be SURE the credits transfer! Note that I said GOOD community college. Bad community college credits are worthless!

 

[CiscoGuy33]

Dan,
GREAT POINTS !!! I work at a "GOOD" community college and you are so right about class size and cost as well as many classes try to watch the cost of the books used in the class.

And if you are at an acredited community college then most of your classes should transfer to a BA or BS at a 4 year college. That is what I am doing - taking all my freshman and sophomore classes at the community college where I work and all my Jr. and Sr classes for my BS in Management Technology at the 4 year college. Both are state schools and the advisors have been great!

Not taking anything away from the techs out there (that is what I have been doing for 15 years) I just see that most advancement has "degree" conditions attached and at 19 Alex should try to get some of his college out of the way!

He also would be surprised by many of the contacts he will make in college - both instructors and fellow classmates as well as lots of fun that goes with the college life. Not as much "fun" when you are 47 and in college

Just some thoughts!




E.A. Broda
CCNA, CCDA, CCAI, Network +