IT People - Please help, I need your advice.

[Diws]

Originally Posted by macroy

... Most network engineers I know at some point did helpdesk or NOC work. I don't know of too many that just came out of college and got a gig managing routers/switches and firewalls. So if you want to go up that path, you'll need to take that low paying grunt work. And not only that - unless you luck into an opportunity to advance, you'll need to do a lot of legwork yourself (ask questions, hang with the folks that have jobs that you want, volunteer to help out during off-hours implementation/maintenance windows etc.).
...
If the experience don't back-up the certs - the red flag of being a "paper <certification>" comes up. And from my perspective, that is actually worse than not having a cert.

... I see them as actually becoming more valued... There will be less of them, but those that qualify will most likely be very highly compensated.

As an engineer on the infrastructure side, I have to say that this advice is priceless.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by macroy

Most of these certs are meant to 'validate' your knowledge/skills, not substitute for them. If I got a candidate that listed all those certs (I'd first of all would chuckle because it can be seen as simply padding the cert section. No reason to list S+ with CASP or CCENT with CCNA), I would expect to 2+ years of experience in managing/implementing networks, security controls, as well as writing policies and procedures (and 3-4+ years of overall experience). If the experience don't back-up the certs - the red flag of being a "paper <certification>" comes up. And from my perspective, that is actually worse than not having a cert.

And while I do agree that new trends makes outsourcing more viable. I certainly don't think these skills are going the way of the dinosaur. I see them as actually becoming more valued. The reason for that is because they'll need highly skilled people in those positions to managed the service providers (<X>aaS) that will support all the outsourcing customers. There will be less of them, but those that qualify will most likely be very highly compensated.

No one wants a network admin who has no experience, and because there is an increasing amount of experienced personnel looking for work, they will almost always get the nod. The reason helpdesk and low level personnel get the certs is to prove they have at least some base level of knowledge. I was under the impression they may be helpful. They have not helped me get the job I have today and all the certs did was lead to calls for call center work.