Ccent, ccna

[AussieBear]

My nephew asked me what i thought about him trying to get his ccent in route to a ccna... then he wanted to branch off into security.. iins i think

I basically said i had no clue.. but i guess it couldnt hurt.....

his parents arent into tech, so he really doesnt have anyone IRL to give him advice about it.. anything past a basic home network is beyond me.. i know nothing about cisco

What about you peeps out there who are in the know. a good idea? is it a viable path for him in the long term?

 

[Schmidtaki]

Security is a rough gig. I've got a friend who does IT security, he came into a big company after they weren't at all happy with their current security person and he turned it all around got them all setup within a matter of about a month and now they are booting him out to hire someone they can pay next to nothing to maintain it.

I recommend focusing on application development or a systems field, companies will pay very handsomely for people who can problem solve and resolve issues quickly. You'd be surprised that about 90% of so called IT professionals are quite incompetent and usually are extremely lazy to boot, they would much rather pass on their problems to the "Smart one" on their team then actually take their fingers out of their asses and do a simple google search to find answers.

Either way. Good luck with the Cisco route, I would say if you want to do security, focus on your CISSP pretty much the hardest certificate to get. Also if he wants to do network things stick to the ccent and the ccna after but if he wants to get into system administration and security from an OS/Application side of the house to go get his MCSE (Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert) in Server Infrastructure. Combine that with 2-4 years of experience and he could easily be looking at a 70k+ a year job in system administration at the right place.

 

[Schmidtaki]

Also, if he is in the Chicago area, I could put in a good word for him with Tek Systems who are an IT staffing agency who specialize in staffing IT people who are just starting out with their careers. The money isn't amazing but the experience is what counts and I've got a good buddy of mine who straight out of high school started with them working for Sears and now he is doing system admin work 2 years later making a decent amount and putting himself thru school.

He got a few certs straight out of high school and got the experience and that is what matters in IT. Degrees are only usually mandatory if you are going for a managerial position.

This buddy is a sibling of one of my good friends from H.S. I've been doing IT now for 15+ years in the System Administration / Technical Analyst field.

 

[AussieBear]

Security is a rough gig. I've got a friend who does IT security, he came into a big company after they weren't at all happy with their current security person and he turned it all around got them all setup within a matter of about a month and now they are booting him out to hire someone they can pay next to nothing to maintain it.

I recommend focusing on application development or a systems field, companies will pay very handsomely for people who can problem solve and resolve issues quickly. You'd be surprised that about 90% of so called IT professionals are quite incompetent and usually are extremely lazy to boot, they would much rather pass on their problems to the "Smart one" on their team then actually take their fingers out of their asses and do a simple google search to find answers.

Either way. Good luck with the Cisco route, I would say if you want to do security, focus on your CISSP pretty much the hardest certificate to get. Also if he wants to do network things stick to the ccent and the ccna after but if he wants to get into system administration and security from an OS/Application side of the house to go get his MCSE (Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert) in Server Infrastructure. Combine that with 2-4 years of experience and he could easily be looking at a 70k+ a year job in system administration at the right place.

thanks ill copy and paste and let him know what you have to say

 

[AussieBear]

Also, if he is in the Chicago area, I could put in a good word for him with Tek Systems who are an IT staffing agency who specialize in staffing IT people who are just starting out with their careers. The money isn't amazing but the experience is what counts and I've got a good buddy of mine who straight out of high school started with them working for Sears and now he is doing system admin work 2 years later making a decent amount and putting himself thru school.

He got a few certs straight out of high school and got the experience and that is what matters in IT. Degrees are only usually mandatory if you are going for a managerial position.

This buddy is a sibling of one of my good friends from H.S. I've been doing IT now for 15+ years in the System Administration / Technical Analyst field.

thanks.. that would be cool if he were in chicago but hes lives in texas.. he's still a senior in high school and wants to just get some certificates and bypass college for now. so i guess hes looking to follow your friends model

 

[Schmidtaki]

I know people with both who can't find work...market is saturated.

Yeah, its much easier to get your foot in the door if you know people.

 

[94SupraTT]

thanks.. that would be cool if he were in chicago but hes lives in texas.. he's still a senior in high school and wants to just get some certificates and bypass college for now. so i guess hes looking to follow your friends model

I have 15 years of experience, random certs and no degree. My certs back my experience. I would suggest that he get an entry level cert, get a help desk job, get some experience and then get a ccna. No one is going to hire anyone with zero experience with a mid level cert. Also have him look into internships.

There is no shortcut anymore. My current title/job is Software System Engineer. Experience got me the title, not a cert.

 

[FireFox]

My nephew asked me what i thought about him trying to get his ccent in route to a ccna... then he wanted to branch off into security.. iins i think

I basically said i had no clue.. but i guess it couldnt hurt.....

his parents arent into tech, so he really doesnt have anyone IRL to give him advice about it.. anything past a basic home network is beyond me.. i know nothing about cisco

What about you peeps out there who are in the know. a good idea? is it a viable path for him in the long term?

Security is the biggest need for companies, but it depends on what you do with security. Tell him to go for pentesting. Big money in that field and a lot of fun. Trust me.