Server Admins: What does it take to be one?


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Hey Guys & Girls,

 

I wasn't entirely sure where to post this, but I thought this would be the most acceptable location.

I work as a DCO (Data Center Operations). I make a good wage here, but nothing compared to what my co-workers make. Which is somewhere near 70k / year. I'm young, and I don't have much that goes on in life.

I'm currently going back to school for my"Computer Tech" "degree", it doesn't mean a whole lot because it covers a generic set. I'm attending Western Governor's University this fall, as with my local college.

But I'm looking to become a Linux SA or Windows SA within the next year or so, while I'm attending school.
 

Let me put my life in perspective..

I go to work at 10:30PM (40 minute drive to work), I arrive about 30 minutes before shift starts.
I work from Midnight to 8AM.
I wake up at 5:30 - 6PM.
Between 6PM & 10:30PM is "free time". I do anything from reading, learning new things, or playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

So what certs do I NEED to be a good SA? I'm building an ESXi Server at home so I can learn that portion of it.

 

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You work in Data Center Operations, You should have some idea of what goes on surely? Why do your co workers make more than you do? Are you talking about different teams?

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You work in Data Center Operations, You should have some idea of what goes on surely? Why do your co workers make more than you do? Are you talking about different teams?

 

I'm completely new to DCO life. I've worked here for 4 months. The way things are working now, is I tell the SA they are screwing their job up, and to fix it. Most of my co-workers make more because they have more experience, and by more I mean 3 - 4 years, and 30k+ more per year. My goal is to leave the DC completely. I love working for the company I support, but I hate how the team works. There is no communication, the Lead just dumps work on the teams, expecting us to figure things out when we have ZERO access to the other 3 DC's Insight Controls. My boss doesn't even know what we do, and badgers everyone to death with useless and pointless crap.

I don't have much that ties me down, but at this point I'm gaining experience, and I'm getting paid to go to school essentially. I work graveyard, and the way I do it now is 6 hours of work, 2 hours(1.5 minus lunch) study time. My boss doesn't care as long as I get the job done, and I don't burn the multi-million dollar facility down.

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IMO going to school to learn this stuff is a waste of time, The quickest way to get your cv thrown in the trash is to present no industry certs and just a generic computers qualification "oh I can build a java program" Great this is a server admin position don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

Get yourself two end of life servers off ebay and load them up with 32GB of ram each.

Then setup an entire server infrastructure

At least 2 domain controllers

At least 2 DHCP nodes in a cluster

At least 2 MS SQL nodes in a cluster

At least 2 WDS Servers with replication

At least 2 Scale Out File Servers

A 2 Tier Enterprise and Standalone CA

A Remote Desktop Services infrastructure (on multiple servers)

WSUS

And don't just install these and then delete the vm youll need to be able to diagnose and fix issues after the install.

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I'm completely new to DCO life. I've worked here for 4 months. The way things are working now, is I tell the SA they are screwing their job up, and to fix it. Most of my co-workers make more because they have more experience, and by more I mean 3 - 4 years, and 30k+ more per year. My goal is to leave the DC completely. I love working for the company I support, but I hate how the team works. There is no communication, the Lead just dumps work on the teams, expecting us to figure things out when we have ZERO access to the other 3 DC's Insight Controls. My boss doesn't even know what we do, and badgers everyone to death with useless and pointless crap.

I don't have much that ties me down, but at this point I'm gaining experience, and I'm getting paid to go to school essentially. I work graveyard, and the way I do it now is 6 hours of work, 2 hours(1.5 minus lunch) study time. My boss doesn't care as long as I get the job done, and I don't burn the multi-million dollar facility down.

 

4 months?  You need to work there more longer... so your pay rate will go up. You can not expect to be same as other teams' rate....    Some team have vary rates depends on their experience/amount of years work there.

 

 

I started  and worked my ass off for a few years and got where I am.

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No qualifications here, I went straight into a general IT engineer role for a company who provide IT services to small companies.  Literally thrown in the deep end.  Stuff you don't know? Tough fix it. It was hard a very stressful but I learned a lot.  I now work for a large IT company doing similar but less stressful work but instead work on government contracts.  There's graduates here but tbh they have no experience and it shows.  They also get no chance to work on the big stuff as they are inexperienced.  You need to work on it though to get experienced.

 

Experience, experience, experience.  As someone else said play with VM's at home.  I have two ESXi HP Microservers and Hyper-V installed on my desktop PC at home.  It's great being able to have knowledge about a product before it goes live in business.  The work you put in now will pay off in the future.

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IMO going to school to learn this stuff is a waste of time, The quickest way to get your cv thrown in the trash is to present no industry certs and just a generic computers qualification "oh I can build a java program" Great this is a server admin position don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

Get yourself two end of life servers off ebay and load them up with 32GB of ram each.

Then setup an entire server infrastructure

At least 2 domain controllers

At least 2 DHCP nodes in a cluster

At least 2 MS SQL nodes in a cluster

At least 2 WDS Servers with replication

At least 2 Scale Out File Servers

A 2 Tier Enterprise and Standalone CA

A Remote Desktop Services infrastructure (on multiple servers)

WSUS

And don't just install these and then delete the vm youll need to be able to diagnose and fix issues after the install.

 

I'm planning on doing this, but it can only be done so fast, you know? I've been working with BudMan a lot, and I've come up with a pretty awesome ESXi Server. To me, certs say "This person has stuck with something, and completed it." Shows dedication.

4 months?  You need to work there more longer... so your pay rate will go up. You can not expect to be same as other teams' rate....    Some team have vary rates depends on their experience/amount of years work there.

 

 

I started  and worked my ass off for a few years and got where I am.

 

I work for "The Computer Merchant", who is a sub-contractor for CSC (Computer Science Corporation), My pay won't go up. They are massive sticklers for pay. I'll get a 12% shift differential, and that's it. One of my co-workers has been working here for 3 years, and her pay hasn't gone up, not a single raise.

Ok this is just my opinion on how to proceed, but I've been a sysadmin for .. about 20 years I guess.  Anyway, a big thing to realize starting out is you are basically starting over in a career.  A lot of people want to know what certs can get them the $100k sysadmin job managing 1000 servers.  Not going to happen that way.  You need to build your way up.  The home lab is a good idea, maybe buy an old cisco switch also (one with IOS on it).  If you feel you can, get redhat certs.  If not, Microsoft certs are fine but most people in my line of work will be more impressed with a redhat one.  I mean, a person that can handle being a RHCE not only shows Linux knowledge, but that person HAS to be smart enough to deal with windows server.  Know what I mean?  Then look for work, and have your mind set "huge step down".  Look at small local colleges needing a sysadmin, or that kind of thing.  The pay will be low and they know it.  They will take no experience people if they see a good cert and honestly believe you are a "sharp but unexperienced" kind of computer guy because they can't usually afford the guy with 10 years of great experience.  Make sense?  But that low paying IT job will put experience on your resume.  You would have supported production servers.  And then in 2 to 5 years when you apply to bigger companies, the combination of certs and actual experience will get you in the door.

I don't expect to be given a job. I earn everything myself. I don't like hand outs. To me, earning something, proves to you and others that you have respect, dedicated and responsible. I'm wanting to know which direction I should head in, and aim for that.

I'm just trying to aim for a better job than just being a DCO, my current field of scope is being stretched further and further. My goal in life is to have a better education, so I can provide for a family. I'm 26, and I'm wanting to be an SA within the next 2 years. I feel a generic knowledge of things would be best, so if something does come up, I can handle it. I don't expect to be coding a program in C++ to run on RHEL.

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I've worked in IT nearly 15 years, half of which as a Systems Administrator (Windows, ESX, Exchange, SharePoint. We're a company with a little over 3,000 people so there's a lot of combination roles).

 

I have no certs other than Basic ITIL certified and Certified Virtual Expert through a company I took a ESX course with. I have an Associates in Network Administration and two masters: MBA and Masters in IT Management. (I have a bachelors in Public Health, but couldn't find a job in it) I also have 5 years of teaching IT classes at a college back in Minneapolis.

 

As SK said, experience, experience, experience. Pick up the crap work. As a junior level sysadmin at my first gig as a SA, I volunteered for the overnight server patching work pretty much 9 out of 12 months a year. I did all of the "low hanging fruit" that the regular and senior SAs didn't want to do. Get yourself noticed if you can and look out for internal jobs. If you can, speak with your Manager/Sup and see if you can shadow regular SAs during the day even if it's for a few hours. Try to get the gist on what they do and see if you can help transitioning some of the AD work to your area if their is a need for password resets/unlocks overnight. If there is an SA that does tape backups, offer to help with that. 

 

Do some stuff at home. A home ESXi server is a good choice and try to find cheap or free online classes/labs that cover basics of servers just to practice. 

 

Certs are good but in my experience, not necessarily needed (outside of this discussion, I know the network admins like the big one for Cisco that companies are willing to shell out money but it's not relevant for this field.) A+, imo, is a joke. I taught those classes and even though I didn't take the exam, my experience would trump those in a heartbeat. the revised MS ones look good but in my role I don't need them and I'm finding they aren't needed for many of the jobs where I live. 

 

Just get experience, take free/low cost online labs, read all that you can and offer to help out around your company. Even if you don't get a transfer to the SA department there, you'll be ready for a junior or possibly regular-level SA job at another one.

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I work for "The Computer Merchant", who is a sub-contractor for CSC (Computer Science Corporation), My pay won't go up. They are massive sticklers for pay. I'll get a 12% shift differential, and that's it. One of my co-workers has been working here for 3 years, and her pay hasn't gone up, not a single raise.

 

I know some people at CSC.  I had an interview there about a few years ago.

 

That's shame about not getting a rate up.     

 

Since you are not getting rate up, here is my suggestion..  Work there for awhile then you can go to Udemy.com and study as much as you can from the desk or couch anytime.... as others said, you can play with the parts at home to practice with. Once you are good at it in timely manner.

 

You will get in the door maybe a year or two at a new job. If not, keep study/practice some more.

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I've worked in IT nearly 15 years, half of which as a Systems Administrator (Windows, ESX, Exchange, SharePoint. We're a company with a little over 3,000 people so there's a lot of combination roles).

 

I have no certs other than Basic ITIL certified and Certified Virtual Expert through a company I took a ESX course with. I have an Associates in Network Administration and two masters: MBA and Masters in IT Management. (I have a bachelors in Public Health, but couldn't find a job in it) I also have 5 years of teaching IT classes at a college back in Minneapolis.

 

As SK said, experience, experience, experience. Pick up the crap work. As a junior level sysadmin at my first gig as a SA, I volunteered for the overnight server patching work pretty much 9 out of 12 months a year. I did all of the "low hanging fruit" that the regular and senior SAs didn't want to do. Get yourself noticed if you can and look out for internal jobs. If you can, speak with your Manager/Sup and see if you can shadow regular SAs during the day even if it's for a few hours. Try to get the gist on what they do and see if you can help transitioning some of the AD work to your area if their is a need for password resets/unlocks overnight. If there is an SA that does tape backups, offer to help with that. 

 

Do some stuff at home. A home ESXi server is a good choice and try to find cheap or free online classes/labs that cover basics of servers just to practice. 

 

Certs are good but in my experience, not necessarily needed (outside of this discussion, I know the network admins like the big one for Cisco that companies are willing to shell out money but it's not relevant for this field.) A+, imo, is a joke. I taught those classes and even though I didn't take the exam, my experience would trump those in a heartbeat. the revised MS ones look good but in my role I don't need them and I'm finding they aren't needed for many of the jobs where I live. 

 

Just get experience, take free/low cost online labs, read all that you can and offer to help out around your company. Even if you don't get a transfer to the SA department there, you'll be ready for a junior or possibly regular-level SA job at another one.

 

I'm working on building an ESXi Lab, and a few Windows labs. I found this Dell PowerEdge 860 and was looking at buying it, and adding it to my collection. I plan on setting up a nifty little home lab, and learning as much as I can. From setting up FTP Servers from scratch (with all the nifty bonuses), and setting up the complex stuff. Like this kind of setup;

At least 2 domain controllers

At least 2 DHCP nodes in a cluster

At least 2 MS SQL nodes in a cluster

At least 2 WDS Servers with replication

At least 2 Scale Out File Servers

A 2 Tier Enterprise and Standalone CA

A Remote Desktop Services infrastructure (on multiple servers)

WSUS

Having 12 physical servers would be a giant pain, not to mention the space and power consumption. Granted I pay 3.5 cents per kilowatt, rather not jack my power bill up anymore. Welders are brutal @_@

 

I know some people at CSC.  I had an interview there about a few years ago.

 

That's shame about not getting a rate up.     

 

Since you are not getting rate up, here is my suggestion..  Work there for awhile then you can go to Udemy.com and study as much as you can from the desk or couch anytime.... as others said, you can play with the parts at home to practice with. Once you are good at it in timely manner.

 

You will get in the door maybe a year or two at a new job. If not, keep study/practice some more.

 

You mentioned Udemy, sc302 gave me a link to CCNA, something I do want to get. I'm not limiting my knowledge to just one field, I do have the CCENT book but I feel that if I get my CCNA, I'll learn everything in CCENT anyways. 2 birds, 1 stone, style. CSC will pay up to $5,000 per year ($2500 per 6 months), and I figured I could abuse that while I worked here. I'm just tired of doing a boat load of work, and not being appreciated. I'm supposed to just be DCO, but I'm DCO + Monitoring + SA Babysitter (No joke here). It's just all frustrating.

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You mentioned Udemy, sc302 gave me a link to CCNA, something I do want to get. I'm not limiting my knowledge to just one field, I do have the CCENT book but I feel that if I get my CCNA, I'll learn everything in CCENT anyways. 2 birds, 1 stone, style. CSC will pay up to $5,000 per year ($2500 per 6 months), and I figured I could abuse that while I worked here. I'm just tired of doing a boat load of work, and not being appreciated. I'm supposed to just be DCO, but I'm DCO + Monitoring + SA Babysitter (No joke here). It's just all frustrating.

I'm working on building an ESXi Lab, and a few Windows labs. I found this

 

Udemy has lot of courses to choose from... 

 

Here is the results for:

 

CCNA:  https://www.udemy.com/courses/search/?ref=home&q=ccna

 

SA: https://www.udemy.com/courses/search/?q=system+administration

 

Many more... 

 

Even you can keep the courses forever...  in case you don't remember, you can go back to learn again... You pay once and keep forever on each course or bundle depends on the deal. For example: 8 courses for 20 bucks for you to keep forever.

 

 

I have about 20 courses on my account.

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Udemy has lot of courses to choose from... 

 

Here is the results for:

 

CCNA:  https://www.udemy.com/courses/search/?ref=home&q=ccna

 

SA: https://www.udemy.com/courses/search/?q=system+administration

 

Many more... 

 

Even you can keep the courses forever...  in case you don't remember, you can go back to learn again... You pay once and keep forever on each course or bundle depends on the deal. For example: 8 courses for 20 bucks for you to keep forever.

 

 

I have about 20 courses on my account.

The problem with udemy is, streaming content is blocked, but cybrary.it isn't. It's strange but I'll check 'em out more.

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The problem with udemy is, streaming content is blocked, but cybrary.it isn't. It's strange but I'll check 'em out more.

 

You can check on udemy website, mobile (tablet), phone, etc...  you can check any way you can.  

 

Udemy has apps for android, iOS, etc.

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So when you mean data center operations, Do you mean like HVAC stuff? I thought Data Center Operations would say monitor Ingress/Egress traffic and routing tables in and out of your data center? 

 

I maybe overlooking this? 

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So what certs do I NEED to be a good SA? I'm building an ESXi Server at home so I can learn that portion of it.

 

None.

Experience is the only thing you NEED.  If you don't have experience, start by creating your virtual environments.  Then break things, figure out how to break things...then fix them...then break them again.  Learn scripting, this will help in many aspects.  Learn how to debug your scripts.  Learn networking.  Work for a consulting company, change jobs every 3-5 years to better yourself if the job doesn't change rapidly enough or you get bored.  You want it, you do it, you learn it, and you apply it.  My current knowledge base hasn't come from a class, a book, or a cert.  I am self trained in current cisco, windows, and networking. 

 

To be a good anything in networking or computer support, you need to have a good knowledge base and know how to look things up in a google search....the 1 thing that 80-90% of people in this field do not know how to do is do a proper google search.  they ask it questions or put in search criteria that they would put in or put in specifics of their site or specific computer....they don't know how to change the search parameters around to either generalize it more or narrow down the search to be more specific to their issue.  I can't tell you how many times coworkers have come up to me telling me that they can't find something and in 30 seconds of me looking I can find it.  google is your best friend if you know how to use it. 

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None.

Experience is the only thing you NEED.  If you don't have experience, start by creating your virtual environments.  Then break things, figure out how to break things...then fix them...then break them again.  Learn scripting, this will help in many aspects.  Learn how to debug your scripts.  Learn networking.  Work for a consulting company, change jobs every 3-5 years to better yourself if the job doesn't change rapidly enough or you get bored.  You want it, you do it, you learn it, and you apply it.  My current knowledge base hasn't come from a class, a book, or a cert.  I am self trained in current cisco, windows, and networking. 

 

To be a good anything in networking or computer support, you need to have a good knowledge base and know how to look things up in a google search....the 1 thing that 80-90% of people in this field do not know how to do is do a proper google search.  they ask it questions or put in search criteria that they would put in or put in specifics of their site or specific computer....they don't know how to change the search parameters around to either generalize it more or narrow down the search to be more specific to their issue.  I can't tell you how many times coworkers have come up to me telling me that they can't find something and in 30 seconds of me looking I can find it.  google is your best friend if you know how to use it. 

Damn it. Someone else knows my secret to fixing things! Google is amazing. If I can't figure it out from my own knowledge, I'll Google it. If that doesn't work, it's neowin, or something similar. Not sure how neowin would like me posting other forums.

I'm building my servers soon as my desktop is done.

As much as I hate my job now, I know working here for a year or two would be the best thing for me. I'm becoming acquainted with the SA Teams for Linux, Windows, ESXi, and HP-UX. A lot of the issues I've ran into, are good learning grounds. I can take those errors, research them and find out how they could be fixed or what caused the problem. So when I do move to the SA position or have the chance too, I'll have a solid background. Like BudMan told me, as well as my Lead, Data Center Operations vary very little. Everyone uses the same idea, just different brands. i.e. Monitoring, or iLo.

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Experience doesn't necessarily mean work experience.  Experience means time with the product, understanding how to troubleshoot, understanding where to look for the answers.  One time, I spent 3 days straight searching for an answer...after I didn't find one I ended up calling Microsoft initially paying the 300 or 500 (whatever it was) and then getting a refund due to the answer not existing anywhere other than internal documentation that they had to search 8 hours for.  (there was an issue with windows 98 and AD for windows server 2003..I don't remember the exact issue now it has been a long time) Prior to 2008, whenever I called Microsoft I would get refunded due to the lack of knowledge base out there.

 

Try not to use forums for your inability to use google or, if you do, when you get the answer play with search terms/criteria to get the same answer.  Somethings are more complicated and require explanation, however most things you should be able to get the answer for. 

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Experience doesn't necessarily mean work experience. 

 

Try not to use forums for your inability to use google or, if you do, when you get the answer play with search terms/criteria to get the same answer.  Somethings are more complicated and require explanation, however most things you should be able to get the answer for. 

Psh, Forums? I hit up the BudMan. I insert a coin, and shabam! I have answers! ;)

My old supervisor just told me "Get your RHSA, and then we can talk. We have openings in Pittsburgh. Are you willing to move?"

With being told that, I'll be setting up a personal lab, and learning. Company will even pay for the cert tests, and books. :)

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sc302 is right. 90% of my troubleshooting usually relies on Google from everything from SharePoint to Exchange to imaging servers. Yes, I hit up the forums here and sc302 and Budman have been helpful in the past but even they and others have often times been unable to answer my questions. Sometimes the Technet forums work but I usually go to Google first and find 3 or more articles to suggest the same fix before I try it. The attached tech support cheat sheet doesn't really apply to this but I find it funny about the Google part  :)

post-1544-0-37214000-1429277420.png

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IMO going to school to learn this stuff is a waste of time, The quickest way to get your cv thrown in the trash is to present no industry certs and just a generic computers qualification "oh I can build a java program" Great this is a server admin position don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

Get yourself two end of life servers off ebay and load them up with 32GB of ram each.

Then setup an entire server infrastructure

At least 2 domain controllers

At least 2 DHCP nodes in a cluster

At least 2 MS SQL nodes in a cluster

At least 2 WDS Servers with replication

At least 2 Scale Out File Servers

A 2 Tier Enterprise and Standalone CA

A Remote Desktop Services infrastructure (on multiple servers)

WSUS

And don't just install these and then delete the vm youll need to be able to diagnose and fix issues after the install.

That is compeltely not true. A computer degree trumps Just certs EVERY TIME. A degree shows you have a dedication to learn about the job. Certs anybody can pass since they are just a test. 

Once you get a degree you have a heads up in the world. I have a 2 year degree in network admin and a 4 year degree in Management of Info tech. I make 66k a year as a network admin in civil service . Going to 70k in june. salary is lower due to having Full state benefits and full pension. 

 

Also experience is everything. Your current datacenter job experience will be a big help. You have to work as a grunt first. Once you get your degree maybe look in to a civil service job? I am IT in a LIbrary and get more access to current stuff then some people in the private sector. The reason is we get things for very cheap if not free. We get windows 2012 r2 datacenter licenses for $250. They can costs $4k to $5k . We also get things off of state contract for big discounts also. Pay is less in the public sector but depending on where your benefits can be much better. 

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I will agree, getting a degree or even a certificate of completion from a community college is better than not going or graduating from a course.     After that, experience trumps all...most hiring managers will quiz you during your interview (whether you know it or not) and you will either pass or fail.  I have been offered a job every interview I actually cared about, the ones I didn't I certainly didn't try hard (or possibly at all) to obtain the job. 

 

6 year olds can and have passed  the MCSE exam...if they can do that, how much weight does that cert actually hold?  If that is the case what is the real point of a cert other than to gain some sort of status with the company you are selling product for (for a company to have Gold status with Microsoft, they must have a certain amount of MCSE's and MCP's...for a business to have a tech who knows what they are doing, they simply require a person that has experience).  Take the Microsoft cert and apply that to any cert that you could possibly take....what certs require you to show knowledge vs answering a Q&A multiple choice form?   An example of a cert that requires you to show knowledge is the ccie cert, you must not only demonstrate that you can answer the Q&A but also pass a practical exam that is hours long....a 6 year old will not be able to make it through the practical.

 

http://tootlee.com/boy-genius-marko-calasan-youngest-microsoft-certified-systems-engineer/ 10 bux says I can buy a hacked test, have my 4 year old memorize the answers and have her pass the test too....there is that issue also, there are answers for the tests if you know where to look in china (yet another reason for the little weight they hold).

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That is compeltely not true. A computer degree trumps Just certs EVERY TIME. A degree shows you have a dedication to learn about the job. Certs anybody can pass since they are just a test. 

Once you get a degree you have a heads up in the world. I have a 2 year degree in network admin and a 4 year degree in Management of Info tech. I make 66k a year as a network admin in civil service . Going to 70k in june. salary is lower due to having Full state benefits and full pension. 

 

Also experience is everything. Your current datacenter job experience will be a big help. You have to work as a grunt first. Once you get your degree maybe look in to a civil service job? I am IT in a LIbrary and get more access to current stuff then some people in the private sector. The reason is we get things for very cheap if not free. We get windows 2012 r2 datacenter licenses for $250. They can costs $4k to $5k . We also get things off of state contract for big discounts also. Pay is less in the public sector but depending on where your benefits can be much better. 

 

Yeah. I was originally wanting to work for Microsoft, Boeing, Google, Yahoo or one of the other fortune 500 companies, but after working as a Support DCO for one of them, I no longer want that. I'll be staying here for awhile, at least until my Bachelors is finished. I've thought about this for the past week, and decided that;

1. Stay until I've passed my Bachelors.

2. Pass a few Certs, simply because the company will pay me to take them, and they pay for the tests. So why not?

I understand experience is everything, I do hate where I work simply because its over demanding, they don't take No for an answer and the people I work with are class A clowns. Seriously, who doesn't know how to update the Serial Number & Asset Tags in the BIOS?! I had to tell a Windows SA how to do it, step by step, and a Linux SA didn't know what command to even use. If these people can become SA's without knowing these things, what the heck am I doing wrong?

 

I will agree, getting a degree or even a certificate of completion from a community college is better than not going or graduating from a course.     After that, experience trumps all...most hiring managers will quiz you during your interview (whether you know it or not) and you will either pass or fail.  I have been offered a job every interview I actually cared about, the ones I didn't I certainly didn't try hard (or possibly at all) to obtain the job. 

 

6 year olds can and have passed  the MCSE exam...if they can do that, how much weight does that cert actually hold?  If that is the case what is the real point of a cert other than to gain some sort of status with the company you are selling product for (for a company to have Gold status with Microsoft, they must have a certain amount of MCSE's and MCP's...for a business to have a tech who knows what they are doing, they simply require a person that has experience).  Take the Microsoft cert and apply that to any cert that you could possibly take....what certs require you to show knowledge vs answering a Q&A multiple choice form?   An example of a cert that requires you to show knowledge is the ccie cert, you must not only demonstrate that you can answer the Q&A but also pass a practical exam that is hours long....a 6 year old will not be able to make it through the practical.

 

http://tootlee.com/boy-genius-marko-calasan-youngest-microsoft-certified-systems-engineer/ 10 bux says I can buy a hacked test, have my 4 year old memorize the answers and have her pass the test too....there is that issue also, there are answers for the tests if you know where to look in china (yet another reason for the little weight they hold).

 

Well, like I posted above, I'll abuse this companies financial help with education. Between Financial aid, and what I make, I would be able to pay for my local college, and attending WGU. I'm hoping to convert before I attend WGU, because they pay for it. I understand that certs are easier to obtain, but I also see them as a focus point. I know the CCIE Exam is insanely nuts, and I'd break on the physical exam.

 

So essentially this is what this topic has turned out.

1. College Degree

2. Experience, Experience, Experience

3. Certs if you're bored.

My dream goal was to work for the FBI in the Cyber Crime Department, specifically the Child Pornography Department. I have my reasons for it, and I'd rather not share them. My goal is to obtain as much knowledge as I can, and work for that position. No, I don't agree with how most of the politics are, but to me CP is disgusting, and wrong. As a child, I wanted to work for the CIA, now, I'd rather I have NOTHING to do with them or the NSA. Haha.

Make sense?

Degrees I'm going for

Bachelors #1

Bachelors #2

Masters #1

I'm stubborn, and dedicated. Though, I'm sure those are the same thing, just worded nicely :p

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broken English advisory

 

 

 

I have on nt4

MCP

MCSE

MCSE+internet

 

on 2000/2003

MCP

MCSE

MCSE+security.

 

 

In 1999 I start the first course.......I first meet windows nt4 there.....a total L......3 months later and I was the first to get all the certs and get a MS gif in MS offices (windows 2000 beta 3....and I was happy!!!

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broken English advisory

 

 

 

I have on nt4

MCP

MCSE

MCSE+internet

 

on 2000/2003

MCP

MCSE

MCSE+security.

 

 

In 1999 I start the first course.......I first meet windows nt4 there.....a total L......3 months later and I was the first to get all the certs and get a MS gif in MS offices (windows 2000 beta 3....and I was happy!!!

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I can echo the experience side of it. I landed a network administrator role at the age of 18... I had only a basic set of college qualifications that didn't even have an impact on me getting the job... I tinkered with hardware and server software, networking etc as much as i could so i was able to do a basic set of stuff, if you have an aptitude for this kind of work then you should be able to work your way around all systems easy enough.

 

I generally found if you are meant for this type of work you are able to pick stuff up as you go along, looking at something you have never seen before will actually make sense within a couple of minutes.. I've been presented with systems to fix that i'd never seen in my life, yet am able to do the work with minimal fuss.

 

I have worked with volunteers and apprentices who just didn't have this mind set. Spending spare time messing about to learn was a big no no, and each task was learned on a step by step basis, rather than taking everything in and applying it to each task that you do... naturally they didn't make the cut and i still work alone :laugh: If you feel like you do have the mind set and aptitude for this work just throw yourself in at the deep end i'm sure you'll manage just fine.

 

If you feel like you don't have that mind set then college is not a bad idea because you will learn the basis skills that you need to develop.

 

Of course you have Google and the good folks at Neowin for help :)

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