The Way Forward? In IT... In Life?

[RichB]

This may seem straight forward for some, but I have been in IT now for 3 years after leaving university and wondering whats next? how do I progress...

 

What qualifications should I be looking at gaining? I have my mcp in xp, ITIL in service management....

 

But in the company/college I am working in there is no way up, so its looks like its time to "jump ship"

 

I am aiming to leave for either a network manager role in a school or to a service desk manager within business...

 

Whats certs do you guys recon I should be getting?

 

(currently working in a college with over 10,000 users, 1000 pc's, 20+ virtual servers, thin clients, windows xp, server 2003, 2008, moodle VLE inplace, remote access from home, work van and mobile phone on £19,000)

 

should I just stay and gain more exp? I am only 24?

 

Any thoughts would be great

 

Thanks

[gshaw]

What position are you in at the college atm? Sounds like a nice broad range of skills you're working with day-to-day and in the future if there's someone above you they could leave and then there's a chance of moving up that way? Having read the other threads on here the current market sounds like best to stay put but while you've got a job there's the luxury to look around and keep gaining experience at the same time

 

You could go for the MCSEs in Server 2008 but I see so many people with those quals and no practical experience \ clue of IT I begin to wonder how much value they hold now?

 

If you haven't already get into Moodle \ VLEs as well, that's a whole sector on its own these days (as I'm quickly finding out trying to juggle VLE development and IT \ server support!)

Edited January 20, 2010 by gshaw

[mossj]

You menition all this technical stuff but how are your people skills? Maybe consider working on them, either by taking a course or new innitatives.

 

A NM can have all the technical skills in the world, but if he lacks the skills for managing his team and their relationship with the customers.....

[Jiser]

To move forward you have to jump ship OR wait for somebody to leave/die. Check out certforums.co.uk as they will offer you better advise I imagine than here. You should certainly aim towards MCTS quals, setup some virtual stuff and practice. Theres plenty of free stuff on the web or ebay to pay for. Comptia stuff has recently decreased there stuff to 3 year max so don't bother studying there quals.

 

I would send your CV around the job agency's as well. Check out whats available on them, for example reed.co.uk/ local council websites etc. Get a feel for whats about.

 

There is no use in hell of just sitting in the same place and wasting your life away. You have to think about no.1 because no one else will. You don't want to get institutionalized either which I imagine happens in allot of places.

 

And I am in the same situation as you as well. 24 nearly + 3 years experience and a degree. Graduate schemes are really hard to get into but if you can write bs + pass there tests get in whilst you can. Graduate Jobs & Internships | Career Advice | Milkround.com. I won't go into what I am aiming for/ what i am actively doing but good luck to you. W/e happens education is rewarding at times and it will be a shame to leave it but if you want to be able to afford a decent lifestyle or home you gotta say bye bye.

[Jiser]

You menition all this technical stuff but how are your people skills? Maybe consider working on them, either by taking a course or new innitatives.

 

A NM can have all the technical skills in the world, but if he lacks the skills for managing his team and their relationship with the customers.....

 

Yeh i agree with this.