Career advice

[itpro5434]

Hello, I have a bit of an issue of deciding my direction in IT as of lately. I will start of by giving a bit of background information, I am 27 years old and have about 3 years of experience in IT. Spend a year in uni and fluffed around after that eventually ending up at a help-desk 3 years ago. From I got promoted to a consultancy role, doing system engineering/it infrastructural design work. At the moment I just got started as an independent contractor in a System Engineering role. I am happy in my current role, but I always feel like there should be a next step I should be working towards (eg. when I worked on a helpdesk I really wanted to get into a consultancy role, from there I evolved to doing similar work as contractor) which seems to be lacking at the moment.

I work in the Microsoft sphere and have experience with most of their server products and application, what kind of roles would be a logical evolution from what I am doing now and what kind paths are available for me. I look around me and see people who have been doing what I am doing right now for over 15 years and I know I don't want to be stuck like that and am looking for my next goal.

So my question to veterans in the business is, where to go next?

 

[chunkymonster]

Go back to university and get at least an undergraduate degree relating to desktop applications development, network administration, or information security. Consider the long term and eventually getting a graduate degree in MIS or even an MBA. Given the level if integration of technology into the business world, combining and IT undergraduate with a graduate degree in business is an excellent way to leverage your skills and the job market.

At the very least, if going back to university is not a choice, then get some certifications. I would consider CompTIA certifications the industry minimum for IT type certifications, they are a great starting point and span the gamut of IT disciplines; from desktop support to project management. If you lean towards Microsoft, the check out the MCITP, MCSE, MCSA, MCTS, and MCPD. For IT Security check out the CISSP. One of the best all around certifications to get is the PMP. For networking, there is always the CCNA, CCNE.

For consulting work (in addition to the above mentioned certs) certifications in RedHat, VMWare, or other Linux related products are also valuable.

 

[itpro5434]

Thanks for your reply chunkymonster, I agree with the certification advice. At the moment I already have well over a dozen of Microsoft certifications (when I worked with a product on a project I usually got certified in it as well) and my CCNA. VMware and Linux certification seem like a nice way to broaden my skillset a bit.

At the moment I am a bit skeptical about following through to get an university degree. So far I have never been asked for it at job interviews and I wonder what it will add to my resume as an IT specialist. In your opinion what kind of benefits will having a degree grant me?

 

[chunkymonster]

At the moment I am a bit skeptical about following through to get an university degree. So far I have never been asked for it at job interviews and I wonder what it will add to my resume as an IT specialist. In your opinion what kind of benefits will having a degree grant me?

To give some context and to offer insight to my particular opinion I should mention that I come from the business side and not a strictly IT point of view.

I can appreciate questioning the value of a university degree as I have questions given the quantity of diploma mills and run for profit colleges. However, with that said, most employers regard a potential employee with a university degree as someone who has the base line knowledge and understands the function/purpose of things like accounting, budgeting, human resources, etc. To use a karate analogy, getting one's black belt is not the monumental achievement pop-culture has made it out to be as a black belt is nothing more than a demonstration that one has mastered the basics. Same concept with a university degree. While the electives and liberal arts classes will have no direct relation to working in a strictly technical position having that knowledge is still valuable to the overall skill set that you bring to the table.

If in the future, you ever decided to change things up a bit and move within the same company, explore another line of work, or change industry, a university degree, in addition to the various certifications, skill sets, and practical work experience, makes a potential employee that much more attractive. All the certs, experience, plus a university also typically equates to a larger salary.

In the business world, graduate degrees are highly regarded and in some large companies, you will not even be considered for a mid-management position without at least an undergraduate degree. In some large companies, in order to be promoted to the Director level and above, you must have at least a Masters degree. Of course, being the business world, making your Manager/Director look good and staying on the good side of office politics is always a good thing.

Hope this helps.