Discussion Networking Student Advice

[BlueAgave]

Hi, so some info about me... I'm a mid-20's, new college student working towards my university's networking certificate program meant to help you prepare for the various certificate exams. I'm currently working full time unrelated to IT and I'm working on this certificate program, after which I'll pursue a bachelors degree in networking/cybersecurity. I'm currently taking my 3rd class which ends mid July and then I'll have a month off from school. During that time I'm going to start studying for probably either the A+ or Network+ exam and if I feel ready at the end of that month I'll attempt the exam, otherwise I'll probably just wait until I finish this program which is 6 classes total. After I get a certificate I'm going to try to get some type of entry level job whether it's helpdesk or something else that will get me out of my current job. I've always been somewhat curious about troubleshooting things in general, including computers and I've messed around with computers a bit in the past, but I would say I'm a novice.

Based on the above I would like to have a discussion that would help me figure some things out. First of all, I just built a PC and I'm going to dual boot Windows and Linux. I like the idea of spending time playing with Linux, but I wonder if I should just stick to trying to become proficient with Windows for career opportunity reasons. I want to learn to use the command line with whichever I focus on. Is there a Linux distro that would appeal more to someone focused on learning?

I would also like to talk about career stuff. I know help desk is one of the more common entry level jobs and I see quite a few companies on Indeed hiring people with only a certificate in my area. What other options are possible? I'm not saying I wouldn't do helpdesk, but I really don't like talking on the phone and feel pretty awkward doing so with other people around. I do have a lot of customer service experience so I think I'm capable, but I'd like to know of other options to look into. I'm also trying to think about where I'd like to try to end up in the future. Further in my career (10+ years) I would really like to try to get into a position where I can work mostly remotely so I can live the more rural lifestyle I dream of.

Any advice, criticism, or discussion would be greatly appreciated.

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On an unrelated note, I'm getting much more interested in online privacy. I have a password manager now and I'm trying to track down old accounts to delete them or at least add better passwords. Is there a way to track down websites I have accounts with?

I have a VPN service(although it doesn't work good on my cellphone) and I've put some add-ons for Firefox like Disconnect, HTTPS everywhere, adblocker... is there anything else I should look into? I've registered some accounts with temp emails to reduce spam. I'm thinking about setting my main emails up with 2-factor, but I'm just concerned about my phone breaking which happened before and it was a nightmare dealing with that with just one account set up.

I was looking at the sign-in activity on my main email today and noticed there was several unsuccessful automatic-sync's from a bunch of different IP addresses. What are auto-sync attempts? Also, is it safe to use the standard email manager on my android?

 

[bill001g]

It really depends on what you like to do more. Pure networking and security is different than all the functionality in microsoft servers. For large companies this function is generally done by different groups so you tend to have to specialize. Even within the microsoft platform email is done by different people than say those that do the domain controller stuff.

A lot of the jobs depend on the size of the company. The smaller one you have 1 or 2 IT guys expected to know it all but do not require advanced knowledge in anything. Some people like this or if you are like me you hate anything related to user support on application software.

Large company IT is getting very hard to find the vast majority have outsourced the function. Most the entry level stuff has unfortunately has gone to countries like india. Even large IT outsourcing companies like HP or Dell have branches within their company located in inda.

It is actually very hard to get a foot in the door. Once you get some experience there is large demand for people but the entry level stuff is hard to find. Still your best option for pure network work are large ISP like verizon or maybe ATT. A number of the large data hosting companies also hire network people.

As a disclaimer on certifications. I have retired and let all my certs expire. I held CCIE in routing and switch and network security for 15yrs. I also have had many other certifications.

Certifications used to be of a lot of value before the massive cheating started. You can get all the test questions and answers. It purely is a matter of how good you are at memorization rather than understanding the concepts. Problem is someone who gets the cert this way can not solve real world issues since they are basically a google lookup wiki. It causes such a huge waste of time in interviews since you can blow these people out the water in 5 seconds,. The reason it woks is generally the manager does not have enough knowledge to see though the cheater, only larger companies have other IT staff that participate in the interview.

Pretty much the CCIE cert if the only one you can not cheat on since the lab part is a doing/troubleshooting test and not multiple choice. Still if you have the money there are companies in india that will have someone physically impersonate you at a testing center.

Be careful on certifications. The easy ones like A++ so many people have they are close to worthless. The ones from cisco and microsoft are still the ones most valued but again because of the cheaters and the huge number of people with the lower level cert the value has been greatly diminished. Petty much the harder the cert is to get the more value it has.

In general many companies want a college degree but very few college degrees teach what you need to do computer network and security. I have a masters degree in electrical engineering that I pretty much never used.

 

[BlueAgave]

It really depends on what you like to do more. Pure networking and security is different than all the functionality in microsoft servers. For large companies this function is generally done by different groups so you tend to have to specialize. Even within the microsoft platform email is done by different people than say those that do the domain controller stuff.

A lot of the jobs depend on the size of the company. The smaller one you have 1 or 2 IT guys expected to know it all but do not require advanced knowledge in anything. Some people like this or if you are like me you hate anything related to user support on application software.

Large company IT is getting very hard to find the vast majority have outsourced the function. Most the entry level stuff has unfortunately has gone to countries like india. Even large IT outsourcing companies like HP or Dell have branches within their company located in inda.

It is actually very hard to get a foot in the door. Once you get some experience there is large demand for people but the entry level stuff is hard to find. Still your best option for pure network work are large ISP like verizon or maybe ATT. A number of the large data hosting companies also hire network people.

As a disclaimer on certifications. I have retired and let all my certs expire. I held CCIE in routing and switch and network security for 15yrs. I also have had many other certifications.

Certifications used to be of a lot of value before the massive cheating started. You can get all the test questions and answers. It purely is a matter of how good you are at memorization rather than understanding the concepts. Problem is someone who gets the cert this way can not solve real world issues since they are basically a google lookup wiki. It causes such a huge waste of time in interviews since you can blow these people out the water in 5 seconds,. The reason it woks is generally the manager does not have enough knowledge to see though the cheater, only larger companies have other IT staff that participate in the interview.

Pretty much the CCIE cert if the only one you can not cheat on since the lab part is a doing/troubleshooting test and not multiple choice. Still if you have the money there are companies in india that will have someone physically impersonate you at a testing center.

Be careful on certifications. The easy ones like A++ so many people have they are close to worthless. The ones from cisco and microsoft are still the ones most valued but again because of the cheaters and the huge number of people with the lower level cert the value has been greatly diminished. Petty much the harder the cert is to get the more value it has.

In general many companies want a college degree but very few college degrees teach what you need to do computer network and security. I have a masters degree in electrical engineering that I pretty much never used.

Thank you for your reply. I've had several people in the IT industry tell me that I could get my career started with a certificate and some knowledge, but since I've started school I've seen a lot of stuff online similar to what you said which is pretty discouraging. I think my best bet is to get a certificate(maybe microsoft), learn, and hope for the best while realizing that might not do it. I'll continue working towards a bachelor's degree, but it will probably take me another 5 years at this pace. Luckily I have 32 credits that transferred from past vocational school classes I took which knocked out most of my elective class requirements.

It does suck that college is usually a requirement when you really don't learn much. My neighbor said his company requires a degree, but was telling me how all of the people he hires right out of college tell him they learned more in 6 months on the job than in all of school.

 

[kanewolf]

It does suck that college is usually a requirement when you really don't learn much. My neighbor said his company requires a degree, but was telling me how all of the people he hires right out of college tell him they learned more in 6 months on the job than in all of school.

It teaches you a lot. It teaches you how to finish projects. How to work in teams. How to get support or additional resources. All of those skills -- and they are skills -- is required to be successful in a career.