# Career advice needed, A+ Network+ CCENT CCNA



## Leelo94

First of all I would like too thank you all for taking your time to respond to my thread and for any advice you may be able to give me.

Im currently working on a IT Support Helpdesk doing basic jobs and looking after things, I am looking to progress but there is no where within the company for me to go. I have no other experience apart from a few months within this jobs and my GCSE's and A-Levels.

So I have started to look at courses that I can take to help me progress in my career. I have found that to go into something such as networking I should probably go through the courses as follows:

ITIL Foundation
CompTIA A+
CompTIA Network+
CCENT
CCNA

and continue on in the future. I want to know if these courses are going to help me progress and will be good enough to move me on to a better job with a high pay bracket. Any advice you can give me will be gratefully apreciated.


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## greenbrucelee

Remember certifications are not a magic door and secondly they are designed to backup your experience level in a job. So lay off the CCNA until you have experience of managing and supporting cisco devices.

Carry on in the helpdesk because the most important thing is to have experience it is more important than any qualification or certification.


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## VividProfessional

ITIL is VERY hard I have done the course but keep failing the exam! I know the stuff its the wording in the exam that gets me every time!


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## BosonMichael

Courses aren't the way to help you progress in your career; experience is the way to help you progress in your career. And if you've basically progressed as far as you can go in your current role, that's a sign that you need to move on.

The next step for you will likely be a lateral shift to another help desk job, but one in which you are supporting desktop computers in a domain environment... preferably one in which you can help do some light server administration. It is this server administration experience that will help propel you to the next level, which is as a full-fledged server administrator. 

Once you've become a server administrator, you're going to want to repeat the same process... find a server admin position where you can help out with basic administration of network devices. That network administration experience is what will help you to become a full-fledged network administrator.

Certifications aren't the magic key unless you have the experience to back up those certifications. For example, nobody's going to hire you to administer their mission-critical network just because you've got the CCNA if you've got no experience administering networks. Basically, you need to get experience, then certify on that experience, then use that certification and experience to move up.

At this stage of your career, I would recommend that you get the A+ and Network+ certifications. You don't need to attend a structured course for them... all you need is a good study guide (I recommend the Meyers All-in-One for both), an old computer or two to get some hands-on practice with, and perhaps a practice exam to see if you're ready for the real thing.


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## Leelo94

So the best thing for me to do is to make a start on the A+ and the Network+ courses. Just to clarify these are the CompTIA courses?

What about the ITIL course as I have been told by a few people that work in IT that it is something that employers are starting to look for.

Thanks for all your help.


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## BosonMichael

Leelo94 said:


> So the best thing for me to do is to make a start on the A+ and the Network+ courses. Just to clarify these are the CompTIA courses?
> 
> What about the ITIL course as I have been told by a few people that work in IT that it is something that employers are starting to look for.
> 
> Thanks for all your help.


The best thing for you to do is to make a start on the A+ and the Network+ _certifications_. As I explained before, courses are not required to achieve these certifications. And employers aren't interested in whether you've taken a course... they're interested in whether you have the certification.

Yes, A+ and Network+ are CompTIA certifications.

No idea about ITIL; I've never seen it desired by employers, but then again, I'm in the US.


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## greenbrucelee

from what I know ITIL is what the HR depts will say is required, however talk to the IT dept and they will tell you to shove it if you know what I mean. They do in my place anyway.

HR depts and IT depts have very different ideas about what they need. For instance a HR dept will say you need to be very highly certified for a basic entry level position whilst an IT dept will say no you dont.


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## ALL_MADDEN_479

BosonMichael said:


> At this stage of your career, I would recommend that you get the A+ and Network+ certifications. You don't need to attend a structured course for them... all you need is a good study guide (I recommend the Meyers All-in-One for both), an old computer or two to get some hands-on practice with, and perhaps a practice exam to see if you're ready for the real thing.


I don't mean to jack a thread, but I'm in the same boat as the OP.

I've learned recently that the A+, Network+, and Security+ certs will need to be renewed after 3 years of passing the exams. I've thought about just jumping to the basic MCSA certifications instead of the CompTIA certifications because of this. What do you think about that move? Any replies from any IT pros would be appreciated.


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## BosonMichael

ALL_MADDEN_479 said:


> I don't mean to jack a thread, but I'm in the same boat as the OP.
> 
> I've learned recently that the A+, Network+, and Security+ certs will need to be renewed after 3 years of passing the exams. I've thought about just jumping to the basic MCSA certifications instead of the CompTIA certifications because of this. What do you think about that move? Any replies from any IT pros would be appreciated.


Well, taking Network+ will renew your A+, and taking Security+ will renew both. Afterwards, you'd only need to take Security+ every three years to renew all three certifications (or, perhaps earn the required number of CEUs to automatically renew them).

That said, if you're still working on entry-level stuff after three years, you might not be pushing yourself hard enough to advance. So, as time goes on, the A+ will become less and less vital to you, as your experience grows and your job duties become less relevant to A+ concept tasks. Get what I'm saying?

For what it is worth, the MCSA certifications aren't lifetime certifications - they expire after mainstream support for the related technology ends. So you'll likely be chasing certifications your entire career - they're not just something you get once and then never ever ever maintain. 

If you want to pursue Windows client certifications, sure, I think that's a good idea. If you want to pursue Windows server certifications without experience, I think that's a bad idea. I'm often asked why that would be such as bad idea - after all, if certifications are good, wouldn't more certifications be better? The reason is this: certifications should reflect your experience level. Employers with server administration jobs won't hire you with certifications and no experience... and employers with entry-level jobs are less likely to hire you because they will believe that you're more interested in server administration than help desk, and as soon as a server admin job opens up, you're likely to quit, leaving them to find, hire, and train an entry-level tech all over again. In short, you make yourself less desirable to employers, not more desirable.

Hope this helps clarify things for you somewhat.


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## markbridges12

I know this thread is a bit old but I think it was the best presented information on this topic I have found till now. Thanks!! Anyway, I have a related question. What kind of work experience is advisable to take the A+ exam? Or does that apply only to the higher certifications like Network+ and Security+?


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## SleightOfHand

Tagged for future posts.


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## BosonMichael

The A+ is considered an entry-level certification (meaning, no experience required), and the Network+ is relatively so... close enough that it would be OK for someone who is just starting out to take it. For Security+, I would recommend waiting a couple of years... at least until you've been exposed to some real-world security issues.


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## Edgedev

Any one of those certifications warrants you about 6 months worth of experience to those looking to hire you in that specific field. They are considered base accomplishments for each one of their specialties. 

They should just be the starting point of where you should go. I suggest that you keep obtaining experience in what you really want to do as a best resort. Go for the certifications you want, but don't rely on them solely as a way to get you in. 

Certifications have merit to employers only when backed up by education, experience and on-the-job training. It's great to have them, but not required. In the case if you have been in the business successfully for 5+ years with no certs it looks suspicious because you should be able to pass them without even studying for the most part.

Usually taking courses to pass these exams are more of a waste of money than time. You will always need to put in the hours to learn it, but you can get the same knowledge from a good set of books than most instructors that teach this stuff. If you feel you need the discipline and is worth the investment, then go for it. Otherwise I'm sure there are a few good books that you can get to help you pass the exams without dropping cash to have people teach you word-for-word from the same books. There are also very good YouTube channels that offer free tutorials on many of these subject matters and you don't have to pay a dime.


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## Belinik

greenbrucelee said:


> from what I know ITIL is what the HR depts will say is required, however talk to the IT dept and they will tell you to shove it if you know what I mean. They do in my place anyway.
> 
> HR depts and IT depts have very different ideas about what they need. For instance a HR dept will say you need to be very highly certified for a basic entry level position whilst an IT dept will say no you dont.


Totally agree, I am currently looking for entry job and slowly working on ITIL foundation. many job that marked "entry" help desk/desktop support or have pay that is comparable to work at starbucks is asking for MSCA/E ITIL and University.... with 5 years of experience to boot :grin:


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## BosonMichael

Belinik said:


> Totally agree, I am currently looking for entry job and slowly working on ITIL foundation. many job that marked "entry" help desk/desktop support or have pay that is comparable to work at starbucks is asking for MSCA/E ITIL and University.... with 5 years of experience to boot :grin:


If they're truly "entry" jobs, then by definition, they can't possibly require experience. An entry-level job is a job in which you _enter_ the career field... and if you're just entering the field, you don't yet have experience.

Keep in mind, though, that the term "help desk" isn't necessarily synonymous with "entry-level". I've seen some very advanced help desk roles that did indeed require experience.

Also keep in mind that desired is not the same as required. They might indeed _desire_ someone with an MCSE and a degree... and while it might be nice to get someone of that caliber, they might not _require_ those things (particularly if they can't get someone with those skillsets at the rate they're willing to pay).


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