# Network Administrator



## rmcmullen

Hi, 

I am just wondering what qualifications you would need to be an network administrator.

Thanks 

R


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## Basementgeek

Do a google search for:

network administrator job description

All kinds info on duties, salary, etc.

The biggest thing, years of working experience in related fields.

BG


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## rmcmullen

ok thanks 

R


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## BosonMichael

rmcmullen said:


> Hi,
> 
> I am just wondering what qualifications you would need to be an network administrator.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> R


Experience. Certifications alone won't do it. Degrees alone won't do it. Degrees and certs will certainly help... but you aren't likely to get a network administration job without having a good bit of real-world IT experience first.


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## greenbrucelee

Yep I agree with Michael.

Network admins are network admins because they have experience first and foremost of sorting out all the annoying problems users have and doing general technician duties.

No network manager with any brains would let someone with no experience loose on their network regardless of well qualified they were. It would be like an F1 driver letting some 17 year old who had just past his driving test drive the f1 car i.e most likely total failure and businesses tse days cannot afford any down time due to someone screwing things up.


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## Thrillhouse

I'm assuming the best way is to just get an IT job lower down the ladder and learn from exposure whilst also studying and maybe getting some relevant certifications along the way? 

That looks to be my near future action plan (currently employed as an assitant network administrator/computer technician)


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## greenbrucelee

Thrillhouse said:


> I'm assuming the best way is to just get an IT job lower down the ladder and learn from exposure whilst also studying and maybe getting some relevant certifications along the way?
> 
> That looks to be my near future action plan (currently employed as an assitant network administrator/computer technician)


yes that is the correct way to do it. Since your a network assistant/comp tech if you keep doing your job well and ask for extra duties or ask to be able to ghost the network bods whilst they carry out their duties then you could be a network admin before you know it.

studying the A+ and N+ would also be a good idea but do not get high level certs as this could be a disadvantage (as they are supposed to relect your experience level)


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## Thrillhouse

Out of A+ and N+ which would you say is more useful/desirable? I am quite confident with hardware and rarely run into an issue i can't fix/diagnose due to completing a 2 year college program. The program covered a lot of networking, routing, security and administration but it seems to me like networking has a much broader scope than what A+ covers which seems to be mostly hardware/basic functionality.

Which should I get, or at least get first? I'm strongly leaning towards N+ but would like some exterior input. I posted a thread in this forum regarding this as well but figured it's worth a shot to ask wherever possible.


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## greenbrucelee

you should do both it doesn't matter what order because in the future when you have proper experience and go for a high leve cert such as microsoft certified systems administrator or Microsoft certified system engineer having both the A+ and N+ count towards an elective exam which is required in these certifications so for the MCSA you would only have to do 2 exams instead of 3 and for the MCSE 6 instead of 7


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## Thrillhouse

Oh so both is preferential as they are prerequisites.

I have the nuggets videos for A+ and am thinking about getting a book or two as a study guide.

Do you have any recommendations for A+ or N+? I'm hesitant to get the ~1.5k page book as I know it's very detailed a lot of which isn't necessarily applicable to the possible exam questions. 

I was thinking of a study guide or something more tailored to the test and possible questions itself. I consider myself quite competant with hardware and basic operations but a lot of the legacy devices I don't have the pins memorized and what not.


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## greenbrucelee

they are not prerequisites but having them means you dont have to do the elctive for the above mention MS exams

To find a book or practice exam that will mirror the actual exam questions you would be cheating there are cheat material out there but if your found to be using them you can have your certifications stripped of you, face legal action and have your employer informed.

You need to study all concepts for the exams and practice as much as you can.

The best book for the A+ is compTIA A+ all in one exam guide 7th edition by Mike Meyers and the best practice exam I used for the A+ was from Cisco Network Simulator | IT Practice Exams | IT Training | Boson.com althoug there are other. Beware free practice exams are usually very inferior and could be braindumps (cheat material)

The best books for the N+ are compTIA Network+ all in one exam guide 4th edition by Mike Meyers and Network+ by Todd Lammle


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## rmcmullen

Thanks for all your help.

R


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## BosonMichael

I don't think you'd need to memorize each pin. Having an overall understanding would likely suffice. Even if you did get a question on pinouts (which I don't think is likely), missing one question isn't going to drop your score enough, provided you are strong in the other areas. After all, the point is to pass, not to get a perfect score. 

You'd likely get good use out of a high-quality practice exam product. GBL is right about braindumps and about freebies... braindumps can get you decertified, and with freebies, you generally get what you pay for. Bad training is worse than no training at all.

Getting a study guide isn't a bad idea. The price is far less than the cost of a good practice exam or the real exam, you can skim the book for things you don't already know, and you can resell it afterwards to recapture some of the cost. 

You can't similarly resell a practice exam, as they're sold as a single-user nontransferrable license... but nothing else will prepare you for the real thing than a practice exam. And I say that not as someone who writes practice exams for a living, but as someone who used them before I ever got into the writing biz. 

A billion years ago, I studied for the 70-240 Windows 2000 Upgrade exam. It was basically a combination of four MCSE exams, each with long, detailed scenarios. It was a free exam, but if you failed it, you'd have to take - and pay for - all four exams individually. I was stubborn - I just wanted to read a book and be done with it... I didn't want to take practice exams and read through those long explanations. But the concepts weren't sticking. I finally broke down and used the four corresponding practice exams. 

I took the exam the last month the upgrade was offered and passed. The test proctor looked at my score sheet and was surprised that I had passed. When I inquired as to why that was surprising, she said that out of dozens of people who had taken the exams - including several instructors at the test center - only three (including myself) had passed. Amazingly, I knew all three... and we had all used the same practice exam product to pass. That made me a believer for life!


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