career advancment/moves

darkmanx

darkmanx

darkmanx

Associate
Joined
28 May 2009
Posts
25
Hi all, first post here so hello to everyone.

I've been working in IT as a technician for around 3 years now and really want to move forward as its not really challenging me as much as i'd like. been put through a few courses by work ccna, active directory, network+ and we already have a couple of people dealing with the network side of the job here and thats more what i'd like to do.

can anyone suggest ways to gain more experience of the server side of it all as they are not to keen on training me up to do it as they have enough people to look after that side of things. Would it be work getting an old PC and setting up server2003 on it and setting up a small network at home to get to grips with how to build a network? No offence to anyone who's been a technician a long time but personally i want to move onwards and upwards. Not sure if work are keen on me gaining to much knowledge as they put me on the ccna course but wouldn't pay for the exam to get me certified.

Any suggestions would be grateful.
Cheers
 
Always good to have a play at home! Maybe read some books as well. Just build up your knowledge.

Its good to want to progress!
 
I'd reccomend getting some experience with VMware products (ESX, Virtual Infrastructure/vSphere etc) - they're really valuable skills these days
 
I'd do as you've suggested darkmanx, build your own logical/physical network with server2003 and play.
Then have a go with VM stuff.
My company paid for my A+, N+, MSCA/E as i'm the only IT support person in the company.............and i came here from the print and design trade, with only the knowledge of pc building in my IT arsenal. So i'm studying and learning as i go 'hands-on' if you like. I do have a 3rd party I.T. company that support me when i cannot resolve any in-house issues.
Just finished the N+, so am waiting for the course material to be sent to me for MCSE.
Not taken ANY exams yet! eeepp!
 
cheers for the suggestions, does anyone know where there are any guides on setting up a virtual network or is it straightforward enough to ponder through?

what kind of things do you think it would be worth going through when setting up network? I was thinking

installing 2003
active directory
dchp/dns
making sure users can log onto domain etc setting up file sharing and profiles
maybe having a play with RIS to network build machine?
done quite a lot of software packaging and deploying through AD at work so could do that at home to fine tune my skills.

Also if i was to go on anymore courses at my current job any suggestions as to what would be good in my development? they wouldn't pay for vmware course for me, would exchange be useful?

Thanks very much for the input so far guys, I know i'm still fairly young?! (25) but I don't want to be left behind and have to just fix PC's and replace broken mice and keyboards for the rest of my days lol
 
Dude, i'm 39 and there are loads of 'kids' younger than you with far more knowledge than me.
I'm fairly lucky tbh, i was given an opportunity and i'm trying to use it to my best advantage.
I knew nothing of AD, Exchange or even servers before i started 3.5 years ago and had/still have no training at all, other than trial and error, questions to the right people and the internet/coursework.
I have no experience or knowledge of RIS at all, but i do want to start deploying installs across the network, as its a ball-ache not to.
What i have found is that cos the network, albeit it smaller back then, was already in place, there are loads of stuff i've never learned cos i've not had the need to implement such things. So playing at home is a good way to learn to create and deploy a domain environment from scratch.
And i'd agree with your list, get the basics nailed.
MSCE are only now discontinuing Server 2000 from their course criteria. So plenty of life in 2003 still.
 
cool cheers for that, I'm glad to hear there are other people in same situation as me. I did computing course when I was at college then when I left there were pretty much no IT jobs around here so ended up doing something else for 3 years then managed to get in as a trainee here. I didn't really fancy going to uni so everything I've learnt is on the job or on the courses i've done.

I guess I can be a bit impatient and want to learn everything faster but when I started work here they said they would teach me everything (as I was a trainee) but it's not really happened as they said it would! I guess they are happy to have someone who can get through all the jobs quick but I feel I need to do more and learn more just so I'm not bored.

any other things i've not thought of that might be useful?
 
Can anyone recommend some book for this kinda server side stuff, looking at windows server 2003/2008, exchange, vmware?

In the same position and have started building a small lab.
 
Depends what you want to do really. If it is to do with internal networks etc, Exchange, AD etc.

Internet stuff could be routing, Web Servers.

Networking is a large topic too! Cisco is your friend :)
 
If you have ccna, active directory, network+ training then you should look for another job with more responsibility imo.. even if it pays the same or slightly less than you are currently earning. There is no reason for you to still be doing tech work after three years.
 
Sounds like you should aim towards your MCSA personally. Ok, it's server 2003 based but it's still SO widely used and a well known cert.

Should give you a good foundation knowledge on the areas you have outlined.

MS Press books / CBT Nugget videos and Testout Courses... alongside creating virtual machines and physically playing with what you're learning sounds like a good route.

Virtualising / Server 2008 etc... is great to have- but in my opinion a bit advanced/unfounded if you don't know the basics :)
 
I would advise some Microsoft Exams as the next point of call...

Although I agree that MCSA is a good way to go and 2003 is not going anywhere I feel that you maybe better off playing with the newer versions and maybe getting 2008 up and running at home and doing the newer courses:

You may find this info useful :)

MCTS (MCP) - Any One Exam of the Below and from a larger selection also:

Server Administrator Exams (From Scratch - Three Exams)

- 70-642: TS Network Infrastructure
- 70-640: TS Active Directory
- 70-646 Pro: Server Administrator

Enterprise Administrator (From Scratch - Five Exams)

- 70-620: Vista
- 70-643: TS Server 2008 Application Infrastructure, Configuring
- 70-642: TS Network Infrastructure
- 70-640: TS Active Directory
- 70-647 Pro: Enterprise Administrator

The Highlighted are the same in both :)
 
back in the day when i wanted to progress my IT career from basic helpdesk, I did the microsoft windows 2000 network infrastructure and administration course - think it was 70-216, it was known as the beast.

Basically, tought your DNS, DHCP, WINS, bits of security, RAS, some other stuff which i forget - but passing that one exam got me a £10k payrise (admittadly, i was grossly underpaid being an apprentice / nvq goon when i first started) but i have only gone upwards since then.

Microsoft exams can get you through the door imo, even if a lot of people are very negative towards them. VMWare is big at the moment, but I wouldnt go for the exam in that before getting certified in more general things.
 
The vmware cert is very expensive to achieve as you need to sit the course and the exam - the course runs at about £2k...

Still worth playing about with though
 
cheers for the ideas guys some good feedback coming through. Does anyone know how much it would cost to get microsoft certified as I think I'd have to bankroll it myself as work wouldn't pay for me to become certified. Think becoming mcse would put me on par with my boss which I doubt he would want
 
Depends on how far you want to go and if you need training.

Expect to pay about £80 per exam and there's 4 for MCSA, 7 for MCSE

Training courses are circa £1000 each on average

The official MCSE book set is about £90 which covers all modules
 
so you can get away with buying the £90 set of books and learn your way through them and sit the exams as and when you are ready?

Would the training package cover all modules required to enable you to take all the exams?

would you need any specialist kit to practice on or would a machine to act as a server, a switch and a couple of clients suffice? or a virtual set up?

edit- I see you said £1000 each!
 
The books are about £90 which covers the core requirements, you'd need other books for the optional modules.

http://www.borders.co.uk/book/mcse-...windows-server-2003-core-requirements/454860/

VMware workstation/virtual PC would be absolutely fine on your own PC.

If you feel comfortable learning from books then you can do it that way, if you want to do an instructor lead course you'll need to pay about 1k per course
 
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