Quote:
Originally Posted by chubby
True... I have a degree in Biology, Minor in Chemistry and IS. I have been working in IT for over 10 years and there is always something different. I used to manage a help desk and now manage networks as network administrator. Certs are good, but it doesn't always mean you know how to apply what you just passed on a computer in real life situations.
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Pretty much exactly me to a tee as well (except my minors are Biochemistry and Military History). From my experience certs are basically useless and not particularly well regarded by most in the industry. Personal knowledge and learning is FAR more valuable both to you as an individual and to your organization. It may have changed, but it was FAR too easy to just memorize brain dumps and come out with an MSCE without actually knowing anything. I remember a buddy back in the day who was a FoxPro dba (that's dating myself, I know) who scored an overall average of 95% on all the tests for his NT4 MSCE+I designation. When he finished he had never once used NT4 Workstation or Server let alone install, configure or troubleshoot a network.
In my experience IT is alot like any other job, it has both positives and negatives and what you get out of it on the whole is what you put in. However it does have a wide variety so the best advice I can give is it figure out what kind of work environment you prefer so you can focus on that. If you business orientated application support and/or technical archicture are good places to look. If you like detailing with people more desktop/client orientated support is good. If you don't like dealing with people then server admin and networking is a good place to go. Unfortunately for almost all you have to put in your time on the low rungs (like every job) and that's almost always desktop/help desk.
If possible avoid falling into a call centre. Those jobs often require very little direct technical support or interaction which makes it hard to gain the experience needed to move into whatever your preferred role would be. As we at my office say, call centres are where IT people go to die. That's a generalization of course, but call centres do have a tendency to limit your skill set and if you say there too long it's almost impossible to find something else.