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So I currently have been working for my company for about 1 1/2 years I have my A+ cert and am 1 of 2 IT people at my CPA firm. I currently in charge of all helpdesk issues as well as maintaining machine images and deploying new hardware to new hires. I support Win 7 OS with software ranging from MS Office 2007 to 2013, CCH ProFx suite, Acrobat etc.

My boss basically has become primarily a systems admin working with AD and doing all the server side stuff. He helps when I have a real head scratcher but other than that I deal with all tickets. Or of course unless it’s something that needs to be configured on the server side(forwarding emails/exchange etc.)

We are about 70 people in size. So my question is what would be the best place for me to start digging my heels in and learn something that would maybe help the firm or advance my career with my current background. This is my first IT job and as much as there’s to learn in a helpdesk position it’s sporadic and fragmented bits about this or that. Also in general it’s helpdesk and I want more. I want a challenge and I want to find a way to make more of that green stuff people are always talking about.

TL;DR I am doing helpdesk (feels mostly like glorified google tbh) in a Win 7 enterprise environment with some imaging and deployment. What should I look into as far as education goes?

Also, I have my review soon and was thinking of bringing up trying to get a couple of our recently decommissioned desktops and setting up a lab at home. I wouldn’t have any switches but it’d be a start.

16 Spice ups
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Start looking at Windows Server certifications (Server 2012) and some Networking & Security certs.

A+, Network+, Security+ are all good basic certs, the meaningful ones are the Microsoft/Cisco/Linux certs

6 Spice ups
(Little Green Man) 3

Head over to MVA, there you can find lots of training material for Microsoft products. If you or your employer can pay for it, try out Pluralsight or CBT Nuggets for some good training videos / lab material. QuickCert is another one.

8 Spice ups
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The best way to start is tell your boss that you want to learn about server management. Ask if there are simpler tasks that you can get your feet wet with. Another thing you can do is build your own lab at home. If you have a spare desktop or two, build a Windows Server, build Active Directory and all that. You can run it in a trial for 30 days, I believe. At the end of the trial, figure out what you could have done better and build it again.

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I’ve found that the best way to learn anything new is to have it in your work environment. Is there something you think your company could benefit from? A new software that might make your life or your users’ lives easier? An upgrade or new deployment of key equipment? Ask your boss what they have on the roadmap and mull some ideas around for what you’d like to see change or improve. Proactivity is something most employers look for. It looks good if you shepherd a project both to your current employer’s perspective and future employers.

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I’m roughly in the exact same boat you are, and i just started looking into a MCSA (server 2012) cert that my higher up advised.

Although i think it’s really where YOU want to go with your career, i’ve heard that at least knowing about server backgrounds is always a good place to start.

3 Spice ups
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Vmware certs as well

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Wow! thanks for all the fast and quality responses guys. Doctorfork, I have actually tried to think of things from time to time but honestly my boss does a damn good job in that department. But I haven’t really asked him much about future plans which is a great idea. The more I’ve thought about it getting a MS server cert is probably the best for my employer but @_@ linux would be cool as anything to really learn. I’ve only dabbled from time to time in Fedora back in the day. The resources you pointed to Bill I will most certainly take a look at. I guess thats been part of my problem not knowing quality resources.

A little while ago I grabbed some $100 deal for some cisco training and it was straight up trash. Worst spent money ever. It was for like video classes just done horribly! Honestly felt scammed.

But this is some great information and also helps give me some stuff to present come my review. Thanks!

2 Spice ups
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Is there a free version of Vmware? I know we use it as our virtualization software, so that would be primo too

1 Spice up
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Try this

https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads

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Yes, it is free until you start piling on the premium services, like vMotion, etc.

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You get the full version enterprise with vmotion etc and all for 60 days

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There’s plenty of resources out there. Those are just some of my go-to favorites. I also troll the forums here about every day (troll as in reading a lot / responding a lot, not looking to piss off people even though that does happen from time to time).

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I am in the same boat. Just learn as much as you can from your boss and spiceworks. I am building a home lab as well and hope to learn a lot with that.

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If you want quality Cisco study material, I suggest you look at some of the texts written by Wendell Odom. I have been using his books for the CCENT/CCNA certs I am going for. His ICND-100 book and some Packet Tracer/GNS3 time allowed me to pass the CCENT with a score of 920. From opening the book to end of test took about 5 weeks. The ebook version of his texts are less than $20 apiece.

Now, as for what you should look into to further your career, I have to fall back on the same old tired answer, “what do you want to do in IT?” If you want to build a Net Admin career, keep at it with Cisco. If you want to land a Sys Admin job, look into Linux, Windows Server, and virtualization.

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Eh, you probably do a good job of ticking people off too! :smiley:

Daniel, I’m currently running the 180 day evaluation of Server2012R2. You can find it here . I’ve also found Technet to be a great resource for building labs and practicing yourself. Here’s a whole list.

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First of all, you need to assess whether your current employment is a place where you can grow. That’s step one. If not, you need to begin looking for a place where you can grow.

Does you boss express a willingness to mentor you, to include you on some of the tasks he does that you may not be familiar with? Or does he seem to like having you do just what you’re doing now and not venturing outside of that?

Is the company open to paying for books or training for you?

After doing that assessment, you need to decide what aspect of IT appeals to you. Is it Windows administration? Unix/Linux admin? Database, programming, network engineering? Once you think you have an idea of where it is you want your career to go, take matters into your own hands and start studying. Earn some certifications. Build a practice lab at home if you can afford it.

IT really is a merit-based field. It’s all about what you can do, and be able to show that you can do it.

2 Spice ups
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I guess that’s partially the dilemma as well. I can’t say I have any real hands on cisco experience, so it’s tough to say how much I would actually enjoy it. Being in a small to medium size business network admin stuff isn’t really a thing. Too many possibilities… I think the best thing though not just for me but for the company which would lead to a raise and better work would be to focus on the sys admin end. I don’t think my boss has been able to take a legitimate vacation in about 5 years because until me he was a one man unit. And even now, he can’t really take a real break because I only know basic AD stuff.It’s been too long since really engaging myself at full tilt. I miss learning at a high level. I’m getting over excited just thinking about it. Thanks guys!

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this. think of cool things to do at work and get paid to learn stuff. (documenting em as projects in spiceworks is probably a good thing too)

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I can and I am. Some people take what I have to say the wrong way and think I’m being a dick just to be a dick. It’s hard to convey emotion on a keyboard.

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