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Hi everyone,

I have just gotten my A plus certification and have been working for a small MSP for over 2 years and am pretty happy with the team I work with and am trying to plot out what Certifications I am going to get next. I really do not have any ambitions about going out into the field and having to deal with users face to face, I like being the guy in the chair and can handle dealing with them on the phone because I usually do not have to have much patience with people for that. Right now I am looking at getting an MCSA for server 2012 and server 2016. I might look into network plus after that or before but I am not sure, I know I dont want to chase down the rabbit holes of cyber security and I have no desire to be an owner. I like being a support and administrative type and am highly organized and have an intuitive personality. I would really like some advice from experienced IT people about how I can stay in the lanes I am comfortable being in and what IT certifications they think might work for me and help me grow as my team grows.

12 Spice ups
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MCSA 2016, don’t go for the 2012, that’s old new, heck even 2016 is old ish. Hhen MCSE (it’s just one more test now-a-days)

Throw some security in it (e.g. Security +), maybe some cloud (AWS / Azure), networking (CCNA [r/s]), skip Net+ the CCNA has more ‘value’.

1 Spice up
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Regardless of what route you take, your customer service needs to be spot on. Don’t just toss it aside as it can be a big part of any IT professionals day.

Having said that, I would say start with a rounded start (A+, N+, and Sec+). Gives you a good foundation that you can then build on and go for more specialized material. Server certs are a good route, but getting into the more niche certifications can be good monetary rewards.

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Firstly, if you like administration and organization, you would really benefit from (and probably enjoy) ITIL certification. It’s a a hot one right now and Foundations is super easy.

It’s a hard choice and folks may disagree, but I think it’s pretty important to distinguish yourself as either systems-first or network-first. Defining yourself, even if you have every intention of doing both eventually, really helps you prioritize your study time. A person who gets MCSA, CCNA, Security+ will have a drastically different job description than someone who gets MCSA, VCP-DCV, Azure, for example.

Another thing to consider is your company’s needs. People either get certs to advance in their current job, or they get certs to land a different job. You said you enjoy working there. Certain certifications may be more valuable to them (spot bonuses?) and may put you in line for advancements.

I agree with Neally, I’d only pursue MCSA 2012 at this point if I was already 75% of the way there. If you’re just starting, start with MCSA 2016.

2 Spice ups
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if you’re not a people person and prefer sitting on a chair and directing work, technical certifications is overkill.
for one thing, if i’m a field engineer i wouldn’t want to take orders from someone who have no field experience.
take some management type certifications instead.

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IT is customer service and you’re going to be dealing with people on some level. Count on it. You’re going to get just as frustrated on the phone as you do in person. You don’t grow if you stay in your comfort zone. If you aren’t willing to make a “lane change”, you’ll stagnate and so will your career.

Don’t over-emphasize certifications. When all is said and done, they can help get you over the HR search engine hurdle and maybe get you an interview. Your skills and experience are what get you a job and keep you there. That said, Network plus is more foundational and if you’re going to pursue it, do so before any MCSA/E. As far as MCSA is concerned, go for the latest unless there is a compelling reason otherwise, which usually means you’ve already started 2012 and want to finish. The Server 2016 certification will cover pretty much everything you need for 2012 anyway.

It’s good you’re thinking through your overall career, but don’t let fear hold you back. You can do it, but to really grow you need to get out of the comfort zone and take some risks.

5 Spice ups
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Except that conflicts with the “I hate people” mentality.

1 Spice up
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As most said, especially in the MSP field, its going to be hard to avoid the field engineer route. The best thing you could do is go the MCSA route and grab some VMWare/AWS certs and work towards the systems admin/dev ops role. That one doesn’t typically deal with users and you’ll be mostly doing back-end work.

1 Spice up
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Thanks Everybody, I really appreciate the advice! I decided that best bet is to turn my focus towards the network plus before I do anything towards specifics and maybe at some point do the ITIL (its an expensive cert to go for for me, I get re-imbursed but still).

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I’d strongly suggest to look into the CCNA R/S instead.

CCNA has all the stuff that the net+ has, PLUS some cisco stuff, so IMO the CCNA is worth more.

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That’s a good point. Having CCNA on your resume carries more weight than network plus. I think the current CCNA exam will be retiring soon though.

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You might want to reconsider ITIL, as that is service management and a very light foray into project management, which is not the server/system oriented type of work you alluded to in your original post. ITIL/ITSM is all about people.

The Four-Ps is one of the first lessons in ITIL and the first P is “people.”

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I never had a single person ask for ITIL, on my last interview round however many people threw ITIL around alot. Which surprised me. If the content wouldn’t be SO dry I’d have at least the foundation one…

@weirdfish

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It’s one of those certs where people hear about it, know it’s A Big Deal, but don’t really understand why.

And I would argue that it’s really not meant for the vast majority of Spiceheads.

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ITIL is really expensive for someone like me making 12.33 an hour, that’s why I dismiss it, not because I don’t want to but because it would take a lot of sacrifice for that 1 cert when I can self study and get so many others that don’t cost 3 times as much like the ITIL does. Small company, does not pay for my education, just reimburses for exams.

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As far as I’ve been told, you can self study for ITIL. And different independant sources told me that this certification hasn’t much value. It may be fine to overcome the HR filter in hiring process. I got twice a job refusal because I hadn’t any ITIL certification although I often worked in a context claimed operating according to ITIL. And I don’t have the impression that all certified understood ITIL. For at least one of these operting contexts, I’m almost sure that it wasn’t fully complying to ITIL while I had the strong impression for at least one other being fully compliant.