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Hello SpiceHeads,

This is my first question here. I’m a long time viewer of Spiceworks. Right now I’m having a mental battle as to which path to go and I was hoping to find some advice from you guys. I’m from Puerto Rico and I’ve been in IT for about 4 years, I have work in different environments and currently I’m in the healthcare environment and here I do a little bit of everything (Switches, Servers, Databases, cabling, PC Support, etc.)

My dilemma is that I really like networking as to go the Cisco path, but also the Servers as Microsoft and the security path as well. At this point I don’t know which path to go on to. I’m relatively young (24 years old). The only cert that I have is CompTIA Healthcare IT. Right now I’ve been looking at CCNA, MCSA and Security+ etc.

I like all 3 paths but I want to specialize in one.

What do you guys recommend based on your experience?

Thanks!

10 Spice ups
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I can’t answer that for you. I don’t think any of us here can.

Personally, I don’t like being pigeon-holed into one area. I like being able to touch all facets of technology, even if I’m not well versed in all of them.

Are you looking to specialize in one of those areas?
What work gives you the greatest personal satisfaction?
Will you still be happy doing that particular job in five years?

Just a few of the questions you need to ask yourself.

On a side note, I don’t value certs. Some of the worst people I’ve worked with have been certed up the wazoo but had absolutely no common sense. Experience counts far more to me.

3 Spice ups
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Welcome!

Certainly it is very valuable to have diversified experience, especially in smaller shops. However, if you look at it from a management and job-security point of view, a couple of points stand out:

The people who hire you will almost never understand what they need, OR what it is you actually can do. What they WILL understand, even up to the highest levels of management, is SECURITY.

What is it that I can do well, that keeps me employed? My understanding of network security, and my experience with organizations and people, that allows me to apply that.

This is what separates the men from the boys in our field. If you can concentrate on that, and build up a few years of experience to show that you as an individual are trustworthy as well, you will always have work.

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I don’t see any reason why an IT generalist couldn’t have all 3 of those certs. Probably at this point your career path will depend on what kind of opportunities arise, you just have to prepare yourself the best you can for such opportunities.

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If you wanted some help with which cert to take in what order, here’s my advice.

Go for Security+ first, it alone won’t be that helpful getting a job (unless it is a requirement), but the training is good at getting giving you a security-focused mindset. It’s also just one exam, and won’t take super long to do the studying for it.

CCNA second. I haven’t done these exams, I was planning on, but then I was able to start specializing in different direction. However, my feelings with this is that it will give you a very solid foundation and give you an edge on the networking capabilities of your fellow IT generalists. I’ve met quite a few IT generalists who can’t comprehend beyond a flat network (which is why you see some MSPs trying to change their customer over to ridiculously designed flat networks).

I did the MCSA, and it was hard and took a long time. I also ended up studying on things that I have never used in production and may never use in production. The training was useful, and I became better at my job because of it. However I feel there would have been a much more efficient way to gain the knowledge I received from it that has actually been useful in my job. So I would do this last, if you get to it before specializing in a different direction.

2 Spice ups
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Hey Cesar,

One resource that I wanted to put on your radar that (hopefully) can help your decision making is our IT certification roadmap that can help validate expertise in your chosen career if you are going the @CompTIA route

2 Spice ups
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Life is a journey. Pick one and become an expert. Then move into something else. Continue to push yourself out of your comfort zone and you’ll do great things throughout your life.

Since you’re looking for specific advice, I’d start with servers and website management in particular. Being able to build and run a performant website is in demand. You’ll also learn to secure the site at the same time, which is in HUGE demand. Once you’re good at web server security, there are lots of doors open for you (DevOps, software engineering, penetration testing, the list goes on …).

Good luck!

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They are all relatively low enough that you can get them all, and then decide which is your favourite.

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None is necessarily “better” than another. One can absolutely excel in any of those areas and make a fine living. The first trap of IT is thinking in terms of any specialization being better or worse than another. There’s no such thing. Rationalizing better or worse is purely subjective.

Some people are driven solely by income potential. Others want to seek something that happens to be more common in a particular region in which to live. Others value stability and job security over income potential. Some want fast-paced, exciting places to work while others prefer a more sedate and quiet environment.

People might say that IS security is the biggest thing…but what does that matter if no one in your area is hiring for a security specialist? What if the only places to get jobs in IT security are places you don’t want to or can’t move to? Same thing with server admin and networking. Or DBA. Or coding. Or PM.

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Thanks for all your replies guys. I will take into consideration various opinions of yours.