Deciding what to do in the next 2 years to pursuit a job

[darkknesss]

Hello.. thank you for taking your time to read my problem

I am a 19 years old student that needs 2 years to finish high school and doesnt have money to pursue university despite the high grades in school, the degree by finishing this institute will grant me an IT diploma, and with this I am also doing the CCNA course academy for 2 more years to have the complete package.. my question is.. Is it possible to learn by myself either programming languages like html,python,java etc... (i do them in school but like not that advanced I guess) and networking engineer paths such as router-switch protocol languages to configure? I am really ambitious and I want to learn as much as possible.. I need advices and I dont know where to seek it from, I am quite desperate. Cheap books can do the trick if they are useful.. because I cant waste too much money.. but i am also quite uncertain if you can mix the two categories.. because network engineering has a whole lot of different stuff compared to programming languages and I am not sure if in 2 years I can digest all of that. I really need help because I am very very motivated and I do not want to waste this chance, I am also trying to look at job requirements and usually I just pick what they ask for and document..

 

[Ralston18]

Okay: Again per my PM response - thank you for posting.

You will probably need to combine both formal and "self-taught".

Some of those institute programs are not all that good. They may grant you an IT diploma but their first objective is to make money.

Take the classes/courses that meet your present interests and ideas. Go for broader disciplines to gain more exposure to IT in general and then specialize later if you decide to do so.

Start reading local IT "Help wanted/Employment" ads. Learn what skills, education, and experience levels are currently being sought after. Some positions often entail descriptions matching multiple functions. Companies do that so they have some flexibility if making decisions about who to hire. You and another candidate may both have Skill A. You also have Skill B and the other person may have Skill C. They can use B or C to narrow down the candidates. Their option.

Visit IT company websites. They often have a page listing employment opportunities. And some sites offer product tutorials, FAQs, and their own Forums as well. Learn to browse and read. Also find and read their User Guides/Manuals, tutorials, and watch demonstration videos.

Lots of good IT books to be had without much expense. Especially if you are near a college or university. Check Goodwill and other thrift stores - you may find a basic or even advanced book for very little cost.

And do not focus on just IT. Take some basic math, speech, technical writing, leadership, and science classes. Eventually you will probably want to go into management or just be assigned as a Team Leader. People skills are what often distinguishes a good IT person. You have to deal with end-users/customers, peers/co-workers, and upper management. Often tougher than some technical problem(s).

Cultivate a professional image. Yes you should be free to be "who you are". But only to a certain point. Companies want employees who are reliable, honest, willing to give more when required, work well with customers, and co-workers. And not too much of a hassle to the boss. Keep your record clean - someday you may want or need a security clearance.

Set up a home IT lab. PCs, NAS, printers, routers, etc.. Scrounge up as much equipment as you can. Do not let people throw out IT stuff. Find ways to get it to work in your lab. You may find a local company or two that would be willing to give you old stuff if you come and get. Do so promptly and thank them.

The rest really does depend on your drive and willingness to work. Some sacrifices will be necessary but do not turn yourself into a martyr. Do learn to relax and have some fun. Overall balance in life is a must; be aware when and when not to let it all get too out of balance.

For now, focus on what you find yourself most interested in and go from there. No matter what you will change, times will change, circumstances and environments will change.

Keep yourself ready to deal with change but with you in control. At least as much as you can...

 

[boosted1g]

Old 10/100 cisco equipment shoudl be very cheap/easy to source from businesses getting rid of them so making a home lab for CCNA is good.

You need to sample and then decide which area to focus on. There is not going to be a job that is looking for a python programmer/network engineer. Having a larger skill set is good to an extent, but after a point it just means your not specialized enough for the job.

Also one thing you really need to look at now is what is the current job market like?
Ultimately you should choose the one you have more passion over, but between the two the network engineer is more stable. Programming languages come and go, and demand is very fueled by trends (like everyone wanting developers for iOS apps, then everyone wanting developers for andorid); while no matter what the trend a company will always need network engineer.

No matter what segment of IT you go into, security is a must. Take any course on IT security you can as that will continue to be a major in demand focus for the next several years.

 

[Ralston18]

Yes - security is a big issue. Thank you boosted1g.

Just came across the following article.

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/10-bad-habits-network-administrators-should-avoid-at-all-costs/?ftag=TRE684d531&bhid=21128550130591413222469056606337

Some additional IT insight and "lessons to be learned".

 

[darkknesss]

Yeah, are online courses any good ? like udemy and etc ? and can you take security course online?

 

[Ralston18]

Online courses (just like classroom courses) may or may not be good. Depends very much on how well the course is designed, presented, administered, and tested.

If you pay enough money to the right people, in the right places, in some parts of the world, you can probably buy a doctorate in security..... Both expensive and the end diploma is worthless. All you learn is how fast they can take your money and/or leave you heavily in debt.

Look for courses by accredited organizations and do any "free trials" beforehand if available. Be very leery of signing up even if they offer financing and/or employment guarantees. All too many such classes in a variety of disciplines where the "school's" real intent is to just take advantage of the students and make money.

Will defer any specific schools or class recommendations to other forum members who have taken online classes and are familiar with the supporting schools. There are some good ones but it will take some effort to identify those that may be available or viable within your area. Online course may be difficult if the internet service is poor and inconsistent.

 

[darkknesss]

Online courses (just like classroom courses) may or may not be good. Depends very much on how well the course is designed, presented, administered, and tested.

If you pay enough money to the right people, in the right places, in some parts of the world, you can probably buy a doctorate in security..... Both expensive and the end diploma is worthless. All you learn is how fast they can take your money and/or leave you heavily in debt.

Look for courses by accredited organizations and do any "free trials" beforehand if available. Be very leery of signing up even if they offer financing and/or employment guarantees. All too many such classes in a variety of disciplines where the "school's" real intent is to just take advantage of the students and make money.

Will defer any specific schools or class recommendations to other forum members who have taken online classes and are familiar with the supporting schools. There are some good ones but it will take some effort to identify those that may be available or viable within your area. Online course may be difficult if the internet service is poor and inconsistent.

Yeah, its just so hard for me because I want to make a time table with everything to learn but I just dont know what to learn first and if its efficient, like im trying to learn things that job require you to know when you apply for one but i dont know if im doing it right

 

[Ralston18]

Go for what your are most interested in and do the best you can with that. When you find some aspect that you do not understand - then do some side study to learn about that and fill in the knowledge gap.

Not so much what you know sometimes as what you can learn and often need to perhaps learn in a hurry.

As you learn things will become easier and you will learn more and faster. Basically a mental exercise program.

Work on the basics, keep up with terminology and "best practices". Be open-minded.

Again use employment ads to get both a sense of what skills are being sought now and what skills may be needed in the future.

Very much keep in mind Boosted1g's comment regarding security. Very applicable to the coming years.

Be aware that you will miss something that becomes "big" or learn something that dies out like a fad.

In changing times things come and go quickly. The basics do remain.

You can do everything right to no avail. Happens sometimes. Just try to minimize what you do wrong but do not be afraid of honest mistakes.

Analogy: You cannot become a great golfer without losing some golf balls.... (Putting it politely.)

 

[darkknesss]

RSA-
2FACTOR-
MPLS-
Juniper-
WatchGuard-
Fortinet Firewalls-
SIEM-
QRADAR-
Splunk-
Log Rhynm-
Alien Vault-
FortiMonitor-
Tandberg-
Cisco TPM-
DHCP,DNS,Wins deploy-manage-
FortiManager-
FortiAuthenticator-
Windows 10-
file sharing over a network-
Troubleshooting methods in networks
Root Cause Analysis-
On-call rota
McAfee Web Gateway
Bluecoat WAN Optimisation
IBM IDS
Aruba/HP wireless/Wired technologies-
Cisco load balancing
F5 Big IP LTM, GTM load balancers
BMC Tooling
Router(Inc RIP,OSPF BGP routing protocols)
Switches (Vlans,ACLs,sFlow,STP,etc)
VPN
Proxy services
Wireless Acess points
Remote access and multi factor authentication
LYNC 2010/2013/Skype ( Polycom telephony )
SIP telephony
Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop
Resolutions
VM-Ware
Hyper-V
Storage platforms(netapp SAN)
KPIs
OLAs
SLAs
ITIL processes
Active Directory-understanding
Windows server 2008/2012 configuration
SQL Server
VoIP
Linux
POS systems
EPOS
Cisco Nexus 2k/5k/7k
Cisco ISE
NAM,ISE
CISCO UCS-C/B servers
Checkpoint
Scanners,Printers
How to make back-ups
MySQL
AWS(VPC,EC2,S3,ROUTE 53),Azure
VoIP(SIP)
Windows server
Linux(Ubuntu/CentOS)
SolarWinds
Wholesale DSL networks
Fortinet
Cisco IOS


this is the list ive found that ppl are looking for in networking engineering

 

[darkknesss]

https://www.udemy.com/comptia-security-certification-sy0-401-the-total-course/ would somethin glike this be worth for 10 euro

 

[Ralston18]

Some of the listed skills are generic, others are more general.

Many ways to do backups - the concept is very straightforward. The implementation, testing, and verification process may not be. Hardware, software, timeliness, and risks can make backing up very easy or very difficult. Maybe lots of tedious manual operations if unable to automate for some reason(s).

A company migrating into some new IT environment will seek someone with applicable generic skills and also with experience applicable to the new product or system being put into place.

They may for example have a large network but plan to expand into VPNs. And happen to have a few Linux computers so a candidate with some amount of Linux experience would be desirable over someone who did not. All other considerations being equal.

Cisco has quite a bit of good information online regarding their switches.

E.g. http://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=2181836&seqNum=4

Google for tutorials on any IT subject you are interested in. There are some good tutorials to be found. There are other tutorials not so good despite good intentions. And of course some tutorials that are just plain horrible.

As for Udemy - did you do the preview course?

No experience with Udemy so I do not feel that it is appropriate for me to comment.

Scanned through their Terms of Use and privacy policy:

https://www.udemy.com/terms/

https://www.udemy.com/terms/privacy/

Will leave it to you to decide whether or not the terms are acceptable.

However, you can go online and look for third party reviews and comments. Look for complaints.

Could be that someone following this thread may offer specific comment regarding Udemy.