Network admin?

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Kanned

Beast
I'm looking into entering a trade school for network administration. For some reason, I believe I will get some valuable information from you guys about this. I'm just looking to get more information about it, basically. Average pay in your area, are they in demand, job/schooling intensity, do you think a trade school certification will be good enough for a bigger company, or any other info. Thanks in advance.
 
Unless you live near a largeish area with a fairly large job market, or are well-connected with area businesses, this can be a very tough field to get into. In my experience, 50% of the hiring criteria is knowing people within the company you're applying to, or to be recommended by someone to a company with an opening. This is just in my area though.
 
a "Degree" in network admin won't get you anywhere.

every network admin i know..... DOESN'T have a degree.

entry level (aka office help desk) is like 25k
junior level is like 40k.
senior level goes up to 120k if you know your shit.

move to atlanta. big datacenters there
 
yes :)

start off as helpdesk, then volunteer to learn EVERYTHING

the sky is the limit as an admin. do it!
 
MCSA = microsoft certified systems admin
MCSE = microsoft certified systems enginer
CISCO certs are also helpfull
the government uses a lot of ORACLE
 
Most of our network engineers have 4 year degrees in computer science along with the certifcation mentioned above. Average pay is, junior start off 70k, 6 years experience can get you well over 100k. The market is hot out here right now for any type of network/computer/software engineer.

Hell, I'm hiring for a Software Engineer IV here at VeriSign. I can't find anybody, everyone is getting hired by other companies. Any of you guys with a degree in Computer Science and 6+ years experience, send me your resume. I'll pay you well. :)
 
programming is for the birds and early death :lol:
 
Thats strange. Very few of the admins I know have degrees.

B's pay scale pretty much mirrors dallas too.

help desk: 23-28k
junior admin: 40k
sys admin: 60-80k
sr admin: 100-150k

Learning Cisco Products, and being a Linux/Unix AND Windows (yes I said and windows. They still have a sizable market share) God will secure you a job any where.

Flexibility + Knowledge = open job market.
 
HD @ Yale = $45-50k
JR Admin is same, but Sr admin is 100k+. Developers are at executive salary ranges.
 
Here in Denver the pay scale is about the same as described above only Help Desk positions may make a little more. My title is System Administrator in a 9 person IT department that includes the Help Desk. I currently make 55k, I have my CCNA and I have about a year left before I'll have a BS in Networks and Communications Mangement. I also am the Phone System Administrator and am working on some Avaya certs that I hope will come in useful.

A few words of wisdom. To really get a good job in the field you need to get connections with people who already work in the field. I'm 23 and the youngest person in the department, but I was able to get this job because of connections. I started in help desk here but have risen above several older people some of whom have more experience but don't really want to learn.

The other thing is in this field even once you're done with school you are constantly learning. To excel you must be the type of person who always wants to see something new.
 
i couldnt have said it better.

i was working for car dealerships forever, then i took on some internal PC maintenance responsibilities, and from there i moved to web developer. sweet gig, but after the project was over they had me making calls again...I wasnt havin that.

from there i worked for verison dsl for a few months and then on to neospire. at neospire, i went from help desk to jr admin in 6 months. At that time i had touched linux maybe twice in my life, and after a year with the company, i knew more about it than most of the non-sr admins.

i got fired from there for being a dick to my boss, and now im back developing web sites (currently for gordons).

to work in the IT field, you have to learn to roll with the punches and make more than the most out of what opportunities youre given.
 
Wow, thanks to everyone for all the info. Let me scan through everything and try to spit out a few simplified questions/answers.

I do not live in an area where it will be easy to score a job of this sort.
I'll give the place a call and see exactly what certifications I will acquire and let you all know.

I've finally admitted that I suck at school and as of now, I'm not going to attempt to get accepted to a university again. That being said, all I will have is a certification/degree and a ton of hope.

My father has so many clients that have become friends, I think I have a good shot at getting a spot in the field.

After this, I plan do start my life so to speak, so I will have nothing but time to work my way up. I'm going into this field as a pretty big noob, so I plan to open my mind to everything that comes my way. I have many hobbies, but this criteria seems to have a bigger future than most others. Hell, I don't have much of an idea of what an average day as a network admin would be like. What are normal things for you to come across on a weekly/daily basis?
 
buy a rack for your house to test on. knowing routers, switches, and hardware of that nature is huge.
being an "admin" as far as setting up emails, active directory, and so on is pretty much cake work, and if you list it on your resume, any hiring manager will probably just laugh you off.

through school, you should be able to get cheap software/old versions/etc to instlal, config, and so on.
set up firewalls, vpns, work on exhcnage, and so forth.
 
+1 on having connections, people you know to get you in. We always look at hiring people we know, or friends of friends first. So, who wants a job? :D
 
yeah, b is right.

i can setup most anything on any system...the stuff that gets me jobs is knowing how to setup LVS and Cisco equipment.

My day at my last job went something like this:

Replication is broken on X server. Track down the problem, document all of that information, and fix it. (30-60 min)

Configure a new tomcat instance on X server. Make a text file for the customer that lists all the credentials, and document locations for tomcat. (2hrs)

Add rules to X router to allow X ip address access to X ports. Copy the current config from the router and send it to the customer. (20 minutes)

Move copy config and content from server X to server Y for QA purpose. When complete document all steps used for this process and any special steps taken to remedy issues that appear. (4hrs)

Allocate and configure a new server for X client. Document Serial Numbers, IPs, Credentials, monitoring information and file locations(2-6hrs).

Thats a 10 hour day.



You can look forward to a lot of that.
 
Most of our network engineers have 4 year degrees in computer science along with the certifcation mentioned above. Average pay is, junior start off 70k, 6 years experience can get you well over 100k. The market is hot out here right now for any type of network/computer/software engineer.

Hell, I'm hiring for a Software Engineer IV here at VeriSign. I can't find anybody, everyone is getting hired by other companies. Any of you guys with a degree in Computer Science and 6+ years experience, send me your resume. I'll pay you well. :)

Yes, the field is hot... but send your resume to me. Lockheed is hiring like mad too. ;)
 
Working on a helpdesk is probably the best start you can get. Worked for me. Then I moved up to a "tier 3 tech" which is essentially a sysadmin.

Too bad that job died with the US Army's Transformation........ Now I'm working for someone who goes around and sets up people's home internet/telephone. Not the best job, but it pays enough to cover the minimums.

Unfortunately, I'm 19, have no degree, but a few certs; all the employers see is the age. I went into an interview a few months back, and the first words out of the pannel's (collective) mouth was "Wow! You're young." Sucks.

If you get a chance to go in with a contractor, do it. Right now the contractors have all of the money. Most contractors even have college internship programs, and have great training.
 
im a tier 1 help desk tech...and now that i have my foot in the door and am getting some experience under my belt...the sky is the limit...you just have to find that one job...i know there are all kinds of I.T. jobs in lower Alabama...I just dont feel like moving there...maybe one day ill move there...but not any time soon...
 
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