IT career women - Career Path

Author

Career Path

algerp131

2002-01-21, 11:37 pm

I am a 47 year old woman who graduated from a community college this May with an associates in Computer programming and an associates in Information Systems. I have been studying for the CCNA exam since I got out of school and now feel secure enough to go take the exam and be able to pass it. I don't have any other certifications and only got involved in Cisco because the school offered a course in it. I haven't had any real life experiance in networking but have read so much and used router simulators a lot. My question is- what path should I take after my CCNA? I haven't taken the A+, or any other certification exams. What exams do you recommend for a career change person that has always wanted to be able to work in the computer field?

darthw

2002-01-22, 11:11 pm

If your ready for CCNA, give it a go. Then I would recommend A+, followed by Network+ as these are two "entry level" certifications that are recognized in the IT industry, particularly A+. After A+ or N+ you may want to continue with Server+ which is a lot like A+, but more advanced hardware-wise. Or, depending on the job you have perhaps consider MCP or MCSA, or CNA, or MOUS, even the CIW or Java tests if programming is more your cup of tea. Much of it depends on what you want to do or what you're doing when your ready to proceed to another exam. Of course, A+ or N+ is a good start.

Certifications will complement your A.S. degrees nicely. I've actually learned more of daily practical value studying for certifications than I did with my A.A.S. Comp. Sci. degrees. college was good for a lot of theory though.

Just my two cents.

Pavlov

2002-01-23, 1:01 pm

You might also want to try to set up a small little network at your house. Get a cheap little router, build a domain controller, join a machine or two to the domain, etc.

Sponsored Links