Please take note that I’m not trying to tell you what to do with your career, I’m just sharing my expert opinion with you. I also get the occasional angry message from readers (I’m not sure why they read my messages in fact). They complain that I’m selling courses which is why I recommend them! Selling IT courses is what I do, but it’s the wrong way round, I create courses I know will give you maximum employability and longevity in your career.
Anyways, rant over. Here are your IT career and study goals for 2017. You must start planning now; I know only 6% of people reading this message will bother, but goals will make a huge difference to your career and income next year.
Get IPv6 Certified
I’ve said this time and time again. If you are not intimately familiar with IPv6, then you are going to get left behind. It’s just like the coal industry, IPv4 has a limited lifespan, you must understand this technology if you are to have any hope of being relevant.
And yes, I sell an IPv6 course. I chased down a world class expert and paid him a small fortune to create a unique course which will turn you from a novice into a guru. Nothing like it available. Check it out below:
https://www.howtonetwork.com/courses/tcp-ip/ipv6-certification/
Get Cloud Certified
We’ve reached the point now that if you are in IT and can’t explain basic cloud technology and concepts like SaaS, then it’s embarrassing. Corporate networks are going the way of the dinosaur and if you can help businesses move to the cloud your phone will never stop ringing with job offers or consulting projects. I kid you not.
Consider the CompTIA Cloud Essentials if you are new or jump into a vendor cert like Amazon AWS. Oh, and you can literally have access to all the technology you need to study for the exam by way of free trials.
https://www.howtonetwork.com/courses/amazon/amazon-aws-associate/
Get a Technical Cert
While cloud is technical, you can still get away without understanding what is going on under the hood. The certification which is still regarded as number 1 for laying a strong foundation is the Cisco CCNA.
The syllabus covers all the basics such as TCP/IP, IPv6, security, VLANs, troubleshooting, WAN, routing, QoS and more.
https://www.howtonetwork.com/courses/cisco/cisco-ccna-simplified/
Get ITIL or Project Management Certified
The days of the IT person being considered as the smelly geek who works out of the basement are long gone. You are now an integral part of the business infrastructure, and IT managers are board level positions. Not much happens without the IT department being involved.
If you have project or process management skills, this makes you a very valuable asset to the company. You can be the bridge between the IT functions and the business goals.
https://www.howtonetwork.com/courses/itil/itil-foundation/
https://www.howtonetwork.com/courses/comptia/comptia-project-plus/
Learn Virtualization
Can you explain the business benefits of virtualization? Do you understand how the technology works? You should.
There are so many benefits to this amazing technology and it goes hand-in-hand with Cloud computing. At the moment, VMware is the market leader, so I put their course up first.
https://www.howtonetwork.com/courses/vmware/vmware-certified-associate-data-center-virtualization/
Change Jobs
Many of you are looking to get into IT. I cover career training and how to do just that on the website under the career section. If you are already in IT, you need to work on either getting promoted into a more technical role or moving to another company doing a job which you find exciting and challenging.
The days of a job for life are long gone. You should be moving around every 12 to 24 months. Learn new things, work on new technologies and have some adventures. If you don’t do this, you will find that you get stuck, become underappreciated and your skills go stale.
If this all sounds like a lot of work you are right. You should be nailing a new certification every three or so months. You should be volunteering for projects at work, learning new stuff and going for promotions. You should be calling agents telling them you are looking for work. If you couple a bit of ambition with some of the certifications listed above you will literally blow the competition out of the water.
Summary
Only around 6% of people are motivated and out there hustling. The rest just make excuses, and they wonder why life never changes for them. The phone never rings, they get passed over for promotions and are always dreading redundancy.
If you want to win in 2017 promise yourself that you will set aside at least one hour per day to make it big next year. The average American spends 5 hours per day watching TV and surfing the web. One hour is nothing.
Next steps. Go find a coffee shop, turn your phone off and use a pencil and paper to write down what you want to happen in 2017. What job do you want and where? How much money do you want to be earning? What do you need to do in order to make that happen?
Break it all down into monthly, weekly and then daily tasks and then go do it.
Have Fun
Paul Browning
P.S. I do offer all the above courses but feel free to check out other vendors. My main goal it to get you all out there studying and achieving.
Can you do the VMware exam by yourself now? Last time I looked you had to attend a VMware approved course.
Paul
I chuckled when I read this not because you were wrong but you are 100% correct. The IT landscape changes so rapidly you have to have a diverse ever changing skill set to keep you employed. I found this out after I passed ICND1 in September and ICND2 in October and the job search began. I eventually landed a job at a growing managed services company where no 2 trouble tickets are alike. One day you may need to do a SQL backup for a customer and the next day help manage a Windows 2012 server or move virtual machines from one node to another. You may even have to provide specs for a server that will be used for virtualization. The company is heavy into providing managed cloud services for customers. You won’t be able escape having a casual acquaintance with the VMware, Cloud Services and all the other technologies you have listed above. Learning the listed technologies above will make a well rounded Engineer. I’m quite glad I read you posted. Now I know what to focus on.
Thanks
Hi Paul,
The last time I communicated with you was approximately a year ago when I ceased my membership due to a job opportunity & change in my direction. I now read this blog with interest and thought I would share my experience with everyone a year on in my new role as an ICT Business Liaison Officer
Just a bit of background – Previously to my new role (not so new now) I had been working in IT for approximately 16 years in different roles from system administrator, database design, mobility, web design, desktop support, network design and project work. These have been a mix of contract and permanent roles – UK and Australia (Ex South African). Just to note, I had broken into IT by attaining my MCSE back in 1999 and everything else had been experienced gained while moving around from job to job and country to country 🙂
In these 16 years, I have been made redundant three times and all three were permanent positions. So when Paul mentions “The days of a job for life are long gone.” in my experience, Absolutely. In my previous role working for local Council where I had a permanent position and you might think that this would be safe as houses. No so.
In 2014 we started to hear the mutterings of outsourcing IT at local council where I am currently employed. In 2015 it was made official but we did not know who was going to get the chop. But it was not all bad, as we were given 16 months notice. Also, the council threw a ton of free training our way, all in working hours, none of it was mandatory to attend and the scope of the training was broad. Along with the soft skill courses I attended, which were great as I got to further develop my communication skills, which in my opinion are essential, I attained my ITIL v3 and Prince2 certs.
While doing these course in working time I was studying at home in the evening for my CCNA using Paul’s site and another as well as doing an AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate course. Both of which I DID NOT sit the exams, but learnt a TON.
In the last quarter of 2015, the council informed us (approx 150) of how the new shared IT service operating model was going to work with the new IT service provider. Basically, all roles in the old operating model were gone and we could apply for the newly created roles with the council or the new IT service provider. I was luckily enough to secure a permanent role back with the council but it was a dead end role in my view.
Then, in December of 2015, the Council’s Community Services Directorate advertised a role for a Business Liaison Officer. The professional description (PD) was mix of IT support and direction & general business support. At the time, I felt that I had come to another juncture and took the calculated risk and made the jump out of ‘pure’ IT.
Not even a month into my new role as a Business Liaison Officer I knew I had made the correct decision as I was teamed up with a senior business analyst. The take away from my experience here is to take calculate risks in your career and stretch yourself as you never know what opportunities might lie over the horizon.
At the commencement of this new role, I had NO idea that a few months into it I would have begun being mentored into performing ICT business analysis as my main function.
All my previous IT experience now assists me hugely in performing ICT business analysis as well as providing operational & tactical ICT support and direction to the business. I thoroughly enjoy this role as it is broad and deep & touches on most if not all areas of the business and I get to deal with all levels of management.
I am planning on doing my ECBA (Entry Certificate in Business Analysis) in the 1st quarter of 2017
Paul is bang on the money about being motivated. If you want to stand out in the crowd your CV needs to show that you are acquiring new skills and competencies on a regular basis.
In my experience technical skills are 50% of your offering, the other half is your soft skills. I recently joined my local council’s Toastmasters club and thoroughly enjoy it. It gets you out of your comfort zone, and this is where your learn.
Regards
Great story Shawn.
Thanks for sharing it with us.
Paul
Mark,
Any VMware Professional level (VCP*) exam requires the class to be valid where the VCA* certs don’t. You can take the exams all day long, but without an officially sanctioned course behind it, the cert isn’t fully active. One suggestion, look around at a local college, they may have a VMware degree track that has a course that will satisfy the requirement. In the Detroit area, Baker College had a VMware degree program that had a single class that did the job. It was a major cost savings at $900 for one college course compared to several thousand dollars.
Cheers and best of luck!
Daniel
Hi Paul,
Thanks for sharing the IT Goals for 2017.
With reference to the same list, is there a particular order we should take while undertaking this training via your website please?