IT Career Advice Thread?

[Dryden]

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone - much appreciated.

Bit of background:

I've been working in IT server infrastructure for about 10 years now. I manage a team of 10 guys looking after our orgs servers/hyper-v/vmware/storage/etc. I have a 3 year management diploma through UNISA as well as a various technical industry certs (MCSE/Oracle/SAP basis (I was an SAP consultant long time ago) and a few architecture and governance certs (TOGAF/ITIL/COBIT)
But I find myself in a crowded space with no growth potential and I feel the need for a change. I want to move into a field where not every guy does what I do and I'm thinking either Linux, networking or security (or a combination of them). I'll be in a position in a few months where I'll have the time and money to go and do 3/4 certifications at a Torque IT or similar (I'm gonna ride the retrenchment train before year end woohoo!)

I know this is a bit vague but I'd like some input from those that are in a similar field. Should I do certs to broaden my current skill set or do I go all in on a new direction and start from scratch and work my way up from there?

I know I need to do something but honestly I'm not sure what but everyone does Windows and AD/Exchange etc. and I need to differentiate from it.

Any thoughts?

Thanks again.

 

[CT_Biker]

OKAY!

First thing is first OP, pick a stream:
Options are:
- Network infrastructure
- Network Admin
- Systems admin
- Cloud engineers/Big data center engineers
- Support for either of the above
- Database Administration
- Development
- Business Intelligence
- QA/Software testing
- Penetration Testing (This lot are in serious demand - from my viewpoint)
- Support for the above.
- There are more....

Those are your basics.
It gets WAY more interesting if once you start thinking of specialization, i.e Linux server administration(Quite a high demand for this lot. A good Linux admin is a jewel)

Asking for advice is great, but let me give you the advice that helped me, and no one told you or me this. Be curious, define your own parameters, and once you find what you really want. Chase it relentlessly - for me the poison is Software Development, with hint of me tooling around with Linux.

Understand that in IT and it's companion fields you are ALLOWED to have more than one passion, I have 1 outside of IT which is my main hobby - allow yourself to be interested in more than thing, it will feed your curiosity.

 

[Y'all Qaeda]

Cloud is the current buzzword, so get some clouds on your CV.

Did I do the consultant thing correctly?

 

[CamiKaze]

Cloud is the current buzzword, so get some clouds on your CV.

Did I do the consultant thing correctly?

You forgot to throw in a strong dose of SOLID, AGILE and SAFe.
Oh, and if you are a developer, you must know everything under the Sun.

 

[carstensdj]

Cloud is the current buzzword, so get some clouds on your CV.

Did I do the consultant thing correctly?

You forgot to throw in a strong dose of SOLID, AGILE and SAFe.
Oh, and if you are a developer, you must know everything under the Sun.

Not to mention that it would be to your advantage if you spoke 6 languages and have extensive knowledge in Accounting Principals

 

[Y'all Qaeda]

@OP and @CamiKaze + @carstensdj

Polish your CV to be focused on SAFe based agile clouds, that will be developed using AI with a machine learning algorithm. Singular responsibility will be given to an open relationship with business dependencies will be removed as much as possible as allowed within our framework given the interfaces best practices as guided by the development chapter whilst following test driven development and mob programming to benefit knowledge transfer across team members.

EDIT: I also speak 6 languages fluently, in order, English, Assembler, IFRS, C++, Zulu, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 22 and ITIL.

Better?

 

[CamiKaze]

@OP and @CamiKaze

Polish your CV to be focused on SAFe based agile clouds, that will be developed using AI with a machine learning algorithm. Singular responsibility will be given to an open relationship with business dependencies will be removed as much as possible as allowed within our framework given the interfaces best practices as guided by the development chapter whilst following test driven development and mob programming to benefit knowledge transfer across team members.

Better?

Mine is sorted.

 

[carstensdj]

@OP and @CamiKaze + @carstensdj

Polish your CV to be focused on SAFe based agile clouds, that will be developed using AI with a machine learning algorithm. Singular responsibility will be given to an open relationship with business dependencies will be removed as much as possible as allowed within our framework given the interfaces best practices as guided by the development chapter whilst following test driven development and mob programming to benefit knowledge transfer across team members.

EDIT: I also speak 6 languages fluently, in order, English, Assembler, IFRS, C++, Zulu, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 22 and ITIL.

Better?

Now you're getting somewhere