Redundancy and IT Support role help!

[maddog1982]

Hey guys,

 

I've just taken voluntary redundancy from a company I've been working for, for ten years! I've qualifications in IT and done a support role for the company I am leaving but moved roles to become the customer services manager for them a few years back. I am wanting to get back in the IT field again. Looking for advice on qualifications, is there anything I could do to bring my knowledge back up to date/fill in the gaps from being away from it? Ive looked at Microsoft and comptia so far. Or do you think it would be better taking a lower paid job in the field and training with the company rather than go in to high and be out of my depth?

 

Cheers! A confused and slightly scared Maddog!

[HaydnH]

What type of support and what experience do you have? Help Desk/Production? Windows/Linux? etc?

 

In general I'd always go for a job slightly above my qualifications and I would expect people to send me CVs if they're in that position, if a job doesn't provide a bit of a challenge then you'll get bored and leave. Further, if a new role doesn't scare you a little before you start you've probably been applying for the wrong jobs.

[Sargara]

You're best bet would be to invest in a micro-server and get a couple of VM's up and running and use this a practice environment to work through something like a Microsoft Windows 7 cert:

https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-gb/exam-70-685.aspx

 

Pretty much any IT support role will require/benefit from having an offical Microsoft qualification under your belt. Without something like the above you will be restrained to HelpDesk type phone jobs.

[maddog1982]

Thanks Hadyn!

 

I currently work for a small telecoms company - I have experience in both windows and linux systems. The support experience I have are for all the telecoms switches/hardware and being on call in case these broke down in the night, its quite bespoke to the company I hence why i am a little nervous going in at the deep end.

 

I have no problems with taking any course that is offered to me. Ive seen companies asking candidates to be ITIL qualified and sometimes MCP.

[maddog1982]

You're best bet would be to invest in a micro-server and get a couple of VM's up and running and use this a practice environment to work through something like a Microsoft Windows 7 cert:

https://www.microsof...xam-70-685.aspx

 

Pretty much any IT support role will require/benefit from having an offical Microsoft qualification under your belt. Without something like the above you will be restrained to HelpDesk type phone jobs.

 

I did come across that earlier and wondered if I should do that. I wanst sure with it being windows 7 though if it was out dated now and replaced with something newer.

[Sargara]

Yeah that is always the case maddog. Do you go current tech for use in a day to day environment (Windows7) or do you future proof and go Windows8. I can only speak from my company/clients but Windows7 is still very much the norm when it comes to the vast majority of the devices I deal with.

 

It's your call theres no right/wrong answer as skills from either would be transferable.

Edited June 16, 2015 by Sargara

[maddog1982]

Yeah that is always the case maddog. Do you go current tech for use in a day to day environment (Windows7) or do you future proof and go Windows8. I can only speak from my company/clients but Windows7 is still very much the norm when it comes to the vast majority of the devices I deal with.

 

It's your call theres no right/wrong answer as skills from either would be transferable.

 

Really appreciate the help! The course you linked to isn't long and this is something I could complete in a few days.

 

Any recommended online training providers? Does anyone rate the comptia qualifications?

Edited June 16, 2015 by maddog1982

[maddog1982]

This is £295 : http://www.reed.co.uk/courses/microsoft-windows-7-enterprise-desktop-support-technician/25287

[grahamc]

You could look at doing a couple of short(er) contracts to try and get your skills up to scratch.

 

Ever job spec I have ever been sent has asked for MS Certification, I dont have it and its never been a problem. However, I do have 15+ years of experience Exams and qualifications will give you some confidence as well.

 

Where are you based?

[maddog1982]

You could look at doing a couple of short(er) contracts to try and get your skills up to scratch.

 

Ever job spec I have ever been sent has asked for MS Certification, I dont have it and its never been a problem. However, I do have 15+ years of experience Exams and qualifications will give you some confidence as well.

 

Where are you based?

 

Im in Sandbach, Cheshire - the north west

[grahamc]

Cant help with that location, I know a Network Architect in Manchester and I am based in London.

 

As part of your redundancy package is there any education options? Pretty sure a previous placed offered additional training courses to those being made redundant

[maddog1982]

Cant help with that location, I know a Network Architect in Manchester and I am based in London.

 

As part of your redundancy package is there any education options? Pretty sure a previous placed offered additional training courses to those being made redundant

 

No mention of training, however, I have had a good pay out so dont mind using some of that to train

[HaydnH]

I think the first decision you need to make is what kind of support you want to do, bear in mind that things like your geographical location could restrict that decision (is there much finance/Linux support in the north west for example?). It's all well and good going off and doing a MCP if you later decide that helping idiots with desktop problems or configuring active directory isn't your cup of tea, or doing a specialty then realising nobody within 200 miles does that. On a similar note, are you sure IT is what you want to do? It's worth thinking about while you have some cash to support your decision, you won't get made redundant that often so use it as an opportunity.

 

Personally if I had knowledge in Linux I wouldn't even consider moving in to a MS type role, however I'm a bit biased as I was a Solaris/Linux sys admin for years and now run a front line production support team for a very well known market data provider. Production support is very different from a desktop support or similar role, it's much more about following process and escalating to the right people as quickly as possible. While uptime a service levels are important, it's fairly irrelevant if your service was fixed within 5 minutes but within that 5 minutes someone's lost £Xm due to decisions made on bad data you're service provided. Although don't be put off by the process side, it's an exciting and fast paced environment when you know how much money is riding on what you do.

 

Linux can be downloaded for free and run off a USB stick to learn/revise, I'd stick to free Redhat style distributions (e.g: Centos) as most people use Redhat. You might not be able to everything depending on what hardware you have, e.g: rebuilding a mirror, but it would be good for familiarity with all the commands (never suggest Linux GUIs in an interview!). Most lower level Linux interviews will contain the usual support function type questions so are fairly easy to predict, just think logically about what might go wrong and try to fic it. e.g: "a filesystem is full, what commands do you use to see that and find the largest files/directories taking space?" (A: df, du), "a client can't connect to a web server on this box, how can you see if the server is running & listening on port 80?" (A: ps, netstat). "Where would you configure a new user account?" (/etc/passwd, basically all OS config files are under /etc), files under /proc are useful to know as well as they show a whole host of stats (cpu usage, network stats etc).

 

Regarding ITIL, I'd read up on it and put it on your CV as "studied" or "aware" rather than "certified". It's only a suggestion of how you run your business and I've never worked anywhere that doesn't have their own spin on it. The most important part of it is that everybody uses the same terminology, so understanding what an incidents/problem release etc are, what a change/release process looks like and to a lesser degree what the teams & departments are called.

 

As soon as possible, I'd phone some IT recruitment companies and discuss your experience and what you're looking for with them, you'll likely find them to be very helpful and suggest off the bat that you might want to strengthen in certain areas - they make their money finding people jobs after all. For the same reason you'll probably get some interviews out of it even if on paper you're not likely to be experienced enough, use those interviews to ask the recruitment consultants for feedback on what to improve on - make sure you ask for that feedback as it's usually provided from the HR department to the recruitment consultant anyway.

 

If you find a job you're really interested but they're unsure, assuming your redundancy is enough to cover it, you could offer to work for free for a few months while they train you up, it's gamble that might not pay off though so you'd also need some reserve money for a second period of no work afterwards.

 

Good Luck!!

 

Haydn.

Edited June 16, 2015 by HaydnH

[maddog1982]

I think the first decision you need to make is what kind of support you want to do, bear in mind that things like your geographical location could restrict that decision (is there much finance/Linux support in the north west for example?). It's all well and good going off and doing a MCP if you later decide that helping idiots with desktop problems or configuring active directory isn't your cup of tea, or doing a specialty then realising nobody within 200 miles does that. On a similar note, are you sure IT is what you want to do? It's worth thinking about while you have some cash to support your decision, you won't get made redundant that often so use it as an opportunity.

 

Personally if I had knowledge in Linux I wouldn't even consider moving in to a MS type role, however I'm a bit biased as I was a Solaris/Linux sys admin for years and now run a front line production support team for a very well known market data provider. Production support is very different from a desktop support or similar role, it's much more about following process and escalating to the right people as quickly as possible. While uptime a service levels are important, it's fairly irrelevant if your service was fixed within 5 minutes but within that 5 minutes someone's lost £Xm due to decisions made on bad data you're service provided. Although don't be put off by the process side, it's an exciting and fast paced environment when you know how much money is riding on what you do.

 

Linux can be downloaded for free and run off a USB stick to learn/revise, I'd stick to free Redhat style distributions (e.g: Centos) as most people use Redhat. You might not be able to everything depending on what hardware you have, e.g: rebuilding a mirror, but it would be good for familiarity with all the commands (never suggest Linux GUIs in an interview!). Most lower level Linux interviews will contain the usual support function type questions so are fairly easy to predict, just think logically about what might go wrong and try to fic it. e.g: "a filesystem is full, what commands do you use to see that and find the largest files/directories taking space?" (A: df, du), "a client can't connect to a web server on this box, how can you see if the server is running & listening on port 80?" (A: ps, netstat). "Where would you configure a new user account?" (/etc/passwd, basically all OS config files are under /etc), files under /proc are useful to know as well as they show a whole host of stats (cpu usage, network stats etc).

 

Regarding ITIL, I'd read up on it and put it on your CV as "studied" or "aware" rather than "certified". It's only a suggestion of how you run your business and I've never worked anywhere that doesn't have their own spin on it. The most important part of it is that everybody uses the same terminology, so understanding what an incidents/problem release etc are, what a change/release process looks like and to a lesser degree what the teams & departments are called.

 

As soon as possible, I'd phone some IT recruitment companies and discuss your experience and what you're looking for with them, you'll likely find them to be very helpful and suggest off the bat that you might want to strengthen in certain areas - they make their money finding people jobs after all. For the same reason you'll probably get some interviews out of it even if on paper you're not likely to be experienced enough, use those interviews to ask the recruitment consultants for feedback on what to improve on - make sure you ask for that feedback as it's usually provided from the HR department to the recruitment consultant anyway.

 

If you find a job you're really interested but they're unsure, assuming your redundancy is enough to cover it, you could offer to work for free for a few months while they train you up, it's gamble that might not pay off though so you'd also need some reserve money for a second period of no work afterwards.

 

Good Luck!!

 

Haydn.

 

Firstly, wow! Thank you so much for such a great post.

 

I have never used a Linux gui i my life! It is all Centos here and command line. Your post is really helpful. I will read up on the ITIL and mark it on my CV. There seems to be quite a lot of first/second line support work going in my area, more that I thought to be honest. I haven't looked for anything Linux based though.

[planetsurfer2]

Setting up a couple of whiteboxes running vmware/vsphere will probably get you up to speed fairly quicky.

With that you can run any OS windows/linux/solaris.

You can download traial copies of all windows products. I think there servers are licensed for 180 days from installation. When they expire install a new set.

You can download everything from the vmware site. If you require any help let me know. (IT Consultant for > 30 Years)

[Stutopia]

Maybe a change within IT, development or analysis?

 

I know it may not seem very glamourous on the face of it but there's a drive for more in house development in some government departments, it's not as high paced as the real world, but the worklife balance is strong and the pension (though not as good as it was) still compares favourably to many private sector opportunities.

 

http://digital.dwp.gov.uk/careers/#vacancies

[maddog1982]

Hi Guys, well tomorrow is my last day!

 

I would like to complete the studying Windows 7 Enterprise Desktop Technician Course with the aim to taking exam 70-685. Can anyone recommend any good training companies? I've looked and looked and every site I come across doesn't fill me with confidence!

[grahamc]

I have not used any before.... most seem to just "read" from the textbook

[NWZ]

Considered going contracting? That's where I ended up after being made redundant 8 years ago...not looked back.

 

Oh, and agents take them with a pinch of salt - they promise the world but your only a £ at the end of the day...be proactive, spend your time off 9-5 searching for jobs or learning some new stuff... Not a bad time of the year to find work to be honest as most people seem to look more outside of winter. Good luck...Oh, and make sure your CV is the dogs...that's where you stand out with the pimps.

[DoogyRev]

Hi Guys, well tomorrow is my last day!

 

I would like to complete the studying Windows 7 Enterprise Desktop Technician Course

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but why on earth would you want to study something that was released in 2009 . . . .

 

If I were you I would be on the Win 10 band wagon if Windows is your thing, the world is migrating to mobile technologies so perhaps something in this field would also be an advantage.