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NetworkingATE
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Building an IT networking career with CCNA, Linux skills and an electrical engineering degree
Networking, Cisco certifications, Careers in networking, CCNA, Cisco Certified Network Associate, Linux, IT jobs, IT career, Certifications
I'm 40 years old and hope to earn my Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) in a couple of months. I've really been studying hard. I'm also taking a Linux course and I started a graduate program in InfoSec. I earned a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1990, but I've been out of the industry for 12 years to stay home and raise children. I have no IT experience. Can I expect that EE degree to have any bearing on finding a job in IT? I'm willing to relocate just about anywhere, including a war zone, to feed my family.
ASKED: Jun 10 2009  8:20 PM GMT
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Nnf97
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Dear Sir or Madam (I'm guessing Madam given the remark about "raise children" but I'd be happy to be wrong):

An EE degree, especially if it's from a decent school or better, is always worth something, even in today's economy. Given your other more recent activity, especially if you earn the CCNA (after which I'd urge you to go straight after the CCNA Security, then CCSP) and a graduate program in information security, you should be pretty well positioned to get a job. You might also want to look into the Associate of ISC-squared (you earn this by passing the CISSP exam before you can meet their experience requirements to actually obtain your CISSP). This makes a "killer combination" of credentials that will definitely lead to employment. If you can't find something in your area, moving to a war zone won't be necessary: there are oodles and oodles of jobs in infosec in the Washington, DC area (and to be fair, in most major metro areas as well) for qualified information security professionals.

You're on your way there. You need only keep on doing what you're already doing and you will find work--if not right away, then once you finish what you're currently already working on for sure. Add the CCNA Security, CCSP, and CISSP (or Associate) to your plans, and it's a slam dunk!

HTH, and thanks for posting,
--Ed--
Why IT? Why not stick with EE?
Last Answered: Aug 27 2009  6:49 PM GMT by Nnf97   3115 pts.
Latest Contributors: Edtittel   1005 pts., Godwillggggggg   15 pts.
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Mshen   23525 pts.  |   Jun 10 2009  11:39PM GMT

Without experience it will be very hard, and a CCNA will not make up for the lack of experience. What type of jobs are you expecting to get in IT?

 

Djeepp   340 pts.  |   Jun 11 2009  2:32PM GMT

The best way to go about getting into IT is not with diplomas or degrees. A good hiring manager will ignore that stuff and look at what you KNOW. If you can go into an interview and tell the manager how to supernet a class C ip address giving you this many IPs in each subnet, you are going to get that job a lot faster than waving a piece of paper proving you know how to sit in a classroom.

Find a help desk job in a small company where you can get hands on experience in the areas that you want to pursue. Pretty soon you can jump on those opportunities within or beef up your resume and you’ll soon be getting recruiters blowing up your email and phone.

Degrees and Certs are nice, but pursue those after you have the experience. Not to mention your employer will probably pay for all the fees at that point.

 
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