Charles, First, don't be discouraged. If you really want to make the transition persistence and flexibility on your part will pay off. That being said, the best advice I can offer up to you is to get as far away from the "jack of all trades" label as you possibly can (especially referring to yourself that way). While that may be important to a smaller reseller, having a focus will serve you better as your career evoloves. Likewise, it will give you an edge with product/service specific vendors. As for a degree and certifications, it varies from company to company, but I have never seen a qualified and dedicated security professional turned down because they had not earned their degree. If you want to talk off-line I would be happy to help you put together a skills inventory and work on how to present yourself so that making your transition may be easier. Charles England wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > I have been trying to change my career focus from Jack of all Trades > in a high paced service environment to network security. Despite > banging on many doors I have up to this point come up empty. I was > wondering if anyone had any advice they could give me. I also had two > specific questions. I do not have a college degree should obtaining a > degree be a high priority, ie am I wasting my time without a degree. > Which certifications if any are worth pursuing, I once thought > certain certifications would help advance my career however having a > CCNP has done nothing except help my current employer achieve a > higher standing as a Cisco dealer. > > Charles England > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: PGPfreeware 7.0.3 for non-commercial use <http://www.pgp.com> > > iQA/AwUBOueEi3SOBwex5LBDEQJlLQCfaxQmJ9pwDKSdpfbsr3txCoF/vrwAn0V3 > ElrhFbXyYbYs7tYCGCaOmFuZ > =FNbc > -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Apr 26 2001 - 14:18:56 PDT