ReddIT - IT Career Path Quiz - No Longer Updated.

Your early career and training regimen should be:Training: Server+, CCNA: This enables you to have a basic understanding of the functions that servers have inside of a company and how a server differs from a regular computer. RHCSA or MCSA: Based on which seemed more appealing above take one (or both!) of these certification so you can properly configure & manage server assets. Optional: 1 or 2 Year IT Associate Degree with the program focusing on Network technologies (Please ensure that the course list is at least 60% your core discipline and 40% roundout... eg. If you are focussing on network, make sure it's mostly about WAN, Wireless, Firewalls, and only a few courses on Servers, Storage, Databases etc. CCNA provides you with vendor specific (Cisco) knowledge on the setup & operation of Routers/Switches and advanced networking theory on how to connect computers and LANs together over WAN.  Job: SOC/NOC Analyst - SOC/NOC Analysts are usually not customer facing and only communicate with internal support teams. Their job consists mainly of monitoring servers/networks and alerting the appropriate teams when something goes wrong or executing pre-written instructions made by their peers. SOC/NOC Analysts are generally more technically adept and paid better than Helpdesk/Desktop/End-User Support.Job: Security Analyst - Security Analysts essentially perform the same tasks a NOC/SOC analysts but focussing on security only... eg. Firewall Alerts, Virus Detection on Server/Desktops, performing written security operation procedures, but no real hands on the equipment or deciding on policies.  Your intermediate career and training regimen should be:   Training: CCNP, VCP6-NV: CCNP's allow you to learn more than just basic operation and setup that a CCNA provides. You will learn more complex setups and troubleshooting procedures and be able to setup, manage, maintain large scale deployments on a Enterprise or Telco scale. VCP6-NV allows you to expand out and understand how VMWare, world's largest and most common virtualization provider does network virtualization and to work with converged infrastructure (server & storage) and design and deploy accordingly.  Job: Network Administrator/Security Admin - Network Administrators are the ones in charge of setting up networks, supporting them, and some design work, but it's mostly operational (hands-on). Your time will be mostly spent troubleshooting problems with the network (Why is the link to office B so slow; Customers in City B aren't able to reach google.com; The link to City D is down and the backup link didn't kick in.) Security Admins deal with IDS/IPS, Virus Scanners and may share some Firewall duties with the Network team but are more interested in Threats coming through a firewall port as opposed to the firewall itself. Time is usually spent monitoring anti-virus servers, isolating affected hosts, setting up VPN policies, creating/modifying IDS/IPS rules and ordering server/desktop admins to patch the latest exploit. Senior career and training regimen should be:Training: CCIE, CCAr.  CCIE/CCAr's are the absolute authorities on cisco networking and have the skill to properly plan, implement, manage and maintain the most large and complex of networks.Job: Network/Infrastructure Architect - If Comcast tells you, "Hey, we need to provide Internet service to a city of a million people where we currently don't give any service to, make it happen." you don't bat an eye. Network Architects have a deep fundamental understanding of how networking works on a small and epic scale and can easily design network solutions to deliver services to just 1 or 1,000,000 end-users.infrastructure Architects are the guys who understand infrastructure and have a solid education and work background dealing with all aspects of IT technology: Compute, Network, Storage and are able to design complete IT ecosystems/solutions to tackle today and tomorrow's business problems and solutions. You'll be making bank, especially if you work for one of the big companies or as an independent contractor.  

Your early career and training regimen should be:Training: Server+: This enables you to have a basic understanding of the functions that servers have inside of a company and how a server differs from a regular computer. RHCSA or MCSA: Based on which seemed more appealing above take one (or both!) of these certification so you can properly configure & manage server assets. Optional: 1 or 2 Year IT Associate Degree with the program focusing on Server technologies (Please ensure that the course list is at least 60% your core discipline and 40% roundout... eg. If you are focussing on server, make sure it's mostly about Windows, Linux, VMWare, and only a few courses on Network, Storage, Databases etc. Job: SOC/NOC Analyst - SOC/NOC Analysts are usually not customer facing and only communicate with internal support teams. Their job consists mainly of monitoring servers/networks and alerting the appropriate teams when something goes wrong or executing pre-written instructions made by their peers. SOC/NOC Analysts are generally more technically adept and paid better than Helpdesk/Desktop/End-User Support.Job: Security Analyst - Security Analysts essentially perform the same tasks a NOC/SOC analysts but focussing on security only... eg. Firewall Alerts, Virus Detection on Server/Desktops, performing written security operation procedures, but no real hands on the equipment or deciding on policies.Your intermediate career and training regimen should be: Training: Based on whichever you found preferable above, you will take either RHCE or MSCE Certification in order to become wholly sufficient in setting up and managing advanced deployments of server technologies. You may supplement this with an even more specialized certification such as MCSD: Sharepoint or VCP depending on which technologies you've encountered during your employment that interests you.  Job: System Administrator/Security Administrator - System Administrators are the ones who are responsible for installing, configuring and maintaining the server infrastructure that you have learned about in Server+ and perhaps even done some of their less critical job functions as a SOC Analyst. Many support teams will come to you for when an application they installed on your server is not functioning, or when a server that is performing a critical function (like email) stops functioning. System Administrators are usually a 9-5 job but with the expectation to answer support calls 24/7 (May be paid/unpaid).  Security Admins deal with IDS/IPS, Virus Scanners and may share some Firewall duties with the Network team but are more interested in Threats coming through a firewall port as opposed to the firewall itself. Time is usually spent monitoring anti-virus servers, isolating affected hosts, setting up VPN policies, creating/modifying IDS/IPS rules and ordering server/desktop admins to patch the latest exploit.Senior career and training regimen should be:Training: AWS CSAP, MCSD: Azure, VCDX. By this point, you should have supplemented your basic certifications with more advanced and specialized ones pertaining to operations (hands-on) work to your area of expertise. But now is the time to move one level up.Job: Cloud or Infrastructure Architect - Cloud or infrastructure Architects are the guys who understand infrastructure and have a solid education and work background dealing with all aspects of IT technology: Compute, Network, Storage and are able to design complete IT ecosystems/solutions to tackle today and tomorrow's business problems and solutions. You'll be making bank, especially if you work for one of the big companies or as an independent contractor.

Your early career and training regimen should be:Training:Server+: This enables you to have a basic understanding of the functions that servers have inside of a company and how a server differs from a regular computer. RHCSA or MCSA: Based on which seemed more appealing above take one (or both!) of these certification so you can properly configure & manage server assets. Optional: 1 or 2 Year IT Associate Degree with the program focusing on Database technologies (Please ensure that the course list is at least 60% your core discipline and 40% roundout... eg. If you are focussing on Databases, make sure it's mostly about Databases & Software, and only a few courses on Network, Storage, Server etc.  Job: Application Support Analyst (No, not the kind that you call up when you are having problems using iTunes or Windows) - App Support Analysts are usually 9-5 jobs and are tasked with maintaining and support applications that business uses (Not things like MS Office, outlook, skype etc.) but specialized applications like Trouble Ticketing Systems, Internally Coded Applications, Website Backend programs, Custom Software etc. etc. You will be able to dabble a little with servers, understand application architecture, business processes, and learn how to properly manage software delivery lifecycles.Job: Storage &/or Backup Analyst - Storage & Backup Analysts are in charge of the Storing and presenting/archiving data.  Servers nowadays do not have local physical harddrives like we do in our home computers.  Most have their C: drives from a remote source such as a SAN.  Analysts are tasked with provisioning, presenting, maintaining the storage for servers as well as backing up their data and implementing policies for both.Your intermediate career and training regimen should be:Training: Oracle DBA, MCDBA etc. Focus on at least 2 different database vendors to increase your job marketability and compliment it with a certification that's relevant to it... eg. Oracle is usually run on Linux/Unix and VMWare, so get an introductory cert in those if you haven't already. Job: Database Administrator - DBAs manage databases. What does that mean? If an application needs to store unstructured data, you help setup and manage the platform that provides that service. You may be expected to help developers create queries so they can best extract that data in a easily digestible format. You will learn how to optimize queries and database structures so the data can be extracted at lightspeed. Senior career and training regimen should be: Training: Oracle DWCIS, Hadoop CDA, TOGAF By this point, you should have supplemented your basic certifications with more advanced and specialized ones pertaining to operations (hands-on) work to your area of expertise. But now is the time to move one level up.Job: Vendor PFE or SA. You will be working directly for a vendor (Cisco, Microsoft, Redhat etc.) and will be requested whenever a company wants to implement a particular piece of technology from the company but needs vendor guidance on how to design, implement, migrate etc etc. This is where you come in. PFE jobs usually involve alot of travel (Yay! Steak & Lobster for lunch and dinner everyday!) and tackling a lot of complex challenges as they figure out how to deploy their product into a completely unknown ecosystem, sometimes with disastrous results.

Your early career and training regimen should be:Training:  Server+, CCNA: This enables you to have a basic understanding of the functions that servers have inside of a company and how a server differs from a regular computer. RHCSA or MCSA: Based on which seemed more appealing above take one (or both!) of these certification so you can properly configure & manage server assets. Optional: 1 or 2 Year IT Associate Degree with the program focusing on Network technologies (Please ensure that the course list is at least 60% your core discipline and 40% roundout... eg. If you are focussing on network, make sure it's mostly about WAN, Wireless, Firewalls, and only a few courses on Servers, Storage, Databases etc. CCNA provides you with vendor specific (Cisco) knowledge on the setup & operation of Routers/Switches and advanced networking theory on how to connect computers and LANs together over WAN.  Job: SOC/NOC Analyst - SOC/NOC Analysts are usually not customer facing and only communicate with internal support teams. Their job consists mainly of monitoring servers/networks and alerting the appropriate teams when something goes wrong or executing pre-written instructions made by their peers. SOC/NOC Analysts are generally more technically adept and paid better than Helpdesk/Desktop/End-User Support.  Your intermediate career and training regimen should be:Training: CCNP, VCP6-NV: CCNP's allow you to learn more than just basic operation and setup that a CCNA provides. You will learn more complex setups and troubleshooting procedures and be able to setup, manage, maintain large scale deployments on a Enterprise or Telco scale. VCP6-NV allows you to expand out and understand how VMWare, world's largest and most common virtualization provider does network virtualization and to work with converged infrastructure (server & storage) and design and deploy accordingly. Job: Network Administrator - Network Administrators are the ones in charge of setting up networks, supporting them, and some design work, but it's mostly operational (hands-on). Your time will be mostly spent troubleshooting problems with the network (Why is the link to office B so slow; Customers in City B aren't able to reach google.com; The link to City D is down and the backup link didn't kick in.) Senior career and training regimen should be: Based on what you took above, CCIE, CISSP, SANS GIAC in order to become a subject matter expert on a particular area of Networks or Security. You might not know everything about other areas (eg. BGP Routing) but you will be the absolute authority about your own area (eg.  SIP Routing).Job: Vendor PFE or SA. You will be working directly for a vendor (Cisco, Microsoft, Redhat etc.) and will be requested whenever a company wants to implement a particular piece of technology from the company but needs vendor guidance on how to design, implement, migrate etc etc. This is where you come in. PFE jobs usually involve alot of travel (Yay! Steak & Lobster for lunch and dinner everyday!) and tackling a lot of complex challenges as they figure out how to deploy their product into a completely unknown ecosystem, sometimes with disastrous results. 

Your early career and training regimen should be:Training:Server+: This enables you to have a basic understanding of the functions that servers have inside of a company and how a server differs from a regular computer. RHCSA or MCSA: Based on which seemed more appealing above take one (or both!) of these certification so you can properly configure & manage server assets. Optional: 1 or 2 Year IT Associate Degree with the program focusing on Server technologies (Please ensure that the course list is at least 60% your core discipline and 40% roundout... eg. If you are focussing on server, make sure it's mostly about Windows, Linux, VMWare, and only a few courses on Network, Storage, Databases etc. Job: SOC/NOC Analyst - SOC/NOC Analysts are usually not customer facing and only communicate with internal support teams. Their job consists mainly of monitoring servers/networks and alerting the appropriate teams when something goes wrong or executing pre-written instructions made by their peers. SOC/NOC Analysts are generally more technically adept and paid better than Helpdesk/Desktop/End-User Support. Your intermediate career and training regimen should be:Training: Based on whichever you found preferable above, you will take either RHCE or MSCE Certification in order to become wholly sufficient in setting up and managing advanced deployments of server technologies. You may supplement this with an even more specialized certification such as MCSD: Sharepoint or VCP depending on which technologies you've encountered during your employment that interests you. Job: System Administrator/Virtualization Administrator - System Administrators are the ones who are responsible for installing, configuring and maintaining the server infrastructure that you have learned about in Server+ and perhaps even done some of their less critical job functions as a SOC Analyst. Many support teams will come to you for when an application they installed on your server is not functioning, or whenSenior career and training regimen should be:Based on what you took above, more MCSE and MCSD or RH/VMWare Equivalents in order to become a subject matter expert on a particular area of Microsoft or Redhat or Virtualization. You might not know everything about other areas (eg. Windows Active Directory) but you will be the absolute authority about your own area (eg. Sharepoint).Job: Vendor PFE or SA. You will be working directly for a vendor (Cisco, Microsoft, Redhat etc.) and will be requested whenever a company wants to implement a particular piece of technology from the company but needs vendor guidance on how to design, implement, migrate etc etc. This is where you come in. PFE jobs usually involve alot of travel (Yay! Steak & Lobster for lunch and dinner everyday!) and tackling a lot of complex challenges as they figure out how to deploy their product into a completely unknown ecosystem, sometimes with disastrous results. 

Your early career and training regimen should be:Training:Server+: This enables you to have a basic understanding of the functions that servers have inside of a company and how a server differs from a regular computer. RHCSA or MCSA: Based on which seemed more appealing above take one (or both!) of these certification so you can properly configure & manage server assets. Optional: 1 or 2 Year IT Associate Degree with the program focusing on Server technologies (Please ensure that the course list is at least 60% your core discipline and 40% roundout... eg. If you are focussing on server, make sure it's mostly about Windows, Linux, VMWare, and only a few courses on Network, Storage, Databases etc. But make sure at least 1 or 2 of the courses are PROGRAMMING ones. Job: Application Support Analyst (No, not the kind that you call up when you are having problems using iTunes or Windows) - App Support Analysts are usually 9-5 jobs and are tasked with maintaining and support applications that business uses (Not things like MS Office, outlook, skype etc.) but specialized applications like Trouble Ticketing Systems, Internally Coded Applications, Website Backend programs, Custom Software etc. etc. You will be able to dabble a little with servers, understand application architecture, business processes, and learn how to properly manage software delivery lifecycles. Your intermediate career and training regimen should be:Training: Based on whichever you found preferable above, you will take either RHCE or MSCE Certification in order to become wholly sufficient in setting up and managing advanced deployments of server technologies. You may supplement this with an even more specialized certification such as MCSD: Sharepoint or VCP depending on which technologies you've encountered during your employment that interests you. Job: System Administrator/Virtualization Administrator - System Administrators are the ones who are responsible for installing, configuring and maintaining the server infrastructure that you have learned about in Server+ and perhaps even done some of their less critical job functions as a SOC Analyst. Many support teams will come to you for when an application they installed on your server is not functioning, or when a server that is performing a critical function (like email) stops functioning. System Administrators are usually a 9-5 job but with the expectation to answer support calls 24/7 (May be paid/unpaid).Senior career and training regimen should be:Based on what you took above, more Vendor Specific certs in order to become a subject matter expert on a particular area of Devops. (eg. AWS, Chef, Puppet, Docker, Cloupia). Job: Vendor PFE or SA. You will be working directly for a vendor (Cisco, Microsoft, Redhat etc.) and will be requested whenever a company wants to implement a particular piece of technology from the company but needs vendor guidance on how to design, implement, migrate etc etc. This is where you come in. PFE jobs usually involve alot of travel (Yay! Steak & Lobster for lunch and dinner everyday!) and tackling a lot of complex challenges as they figure out how to deploy their product into a completely unknown ecosystem, sometimes with disastrous results. 

Your entry career and training regimen should be:Training: A+/Net+/: These certifications enable you to have a solid understanding of consumer/end-user computing technologies, how to diagnose & troubleshoot and operate computers.  Net+ enables you to understand how exactly networking delivers/manages services to the end-user.  Both are pretty non-vendor specific. Job: Desktop Support/IT Tier 1 Helpdesk: Tier 1 Helpdesks are usually tasked with answering calls from other people in the company, generating tickets, giving basic troubleshooting, performing documented tasks from other teams, basic user management and support.  Desktop support you will be building, fixing PCs, troubleshooting end-user software (Such as Outlook, Office, Skype), supporting mobile devices, doing office desk moves, printer fixes, software installs, desktop software license checks.  You will at the end of this, be an expert at PC hardware and know more than enough about Client OS' (Win 10, 8, XP, Ubuntu etc.) which provides a great base for the next step.  Your early career and training regimen should be:Training:Server+: This enables you to have a basic understanding of the functions that servers have inside of a company and how a server differs from a regular computer. RHCSA or MCSA: Based on which seemed more appealing above take one (or both!) of these certification so you can properly configure & manage server assets. Optional: 1 or 2 Year IT Associate Degree with the program focusing on Database technologies (Please ensure that the course list is at least 60% your core discipline and 40% roundout... eg. If you are focussing on Databases, make sure it's mostly about Databases & Software, and only a few courses on Network, Storage, Server etc.  Job: Application Support Analyst (No, not the kind that you call up when you are having problems using iTunes or Windows) - App Support Analysts are usually 9-5 jobs and are tasked with maintaining and support applications that business uses (Not things like MS Office, outlook, skype etc.) but specialized applications like Trouble Ticketing Systems, Internally Coded Applications, Website Backend programs, Custom Software etc. etc. You will be able to dabble a little with servers, understand application architecture, business processes, and learn how to properly manage software delivery lifecycles. Your intermediate career and training regimen should be:Training: Oracle DBA, MCDBA etc. Focus on at least 2 different database vendors to increase your job marketability and compliment it with a certification that's relevant to it... eg. Oracle is usually run on Linux/Unix and VMWare, so get an introductory cert in those if you haven't already. Job: Database Administrator - DBAs manage databases. What does that mean? If an application needs to store unstructured data, you help setup and manage the platform that provides that service. You may be expected to help developers create queries so they can best extract that data in a easily digestible format. You will learn how to optimize queries and database structures so the data can be extracted at lightspeed.Senior career and training regimen should be:   Based on what you took above, more MCSE and MCSD or RH/VMWare Equivalents in order to become a subject matter expert on a particular area of Microsoft or Redhat or Virtualization. You might not know everything about other areas (eg. Windows Active Directory) but you will be the absolute authority about your own area (eg. Sharepoint).Job: Vendor PFE or SA. You will be working directly for a vendor (Cisco, Microsoft, Redhat etc.) and will be requested whenever a company wants to implement a particular piece of technology from the company but needs vendor guidance on how to design, implement, migrate etc etc. This is where you come in. PFE jobs usually involve alot of travel (Yay! Steak & Lobster for lunch and dinner everyday!) and tackling a lot of complex challenges as they figure out how to deploy their product into a completely unknown ecosystem, sometimes with disastrous results.  

Your entry career and training regimen should be:Training: A+/Net+/: These certifications enable you to have a solid understanding of consumer/end-user computing technologies, how to diagnose & troubleshoot and operate computers.  Net+ enables you to understand how exactly networking delivers/manages services to the end-user.  Both are pretty non-vendor specific. Job: Desktop Support/IT Tier 1 Helpdesk: Tier 1 Helpdesks are usually tasked with answering calls from other people in the company, generating tickets, giving basic troubleshooting, performing documented tasks from other teams, basic user management and support.  Desktop support you will be building, fixing PCs, troubleshooting end-user software (Such as Outlook, Office, Skype), supporting mobile devices, doing office desk moves, printer fixes, software installs, desktop software license checks.  You will at the end of this, be an expert at PC hardware and know more than enough about Client OS' (Win 10, 8, XP, Ubuntu etc.) which provides a great base for the next step.  Your early career and training regimen should be:Training: Server+, CCNA: This enables you to have a basic understanding of the functions that servers have inside of a company and how a server differs from a regular computer. RHCSA or MCSA: Based on which seemed more appealing above take one (or both!) of these certification so you can properly configure & manage server assets. Optional: 1 or 2 Year IT Associate Degree with the program focusing on Network technologies (Please ensure that the course list is at least 60% your core discipline and 40% roundout... eg. If you are focussing on network, make sure it's mostly about WAN, Wireless, Firewalls, and only a few courses on Servers, Storage, Databases etc. CCNA provides you with vendor specific (Cisco) knowledge on the setup & operation of Routers/Switches and advanced networking theory on how to connect computers and LANs together over WAN.  Job: SOC/NOC Analyst - SOC/NOC Analysts are usually not customer facing and only communicate with internal support teams. Their job consists mainly of monitoring servers/networks and alerting the appropriate teams when something goes wrong or executing pre-written instructions made by their peers. SOC/NOC Analysts are generally more technically adept and paid better than Helpdesk/Desktop/End-User Support. Your intermediate career and training regimen should be: Training: CCNP, VCP6-NV: CCNP's allow you to learn more than just basic operation and setup that a CCNA provides. You will learn more complex setups and troubleshooting procedures and be able to setup, manage, maintain large scale deployments on a Enterprise or Telco scale. VCP6-NV allows you to expand out and understand how VMWare, world's largest and most common virtualization provider does network virtualization and to work with converged infrastructure (server & storage) and design and deploy accordingly. Job: Network Administrator - Network Administrators are the ones in charge of setting up networks, supporting them, and some design work, but it's mostly operational (hands-on). Your time will be mostly spent troubleshooting problems with the network (Why is the link to office B so slow; Customers in City B aren't able to reach google.com; The link to City D is down and the backup link didn't kick in.) Senior career and training regimen should be: Based on what you took above, CCIE, CISSP, SANS GIAC in order to become a subject matter expert on a particular area of Networks or Security. You might not know everything about other areas (eg. BGP Routing) but you will be the absolute authority about your own area (eg.  SIP Routing).Job: Vendor PFE or SA. You will be working directly for a vendor (Cisco, Microsoft, Redhat etc.) and will be requested whenever a company wants to implement a particular piece of technology from the company but needs vendor guidance on how to design, implement, migrate etc etc. This is where you come in. PFE jobs usually involve alot of travel (Yay! Steak & Lobster for lunch and dinner everyday!) and tackling a lot of complex challenges as they figure out how to deploy their product into a completely unknown ecosystem, sometimes with disastrous results. 

Your entry career and training regimen should be:Training:A+/Net+/: These certifications enable you to have a solid understanding of consumer/end-user computing technologies, how to diagnose & troubleshoot and operate computers.  Net+ enables you to understand how exactly networking delivers/manages services to the end-user.  Both are pretty non-vendor specific. Job: Desktop Support/IT Tier 1 Helpdesk: Tier 1 Helpdesks are usually tasked with answering calls from other people in the company, generating tickets, giving basic troubleshooting, performing documented tasks from other teams, basic user management and support.  Desktop support you will be building, fixing PCs, troubleshooting end-user software (Such as Outlook, Office, Skype), supporting mobile devices, doing office desk moves, printer fixes, software installs, desktop software license checks.  You will at the end of this, be an expert at PC hardware and know more than enough about Client OS' (Win 10, 8, XP, Ubuntu etc.) which provides a great base for the next step.Your early career and training regimen should be:Training: Server+: This enables you to have a basic understanding of the functions that servers have inside of a company and how a server differs from a regular computer. RHCSA or MCSA: Based on which seemed more appealing above take one (or both!) of these certification so you can properly configure & manage server assets. Optional: 1 or 2 Year IT Associate Degree with the program focusing on Server technologies (Please ensure that the course list is at least 60% your core discipline and 40% roundout... eg. If you are focussing on server, make sure it's mostly about Windows, Linux, VMWare, and only a few courses on Network, Storage, Databases etc. Job: SOC/NOC Analyst - SOC/NOC Analysts are usually not customer facing and only communicate with internal support teams. Their job consists mainly of monitoring servers/networks and alerting the appropriate teams when something goes wrong or executing pre-written instructions made by their peers. SOC/NOC Analysts are generally more technically adept and paid better than Helpdesk/Desktop/End-User Support. Your intermediate career and training regimen should be: Training: Based on whichever you found preferable above, you will take either RHCE or MSCE Certification in order to become wholly sufficient in setting up and managing advanced deployments of server technologies. You may supplement this with an even more specialized certification such as MCSD: Sharepoint or VCP depending on which technologies you've encountered during your employment that interests you. Job: System Administrator/Virtualization Administrator - System Administrators are the ones who are responsible for installing, configuring and maintaining the server infrastructure that you have learned about in Server+ and perhaps even done some of their less critical job functions as a SOC Analyst. Many support teams will come to you for when an application they installed on your server is not functioning, or when a server that is performing a critical function (like email) stops functioning. System Administrators are usually a 9-5 job but with the expectation to answer support calls 24/7 (May be paid/unpaid).Senior career and training regimen should be:Based on what you took above, more MCSE and MCSD or RH/VMWare Equivalents in order to become a subject matter expert on a particular area of Microsoft or Redhat or Virtualization. You might not know everything about other areas (eg. Windows Active Directory) but you will be the absolute authority about your own area (eg. Sharepoint).Job: Vendor PFE or SA. You will be working directly for a vendor (Cisco, Microsoft, Redhat etc.) and will be requested whenever a company wants to implement a particular piece of technology from the company but needs vendor guidance on how to design, implement, migrate etc etc. This is where you come in. PFE jobs usually involve alot of travel (Yay! Steak & Lobster for lunch and dinner everyday!) and tackling a lot of complex challenges as they figure out how to deploy their product into a completely unknown ecosystem, sometimes with disastrous results.