Good qualifications for hosting/internet related jobs?

[HostUS-Alexander]

Howdy y'all,

Whats the best courses that can be taking at college or university which would be ideal for web hosting / ISP related jobs? What certificates/ qualifications are the most handy in your opinion?

What qualifications etc do you have?

- Alexander

 

[concerto49]

Aren't you a host but?

Anyway, depends if you want to get into networking or system administration etc - those would be the courses you should be taking.

 

[jarland]

Learn to program. Learn C, PHP, Python, all that good stuff. The real money goes to good programmers. At least that's my take from recent research.

 

[concerto49]

Learn to program. Learn C, PHP, Python, all that good stuff. The real money goes to good programmers. At least that's my take from recent research.

Really? At least here, sysadmins / netadmins / dba get paid way more than the average programer.

 

[Aldryic C'boas]

Have a day job, or substantial savings.  Don't expect you can fully (or even partially) support yourself in this field without SUBSTANTIAL investment and a good deal of time.

Seeing way too many people thinking that "VPS Tech" or "Level 1/2 Support" is a legitimate, sustainable method of income =\

 

[Francisco]

Have a day job, or substantial savings.  Don't expect you can fully (or even partially) support yourself in this field without SUBSTANTIAL investment and a good deal of time.

Seeing way too many people thinking that "VPS Tech" or "Level 1/2 Support" is a legitimate, sustainable method of income =\

Pretty much this. Even working within a physical datacenter doesn't guarantee you a liveable wage. There's something about this industry that prompts either not getting paid or making very very little, requiring that you have a 2nd line of work.

 

[HostUS-Alexander]

Aren't you a host but?

Anyway, depends if you want to get into networking or system administration etc - those would be the courses you should be taking.

I forgot to mention, i did just take an Advanced Higher Networking course. 

Learn to program. Learn C, PHP, Python, all that good stuff. The real money goes to good programmers. At least that's my take from recent research.

I'm not to interested in programming for a living, 

Have a day job, or substantial savings.  Don't expect you can fully (or even partially) support yourself in this field without SUBSTANTIAL investment and a good deal of time.

Seeing way too many people thinking that "VPS Tech" or "Level 1/2 Support" is a legitimate, sustainable method of income =\

I have a full time day job running my own business, that's currently enough money to live on. Just looking to get some more qualifications under my belt.

- Alexander

 

[Aldryic C'boas]

I have a full time day job running my own business, that's currently enough money to live on. Just looking to get some more qualifications under my belt.

Well... it depends on what direction you want to go.  If you're wanting to grow your own company, then you would want to look into HR/PR, Management, and Accounting/Finance.

If you're wanting to expand your skill set for improving hirability with other companies.. specialize.  Pick what you're good at, improve it, and add minor complimentary skills.  Good with networking/routing?  Specialize there, teach yourself bash, perl and python as a cake topper.  Want to focus on coding/development?  Familiarize yourself with design, networking, even various platforms/distros.  The worst thing you could possibly do is 'major in CompSci'... those degrees are just about as useless as Political Science degrees.  Nobody wants a Jack of all Trades that has to constantly retrain themselves on everything... but specialists that _know_ their stuff and have the added bonus of a few extra handy skills can walk in just about anywhere.

 

[JayCawb]

I'm currently working on my CCNA with RobustIT, UK only. But Cisco/Microsoft/Any other industry recognisable certs will suffice and look good on CVs, and also is proof of what you're capable of doing.

 

[Jeffrey]

Going to College/University for the Hosting field isn't needed, but is always a plus.  What is needed though, is experience.  Also, if you are looking into getting into Networking, I recommend looking into a CCNA. 

 

[drmike]

Education?   College?  Nah.  That is way too little way too late -- especially in fast moving tech sector.

Best thing you could do is apprentice with someone for a year or two in an existing Linux/Unix shop --- ideally data/hosting centric.  

In lieu of that, get to reading and tinkering.  

But, yes, you are already a provider.  I'd start tinkering in expanded and next gen areas myself to keep up and ahead of curves.

 

[shawn_ky]

Linux certifications. Some web programming and networking certifications can go a long way. Just depends what you want to do like others have said.

 

[Francisco]

Linux certifications. Some web programming and networking certifications can go a long way. Just depends what you want to do like others have said.

You might as well just be self taught.

I went to a tech college deal over here after highschool and they taught me some basics on linux that I had known for years already as well as MSSQL 2000, ASP 6, & VB 6; All techs that were on their way out the door since .NET was already out.

I went out into the job field and couldn't find any ASP jobs, even in the govnernment. I ended up taking on a job with a local company that paid me a reduced wage to learn PHP as quickly as I could.

Thankfully I picked up enough PHP within a few weeks to finish up my first projects.

Francisco

 

[concerto49]

Going to do a Cisco course and get some certs for it soon. Going to be fun.

 

[NathanielD]

In order to get jobs in Hosting industry, you need to have the basic requirements of Hosting. And in case you wish to work in technical filed of Hosting, one must have Linux or Windows certifications along with good communication skills.

 

[splitice]

Cisco and VMWare certifications is always valuable for enterprises if that's where you want to end up.

In "hosting" I tend to look more for experience than certificates or degrees (not that if you get one you shouldn't say so). Im sure most people heavily weight experience as well.

 

[MannDude]

Seeing way too many people thinking that "VPS Tech" or "Level 1/2 Support" is a legitimate, sustainable method of income =\

I've been working as a L1/L2 tech for a couple years now...

Do I think I'll be doing this a few years down the road? Probably not. But thats only because I would imagine by then I'd have learned more to warrant not being a low-level tech.

College is great if you don't have to pay for it or start a life of debt over it, otherwise just learn what you want to learn.

Basically, just look for work with an established company. The vast majority of 'low end' VPS providers can't afford to have a large staff, and are usually handled by a small team. Moving outside the lowend market, seeking employment from providers who charge more (than the low end market) for their services allows them to pay employees better. There are many hosting companies out there who higher on L1/L2 employees with fair wages, offer benefits such as health, dental, vision insurance and will teach them new things that make them more valuable for the company they're working for. Most of that you won't find in this industry.

 

[bdtech]

I don't see many unemployed CS graduates in the US. But hosting doesn't really require a 4 year degree, just skills and desire to learn in your free time

 

[Zach]

Honestly, if you intend to work in this industry, skip college.  That's exactly what I'm doing.  It's not worth the debt, and most colleges have outdated courses anyway.  See if you can get a small job with a local datacenter and get some hands on training.  Even if it's just setting up servers, doing small management tasks, etc.  

 

[HostUS-Alexander]

Honestly, if you intend to work in this industry, skip college.  That's exactly what I'm doing.  It's not worth the debt, and most colleges have outdated courses anyway.  See if you can get a small job with a local datacenter and get some hands on training.  Even if it's just setting up servers, doing small management tasks, etc.  

College would be free for me to take this now.

Thanks everyone for all your input!