Computer Networking.

[TheOneWhoBeholdsWisdomParticipant 58]

Hello Brothers,

I’m currently a sophomore at my college and going to graduate with a bachelors in CS. So, for all my CS graduates here or even IT people, what advice can be bestowed upon me, so I can excel in my future workplace? Any books I should touch upon? Any free courses online?

[Binary LogicParticipant 2351]

Hey Tobias. I once new a guy by the name of Tobias. He walked around with a spork. His motto, “Food Happens”. Lol. Extremely cool guy..

And like carrying that spork,  you’ve got to be ready when the opportunity comes.

I myself have been in IT for 11 years. I am currently Sys Administration (glorified help desk, I promise) for Uncle Sam in Deutschland  and am currently shooting for my A. of CS from DSU.

A few things.  First. You have to know which part of the IT field you want to get into. There is Networking (switches, routers, Firewalls), there is Security (IDS, Policy Makers, firewalls, hacking), End User Support ( self explanatory and I’d avoid it like the end-plague, but it may be necessary when moving up in the field), Hardware (think Systems Analyst and finding out what works well together and what is a crap shoot).

So if you can answer that question first, you’ve got half the battle done. The next thing to consider is where you want to work. The private sector is okay

But pays miserably in most circumstances. There is work for THE MAN.. that provides excellent job security but deathly slow progress.. then there is contract work.. you can make a s~~~ton of money fast.. but it is less stable and secure in the long run unless you stand out.

oh.. as a final thought. When you decide on what field you want to peruse,  start looking at certs. That is the standard. And we aren’t talking just CompTIA. Look at different Vendors and do your homework. I as well as others here may be able to point you in the right direction after you give a more definitive answer.

I currently posses CompTIA Net+, Server+, Security+, ITIL V3, MCITP win 7, and CEH and I’m sure theres one or two I’m forgetting. Point is be versatile and flexible.

Well. That’s all for now. I apologize if I seem like I’m rambling.  It’s 1 A.M. and sleep is being evasive/ elusive right now (that sneaky bastard didn’t forget to try to visit me ar work today though :/ )   Hope this helps…

Funny, isn't it? How women thrive on a mans time, attention and resources, while simultaneously telling him he isn't enough...

[peterfaParticipant 833]

TheOneWhoBeholdsWisdom wrote:

Hello Brothers, I’m currently a sophomore at my college and going to graduate with a bachelors in CS. So, for all my CS graduates here or even IT people, what advice can be bestowed upon me, so I can excel in my future workplace? Any books I should touch upon? Any free courses online?

Do a Gentoo installation. Go to gentoo.org, get a spare computer, go to for it. You’ll learn tons about computers.

[EekParticipant 1162]

peterfa wrote:

King Tobias wrote:

Hello Brothers, I’m currently a sophomore at my college and going to graduate with a bachelors in CS. So, for all my CS graduates here or even IT people, what advice can be bestowed upon me, so I can excel in my future workplace? Any books I should touch upon? Any free courses online?

Do a Gentoo installation. Go to gentoo.org, get a spare computer, go to for it. You’ll learn tons about computers.

I haven’t touched Gentoo in like 10 years, does it still take 24 hours of solid compile time to do your initial build?

As to the original topic, if you are in CS to go into software development find some open source projects now that interest you and start learning them now. When you get familiar enough with the project start submitting fixes, or new features.

Or you can start a new project for something that interests you.

The main thing is get your name on something out there, that you can point to beyond just having your CS degree. It gets you effectively some work experience before you are done with school. Plus it might be something that could become a senior project or even a standalone business.

[leobez84Participant 124]

I certainly agree with Binary Logic on this one as I share the same amount of experience as I was a SA for 9 years before getting into the management side of things.  From a management perspective this is what most of my colleagues prefer in order as far as contracting and government recruits:

#1 Clearance (I rather not get into this one but yes people can solely get hired on this alone)
#2 Work Experience (I’ve seen bums get hired solely on this as well even when their resume shows a very high turnover rate)
#3 CERTS (CISSP to the government is like being God no matter what IT field you’re in.)
#4 Skills (Sad that it’s that low right?)
#5 College degree (The contracting companies generally see these people as immature and entitled to be honest but you will get paid more with it and some companies even count it as work experience.)

Yes in short that means that you can get a job without that degree, but you would certainly stand out and start with a much high salary if you complete that CS degree. Binary also narrowed down the strength and weakness of all sectors of the American IT industry perfectly. The only thing I would add is I hope you have a clean criminal record, good credit rating, and no direct relations with family members with felonies if you plan on working anywhere aside from the private sector. I say that because you’ll find that your chances of getting hired plummet big time if any of those do not apply. Finally I hate to be harsh about this but I hope you love everything there is about IT because you’ll find the field extremely stressful due to the general ignorance your customers have about it.

[The ShrikeParticipant 147]

Binary Logic has broken it down very well.  At the moment cloud infrastructure is a very hot field and probably not going to be going anywhere soon.

Go ahead and get your Cisco cert, at least CCENT and do what you can to start working toward a VMWare certification.  That combination with your degree should open a lot of doors for you and may keep you from dealing with end users.

Security is also becoming a much bigger deal in the private sector so getting your CCENT can you lead you down that track also.  Computer science is awesome but there is always a demand for network engineers, database types, security and VMWare experts.

I have been in the IT industry for 20 years now and seen a lot of boom and bust, but the biggest issue has been the shipping of programming (and now help desk) jobs overseas.  Now they are trying to open up more visas to replace more IT workers here in the states.  Keep an eye on the politics of this and adjust your curriculum for the future.

[TheOneWhoBeholdsWisdomParticipant 58]

Binary Logic wrote:

Hey Tobias. I once new a guy by the name of Tobias. He walked around with a spork. His motto, “Food Happens”. Lol. Extremely cool guy.. And like carrying that spork, you’ve got to be ready when the opportunity comes. I myself have been in IT for 11 years. I am currently Sys Administration (glorified help desk, I promise) for Uncle Sam in Deutschland and am currently shooting for my A. of CS from DSU. A few things. First. You have to know which part of the IT field you want to get into. There is Networking (switches, routers, Firewalls), there is Security (IDS, Policy Makers, firewalls, hacking), End User Support ( self explanatory and I’d avoid it like the end-plague, but it may be necessary when moving up in the field), Hardware (think Systems Analyst and finding out what works well together and what is a crap shoot). So if you can answer that question first, you’ve got half the battle done. The next thing to consider is where you want to work. The private sector is okay But pays miserably in most circumstances. There is work for THE MAN.. that provides excellent job security but deathly slow progress.. then there is contract work.. you can make a s~~~ton of money fast.. but it is less stable and secure in the long run unless you stand out. oh.. as a final thought. When you decide on what field you want to peruse, start looking at certs. That is the standard. And we aren’t talking just CompTIA. Look at different Vendors and do your homework. I as well as others here may be able to point you in the right direction after you give a more definitive answer. I currently posses CompTIA Net+, Server+, Security+, ITIL V3, MCITP win 7, and CEH and I’m sure theres one or two I’m forgetting. Point is be versatile and flexible. Well. That’s all for now. I apologize if I seem like I’m rambling. It’s 1 A.M. and sleep is being evasive/ elusive right now (that sneaky bastard didn’t forget to try to visit me ar work today though :/ ) Hope this helps…

Glad half my battle is taken care of then!  I am most fond of Networking/End User Support ( obviously to make my name known and move up from there).

I have been looking for certificates online, so I can bring them to internships and even job interviews. The thing is though, I don’t know what websites are truly legitimate with their certifications.

Thanks again!

UPDATE: I’ve been looking at Udemy for certificates, they seemed fairly priced, I might give them a shot.

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