Career path advice needed

[vital]

I got hired as an IT Auditor a few months ago after graduating college with my IS degree and now I'm kinda concerned with my career path. I really wanna get into either a DBA, Systems Admin or Network Administrative position but I didn't have any experience or couldn't find any entry level jobs that would lead to those positions. At the time of my job hunting, I was offered a bunch of low paying helpdesk positions and I really didn't wanna go with the phone support career path. My current job seemed most favorable at the time because the pay wasat least $10k+ more than all my other job offers. So does anyone know if the experience I gain from IT Auditing will help me get into those other tech career fields I mentioned? Or should I start studying for some tech certifications and get out of the IT Auditing field asap?

 

[BigJ]

Use the Auditor position until you make yourself more valuable.

I'd say start off with trying to get your MCSE and/or MCDBA. MCSE for general networking/systems, MCDBA for Databases.

 

[Descartes]

I don't see how IT auditing experience could lead to a segue into a DBA, systems/network administrator position. The further you are removed from the actual implementation of technology the harder it's going to be; you'd have a better time if you started out at helpdesk, imo.

IT auditing isn't a bad position though if you enjoy it. There's going to continue to be an increase in demand once some of the larger firms start deploying their new SOX solutions which include significant updates for IT audits.

 

[vital]

Originally posted by: Descartes
I don't see how IT auditing experience could lead to a segue into a DBA, systems/network administrator position. The further you are removed from the actual implementation of technology the harder it's going to be; you'd have a better time if you started out at helpdesk, imo.

IT auditing isn't a bad position though if you enjoy it. There's going to continue to be an increase in demand once some of the larger firms start deploying their new SOX solutions which include significant updates for IT audits.

I don't really enjoy how dynamic IT auditing is. We deal with SOX internal control everyday at work and as a noob with poor training from my department I feel lost and useless most of the time. Once I learn how to audit something, we move into something else and I have to start all over in learning how to audit a new internal control. It seems as though I won't be able to carry any of my experience to other IT related jobs becausee things keep changing.

 

[Treyshadow]

IT Auditing leads more to a position in Project management than a managed operations position doing specific IT work on a daily basis.

If you would like to work directly with the tools of domestic industry (servers/switches/routers/basic node machines) then you will need to gain specific experience in those areas. IT Auditiing doesn't actually do any of that so a good manager would not hire you for those purposes initially, but they may hire you to prevent sox or hipaa concerns from being an issue. There you could learn managed poerations to gain knowledge about specific IT positions you may be more interested in.

 

[wyvrn]

Originally posted by: Treyshadow
IT Auditing leads more to a position in Project management than a managed operations position doing specific IT work on a daily basis.

If you would like to work directly with the tools of domestic industry (servers/switches/routers/basic node machines) then you will need to gain specific experience in those areas. IT Auditiing doesn't actually do any of that so a good manager would not hire you for those purposes initially, but they may hire you to prevent sox or hipaa concerns from being an issue. There you could learn managed poerations to gain knowledge about specific IT positions you may be more interested in.

The question is, how does he get experience in those areas to lead him to the system admin job? I had the same problem, except that I also had first and second level helpdesk/desktop experience, and I still couldn't find any job that would be or lead me to systems admin. There isn't a defined career path there. MIS degree didn't help. Certifications in Microsoft and CCNA, and Associates degree in Unix didn't help me either.

OP, if you do audit, you will be looking at systems from a control perspective and will hence only learn enough about them for that purpose. It's not going to lead you to an admin position. You will have your choice of IT audit manager or some sort of project manager. You will likely be in audit for your career unless you go back to school and retrain.

 

[vital]

Originally posted by: wyvrn

Originally posted by: Treyshadow
IT Auditing leads more to a position in Project management than a managed operations position doing specific IT work on a daily basis.

If you would like to work directly with the tools of domestic industry (servers/switches/routers/basic node machines) then you will need to gain specific experience in those areas. IT Auditiing doesn't actually do any of that so a good manager would not hire you for those purposes initially, but they may hire you to prevent sox or hipaa concerns from being an issue. There you could learn managed poerations to gain knowledge about specific IT positions you may be more interested in.

The question is, how does he get experience in those areas to lead him to the system admin job? I had the same problem, except that I also had first and second level helpdesk/desktop experience, and I still couldn't find any job that would be or lead me to systems admin. There isn't a defined career path there. MIS degree didn't help. Certifications in Microsoft and CCNA, and Associates degree in Unix didn't help me either.

OP, if you do audit, you will be looking at systems from a control perspective and will hence only learn enough about them for that purpose. It's not going to lead you to an admin position. You will have your choice of IT audit manager or some sort of project manager. You will likely be in audit for your career unless you go back to school and retrain.

so what did your MIS degree and MCSE/CCNA do for you?

 

[spidey07]

stay away from tech man.

stick to auditing/consulting.

stay away from tech. they are a dime a dozen.

 

[vital]

Originally posted by: spidey07
stay away from tech man.

stick to auditing/consulting.

stay away from tech. they are a dime a dozen.

I'm not happy with my job regardless of pay.

 

[wyvrn]

Originally posted by: vital

Originally posted by: wyvrn

Originally posted by: Treyshadow
IT Auditing leads more to a position in Project management than a managed operations position doing specific IT work on a daily basis.

If you would like to work directly with the tools of domestic industry (servers/switches/routers/basic node machines) then you will need to gain specific experience in those areas. IT Auditiing doesn't actually do any of that so a good manager would not hire you for those purposes initially, but they may hire you to prevent sox or hipaa concerns from being an issue. There you could learn managed poerations to gain knowledge about specific IT positions you may be more interested in.

The question is, how does he get experience in those areas to lead him to the system admin job? I had the same problem, except that I also had first and second level helpdesk/desktop experience, and I still couldn't find any job that would be or lead me to systems admin. There isn't a defined career path there. MIS degree didn't help. Certifications in Microsoft and CCNA, and Associates degree in Unix didn't help me either.

OP, if you do audit, you will be looking at systems from a control perspective and will hence only learn enough about them for that purpose. It's not going to lead you to an admin position. You will have your choice of IT audit manager or some sort of project manager. You will likely be in audit for your career unless you go back to school and retrain.

so what did your MIS degree and MCSE/CCNA do for you?

Get me in the door of my current job. But I have sworn off IT certs from now on. It's degrees or bust.