Wintel or Cisco?

[Mr Pancamo]

Hi everyone,

Brief intro - I've been in IT just over 5 years. Started off at Helpdesk, but quickly moved to Infrastructure within about a year (servers and Cisco gear) and have progressed from there really. Also have experience in the Security side of things - lead a project for the rollout of AV software for a Govt agency, and have also used PIX quite widely. Qualifications wise I have about 5 MCP's, am doing the Security+ MCP now, CCNA, and CCNP: Switching. Plans are on the horizon to take the PIX Firewall course and CCNP: Routing. Am currently working as an Infrastructure Engineer for a large global company (contracting). Work is a mixture of Wintel and Cisco.

My question is - I need to decide which path to specialise in really now. What I've noticed is that there aren't that many jobs where you mix the Wintel and Cisco side of things, most contracts are either out and out Wintel or Cisco. There seem to be far more Wintel jobs than Cisco ones though, and the pay for the Wintel stuff seems higher (e.g. up to £500/day for Wintel, £350 for Cisco). Is there really any point in me taking any of the Cisco certs if there aren't that many jobs in it and I'm going against people that have loads of years' experience?

Secondly, I'd like to get into the Security side. Not just Firewalls, but policies and procedures, topology architecture, that sort of thing. Any specific courses out there that would gain me an advantage?

Cheers

[2uk]

How did you end up thinking that Cisco is less paid than Wintel ? Wintel contracts are 250 - 350 GBP top . I am trying to get out of Wintel jobs , but it aint easy. I wouldn't recommend going in this direction. It just makes you a better Help-desk person.

[Back In Business]

Depends on what you do and how good you are. An AD Architect and a CCIE could both get 450 - 500 pd.

[ratewhore]

Secondly, I'd like to get into the Security side. Not just Firewalls, but policies and procedures, topology architecture, that sort of thing. Any specific courses out there that would gain me an advantage?

Are you sure you want to do policy work? Have you experience of the reality of putting together policy, procedures, risk assessments etc etc etc I get the impression you are more technical than that.

I would guess that your logical move would be into design but it is so difficult to advise without knowing what (careerwise) floats your boat. CCIE with security is a well thought of qualification and pays well, it would also give you networking and security. CISSP is supposedly one of the top security qualifications but there is shedloads of CISSPs these days and it is not a differentiator.

As for Wintel, in my last gig I worked with plenty of overpaid 'architects' so the money is there.

Only you know what you like to do. Use that as a basis for your decision...

[Mr Pancamo]

How did you end up thinking that Cisco is less paid than Wintel ? Wintel contracts are 250 - 350 GBP top . I am trying to get out of Wintel jobs , but it aint easy. I wouldn't recommend going in this direction. It just makes you a better Help-desk person.

Just by looking on Jobserve - although, admittedly, it does change day to day. There are Wintel jobs out there paying £400-500 day - and there are Cisco jobs paying the same.

I'd say I was more familiar with Wintel, as I've worked up from a HD position, so servers, Exchange, AD that sort of stuff is like second nature to me. The Cisco end I find more interesting, but I lack the experience. Have used Cisco switches quite extensively, but routers have little industry experience although my knowledge is good. Guess I'll just have to blag it

So, in response to other posters too, yeah, I guess the best thing is to follow my heart and head down the yellow brick lane to Cisco.

[shantelle]

Yeah I agree too, to a great extent, it does depend on what you do and how good you can do it. Some of this stuff can sometimes feel like a red rug to your bull though. I've got a lot of respect for Wintel but it has to be Cisco all the way. That why I'm thinking of joining a CCNA course with Firebrand Training, has anyone attended their courses?

[WookieTramp]

Yeah I agree too, to a great extent, it does depend on what you do and how good you can do it. Some of this stuff can sometimes feel like a red rug to your bull though. I've got a lot of respect for Wintel but it has to be Cisco all the way. That why I'm thinking of joining a CCNA course with Firebrand Training, has anyone attended their courses?

I used Firebrand to do a CCNP a few years ago, its a brutal regime of early starts and late finishes but they give you everything you need to pass - you just need to put in the graft. Its worth ringing them and negotiating a better deal if you can - always good when they are trying to fill up a class.

[northernladuk]

Trying to compare rates for Wintel and Cisco is a bit of a wooly guide though isn't it? You would have to look at techinically equivalent jobs to get a clearer understanding. Same job, diff company = diff rates as well so even hard to gauge.

From previous places I have been no one in Wintel was particularly indispensible and got a decent rate and enough work. Much the same with Cisco but the niche Cisco/Routing guys were in a position to write their own cheques. They were working with F5's from what I remember and there wasn't a chance in hell of replacing them to any reasonable level in time to protect key systems. They had other stories of people in similar situations in routing roles.

Appears to me that both are pretty much worthwhile but catch it lucky with the network stuff and you are sorted. I guess someone is going to say the same with some Wintel technology now though.