Hello All!
Thought that I would turn to a community of experienced professionals to get some ideas regarding my upcoming crossroads. Any stories or open advice would be greatly appreciated. A little history of how this all came about:
I recently turned down a NOC operations position with a top regional provider of outsourced IT services to fortune 500 companies. This was a great position with a lot of room for technical growth (LAN, SAN, WAN, NT/UNIX/LINUX, etc.), but the hours (ThFS 8PM-8AM) and the rebuttal offer that I recieved from my current firm did not warrant a change. So here is where I am at:
I have around 4.5 years of IT experience in the small business world. I began working at a small ISP as a Network Engineer (1300 clients or so, 40% business) and now work in Network Support at a CPA firm. My current role involves Network Admin duties on the firm’s network (30 workstations) and network support/admin and advice for about 8 of the firms clients. These represent a broad range of industries, though there is a concentration in Service and Manufacturing firms – most of these networks are 10-25 computers.
And now the crossroads:
I have a CCNA certification and a lot of experience with the internet and small wan and lan technologies, small business practices, etc. After turning down the offer for employment I have found myself several years ahead of where I expected to be educationally. The firm that I work for has offered to let me complete my undergraduate degree in History by offering financial aid and allowing me to take classes during the day. I will start class next week and be done with the degree in May. I am quite excited as this is something that I have been working towards for 5.5 years part-time – I previously did not expect to graduate for at least two years.
I have as I see it two options for work, certification and graduate education after I finish my undergraduate degree. I can either:
1) Complete my CCNP and obtain another IT position with a larger firm, giving me several more years of experience before I enter graduate school (I have wanted to get an MBA for some time).
2) Or I can just enter an MBA program the following Spring after I graduate and complete my CCNP before this, though there will be little time to mature this skillset before I enter an 18 month MBA program.
I am a younger guy and single, so family concerns are not important at this point. Any thoughts out there? Do you think I should start preparing for the MBA now or that I should wait and get more experience before entering graduate school.
Thank you so much for any valuable insights that you may have.
Michael
