Career goals and technical certifications in network security

Forward Destiny

The author of this report has been asked to prepare a brief research report. The report shall center on the projected career field and the traits and statistics that surround the same. Topics that will be covered will include the job titles that are associated with the author of this report\'s major, the career websites that can be used to research job fields, at least one company that the author would like to or wants to work for and a few other things including the goals and plans the author has while at ECPI and otherwise. While getting a certificate degree is just one step of the process, it is an important one and must be taken seriously.

The degree that the author of this report is endeavoring to garner is a Network Security Associate of Science degree. Just a few of the job titles that could be realized after gaining this certificate is IT security associate, network engineer systems engineer. In particular, the author of this report is looking for something along the lines of system administrator. A company that the author of this report would love to work for is Ferguson Enterprises Inc. Salary ranges are a bit wide but somewhere in the $50,000 and $100,000, depending on experience, position and level of responsibility, is the main range that one could or should expect (Monster; 2016; Glassdoor, 2016; Indeed, 2016).

The technical skills that will be valuable during this career journey would include working with operating systems (e.g. Windows), troubleshooting hardware issues, communicating over the Internet through programs like Outlook, Skype and others and speaking in a technical and troubleshooting manner with colleagues. Also relevant, however, are soft skills such as being able to relate, speak to and interact with people. Certifications are not a \"must\" in the computer field but they can be used to assert and prove, through a third party, that the author of this report knows what is purported to be known. Just a few examples of certifications that could be useful to a computer security associate would include the A+ hardware exam, the CISSP (computer security) and many others (Comptia, 2016; CISSP, 2016). The precise certifications and knowledge that would be the most useful would depend on a lot on the company involved, the position involved and the software and hardware systems that are used at that company. Regardless, the author of this report will focus on any and all of the important computer security and overall knowledge certifications that ECPI has to offer. Two sites that the author of this report found for resume help include the Purdue OWL site, an offshoot of the popular citation method guide site, and Monster.com (OWL, 2016; Monster, 2016).

Two of the major challenges to be faced when it comes to completing the degree at ECPI is completing it a high level while at the same time juggling other life responsibilities and getting the relevant and current knowledge base in place while it is still current and relevant. Indeed, computer technology changes quite quickly. The author\'s family will benefit in that the author will have a more stable career path and a better salary. Computers are the wave of the future and the amount of job security involved with having degrees and/or certifications in computer is quite high. The author of this report shall be supported in the meantime by friends, family and even classmates.