If aa Australian 16 yr old were seeking employment in the computer industry in 
the field of networking maintenance, what vocational courses would you suggest 
they prioritise, bearing in mind they are currently on the verge of completing 
a two year school-based cisco networking course.

Dear SuperGa,

Thank you for your inquiry.

I’m sorry I do not have a specific response but I agree with the
response from mat1t, that your son should begin to get some work
experience.  I say this because it sounds like your son has a gotten a
good foundation after a 2-year course on Cisco networking.  However,
the world of networking is constantly evolving and expanding and can
be comprehensive enough to have a specialty.

I think real world work experience will help your son pick a direction
to devote his time and passion.  You did not mention if you son would
have achieved his CCNA or CCNP certification.  If his course of study
has been in specializing in Cisco networking and he has not pursued
these certifications, they could be his first move.


Diversity of Networking
The site below, although it is not an official career site, provides a
very good sense of how diverse the world of networking can be and what
approximate skills are needed for each sub-specialty.
http://msint12.com/networkjobs.html

These are just the more mainstream directions that someone can go.  If
your son finds his passion in a certain aspect of networking he can
pursue a niche expertise.
http://msint12.com/niche.html

Perhaps in his studies he has already identified an aspect of
networking that he would like to drill down and know better.

Employability
If his concern is employability, I would recommend that he search
sites like:

http://www.jobsearch.gov.au/
http://www.seek.com.au/
http://www.monster.com.au/
http://www.careerone.com.au/
 
for positions that he feels are at his level and see where his skill
set is lacking.  I would then have him check potential positions he
would like to move into and see what skill sets are required so he can
begin to plan how to get there.


General Career Advice
Although it might be a bit generic it offers some good basic advice.
Here is another link from a professor at Clemson University:
http://www.ces.clemson.edu/~jwagner/ppframe.htm

NetworkWorld
http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/careers/2002/01311271.html


Associations
Of course all this is very general advice, for more nitty-gritty
advice try contacting the following associations from the Data
Networking Association:
http://www.datanetworking.co.uk/faqs/faqs10.php

There should be more day-to-day, in-the-trench folks who can give much
more specific guidance.


Soft Skills
Also don’t forget let him forget that while being the hands-on techie
stuff is fun, I’ve seen more and more articles stressing the soft
skills of written and oral communication and basic management skills
as success factors for IT folks.  After all, the Information
Technology department must constantly deal with demanding internal
customers.

very comprehensive information and links

Personally, I think that the best option would be to take a work experience in 
this field, as there is nothing better than tracing a Professional in this 
case. I did this myself, and it teaches you more than text books would, 
because it covers the practicalities, and "real life issues" that occur, such 
as Mis-use, technical glitches/hardware faults and also gives you first-hand 
experience.

Work done in a learning environment, rather than a working environment, tends 
to be shielded from the realities, such as economising, and you are also 
learning from someone who has developed their own methods as well usually, not 
just taught instructions. It allows more space for personal development I 
think.

Hope this helps

M@

Thanks for your input.
My son will be seeking employment in the industry asap. However, he
would really like to continue developing his expertise with further
formal training at the same time as working, via external study etc.
If you have any thoughts in this area they would be appreciated.

I am aware the Microsoft MCSE certification is a possible option that
focuses more on network protocol solutions. Is there any other
training that is relevant/complementary to the cisco courses?

I believe that if your son has completed the CISCO semester 1 that is
equivelent (supposedly) to the industry standard Network+ exam
www.comptia.com, however i have found that this is a very rudimentary
introduction to networking protocols.  The i have not personally taken
all of the course work for the MCSE but having completed work for my
CNA (entry level Netware Admin) and MCPs, server and workstation 2k, 
(entry level MS Admin) i have found that Novell does a _MUCH_ better
job at teaching in gerneral.  So another route you could look at is
the CNE curiculum.  Additionally if your son is good at self study
there are many books
[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/002-7561372-2004855]
that he could do self studies with.  Another options would be to
contact a local community collage or other such instatution and see if
you could have your son work with one of the professors.  That last
option may be a long shot but hey if the proffesor was willing to do
it, probably for a reasonable fee then great.