I thought you choose FAT32 and it was expected to take hours, rather than 10minutes-ish.
I wanna go back and strip down computers again, that was fun but we hardly did any of it and the program we used was buggy as hell.

When it comes to working. Experience/Attitude > Certificates. CCNA is only the start, you want to get CCIE in the end. You should also get to know more different technologies especially Citrix and VMware. MCITP still worths something, as an entry cert.

I don't have any cert, but my experience in supporting environment is good enough for most employers.

I use vmware alot ! , i attempted my mcdst and screwed it up , studying for mcitp too

Oh btw, you don't have to get a cert, but if you know the inside out of all MS Office and excel functions it's a plus, esp if you know Outlook and Exchange a lot.

Packet Tracer is good for some things, yeah. However, with it being only a simulator you're really limited on possibilities and commands. Emulators like GNS3 are what I opt for, but usually I have real equipment available to me. My teacher had an old Adtran Atlas 550 that she didn't know how to use and she's been letting me use it lately for a frame relay switch and gave me the documentation. ^.^

Nice one. Glad there are better simulators out there, those routers/switches are expensive and bulky as hell.

Interesting to me that contemporary networking has evolved to become synonymous with Cisco. I am from an entirely different era as an old school Novell CNE. I am also certified under the programming and networking tracks for IBM Lotus Notes/Domino. I have worked in networking and system administration positions, but my original focus with Novell was purely as background knowledge for programming in client server environments. My degree is also old school (management science), and my focus has been creating management, workflow type applications primarily using the Lotus Notes/Domino platform.

Cisco's done a lot to stay relevant, but there's plenty of other companies out there like SonicWall and lately HP (doing a lot to cut a nice little niche on the cheaper end). Not to mention there are whole other categories of networking that Cisco hasn't really impacted like SANs.

Last I checked, though, business-focused IT workers were favored over those with certs, something about considering business degree holders being able to understand the business practice better and get IT better communicating and delivering on that end. Someone with a good management and workflow background would probably be a pretty high picking choice by many employers.

I agree with you regarding Cisco. I think they have a serious handle on network and internet "plumbing," but there are so many other aspects to the field of networking. I have enjoyed several high profile positions in the past, however my favorite opportunities have been delivering custom applications to some unique clients as a self employed business partner. Although I attended an "engineering college," I actually prefer writing both creatively, and about technology. I have always been happiest in roles where I could leverage networking knowledge, rather than actually working with the nuts and bolts of servers and connectivity. Unfortunately, a combination of age and entrepreneurship can be a less than ideal choice for anything other than senior management for many employers. Most seem to prefer the latest certified version of "voodootechnologyx", at the least expensive price. At the same time, I miss custom spellmaking in Skyrim. Oh well..

So, my current teacher said that next year I could come back to the school on off days and assist in her teaching occasionally. Would this count as experience that I could write down on a resume?

This seems to be true.

I'm 10 months into a very successful placement year, providing IT support/consultancy for a small business (around 80 employees spread across 4 offices). My technical skills aren't the greatest (Though I do get by...) but I've got a good grounding in business and I'm probably a better communicator than a 'traditional' IT tech. I had to interview for the position against 15 other university undergraduates and I'm pretty sure I wasn't picked for my outstanding technical ability...

I have 1 certificate, CompTIA+, that I got as a by-product of a 1st year Computer Technology class in University.

Anyone looking to get into IT, I'd whole heartedly recommend any sort of hands on experience you can get. I feel like taking this placement year has greatly increased my chances of getting a job when I leave university, it's really brought me on leaps and bounds - both technically and as a person, so to speak.