Hi everyone,

I am Linda Leung and I write Network World's IT Careers and Training Newsletter and occasionally I get e-mails from readers with all sorts of career-related questions. While I love hearing from readers, I find that I am unable to provide adequate answers to many of the questions because I am a journalist, not an IT recruiter, trainer or employer. Which is why I'm calling for your help. As I receive questions from readers I am going to open out the questions to you - the seasoned IT pro - to help answer. Please use this platform as a resource and please help each other out. This should become a pretty vibrant community for IT pros looking to advance their careers.

Before I post up today's question, I want to point you to our revamped IT Careers Research Center, where you'll find careers-related news, salary surveys, and blogs written by career experts in the field. Check it out today and let us know how we can improve it further as a useful resource for you.

Here's today's question sent in by Cesar Duran:

"I'm an IT newbie, I currently have A+ and Network+ equivalent knowledge. For the past 4 years I have been working in IT technician/Helpdesk roles, which I like and enjoy working as. But my main goal is to eventually work as a Network/System Administrator. I have entry level experience setting up and managing small business networks.

"I have planned to go to a technical school to earn networking certifications either Cisco or Microsoft. Which of the two do you think holds more marketability, salary, and recognition in the IT/networking field?

"If I decide to take the Cisco route, do you recommend I take the CCENT and then the CCNA or should I just shoot straight for the CCNA certification?

"If I decide to take the Microsoft side, do you think the MCSA certification is enough for me to land a network/systems adminitrator position?

"I would like to thank you in advance for your time and attention to my question."

Please provide your answer as a 'reply' to this post. If you have questions you want me to post, please e-mail me (lleung@nww.com). Thanks for your help!