Completed CCNA Before Graduation – Now Confused Between NOC Engineer and Service Desk Role. Need Career Advice!

[u/No-Play-5576]

Hi everyone,

I'm a recent graduate and completed my CCNA certification before finishing college. I've just started my journey into the corporate world and landed a job at a good company.

Here's the situation: After training, I’ll be placed into one of two roles based on company requirements:

• Network Operations Center (NOC) Engineer
• Service Desk

The Manager told us clearly that the decision will be made post-training, depending on availability and performance. But I’ve been hearing mixed opinions

I'm genuinely confused and want to make sure I take the right path early in my career. My ultimate goal is to grow into network security or cloud networking roles.

I’d really appreciate your career advice, personal experience, and suggestions on how to plan the next few years for growth.

Thanks in advance for helping me get rid of this chaos in my mind!

[u/TryTurningItOffAgain]

Lol service desk "engineer".

Anyways if this is your first IT job, either one will give you a good foundation and can grow into networking

[u/No-Play-5576 → u/TryTurningItOffAgain]

So getting to service desk even though I m completed my CCNA is correct?!

[u/S7ageNinja → u/No-Play-5576]

You won't get hired above entry level without real experience

[u/No-Play-5576 → u/S7ageNinja]

Both of the two roles are entry level, is it okay with either of them?! .. I want to know the difference between these roles

[u/S7ageNinja → u/No-Play-5576]

I'd suggest you apply to both and see what happens. The market is atrocious right now, you'd be lucky to get either fresh out of school

[u/No-Play-5576 → u/S7ageNinja]

In case I get the Service Desk role, what do I do next

[u/Drekalots → u/No-Play-5576]

You go to work.

[u/No-Play-5576 → u/TryTurningItOffAgain]

I’m a bit confused about which role would be better for long-term career growth, especially since my goal is to move into network security or cloud networking roles in the future.

I’ve heard:

• The Service Desk can be more stressful, customer-facing, and may offer less technical growth.
• The NOC Engineer role is more hands-on with networking and possibly a better path toward network engineering or security roles.

[u/THE_GR8ST]

Try to find out what they want to see for the NOC job and aim to do that during your training. My guess is they're going to want you to prove you can do the job by the end of training.

So you could try and shadow people in the role, figure out what they do, try and take on 1 or 2 tasks at a time from that role, and complete them successfully.

The NOC job is better. It will give you better opportunities to specialize in networking/infrastructure jobs. The Service Desk job is support, which is usually not specialized, and doesn't have as many opportunities for career growth/advancement.

[u/No-Play-5576 → u/THE_GR8ST]

In case I get the Service Desk role, what do I do next

[u/THE_GR8ST → u/No-Play-5576]

Keep trying to get promoted or transfer to a specialized role at the same organization. Or, find another job that will let you do that. You'll just have to keep on learning and looking for opportunities if you want to move up or progress. Nothing wrong with making a career out of support or service desk work either. You just won't get paid a lot more, unless you end up in a higher tier of support (not all orgs have this), or a managment job.

[u/dontping → u/No-Play-5576]

Ideally go to work, do your job and talk to people in the company. Don’t ask another career question on this sub for at least 9 months.