Hey LQ'ers!

I am a student at a self-study program in the US (they advertise here occasionally). I've taken my A+ certification, my Network+ certification, and I just finished my Linux+ certification. Wee!

The remaining options, however, all seem a bit geared toward Macro$oft, and I've paid for another 6 months of study... I want to continue learning about things that will help me "do Linux" in the future. From this list of options, which might be a good way to go?

=Java programmer (Sun Java 2 platform)

=M$ Certified DBA (includes M$ SQL)

=M$ Certified Application Developer (includes XML, M$ SQL, and .Net (like Mono, yes?)) (not that a lot of people are thrilled with mono, but...)

=Cisco networking

or should I go towards the internet as its more "os neutral," i.e. web design etc?

Not really sure what I want to do with my life I always thought of Linux administration as a position for a person to wear many hats (I like the randomness / ADD of that idea) so if I can (usefully) diversify that is fine.

But I'd hate to get into thinking about M$ all day and either be in a bad mood or rewire my brain to think in M$ terms. Any ideas out there?

As much as I dislike Sun, Java is a good language. Unfortunately, you're going to get stuck with some corporation no matter which way you go. Whatever you do, don't get caught up with Microsoft or Cisco.

Good job on passing those exams!

Back in India, its the million dollar questions thats on the mind of all fresh grads who come out of schools... you want to get in to `Development` or `Administration`...

Development includes S/w enginner, S/w programmer, S/w Anaylst, S/w Tester etc
Adminisration incudes Windows/Linux System Administrators(Help-Desk etc) and N/w engineers(security etc)

From what you have done already you are more of a `systems admin` guy...

Jop openings,Pay, performance appraisal and career growth options are very limited for a `systems/network` guy compared to a `software techie`

Again, all these info are based on the job market trends and information that i know from my country...

I'd have to agree with king111, Java sounds like the way to go--it is a nice language.

Learning database stuff in MS world doesn't seem so wise, stick with Linux for that (there are plenty of books and plenty of help on the web).

Also, web design is not all that special. HTML is simple and easy to learn, but (basically) to do anything really cool with websites you have to buy some software (Dreamweaver, Flash, etc...). There's a reason why everyone and their mom is a web designer nowadays.

I apologize if I just offended someone, but that's my humble opinion.