IT Careers

[TheBlackSheep]

Originally Posted by Rolando [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Wow did not expect to see so much information. I like to thank you all for your advice so far. To fill you in here is how I have approached it so far.

- Started my first semester 6 weeks ago.
- Going to Community College so its not much of a money investment.
- I have an associates in broadcasting, so I don't care about a degree too much.
- Right now I'm just taking classes that help me for certs. Like right now I am in a A+ class. After this I want to take net+ and go from there.
- Still trying to get a feel for what aspect of IT interest me, so if I manage to get certs and really want to educate myself, then I will finish a degree. If not then I hope to find entry level work and start building certs on my own.
- I know most IT fans like to just buy a book and study on their own. I tried that and was having a bit of a rough time. Its not that I don't want to learn, but its nice to have lectures over what I read.
- I am looking for bottom of the mill position; I want to work my way up. I live in Michigan so jobs are tight, (where isn't it, really?) So getting that experience/foot in the door is rough. I know reading the book or having a cert doesn't mean you can do a job.

again thank you

I wanted to address a couple of these comments specifically, because I didn't have the luxury of someone who had been there when I was starting out.

First, going to a technical college is better than going to a university in regards to IT education, unless you make a career out of being a professional student. Don't laugh, I know a lot of people who do that. They don't get the job they want handed to them on a silver platter, so they simply go back to school for some other "degree" like game design or graphics design, knowing they can always just default on their loans if they still don't have the job they want in 10 years. Don't get me started on that bullshit.

Secondly, don't worry too much about degrees and work towards getting all the MCITP/MCTS/Cisco/VMWare/Hyper-V certs that you can get. While going to school, look at getting an entry level IT position somewhere, maybe even an internship. I'm on the Advisory Board for a local ITT Tech, so trust me when I tell you, even with all your pretty pieces of paper, you will be overlooked by employers in favor of someone who has the same amount of paper with any additional on-the-job experience.

Third, the days of the "Jack of All Trades" IT guy getting a good gig are fading, unless the limit of your career aspiration is Geek Squad. These days, teams of specialized engineers are becoming the norm, most especially in larger firms. Ground yourself in all you can, Exchange, SQL ...etc, but don't be afraid to specialize.

I've been in IT for 18 years. Half my life. I did other things, sure, but I always ended up back in IT because it was where the money was and I was good at it. Since 1991, when I blew up my Father's Tandy TL 1000 at the age of 15 to now, Enterprise Server/Network Engineering with an emphasis on virtualization, Cisco solutions, enterprise networking (structured cabling and fiber) and more recently, disaster recovery, for a relatively accomplished managed service provider. Before that, I spent 10 years in the public sector as a Digital Evidence CSI/Computer Forensic Examiner/CEH for a large law enforcement agency.

And guess what, I originally went to college for archeology and have never had any formal technical training in any technical college or university. Ever. It's all certs and blowing up shit (aka "borking it") and then fixing it, for the most part, on my own. That's it. So don't ever let anyone tell you that you HAVE to go to a university/technical college to get a degree to be successful in IT. But on the other hand, I will most definitely echo what others have said:

You have to have the passion for it, or you will be miserable.

Oh, and Google is an engineer's best friend. It's the elephant in the room in IT. No one wants to admit they use it, but everyone does.

Azorath