IT Careers

[Feachie]

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

Can't believe with comments like that people doubt your female.

Chicks I know always talk about linksys, specifically "attractive ones that grow weed".

confirmed you actually do read my posts, you're just spitting the "has been ignored" line to be cool.

am i supposed to talk about makeup and boys with the rest of the girls on the forum? one of them has no clue what hygiene or body maintenance is, the other one is a floozie. i don't even play anymore, so fuck you buddy [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

and i never said i grew weed. ever.

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

Not really. Cisco doesn't "produce" anything Linksys. They just own Linksys and stick their bridge logo on it. It is still good ole Linksys consumer crap. Comparing Cisco enterprise-class hardware to anything Linksys is like comparing a real Ferrari to it's Hot Wheels version.

Azorath

i realize this. but don't quote me out of context. what he said was ironic. correct?

linksys is the toyota to cisco's lexus.

[deathgirl]

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

and i never said i grew weed. ever.

u go awn and awn about how to grow weed, about what different types are like to smoke, u smoke it, you help people grow the stuff for a living, but when someone suggests you grow weed, u get mad cus ur obvs the untouched, pure anti-drug virgin saint

[TheBlackSheep]

Not really. Cisco doesn't "produce" anything Linksys. They just own Linksys and stick their bridge logo on it. It is still good ole Linksys consumer crap. Comparing Cisco enterprise-class hardware to anything Linksys is like comparing a real Ferrari to it's Hot Wheels version.

Azorath

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

i realize this. but don't quote me out of context. what he said was ironic. correct?

linksys is the toyota to cisco's lexus.

Quote you out of context? You stated that Cisco produces Linksys, in effect making the implication they were of the same caliber. At least that is what I took from it. Cisco produces Linksys about as much as HP produces Compaq.

Anyway, no - it isn't that ironic, since most people who are involved with Cisco enterprise products on a professional basis know that Cisco is still Cisco and Linksys is still Linksys. Big difference. Just because it may say "Linksys by Cisco" on the box and have the Golden Gate Bridge logo on it, doesn't really matter.

Azorath

[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

[Diggles]

im glad someone else uses the term "bork"

[TheBlackSheep]

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

im glad someone else uses the term "bork"

Every day. That and "grenaded". Sometimes in the same sentence. In fact, I told another engineer today, "That piece of shit PowerEdge host grenaded again last night, threw an ASR, and then spewed its VMs all over the other nodes, borking the SQL cluster in the process."

Good stuff.

Azorath

[Mcbard]

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

Oh, and Google is an engineer's best friend. It's the elephant in the room in IT. No one wants to admit it does 40% of their job for them, but it does.

FTFY. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Mcbard]

Also, maybe I'm insane but I see pretty much the opposite of what everyone else is stating in this thread. When I began getting into the field about 7 years ago certs were everything. The only degree most universities even offered were generic CS degrees that 9/10 turned out nothing but dirty socially inept code monkeys. Certs seem to hold half the weight they once did, and experience obviously being the de facto numero uno most important thing you can have on your side, most employers now are also wanting 2, usually 4 year degrees minimum for most jobs.

I tried to go the work and acquire my MCSE/CCNA straight out of highschool route in order to get into the field, until 3 years later I realized I'm only making half the money the guy who has his own office and is sitting around doing mostly nothing managing our database is getting because he has a 4 year C.S. degree. It didn't take much for me to go back to school before it was too late and work on my own B.S.

In regards to knowledge gained from what I've experienced, most of it is going to come from hands-on experience, and figuring stuff out yourself in real-world or at home situations. This is why you need to have a passion for the field. College is just going to do what it always has: give you a baseline, and a well rounded extremely overpriced education.

Degrees and experience seem to be becoming the norm for requirements when starting off in I.T. certificates are the pieces of paper that give you a slight edge over the rest of the field and possibly get you a slightly higher salary not the other way around.

I would wager the people in this thread telling you not to go to school have been in the field for 10+ years, have a solid work history and a plethora of certs. That shit doesn't really fly for most young kids coming out of school trying to make it into I.T. with little to no experience, no degree, and usually no certs. Go to school, be gainfully employed via co-ops/internships and get what you need to make yourself attractive to companies.

[Bohab]

Enjoyed using my Tandy growing up... messed around with computers more so as I got older. Nearly failed out of high school... got a 2 year degree high off my ass... landed a Jr. Admin job at 22 and put in a couple years of experience. At 24 I landed a Sr. Admin position. Streamlined and polished my environment so now I enjoy my free time at work with a little eq. Needless to say, I have no student loans to pay off now (only 2 yr degree), married, home... yadda yadda, IT worked out great for me and I barely tried. Just had to follow my interest. No 4yr degree, no certs (besides A+)... Just know what you're doing, enjoy it and act like a decent person.

[Klendathu]

School is fine, certs are fine. Try to avoid committing yourself to spending too much money, though. It's tough to start paying back student loans when you're making $12 an hour jocking a helpdesk (salary is figurative, don't know what HD jobs pay these days). Just bear in mind that the degree and certs help you out in the beginning. Once you've been in the field for 3+ years, it comes down to what you can put on your resume, to what you KNOW and what you can DO. If I'm choosing between hiring someone who's got some piece of paper saying they know Exchange, and someone who can tell me step by step how they built a new backend Exchange server for their company, I'm going with option B every single time.

Cisco owns Linksys now, but it's not like Linksys got better for it. IMO their products actually went downhill for some reason after they started getting stamped with the Cisco logo. All that was just a cash grab for Cisco. But honestly, comparing the two is like apples and oranges. It's not the same thing, it's not in the ball park, it's not even the same league. (it's barely even the same fucking sport, to finish the PF reference). Cisco=Enterprise, Linksys=SOHO, generally.