Tell me about IT careers

[InFamous20]

Helpdesk

Network Operations Center Technician

How competitive is the job market in Los Angeles?

I would like to work in this field while I finish my last two years of my Engineering degree.

Tired of making minimum wage

[the86d]

Work-XPs on your resume can make you look better than those with none.
Work experience got me hired over someone with a Bachelors Degree in IT, but I can't speak to the market, as I haven't actively dropped a resume in >15 years.

We have what is known as the Helpless-Desk, as they generally just are ticket-creating monkeys w/zero knowledge of how anything really works. They assign things to teams that aren't anyway related to the problem, wasting time, and resources.

This PC BS and bureaucracy (ludicrous decisions by MGMT) in Corp. 'Murica is unbelievable, incompetence runs rampant, and ninjas have to pick up slack.
Mac users w/degrees have to be taught how to use Windows, as COPY-PASTE monkeys generally won't be given a $1,300-$2,500 Mac to copy-paste in/out of Excel, and other applications. (However, my MGR is ~2000 miles away, so there is THAT...)
/rant

It looks like you are taking a bit of a different path, per the job description, however Cisco/Network guys are generally happier than those w/M$/NET+/A+ certs, even if they started doing something else that got their foot in the door.

I wish you well.

[Dragunov]

What certs do you have? Can you work comfortably in the registry without needing to back it up? Can you administrate the cloud? How competent are you in DNS administration, and security?.

Can you administrate Active directory? Can you set up computers/servers in a roll out? and can you set up a network/intranet from scratch?

To get any kind of decent job in I.T., the answers to ALL these questions need to be "Yes".

A YES answer to these questions, eliminates a lot of competition.

[theLBC]

some NOCs just receive alerts (after hours) and then call somebody on a list (like me) to address the problem.
for others, the techs are expected to troubleshoot.

[the_tunaman]

What qualifications and work experience do you have?

There are still quite a few opportunities for entry-level IT jobs, but you have to realize that there are a LOT of candidates out there, many who have good personal experience and skills as hobbyists.

There are also soft skills required, and those with good writing and communications skills will usually have an edge.

How about business applications - MS Office is largely the standard, so if you have a good grasp on Excel and PowerPoint, that can help to stand out amongst the crowd.

These days, the Help Desk is the most common entry point, as stated, and it is typically just a stepping stone to other career paths within an organization (or the field in general). There are, however, also increasing opportunities for internship which can be a means to side-step the service desk grind.

There are so many different avenues within IT, so there are still plenty of great opportunities for career paths. I disagree with Dragunov above - while those skills will be useful and necessary for a Windows tech, there are many other technologies beyond Windows and all require specialized support. Security infrastructure comes to mind, and is the area where I have been for the past 14 years now.

Unix/linux skills are needed, database administrators are in demand, network engineers will always have plenty of opportunities, as well as specialized technologies such as VPN, load balancing (F5), DNS, NTP, VM (Citrix, VMWare, Cisco UCS, etc). Many of those technologies have eval software and online tutorials where one can become familiar enough to bluff their way into a junior position.

This is the day and age of the Internet and YouTube, which is far different than the era where I started out, and the opportunities for someone to grow and learn are nearly unlimited - all one needs to do is to apply themself and make the effort.

[wilit]

Work-XPs on your resume can make you look better than those with none.
Work experience got me hired over someone with a Bachelors Degree in IT, but I can't speak to the market, as I haven't actively dropped a resume in >15 years.

We have what is known as the Helpless-Desk, as they generally just are ticket-creating monkeys w/zero knowledge of how anything really works. They assign things to teams that aren't anyway related to the problem, wasting time, and resources.

This PC BS and bureaucracy (ludicrous decisions by MGMT) in Corp. 'Murica is unbelievable, incompetence runs rampant, and ninjas have to pick up slack.
Mac users w/degrees have to be taught how to use Windows, as COPY-PASTE monkeys generally won't be given a $1,300-$2,500 Mac to copy-paste in/out of Excel, and other applications. (However, my MGR is ~2000 miles away, so there is THAT...)
/rant

It looks like you are taking a bit of a different path, per the job description, however Cisco/Network guys are generally happier than those w/M$/NET+/A+ certs, even if they started doing something else that got their foot in the door.

I wish you well.

This is pretty much the case in every company. The IT group usually has one or two competent people and the rest are there to waste oxygen. The one or two good ones then become overworked because people find out they know what they're doing and then they can't get anything done.

Also, IT is generally looked upon as a liability rather than an asset. They don't produce any widgets, they're not customer facing, they don't bring in revenue, etc. They're only an asset when something important fails and they need it fixed ASAP to resume business operations, and once done, they're back on the short list for budget cuts. It's a bit of a thankless job.

For the record, I do not work in IT, but my degree is in IT. I never worked in IT, but I know what it's like. I work in design & construction where a tangible product is produced and people can accurately value your worth to the company.

[67Cuda]

Do you speak Hindu?

[InFamous20]

[357manny]

If you're open to having a kind of hybrid job, maybe look into learning how to code (javascript is probably the best to start), and script (batch files, shell scripts, etc). Coding and scripting skills help open jobs up for application support and troubleshooting.
You don't necessarily have to take a new class or course, lots can be found on the web/tube.

[the86d]

IT Bootcamp code-monkeys are in demand, and they get paid well (2x my yearly wage from what I am told, to start), from a dude I spoke with at a hotel in IL, he prefers them, and they only know a little niche of a thing. He commonly hires guys and gals that were working in restaurants, or lifting boxes, but this is just one guy that runs a coding crew for one of the largest ins. company in the US.

I actually think that most of the guys and gals from India at my work went to an IT bootcamp.

SAP ninjas are everywhere too, at EVERY large company, on the backend, and lots of specialists for SAP, but I don't know anything about that, but there are a LOT of them.

[DaveInOroValley]

Used to work both help desk and IT manager for Apple. Great benefits, mostly good people to work with. Plenty of opportunities for advancement as well. When I retired I was a manager for the IT Help Desk.

[Zorba]

Its a hard field to break into - I worked IT for 8+ years with an electronics background. I could repair just about anything which made me valuable - but I didn't know the square root of eff all about M$ Office or similar. Still know very little. Install/tweak/fix Windows or Mac OS? Very skilled at that, but I've never really used Excel and Word left a bad taste in my mouth 30 years ago!

BUT - in general, the above posters are correct, you have to know everything about everything, be able to do everything, often work odd hours, and often get paid only slightly more than minimum wage (depends on locale).

Fortunately, I was in a niche - I fixed/configured the computers and their operating systems, figured out how to do strange automations that nobody else could; and somebody else took care of the M$ Office support.

If somebody asks, Windows is a kludge, Macs are elegant BUT break everything with every yearly OS update - so pick your poison.

[ocabj]

The job market in Los Angeles is pretty competitive since it is a metro area. My organization has done several recruitments in the past year due to a sudden turnover. In Riverside, getting solid applicants has been difficult for us because most IT skilled workers are in LA or OC. Being a state employer, we also need to compete with those areas for those few skilled workers in our region because they are willing to commute for the higher wages in private sector.

That being said, what I feel are the in-demand IT fields are:

• Dev-Ops
• Security/Security Dev-Ops
• Big Data Analytics / Machine Learning

Networking is always going to be in-demand because our entire lifeblood of IT involves the network connectivity. But that market is saturated with workers.

Dev-Ops is pretty much replacing what you would call the traditional systems administrator. We still need people who can administer server infrastructure, but organizations (at least medium and up to large enterprise) have moved to very agile and automated methods of code and infrastructure deployment. Much of that skillset is desirable since it helps with managing cloud infrastructure. You probably heard of the term "Infrastructure as Code". Well Dev-Ops is where all that rooted from.

I'm not saying Big Data / Machine Learning (sometimes referred to as AI) is a huge employment opportunity in terms of the numbers of available positions. But a lot of the automation that companies are trying to incorporate into their products and or infrastructure relies on ML. We're seeing security companies offsetting SOC analysts with ML.

Then of course, Information Security (which is what I am currently in) is in-demand and will be for quite sometime. You have lots to choose from in this sector, whether it's Sec-Ops, red-teaming, blue-teaming, governance-risk-compliance, etc. GRCA work can be viewed as very mundane and isn't overly technical, but is one area that will be overlooked by those seeking employment in the IT arena and can be a nice spot to land in given that this job field won't be saturated with qualified workers.

Help Desk / Desktop support is still a valid entry-level position, but you need to be very proactive to expand your skillset and experience (e.g. participate in enterprise-level projects) so that you aren't stagnating in a Help Desk / Desktop Support position. If you go with Help Desk, do so in an organization or company that helps foster growth and provides lateral movements within the IT organization.

[SmokeTheClay]

[ibanezfoo]

Helpdesk

Network Operations Center Technician

How competitive is the job market in Los Angeles?

I would like to work in this field while I finish my last two years of my Engineering degree.

Tired of making minimum wage

I've been doing this for 25 years... Started at helpdesk and worked up to Sr. Sys Admin/Sec Officer/Compliance officer/Network Engineer/just under VP for company (just keep tacking on stuff... ) Now I have the title of Network Admin for a different company but its really just something to put on my business card. I still do all the same router programming, security management, server setups etc, but also get to look after an entire CAD and engineering dept. and get to play with CNC machines and robots.

What do you like to do? Do you like hands on? Do you like problem solving? Can you sit and stare at a screen all day without losing your mind? Do you want to work on a team or fly solo? What do you do for hobbies? I ask because many people are "tired of minimum wage" and think they are going to get rich in IT but they "just don't got it". It takes a particular mindset to be successful. I tell people this when they ask not to discourage but to illuminate the reality of the work.

College degrees do not mean much. Experience and decent certs carry more weight. I've had people bring me resumes with fancy degrees but then in the interview I can tell they don't know anything and have awful problem solving skills. On the flip side I hired a kid with minimum experience because he "had it". I could tell he had excellent analytical and problem solving abilities. He is very successful now doing some kind of higher level admin stuff. When I interview I ask very little specific knowledge based questions. Anybody can remember stuff from advertisements. I'm more interested in knowing you can find the solutions to issues that come up. I had one kid I thew a hypothetical at him and asked how he would find the answer. He said he'd call his cousin. I told him great, have your cousin submit a resume and have a nice day. The IT world changes way too fast to be focused on specific things, save for maybe VMware and Cisco. I need to know if I drop a Juniper firewall on someones desk and tell them to make it work with the Powerlink aggregator and use the Stonefly for storage, they can figure it out. Then if we are powering up a rack what kind of power is the datacenter providing? Etc etc.


Anyway, helpdesk jobs suck. They are the IT equivalent of a burger flipper and are all about ticket turnover. Gotta get those numbers up. If you can actually get a NOC tech job that is vastly superior as you will be touching all kinds of things and will look good on your resume (reference my previous paragraph). However, helpdesk gets you good at personal communications and such, which is also highly important. If you are stuck in a datacenter your people contact is a bit more limited and you turn into one of those salty Nick Burns types.

I guess that also depends on the type of company you work for. I would not work for consultant types companies. Everyone I know that has says its a grinder. They use the crap out of you then toss you aside. I personally choose to work for established companies with a technical side, preferably in the construction industry as I know it well. I like working at a place where people know my name and I can make a difference, where I actually matter. I do not want to work for a company where I'm just a line on a spreadsheet, which is what my last company became. We treat our helpdesk guys really well. We call them helpdesk but in reality they sit more in the level 2 or higher skill level. We don't hire entry level people because we run lean and don't have the time to train them. We do send them to training to beef up their skills but higher level stuff, like CCNA or whatever.