career in IT

[SimonBirch]

Looking for a career change and want to get into the IT field. If there are any IT gurus out there that can point me in the right direction, can you please advise what certifications I need to get my foot in the door

[ExtremeX]

I think it really depends on what you have interest in and what you want to do...

If you like virtualization it would be wise to follow the path and become a VCP or the Microsoft equivalent for Hyper-V

If you like networking a CCNA is a great way to start and you can always expand certification to other popular brand specific certs to popular UTM / firewall security brands like Fortinet, WatchGuard, Paloalto, Juniper... if that's your thing.

Microsoft has an extensive IT certifications in various categories like Server MCSE, Desktop MCSA, Application MOS, Database MCSE, and Developer MCSD.

[SimonBirch]

Sweet. Good info

[the86d]

Start with A+ and get your foot in the door. Work at least part-time for a place as a tech to be able to drop it on your resume while you work on M$ certs...

Set some stuff up at home (even older rigs will do if you get some SSDs) for proof of concept, and "what-if?" while "if-I?" scenarios...

Don't forget to learn a bit of *IX/*UX (Linux, BSD, etc) CLI. I use it daily... not to mention it's free!

The only people I ever met with Cisco certs work for a router config and consulting company, but if you have the time maybe get that too?

Certs with experience functionally outweigh a bachelors degree from what I have seen (at least it did for the position I hold, as I went up against someone with a BS degree in IT that I worked with prior when we applied for the same position), unless you just want a managerial position that you don't get your hands dirty... (providing that you don't want to become a programmer.)

[ocabj]

Out of curiosity, what do you want to do, exactly?

"IT" is a very, very generic term in our industry now.

[spamsucker]

^^^ Roger that! IT is meaningless as terms go. Do you want a career or a job? Do you want to be on the server side or the desktop side or the software side? Do you want to be a programmer or a sysadmin or a devops guy or a network guy or a DBA or a member of the wildly inappropriately named genius bar?

You want the money? You gotta put in your time and learn fast and hard. Being really really smart and mathematically inclined helps too. I'd put some years into a full course of college or self-led computer science, not computer information systems, computer science. Learn UNIX, C++, Assembly, Linux, and web services technologies, then learn about chef/puppet/salt/ansible, networking and the OSI model, relational databases, no-SQL. To do all that should take you several years but at the end of it you'll have a career and some choice about which direction to take that career.

If you want to discuss it further PM me a phone number. IT isn't something you just get into on purpose normally without some prior interest. You need to do some exploring and decide if something about computers is what gets you off. It is in fact one of the most boring careers you can subject most people to so if you're able to deal with the reading (endless reading of BORING stuff) and interminably thankless and tedious work then it's definitely a career to consider.

[stilly]

Looking for a career change and want to get into the IT field. If there are any IT gurus out there that can point me in the right direction, can you please advise what certifications I need to get my foot in the door

I am almost a near expert in this...


You want in? Can you afford to not get paid for a little while?

This is what I had: I have A+, I have a BS in Information Systems Managment, I have been working SOHO jobs since 1994 and have several letters of recco from businesses and previous co workers.

From 1999-2012 I was a Code Enforcement Officer while doing comp work and contract work on the sides for people.

Apparently NONE of that means **** when you are looking to change careers.

I applied for a internship with a local city and I think I blew the interview when they asked about reliable transportation and I said as long as I could afford to keep coming out I would. (don't ever say that in an interview...)

I am a brutally honest guy though so I say that because it was the truth. But it was not the truth because the truth was that I would find a way to make it work because I am not a quitter.

I saw only after five months they flew that internship again and after getting denied my 4th interview stage at ESRI I went to another interview with that same city. I was NOT looking forward to it, but I was glad I was given a second chance. I only wanted to kill that interview and have the decision to say yes or no, but I thought it would be good to get the experience and in the interview when they asked why I was there I told them that I loved working with computers and hardware and when I had applied at ESRI they told me I did not have any experience working with an enterprise network. I said that I was hoping to get that experience by getting the internship.

Last August I got my congratulatory letter from that city and the internship was mine. I was very happy and I went down there and did the live scan and all but the it was only a part time internship (20 hours/2 days a week or so) and I did not hear back about the live scan. waited waited no returned phone calls, just HR kept telling me that they did not have any info. I was starting to lose hope and started looking for jobs elsewhere and then the week of thanks giving they called, actually the project manager called and said that they had finally cleared a spot for me and were ready to bring me on board if I was still interested. I said yes. I found out that the results for the live scan/background check had returned within the tw0-three days but the left hand did not know what the right hand was doing so, but it does not matter. I started December 02/2013

So I started working as an intern and it was going pretty cool, I was learning things and after about 3 months (only 2 days @18 hours a week) one of the analysts told me that I was one of the best interns they had in years and if I wanted to use him as a reference I could and he thought that I had what it takes to work in this industry and this setting. He even offered to sign a letter of recco for me, but I needed to keep it hush-hush because his position was not supposed to do things like that.

TWO months later I was approached by the IS Manager who did nothing but give me positive feedback about my personality/ honesty/work ethic- I worked for Perris for 12 ****ing years and the assistant city manager (my second boss) said I could use him as a reference, but he refused to give me a letter of recco because he does not like to do things like that... I am at this City for 5 months and I felt like I was the favored kid who the parents liked to spoil. When the project manager (one of my bosses and interviewers) retired abruptly at the end of August (to go work a sweet deal from his home) we were left with 4 people on the help desk. One position ran out of funding (temp position anyways) and we lost that PAID intern, and then he flaked out and stopped coming in. My other boss took a hit in the health department and was in and out for cancer related things and an operation or two. Then she finally called out until next June. That left ME and another specialist on the help desk.

I was asked to come in full time and they were going to try to get me a paid position. Right now I have been working as a PAID "IS Specialist" for 3+ weeks. I am making ALMOST as much as when I was a code officer, okay, about 5 bucks less and no benefits but I am paying into calpers again. I have NOTHING but love for this city. This IS department is a great department and with the exception of 1 employee (who does not work at city hall) I have met in the city, EVERYONE has been great/professional/pleasant to deal with. Well, there is ONE director that had a tissy fit over not getting something installed, but I am going to cut her some slack. This group of professionals that I work with is nothing but professional and almost like a family. They like to go to lunch in pairs or together, we do things for each other- WTF is this noise I keep hearing outside? Like thunder or approaching earth quakes- Anyways- I have NOTHING but positive things to say about this city and this is my secret:

1. ALWAYS show up to work, I worked about 5 FULL TIME 40+ hour weeks for FREE before I was in the system.
2. ALWAYS be positive and happy (I am in constant pain but I do not let THAT measly detail affect my work face)
3. ALWAYS do what you say you are going to do and follow THEIR rules.
4. ALWAYS look at things like it is a learning opportunity.
5. NEVER talk smack about anyone for calling the help desk with questions no matter HOW dumb you may think they are.
6. ALWAYS keep your opinions to yourself and keep the conversations with yourself to a minimum (no thinking out loud).
7. RARELY offer to use a hammer to fix a fly. (However, SOMETIMES a hammer might be all you have)
8. ALWAYS turn it off and back on again before you start troubleshooting...

Now I am looking to leave this city. I hate to leave them and I feel like I am making a huge difference in everyone's workload, but my job is NOT permanent. I have about 6 months (5 now) to get a perma job before I lose this position and funding MAY or MAY NOT be there to give me a permanent job. I learned their ways, I learned a lot, I have noticed a difference on how I approach things and solve problems at other side jobs now and I am glad that I was given this opportunity. It will break my heart to leave such an awesome group of folks who have been so receptive to me and so supportive of wanting me to succeed both there and in my quest to get a full time perma job, and they expressed wanting me to stay, but they know that the funding is not being given to I.S. for another position yet so they will not hold me back. This is a very unique city and I only hope my next place of employment is as good or better. Even the way the City Manager or City Council carry themselves makes me look at them as decent humans and not corrupted managers like in Perris. Perris did one great thing for me, they released me from my prison term because all it ever was, was an uphill battle to collect my paycheck and try to do my job. Managers who know NOTHING about Code Enforcement have no business being put in charge of Code Officers. That was a huge mistake they made. They could offer me $35+ an hour to work for them again and I would probably refuse. But This city is awesome and it is a good thing when your managers know your job. I found them especially receptive to me pointing out the Cryptowall virus and helping to get a spotlight put on that. My specialized work in malware removal and level of exposure and knowledge in how virii spread and work has allowed me to hold my own on several occasions.

AND what about certs? - NONE. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH CERTS. That is what the message to me was. It aint what you know, it is who you know. I asked the analyst that approached me with his kind words and he said he had no certs, he learned it all on the job. Yeah I am A+ but the things that I have done and my savvyness and ability to be creative have given me the ability to get things done without needing anymore certs. The team knows that I am fully capable of doing a lot more than what I do, but baby steps... Heh, they also know that I love guns and I worked in a gunstore from February till July (before being laid off). OH, And I AM wanting to get a CCNA cert, but only because I want to learn to program my CISCO router at my house.

So keep that in mind and if you can find yourself a volunteer position or internship paid or not, TAKE IT. It Is a foot in the door and it is still experience that actually MEANS something.

I was actually going to start a thread looking for opinions on whether or not I might be ready to start applying again, but reading over this, I think I have that answer.

Good luck to you OP.

[bigbearbear]

Learn how to read and write code if possible, you do not need to work as a software engineer (it pays A LOT though...) but having that ability will set you apart from the others.

[pitbull30]

Here is a good forum to read.

http://www.techexams.net/forums/

[rockblaster]

I was forced to change professions. I was a logging contractor and timber faller for 15 years, a general engineering contractor and blaster for another 10 and I felt the toll it was taking on my body. As a tinkerer I chose to be a computer tech and started researching , studying and learning all I could about hardware and operating systems.
When the doctors told me I was permanently disabled I already had a jump on the game. I am pretty much the sole provider for four mountain townships and the only ISP in our area refers me business. I have built over 300 custom computers and many servers for local clients and businesses.
I have no certs or degrees and most of my business is word of mouth. I have had a couple of thousand computers come through my shop ( which is at home) and I am only as good as the last job I did. My oldest son is a computer engineer and makes the big bucks ( 5 year degree, Cal Poly).
I enjoy what I do as everything that hits my bench is different from the one before it. Most of what I deal with is malware related, maybe one in 50 computers are without.
I don't make a good employee and have been self employed most of my adult life. I guess what I want to convey is you are master of your own destiny. Pick an area you want to dive into and give it your heart and soul.
I wish you the best in your choice of careers!

[bill_k_lopez]

Its rough to get into IT right now with zero work experience in IT.

Why do you want to work in IT and what do you want to do in IT?

[InFamous20]

Don't know about the OP but I just want a job.

Self employed sucks

[Bryansix]

Best advice I can give? Don't take any helpdesk jobs unless its your absolute first job in IT or you just are really into self loathing. You WILL be blamed for everything and its possible you can be taking flack from both the clients AND your bosses at the same time. Plus, this kind of job is all moving to India so it will only be short term.

If you can, specialize while also cross-training when you can. Choose what you want to spend the most time in and look into that. Ideas? GIS, Analyst making reports, Web coding, ETL expert, Network Engineer, Firewall expert, Server Admin, Email Admin (Exchange + Powershell), Security expert, etc.

[the86d]

Old-schoolers, that have been doing whatever it is you want to do might run circles around you, since you are starting from scratch. You may have to have passion for it ahead of time as MANY just know enough to do their job, and sometimes coworkers and bosses can be virtually-useless if you know more than they do when you start...

[CTallerico]

I've been in IT since the late 80's.....I do network infrastructure (switches, security appliances, indoor and outdoor wireless, etc). IT is a pretty broad brush as some have said......Jump on the path that most interests you: desktop, servers, networking, security or coding (not what I'd really call IT though). In my experience, networking and network security pays the best....Desktop the least.