career in IT

[Cowboy T]

I've been in IT for the last 20 years. There are many branches of IT, and you've got to find what you like, because to get good at it, you've got to have a passion for it. I'm not going to hire anybody who I think doesn't really love this work and does it because they think it's fun. That's why I got into it.

Whatever you end up choosing, are you willing to put in the 3am nights to learn how to do things right? If that answer isn't "yes", then you might not be cut out for this career path.

Here's a good test. If you're willing to set yourself up with a static-IP broadband account, acquire an enterprise-grade router (Cisco, Juniper, or build a BSD/Linux-based one--none of that home-grade Linksys or D-Link type gear), an enterprise-grade switch (Cisco Catalyst, Nortel, Avaya, HP ProCurve, etc.) set up a server and a workstation so you can store files on your server and access them from your workstation, and do it so that any box on your network can get out to the Internet--if you're willing to take that on and actually make it work, then you might be ready for a career in IT.

No, that's not far-fetched. That's how I got started. Nowadays, I do rather well financially, while basically getting to go to "work" and do systems engineering with cool gear all day. But to get there, I had to earn it, and so will you.

That's why you've got to have the desire for it, regardless of the money. That's what drives you to what will eventually become financial success.

One other thing: don't skip the theory. Too many people want to skip learning the fundamentals and jump right in 'cause they see dollar sign$. That'll result in employers kicking you to the curb, and that's what you want to avoid. In an interview, you'll probably be dealing with someone like me, and I'll quiz ya. It'll take me about 30 seconds to a minute to figure out if you're a poseur or the real deal. You want to be the real deal.

I started in help desk back in the day and progressed upwards. Those 3am nights helped big time. Internships are also very helpful. One of my former interns is now a network engineer for a good-sized hosting company. He's now as good as I am, technically, and I'd hire him in an instant.

[noob_tube]

I've been doing "IT" for a few years now. I was in a completely different career field before this. One thing I've noticed is that it is insanely competitive and just about everyone in the field is cutthroat in one way or another, especially if they consider you a threat to their job. You'll likely start doing low level tech support. It will be as good or as bad as you make it. Learn as much as you can and try not to develop a healthy hatred for end users.

You will need to stay on top of your game and keep up with emerging technologies. Be prepared to do the work of two or three people. Just because you're a systems admin, doesn't mean you won't find yourself doing tech support or network admin stuff. Even software developers are expected to know "IT stuff" and will be asked to "fix my computer".

I don't know if public speaking is the norm in the IT field or just the job I have, but be prepared to chair a meeting or host training seminars for large groups of people. When I started going to school, I chose something in the IT field because, in my mind, I wouldn't have to interact with more than a handful of people in a casual setting. You can imagine my surprise when I found myself having to give a presentation to a group of about 40 people. This is fairly routine now and it still makes me queasy.

Oh, an always look busy. Layer 8 devices hate seeing "The IT Guy" just sitting behind a computer and will start making life miserable for you.

[funk_drum]

Been in IT since 96. It's not like it used to be where a few certs will get you in. Seems like now days it's certs, degree and working for peanuts. However, if you want to start, networking, DB Admin, or storage is good. Any scripting you can add doesn't hurt.

[high_revs]

like others, i've been in IT since like 98 (work related but hobby before that). i've been more on the leadership level for the past decade though.

that said, there are still some jobs that are hard to outsource. these are the ones you want to kind of focus on. it's not easy to do networking, infrastructure, even a very skilled DBA outsourced. there are usually problems but who is kept stateside are more senior. you may stand a chance with a smaller company starting with these areas in the states.

storage management is also a good thing to have. unix/linux is still in heavy demand even if many are microsoft shops.

figure out what you want to do. if it's coding, it might be difficult to get into enterprise level companies since most of that is outsourced. i've seen some people get into QA w/o being full blown developers and still have a 6-digit salary.

just my .02c.

[Jimmy Deuce]

Short answer.

Certs- A+(typical start), Microsoft (MTA,MCP, MCSE), local college certs

Education- be earning your way to a degree of some sort(AA, BA)

Experience- be willing to intern or take a part time job for little or no money

After a year or two you should be able to land a tier one support job.

[Germz]

I've been in IT for 7 years now, I've worked at the bottom of the rung in a dark comm closet making Cat5 to being the Watch Officer of a service desk that supported over 75,000 users.

The best thing I can say is carry a little book and write things down. write it all down until you have it memorized.

also, SPECIALIZE. find your niche of IT and master it. be it routing, server admin, telephony. pick something and master it.

If you want a foot in the door with IT, join the Military. Your certifications will be paid for and you get a good looking clearance, even top secret if your job requires it. Typically, military IT experience counts as double its time value...

[American Samurai]

I echo those who say don't do Helpdesk, it is miserable. I got laid off from my Tech support(helpdesk) job back in October and I think it was a blessing in disguise. I don't think I want to go back to doing helpdesk but I don't even know what other job I can get in IT because I don't have any programming background. I think I may have to get out of the IT industry altogether.

[ocabj]

I echo those who say don't do Helpdesk, it is miserable. I got laid off from my Tech support(helpdesk) job back in October and I think it was a blessing in disguise. I don't think I want to go back to doing helpdesk but I don't even know what other job I can get in IT because I don't have any programming background. I think I may have to get out of the IT industry altogether.

Aside from helpdesk, two areas in IT that don't really require coding skills are Network Engineers / Admins and Operations / Data-Center technicians.

The traditional "Systems Administrator" role technically doesn't need coding skills, but in most organizations, that role often encompasses a lot of different skill sets from infrastructure design and deployment to service integration, and the ability to write custom scripts and applications to bring them all together is going to be necessary.

IT Security Administration doesn't have a heavy programming requirement depending on where you are employed and what you have at your disposal e.g. they buy you what you need (IPS, firewall, and NAC appliances, etc) or if you have to roll your own solution.

[American Samurai]

Thanks for the info ocabj; I think for right now I'm going to concentrate on acquiring more skills maybe even take some temporary contract jobs to gain some different experience within the industry.

[MauserMike]

Whatever you do don't go to a technical school like UEI college. total 100% scam.

[LTC-J]

I'm not IT but software engineer. But did some course work for IT(CNA and dba type)

Others have hit on the basics:
Saying IT doesn't mean anything. Too many areas and specializations.
Experience and who you know wins over certs. Certs get you cheap internship to get experience.

You might see if your community college or full university offers IT type classes. You can get a little hands on taste for IT and whether you have the passion for it. Two examples I went through:

• My local community college offered a series of CNA prep courses which included hands on Cisco router setup.
• My local university offered professional certificates. I took the database admin series.

In both cases, while I exceeded in the work, I had no passion for it. But in the case of the dba cert, I still use a lot of the knowledge in my current job.

Also, if you go to school, you might see if you can leverage the intern program to get into a company. Sometimes getting into an internship can land you a nice job with little hassle.

I did the above to land my current job. My intern interview was ~30 minutes of minimally technical stuff. In 9 months, I was converted to a full time employee and well paid. Granted before that intern position, I was a starving student for six months at another intern job that was in the process of getting converted to full time

[Cowboy T]

One thing I often suggest to people is, build a network in your own house with a client/server architecture. Use that network as your "daily computer". Here's how I did it.

1.) Build a good server. Store your files on it, set up your print queue on it, all that.

2.) Set things up so that your "daily driver" workstation can access network file shares and the server-based print queue. Furthermore, set things up so that your login authentication to your workstation is actually done by the server. In Microsoft environments, that means a domain environment. In UNIX/Linux environments, that usually means LDAP or Kerberos.

3.) Use that server/client architecture as your "daily computer". Since all your stuff's stored on the server, you'd better set up a periodic backup. A nightly copy of your stuff to, say, a USB hard disk is one good and inexpensive way to do this (I use rsync).

4.) Pick up a copy of the O'Reilly book, "Building Internet Firewalls" and study it.

5.) After you get this going and are comfortable with it (this may take a few months), then get a hold of your Internet provider and set up a static IP address. This is so you can stand up your own commercial-grade router. I'm not talking about that home broadband Linksys or D-Link stuff. I'm talikin' Cisco or Juniper, enterprise-grade stuff. Learn those. You'll learn what NAT and PAT really are, and that matters a whole lot. Static IP address accounts are more expensive than the "garden variety" dynamic ones--the providers tend to call them, "business accounts" even if it's not actually for a business--but you'll definitely need it for the next step.

6.) The next step, which also may take a few months to get to, is to set up a DMZ (De-Militarized Zone) on this mini-enterprise network you've got set up here. Get yourself a domain name that you like. Set up a DNS server in this DMZ. For this, I strongly recommend another O'Reilly book, "DNS and BIND". Learn what DNS is, learn what zones and resource records are, all that good stuff.

7.) Now that you've gotten DNS set up and your new domain name is resolvable on the Internet, set up an email server in that DMZ and make yourself an account on it. This is going to be *your public email account*. Yup, I'm talkin' about you hosting your own email on your very own email server.

If all of this sounds like you're building your own mini-enterprise, then you're right. You are. That kind of knowledge is what allows me to hire someone, and I do demand such knowledge if you want consideration in my group. That knowledge, that ability, that's what we do every day, just on a larger scale, but the concepts and methods are basically the same.

Ya wanna get hired in IT doing something besides 1st-level help desk? Then that's what ya gotta know.

Does school help? Sure! It most certainly does. Study and learn the theory; that stuff matters. But the real learning happens when you broke your network and have to stay up all night to fix it. Knowing how things are supposed to work, i. e. the theory, helps greatly in such "OH, CRAP!" situations. The hands-on experience, like I'm suggesting here, will also help greatly in that endeavour.

Best of luck!

[rvicta]

Something I didn't see mentioned, or maybe I wasn't paying attention, is not just to think IT, but how an IT organization interacts with the various functional units within a company. I have been an IT Manager for over 20 years and you are a greater asset to a company if you understand what Sales, or Finance or even a Customer Service group would need from IT. My background is in manufacturing systems both as a business analyst and as a DBA, even as a programmer. You are not very effective if you are unable to communicate how you can help the Sales group (or any other group) accomplish their goals. Remember, the customers to IT are the functional groups within a company. IT is overhead. We consume money so we have to come up with ways for a company to work efficiently.