IT careers???

[BigRed91]

Any of u guys work in the IT industry? If so what do u do? I’ve done manual labor my whole life. I’m 27 and want to better myself and have a better career that’s not so hard on my body. If y’all have any tips or suggestions I’d love to hear them. Thanks

 

[ickyrica]

I'm around it in varying way. It's a good field. If you wanted a serious career path look into Cisco networking. Their certifications have pull.

 

[BigRed91]

I'm around it in varying way. It's a good field. If you wanted a serious career path look into Cisco networking. Their certifications have pull.

Cool man I saw a school near me had those certifications along with a bunch of other ones. What kind of jobs can u get with those

 

[ickyrica]

Certifications - Training & Certifications

The types of jobs you could end up with could be anything. It all depends on how far you take your certification process and of course continuing ed, people skills and obviously how much you truly retain and reuse but on your worst day you'd be hooking up computers at end user locations, wiring mdf/idf locations, maybe doing punchdowns. If you develop it into a skill set and have some software chops youll be configuring servers, setting up VoIP systems, keeping everyone's computers running. Sky's really the limit in the tech sector. It's what you make out if it.

There are days youll go home so fucking frustrated and pissed off. So mad you might slap your kids or something (that's a joke internet friends). But most days it's beautiful, climate controlled and very civil. Lol. Hope that helps. I'm sure there are others with different views but the Cisco path is going to be a good direction to look.

 

[BigRed91]

Certifications - Training & Certifications

The types of jobs you could end up with could be anything. It all depends on how far you take your certification process and of course continuing ed, people skills and obviously how much you truly retain and reuse but on your worst day you'd be hooking up computers at end user locations, wiring mdf/idf locations, maybe doing punchdowns. If you develop it into a skill set and have some software chops youll be configuring servers, setting up VoIP systems, keeping everyone's computers running. Sky's really the limit in the tech sector. It's what you make out if it.

There are days youll go home so fucking frustrated and pissed off. So mad you might slap your kids or something (that's a joke internet friends). But most days it's beautiful, climate controlled and very civil. Lol. Hope that helps. I'm sure there are others with different views but the Cisco path is going to be a good direction to look.

Thanks a lot man I’m really wanting to get into something new my job is out in the weather and very physical and deadly. I’ll look into it more and talk to the school close to me and see what they recommend also. I Appreciate it

 

[ickyrica]

Thanks a lot man I’m really wanting to get into something new my job is out in the weather and very physical and deadly. I’ll look into it more and talk to the school close to me and see what they recommend also. I Appreciate it

No prob man. When you talk to the school keep in mind they are still a business and in turn want money. Not all schools are equal.

There are a lot of other fields that are similar but have unique differences. I work in the professional A/V field which these days involves a large amount of networking, among other skill sets. I'm not into server administration or any of that but I routinely set up managed switches, routers, access points, etc. There are a fair amount of directions you can go in when you start developing these skills.

Good luck man.

 

[BigRed91]

No prob man. When you talk to the school keep in mind they are still a business and in turn want money. Not all schools are equal.

There are a lot of other fields that are similar but have unique differences. I work in the professional A/V field which these days involves a large amount of networking, among other skill sets. I'm not into server administration or any of that but I routinely set up managed switches, routers, access points, etc. There are a fair amount of directions you can go in when you start developing these skills.

Good luck man.

Oh I know they just want their money but like u said there’s so much u can do so I have no direction to go down if ya know what I mean it’s too many options haha

 

[MindlessWork]

Currently working as a junior systems administrator for a local hospital and been in the IT field for nearly 30 years.

You should get the A+ and Net+ certifications at a minimum to be able to land desktop technical support roles. If you want to get to work on servers, Microsoft MCSA/MCSE for Windows Server, and Red Hat Certified Engineer for Linux are good choices.

 

[BigRed91]

Currently working as a junior systems administrator for a local hospital and been in the IT field for nearly 30 years.

You should get the A+ and Net+ certifications at a minimum to be able to land desktop technical support roles. If you want to get to work on servers, Microsoft MCSA/MCSE for Windows Server, and Red Hat Certified Engineer for Linux are good choices.

Thanks man I’ll look into it

 

[sinewave3]

Any of u guys work in the IT industry? If so what do u do? I’ve done manual labor my whole life. I’m 27 and want to better myself and have a better career that’s not so hard on my body. If y’all have any tips or suggestions I’d love to hear them. Thanks

Some great advice so far, but my question is what kind of computer experience do you have? IT is a broad field and there are many, many areas.

Do you like security? Keeping people from getting hacked, or becoming an “ethical” hacker where you could get paid to try to get into a company’s network and give them a report?

Do you like databases? Running reports or queries to make a bunch of numbers useful for the top brass?

Do you like getting down and dirty replacing components like RAM and hard drives?

Hope you like keeping up to date and learning cause IT is always changing...

 

[picholas]

Sharing what I messaged him:

Google IT Support Professional Certificate | Coursera

 

[BigRed91]

I have no computer experience but I do pick up things quickly and like learning new things and doin something different everyday. I honestly don’t know what Direction I’d like to take. I’ve just done manual labor my whole life and the only thing holding me back is myself. I just want to have a career I can still do as I get older and move up in.

 

[ickyrica]

Hope you like keeping up to date and learning cause IT is always changing...

truth. Continuing ed is a must in any tech sector job.

 

[sinewave3]

I have no computer experience but I do pick up things quickly and like learning new things and doin something different everyday. I honestly don’t know what Direction I’d like to take. I’ve just done manual labor my whole life and the only thing holding me back is myself. I just want to have a career I can still do as I get older and move up in.

It is a great career to move up as you learn. Just be prepared to switch positions or companies to advance your career, especially as you gain skills or experience.

Since you are fairly new I would recommend doing some research and see what grabs you. Do some reading then maybe try some online training like Microsoft Virtual Academy, Udemy, Pluralsight, Lynda.com, or others. Many vendors like Cisco, Apple, Jamf, and Puppet Labs have training too. If online is not your thing, ymtry a community or technical college and try a few classes. Once you kinda know what you like you can learn more then go for a certificate or official training program. And help family members with their computers that’s good practice and just good karma!

I would say stay away from University as they are expensive for the 4-5 years and you will likely graduate with a ton of debt and student loans! Might be worth considering though if you want to do computer science and help code the next version of Windows...

 

[BigRed91]

It is a great career to move up as you learn. Just be prepared to switch positions or companies to advance your career, especially as you gain skills or experience.

Since you are fairly new I would recommend doing some research and see what grabs you. Do some reading then maybe try some online training like Microsoft Virtual Academy, Udemy, Pluralsight, Lynda.com, or others. Many vendors like Cisco, Apple, Jamf, and Puppet Labs have training too. If online is not your thing, ymtry a community or technical college and try a few classes. Once you kinda know what you like you can learn more then go for a certificate or official training program. And help family members with their computers that’s good practice and just good karma!

I would say stay away from University as they are expensive for the 4-5 years and you will likely graduate with a ton of debt and student loans! Might be worth considering though if you want to do computer science and help code the next version of Windows...

Thanks a lot I’ll try learning some first like u suggest and see what I like.

 

[Rot-Iron66]

My 1st IT job was 1995 when WIN 95 came out. I had just gotten a Novell cert (old LAN technology) so the company IT guy hired me (I already worked there in R&D dept), we had to manually upgrade the 500 PC's to WIN 95 from WIN 3.11. So I went crazy w/ the certs from then on (WIN NT, Cisco CCNA/CCNP, Net+, Security+, Linux+ and so on). I left that company in 2000 for a Network Engineer job,and even though the company changed ownership (bought 3 times by larger firms, GOOG being one of them) I just started my 19th year there. Sr. Network / Security engineer. Im glad I made the move, the pay is very good (easy 6-figures), I come and go as I please, work from home as I please and I hope to get 8 more years here and retire at 60. Make the move if it interests you, its only going to get more important, especially the security aspect of it.

 

[BigRed91]

My 1st IT job was 1995 when WIN 95 came out. I had just gotten a Novell cert (old LAN technology) so the company IT guy hired me (I already worked there in R&D dept), we had to manually upgrade the 500 PC's to WIN 95 from WIN 3.11. So I went crazy w/ the certs from then on (WIN NT, Cisco CCNA/CCNP, Net+, Security+, Linux+ and so on). I left that company in 2000 for a Network Engineer job,and even though the company changed ownership (bought 3 times by larger firms, GOOG being one of them) I just started my 19th year there. Sr. Network / Security engineer. Im glad I made the move, the pay is very good (easy 6-figures), I come and go as I please, work from home as I please and I hope to get 8 more years here and retire at 60. Make the move if it interests you, its only going to get more important, especially the security aspect of it.

That’s sounds awesome man its just gonna be a lot to learn for someone like me who’s never done any of it but it’ll make sense I’m sure once I get into it

 

[picholas]

That’s sounds awesome man its just gonna be a lot to learn for someone like me who’s never done any of it but it’ll make sense I’m sure once I get into it

Technically speaking that's the beauty of IT, if you can go get the CERTS and do what is needed, it's the same or sometimes better than a college education in computer science or whatever. I mean this wasn't even my major, and my one co-worker is a history major, another English, and another chemistry.

In fact my manager likes people who know tech not from tech background's as he says they're better at dumbing it down and putting the computer jargon into lament terms.

EDIT: Most of my interviews consist of either asking my questions to see if I can do what is needed, or physically having me write/edit script or a query to show it.

 

[BigRed91]

Technically speaking that's the beauty of IT, if you can go get the CERTS and do what is needed, it's the same or sometimes better than a college education in computer science or whatever. I mean this wasn't even my major, and my one co-worker is a history major, another English, and another chemistry.

In fact my manager likes people who know tech not from tech background's as he says they're better at dumbing it down and putting the computer jargon into lament terms.

EDIT: Most of my interviews consist of either asking my questions to see if I can do what is needed, or physically having me write/edit script or a query to show it.

Ahh that’s good to hear I’m quite good at taking complicated things and simplifying them bc I’m just a dumb country boy. I’m headed to the library to see what books they have on IT

 

[The Terminator]

Yes, certs are always great especially for someone with no experience to both learn and get their foot in the door but they aren’t required. If you were to learn the basics on your own and willing to start maybe lower and work your way up. That’s how I did it, started with technical support and worked up to service ops and engineering and back to ops. Been out of it for a bit, drugs etc and I’m going back to school to get cert/degree to get back higher up than I left off. If you go the cert/degree route go for networking or programming.