^^^^ I posted this on another board. Will post it here too. Hope it helps.
How to get into IT - A Primer
I see this question come up a lot so i figured i would put this together. Hopefully others can add to it and we can make this a sticky for newcomers.
In IT, employers will be looking for many things. However typically those things fall into the following categories: Experience and Education. However, Experience is most important, followed by Education. However, your education is what may get you into an interview so that you can explain your experience. Both are important. And you can (and many people do) get a job with only one. However you may be at a disadvantage.
Experience
To get experience can be difficult when your starting off. How can you get experience with no experience. Employers will be more willing to take a chance on you if you have certs or a degree. But there is nothing stoping you from gaining experience on your own. Offer to fix your friends and families computers. Build a home lab and setup your own domain, servers(VMWare) and network. Get good enough and you can throw it on your resume. Now you have experience.
Also, you want to take roles that will allow you to gain experience and learn new skills or technologies. Your first job don’t focus on pay. Focus on getting a role where you can learn a ton.
While you are getting that experience, its important that you increase your education. So always look towards getting a degree or adding certs. Those are your key to getting more experience and furthering your career. In IT, to be successful you will constantly need to be farthing your education and your experience. Get lazy in one area and you will regret it.
Education
Is a degree worth it?
- Yes. Absolutely. A B.S. degree will benefit you in the long run. Now, typically it will help you in the middle/later stages in your career more than the beginning. However, for more skilled or higher paying roles they will be asking for a Comp Sci degree. And there are entry level positions that will take people with just a degree and no experience.
- Also having a degree gives you more flexibility as you move between different areas of IT. Employers will be more willing to take a chance on those with a degree than those without. You will also have a much stronger foundation of knowledge which will allow you to learn new technologies faster and overall be better at your job. This is not to say you can’t get into and be successful in IT without a degree. But this is the less risk averse route.
What type of degree?
- Best option is a Computer Science degree IMO. Keep in mind, this does not mean you have to be a programmer. The Comp Sci curriculum teaches you a strong foundation of how computers work (hardware, software and networking and how they all work together). This will be helpful in all areas of IT. Also learning to program teaches you logic. Again, this helps you to be able to figure out complex issues in IT even with no prior exposure. Also having some basic coding knowledge will also help you in IT.
- There are other degrees out there like security, MIS, etc. however, Comp Sci seems to still be the one in demand. Plus i think its best not to pigeonhole yourself into one area so early in your career.
But this doesn’t train me for IT.
- Most Comp Sci curriculums do not teach you stuff to get IT certs or to do a traditional IT role per se. It doesn’t necessarily teach you how to install and troubleshoot windows. But again, the knowledge that you learn will go a long way to benefit you in the long run and allow you to learn and pick things up quickly.
- If you go this route, as a result of not getting traditional training or experience, you must get some experience/certs while in school. Most schools have a help desk or hire computer lab monitors. They usually hire students and are flexible. get a job there. you will graduate with a degree and a few years experience. Getting a job will be easy.
- It would be also ideal to get a cert or two. Maybe while on summer break or something. See the section on certs.
What about Associates Degree?
- Nothing wrong with this path. However understand that this isn’t a computer science degree so it won’t do much for you in the job search. However, you should be able to put it towards a Bachelors at some point. Make sure the classes you take will transfer to a 4 year program so you don’t have to retake them.
What about Online Programs?
- Nothing wrong with this path either. Just make sure its accredited.
What if i can’t afford it?
- Not everyone can. Not everyone wants to go into debt. There are many paths into IT. So instead of a Degree, get some certs and some experience first, then look towards getting a degree once your making some money.
Is it bad if i just get certs and no degree?
- No. Just keep in mind this may hurt you later in your career, and restrict the number of positions you have access to. But if you have strong skills and lots of experience there should be no reason you can’t be successful and have a long career. And at the beginning of your career, the degree will hurt you less. But for more technical areas such as security or management roles, they may be looking for someone with a degree. It would suck to reach a ceiling later in your career and wish you could have gone back and got a degree. So, if you don’t have one, try to grab one (maybe online) at some point to give yourself better options as you get deeper in your career.
Certs
What certs should i get?
- There are a ton of certs out there. What i usually recommend is for whatever jobs you are looking to achieve, browse the jobs boards and see what they are looking for in your area. If your looking for entry level jobs and most of the positions are looking for A+ and Net+ certs then get those. If your in the Security field and the jobs you want are looking for a CISSP, get that. All certs are beneficial, but it really depends on where you are in your career and what jobs you are going for.
- If your just starting out, i would start with the basics. A+ and Net+. And even Sec +) Many entry level roles ask for these. They are usually a pretty quick study as well, so just bang those out. Then after that, look at building a foundation of OS + Networking. This will provide you a good foundation. If you want to play it safe go the Microsoft route. Or, go for linux. Or even Mac. Microsoft route will likely give you more options which is good to have when looking for a job. As for the networking route, go for the CCNA. Even if you don’t want to be a network admin, having this knowledge will help you in most areas of IT. Net+ should give you a good kickstart towards studying for the CCNA.
- Do your best to have a skill set or certs that make you stick out. This means look at what areas are hot and maybe get a cert there. Or get a cert that makes you stick out. Early in my career, i had my MCSE and apple certs. This got me some pretty solid opportunities early on because not many folks had that skill set.
- As for whats hot? Virtualization, Cloud, Security, Big Data.
What type of job should i get?
- If your just starting out, take any role you can get to gain experience. whether thats Helpdesk, a NOC, Geek Squad or even starting your own computer business. Just get some experience and than after a year or two look at moving to a new role to gain some more experience. Try not to stay in a role where you aren’t building your experience. If you have been there for 4 years and aren’t doing anything new, look for something else. Don’t stay stagnant.
- Once you have that base education, and after you start getting some experience, its time to decide what areas you want to take your IT career. Keep in mind IT is huge. You can stay in desktop or go the sysadmin route. You can go the networking route. Security, Vmware, Database, etc. Go for what you like. there will be a cert in that area for you to get.
- Also keep your mind open to other IT roles. IT is constantly changing. Traditional IT is sort of going away as organizations tend to reduce in house staff and lean on vendors or cloud providers to maintain systems. With that being the case, there are many IT roles to be had with Hardware and software vendors. Whether its consulting, implementing the hardware or software(post sales engineer, systems engineer, field engineer, solution architect), helping to sell it (pre sales engineer), supporting and troubleshooting it (field engineer) there are many options and the pay in these areas is usually really good and better than traditional IT roles.
- There are also roles in Project Management in IT or Management level positions in organizations where you can use your technical knowledge to manage vendors and implement/maintain the infrastructure.
- Note that more of these newer roles require soft skills like being able to talk to customers. So don’t forget to build up these skills.
What if i am switching careers and want to get into IT late?
- No problem. Go for it. However, if you can leverage some of the skills from your previous career do it. If your coming from the business side or sales, look at some sales engineering roles. Might be easier to get your foot in the door. Were you a write? Look at technical writing.
- I will also add that many have observed significant age discrimination in IT. What this means is that the older you get, you need to best position yourself for the future. If your a sysadmin later in your career, they may be able to get a sysadmin thats younger and cheaper. So make sure you are building your skills so that you are employable if you get laid off late in your career. Moving to management roles may help those that are older.
i've been almost a year now and im looking to stay MAX 5 months more
