IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[AyBrehHam Linkin]

I mean get it how you live, all depends on your city at the end of the day. For Infrastructure related roles you can maybe do things without a degree but nowadays they want experience plus certs and you aint getting experience without a degree unless you do some super low level type gigs. I`m on the business side so not having a degree isn't an option.

moreso an infrastructure career path is def what i wanna do since that is the vast majority of what i have done in school. I know fosho for business analyst stuff they'll def want you to have a college degree.


I was looking at networking roles afew months back, to get a good feel on what aspects i should focus on to advance from help desk, and alot of the requirements to apply that recruiters wanted placed experience equal to or greater than having a degree. Then you got people in this thread making bank with high school diplomas or college degrees that have NOTHING to do with IT. What it entailed them doing was putting insane amounts of self study in themselves. Had me thinking twice on this paying for school stuff


But still, getting a degree would definitely help my future promotion opportunities, and being the first person in my family with one would def be dope.

 

[TRFG]

moreso an infrastructure career path is def what i wanna do since that is the vast majority of what i have done in school. I know fosho for business analyst stuff they'll def want you to have a college degree.


I was looking at networking roles afew months back, to get a good feel on what aspects i should focus on to advance from help desk, and alot of the requirements to apply that recruiters wanted placed experience equal to or greater than having a degree. Then you got people in this thread making bank with high school diplomas or college degrees that have NOTHING to do with IT. What it entailed them doing was putting insane amounts of self study in themselves. Had me thinking twice on this paying for school stuff


But still, getting a degree would definitely help my future promotion opportunities, and being the first person in my family with one would def be dope.

You already have you mind set on not finishing your degree do what you have to do

 

[Apollo Creed]

moreso an infrastructure career path is def what i wanna do since that is the vast majority of what i have done in school. I know fosho for business analyst stuff they'll def want you to have a college degree.


I was looking at networking roles afew months back, to get a good feel on what aspects i should focus on to advance from help desk, and alot of the requirements to apply that recruiters wanted placed experience equal to or greater than having a degree. Then you got people in this thread making bank with high school diplomas or college degrees that have NOTHING to do with IT. What it entailed them doing was putting insane amounts of self study in themselves. Had me thinking twice on this paying for school stuff


But still, getting a degree would definitely help my future promotion opportunities, and being the first person in my family with one would def be dope.

At the end of the day you have to invest in yourself. Every degree you have typically substitutes 2 yrs of experience.

For example an entry level job may say HS Diploma and 4 yrs experience but with a bachelors it may say Bachelors and 2 yrs experience.

More senior roles may say HS Diploma and 8 yrs experience, Bachelors and 5 yrs experience , and Masters or equiv and 2 yrs experience.

Certs and degrees are all gate keepers, none of them tell someone you can do the job, but a recruiter will most def take the risk on someone with a Bachelors vs a HS diploma with certs. The market is not the same as it was in late 90s and early 2000s so you can't exactly go 100% off of what someone from that time did. Hell I graduated undergrad in 2011 and the market is different now than it was then.

With IT period the biggest thing is getting your first job and for me getting a degree was a better investment than making 8 bucks in a help desk job with only a HS diploma.

The people who do it right are those who Get the Degree AND certs AND the internship all at the same time. Self Study is just as bad if not worst than "school" if you ask me lol because at least school has structure and with structure you have direction. I rather get the degree get my first job and have my company pay for all my certs than to have a HS diploma making pennies AND have to pay out of pocket for cert study materials and all of those exams.

At the end of the day though what works for me might not work for you, but getting into less than 20k student loan debt ( you dont need to be at a school if you got to get more than 20k in debt for a bachelors and can't even earn grants) 3-4 times that is a no brainer.

 

[AyBrehHam Linkin]

You already have you mind set on not finishing your degree do what you have to do

def have finishing school far and away as my 1st choice. It's just hella fatigue is setting in for me

 

[lightskin jermaine]

i'm going hard this semester with the networking we had a STEM career fair but the only agency to show up for what i was interested in (MIS) was NSA and their representatives looked like they hadn't taken a bath in a while

rackspace is giving students a tour of their facility soon so i'm going to sign up for that. my school has a couple help desk positions open so i'm going to apply for that today.

 

[DAlbert]

Do you have a job yet?

Well, no... I was just trying to understand why people skip over network+? I've read in past post that it is sorta a waste and not essential. However, I personally understand that I should take thing one step at a time, but I'm just curious.

 

[↓R↑LYB]

Well, no... I was just trying to understand why people skip over network+? I've read in past post that it is sorta a waste and not essential. However, I personally understand that I should take thing one step at a time, but I'm just curious.

I'd recommend going for one of the Microsoft certifications first. Either Windows 10, Windows Server, or one of the Active Directory exams. I recommend it over the Cisco one because in my experience it's easier to get a help desk gig working on Microsoft stuff than it is to get a NOC gig working with Cisco equipment.

After you get your first gig you can transition from help desk to pretty much any area of IT you want.

I say don't worry about the Network+ because I've never come across a job that required it.

 

[↓R↑LYB]

I feel u bruh no excuses here but was u doing that with 2 small children and one that had major surgery??? I just want advice for the right path so i can tackle it most efficiently

The first step is to pass the A+ exam.

 

[Makavalli]

moreso an infrastructure career path is def what i wanna do since that is the vast majority of what i have done in school. I know fosho for business analyst stuff they'll def want you to have a college degree.


I was looking at networking roles afew months back, to get a good feel on what aspects i should focus on to advance from help desk, and alot of the requirements to apply that recruiters wanted placed experience equal to or greater than having a degree. Then you got people in this thread making bank with high school diplomas or college degrees that have NOTHING to do with IT. What it entailed them doing was putting insane amounts of self study in themselves. Had me thinking twice on this paying for school stuff


But still, getting a degree would definitely help my future promotion opportunities, and being the first person in my family with one would def be dope.

Yea thats what got me a lil confused on what path i can take cause i was looking at college programs for IT but then i see online and here that nikkas just locking in with study material at home before taking the exam. Both paths are difficult and with leave me lifeless for awhile i just gotta decide which one

 

[Makavalli]

The first step is to pass the A+ exam.

Thanks. I'll get on amazon and check out a few books

 

[se1f_made]

@bdizzle you might have already posted, but whats a typical day involve as a security specialist?

 

[↓R↑LYB]

Thanks. I'll get on amazon and check out a few books

This is the book to get. Just get the latest edition

 

[↓R↑LYB]

@bdizzle you might have already posted, but whats a typical day involve as a security specialist?

Posting on the coli. And no I'm not bullshytting.

But it depends on your role. Sometimes you'll be doing tickets all day. Sometimes you'll be doing project work. Sometimes you'll sit on your ass all day and do nothing. In my current gig (not a security role) I literally don't do shyt all day. I show up 10-1030. Go to lunch at 12. Then break out and go home at 330-4 (sometimes earlier). I'm making 125k to not do shyt and it's starting to get boring

My last security gig I was on bout 15 projects and had meetings all day. I actually enjoyed that job a lot because of all the shyt I was involved in. Other jobs I've worked for 6+ months and put in MAYBE 40 hours of actual work.

Either way make sure you invest in a gym membership. This cert life will leave you

 

[↓R↑LYB]

moreso an infrastructure career path is def what i wanna do since that is the vast majority of what i have done in school. I know fosho for business analyst stuff they'll def want you to have a college degree.


I was looking at networking roles afew months back, to get a good feel on what aspects i should focus on to advance from help desk, and alot of the requirements to apply that recruiters wanted placed experience equal to or greater than having a degree. Then you got people in this thread making bank with high school diplomas or college degrees that have NOTHING to do with IT. What it entailed them doing was putting insane amounts of self study in themselves. Had me thinking twice on this paying for school stuff


But still, getting a degree would definitely help my future promotion opportunities, and being the first person in my family with one would def be dope.

Breh, no it won't. What would be dope is for you to be the first person in your family to have complete financial freedom. I would have been the 1st college grad in my family but I dropped out. My cousins graduated from top 100 universities and they're calling me asking for help with their student loans

And you really don't need a class. Just keep passing the right exams, make sure you have the in demand skills, and make sure your resume is on point.

 

[↓R↑LYB]

Yea thats what got me a lil confused on what path i can take cause i was looking at college programs for IT but then i see online and here that nikkas just locking in with study material at home before taking the exam. Both paths are difficult and with leave me lifeless for awhile i just gotta decide which one

Once you get your 1st gig, you can take any path you want. Think of Help Desk as boot camp. Once you get out of boot camp you get to pick your specialty. The most important part is getting that 1st job. The 2nd most important part is getting the fukk outta help desk