IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[I'mHigh]

Ok brehs, I need some help.

I'm 22 years old and am a semester away from getting my associates. I'm planning on transferring to UCF next fall to major in computer software engineering. I want to try and get an entry-level job in the IT world while I'm finishing out my bachelors, but I'm not sure where to start. I've read through some of the thread and some of you were talking about A+ certs. If I get my A+ cert before I move down, would that be enough with my associates degree to get an entry level job, say help desk? I'm not looking to make alot of money, at least not yet. I'm just trying to move into the IT field now rather than later. Any advice would be appreciated guys.

 

[acri1]

Ok brehs, I need some help.

I'm 22 years old and am a semester away from getting my associates. I'm planning on transferring to UCF next fall to major in computer software engineering. I want to try and get an entry-level job in the IT world while I'm finishing out my bachelors, but I'm not sure where to start. I've read through some of the thread and some of you were talking about A+ certs. If I get my A+ cert before I move down, would that be enough with my associates degree to get an entry level job, say help desk? I'm not looking to make alot of money, at least not yet. I'm just trying to move into the IT field now rather than later. Any advice would be appreciated guys.

Should be enough. Typical helpdesk requirements that I see are something like "Associates degree in something IT-related, A+ preferred" so you should be right there.

 

[Data-Hawk]

Ok brehs, I need some help.

I'm 22 years old and am a semester away from getting my associates. I'm planning on transferring to UCF next fall to major in computer software engineering. I want to try and get an entry-level job in the IT world while I'm finishing out my bachelors, but I'm not sure where to start. I've read through some of the thread and some of you were talking about A+ certs. If I get my A+ cert before I move down, would that be enough with my associates degree to get an entry level job, say help desk? I'm not looking to make alot of money, at least not yet. I'm just trying to move into the IT field now rather than later. Any advice would be appreciated guys.

If you can program now, skip the help desk. If you can't..Find a help desk job.


A+, CCNA, MSCE or any of those other certs won't help(never hurts to have them though )but most programmers can't troubleshoot a computer/network to save their life (Just yesterday I had to explain to one of my co-workers what jailbreaking your phone means ). But in the end, I can't blame them now, you spend most of your day writing/reviewing/testing *your* code and dont have time for other things.


Being a developer means having a totally different set of skills( why you think you have to take all of those math classes? ). It's rare you'll find a person with both sets of skills, and if you do they are usually from the "hacker" / security crowd.

If you have some programming experience, look into internships, open source projects , entry level positions( I've seen some programmers making $12/hr ). and in my opinion this is the best time to be a programmer, with the mobile space growing @ a rapid pace and now with the app store/google play/windows store, you can get your work out to the masses and even if your apps don't sell, you can always bring it up in an interview

 

[Regular Developer]

Ok brehs, I need some help.

I'm 22 years old and am a semester away from getting my associates. I'm planning on transferring to UCF next fall to major in computer software engineering. I want to try and get an entry-level job in the IT world while I'm finishing out my bachelors, but I'm not sure where to start. I've read through some of the thread and some of you were talking about A+ certs. If I get my A+ cert before I move down, would that be enough with my associates degree to get an entry level job, say help desk? I'm not looking to make alot of money, at least not yet. I'm just trying to move into the IT field now rather than later. Any advice would be appreciated guys.

I'll co-sign everything data-hawk said.

As far as getting your foot in the door, if your gpa is on point, you'll be able to get in at big firms. If you don't, then you might want to look for a startup to intern at. I never interned, so i cant give you a lot of pros and cons, but i can say that working at a startup is a little riskier, but has a higher ceiling on how fast you can move up in the organization once you get in.

UCF will probably teach you a traditional Comp Sci curriculum, so I'd advise you not to get too comfortable in a language, cause you might find that the money offered for what you are learning is probably not what you had in mind.
Keep in mind, though, when I went through school they were teaching C++, C, and Java, whereas they could be teaching you guys .Net languages.

Just make sure you understand the concepts of programmming (data structures, OO Programming, time and memory costs, etc.), working in groups, and definitely working with non-developers to gather requirements.

Based on your avater, I'm going to guess your from Jacksonville, or nearby. I'd suggest you learn .Net programming and some SQL. That's what a lot of companies are looking for around here, and its hard to find people in the area.

Edit:Also, don't be afraid to take less money intially if the potential fr learning is huge, because its pretty hard to find anybody that will train you in some language or tool that companies are paying quite a bit for.

 

[tofuspeedstar]

No it couldn't breh. I wanted to kill myself when I was doing help desk.

Me: IT help desk can I help you
Him: Yeah my God damn computer isn't working. I don't know why you guys keep messing with stuff
Me: Sir what exactly is wrong with your machine?
Him: I don't know but someone needs to come down here and fix it, I'm tired of you guys not doing your jobs right.
Me: Sir I need to know what's what's wrong so I can create a ticket...
Him: THE GOD DAMN SCREEN IS BLANK. NO MATTER WHAT I DO MY COMPUTER WON'T WORK!!!!
Me: Sir have you tri......
Him: I HAVE A DAMN MEETING IN 50 MINUTES, THIS IS FRIGGIN UNACCEPTABLE
Me: Sir can you check to see if there's a green light on your tower?
Him: What's a tower?
Me: It's the thing you keyboard and mouse is plugged into.
Him: No I don't see a green light.
Me: Can you hit the power button and see if anything happens
Him:
Me:
Him:
Me:
Him: Well it seems to be working now, thanks for your help
Me:

And I ain't even make that shyt up breh. Like I said, I wanted to commit that

Must have been a shytboomer.

 

[treezee]

Must have been a shytboomer.

Probably was an SVP. 8 years of college but no common sense.

 

[↓R↑LYB]

Probably was an SVP. 8 years of college but no common sense.

naw, just a generic cac in a cube

 

[Data-Hawk]

ahh my help desk days.....I tend to think about them when i'm having a bad day @ work..It makes me realize its really not that bad.

The thing I hated the most about users is when they would say " It was working before"......i'm like wtf...its not working now!!! or tell them to reboot and they would say "That takes too long"

 

[Data-Hawk]

8 years of college but no common sense.

I will never understand these people. my supervisor has a B.S in Math and a masters( I can't remeber what though ).

and at least once a day I go "WTF"....when dealing with him.

 

[Scustin Trillberlake]

Probably beating a dead horse here, but if i don't want to program can i still work in IT? What path should i take? Not looking to be some amazing $120,000 a year IT guru, just want to stack a couple certs on my resume so i can get a decent $20.00/hr job when my video editing/visual communications is slow.


Also, how hard is Java?

 

[Scustin Trillberlake]

I have my CCENT, CCNA, CCIP and CCIE

start with ICND1 exam like i mentioned to another poster

what questions do you have about the ccna?

Any programming involved with these certs?

 

[acri1]

Probably beating a dead horse here, but if i don't want to program can i still work in IT? What path should i take? Not looking to be some amazing $120,000 a year IT guru, just want to stack a couple certs on my resume so i can get a decent $20.00/hr job when my video editing/visual communications is slow.


Also, how hard is Java?

There are all kinds of different areas of IT, it's not just about programming. You have:

-Helpdesk/Tech support (fixing problems over the phone/remotely/through email)
-Desktop support (deploying and fixing computers)
-Networking/Network administation (setting up and maintaining computer networks)
-Database administration (setting up and maintaining databases)
-Programming
-Web design/development
-Software testing/Quality Assurance
-Systems Administration (mainly dealing with servers and shyt)
-IT Project Managers
-IT Auditors
-Business Analysts
-Consultants
-Security experts
-Technical writers (write instruction manuals and documentation)
-Etc.

There are a lot more, that's just off the top of my head. A lot of areas don't involve any programming, but you do need to figure out what you want to specialize in, "IT" is a big field.

If you don't have a degree and don't want to program (or do web design), you'll probably have to start off in a helpdesk/desktop/tech support job though. I doubt you'll find something that starts you at 20/hr with no experience, but you might be able to find a helpdesk gig for 10-15/hr.

 

[↓R↑LYB]

I have my CCENT, CCNA, CCIP and CCIE

start with ICND1 exam like i mentioned to another poster

what questions do you have about the ccna?

Which CCIE you got? Was gonna take the security exam this year but Cisco changed the blueprint to v4. Now Ima just wait until next year that way I ain't gotta rush myself.

 

[gldnone913]

Washington DC Deal of the Day

Dunno if that link will work, but Groupon had a Cisco training for 99 for you networking folks

 

[Scustin Trillberlake]

So MCSE, CCNA & A+ = no programming just knowledge/skill/experience.