Computer and IT Gurus, a little help please...

[CuriousMe]

cobaltbabe once bubbled...
Don't rule them out. You learn alot and most companies have inhouse training and certification in both A+ and more. The issue is that you many get the experience but the pay for the most part isn't in line with the rest of the market.

I don't disagree with cobaltbabe....but I think a word of caution is also appropriate. I know of folks who had a hard time breaking out of a helpdesk type of position. There's not always a recognized career path out of a help desk, and folks weight it differently as technical experience when considering you for another technical area.

Peace,
Cathie

 

[cobaltbabe]

And the average life for a helpdesk employee is 6 months before burn out. It's not an easy job by any means. Now along those lines, I have talked to "IT" people who have all the certifications and don't have a clue what they are doing. I think you have to be comfortable with what your doing and above all enjoy it.

 

[CuriousMe]

...unfortunately, that seems to happen in quite a lot of professions <grin>

I also agree that a HelpDesk is a very tough job and burn out rates are high.

Peace,
Cathie

 

[mgri]

If you are more interested in networks verses PCs/windows you could look into working in a NOC or NCC. Similar to help desk environment but instead of dealing with stupid users you work with carriers and techs.

A lot of Telco companies hire part time workers for off hour shifts and leave the day time analysts on call to handle serious issues.

It's a great job to have for college students in the IT field to get experince beyond the typical windows enviroment. When you get away from PCs there is a whole other world in the IT field in networking alone. You could work for ISPs on routers, for carrier carrier's on SONET networks, on Telco ATM, Frame Relay networks, not to mention the old analog POTS systems.

Don't get stuck thinking that IT is all about windows, that's a easy way to limit your options in this field.

If networking is up your ally getting your CCNA can help to get your foot in the door at a lot of places. It is starting to get as prevalent as the MCSE so it is starting to lose it's appeal.

 

[kalvyn]

cobaltbabe once bubbled...
And the average life for a helpdesk employee is 6 months before burn out. It's not an easy job by any means. Now along those lines, I have talked to "IT" people who have all the certifications and don't have a clue what they are doing. I think you have to be comfortable with what your doing and above all enjoy it.

MCSE = Man Clueless, Salary Excessive

I got my start as "help desk" at a local ISP in Seattle. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. Since there wasn't a lot of employees I got to learn a tonne about system administration and task automation. I also got a lot of UNIX server experience which netted me my current gig.

I think tech support at a small company is a good place to start. It worked for me!

FYI, I had no (and still don't have) certs of any kind. I went to college as a music major.

Jimmie

 

[norcaldiver]

cobaltbabe once bubbled...
And the average life for a helpdesk employee is 6 months before burn out. It's not an easy job by any means.

Weeeee...I'm on 8 years. If you can hang, it's a great gig. I run the help desk for 8 offices for my Co. I'm in LA, SF, Chicago, St. Louis, Denver...lots of traveling, but it keeps me out of the trenches.

Now along those lines, I have talked to "IT" people who have all the certifications and don't have a clue what they are doing.

Why did you look at me when you said that?

 

[cobaltbabe]

Your very lucky. I have been in the industry for 2.5 years and am burning out big time. I am more a hardware tech but as most know you need to know all the OS's as well. I don't mind having the knowledge that allows me to do this job but honestly most times during the week I am trying to trouble shoot issues that are so out there that by the end of the week my brain is mush as far as holding a intelligent conversation. The worse part is I am a trained Administrative Assistant and now I have a hard time getting a job in that field.

 

[cobaltbabe]

norcaldiver once bubbled...

Why did you look at me when you said that?

I don't know you, but you know yourself that there are those out there who have rode on the backs of others to get where they are and don't have the knowledge to perform the job.

 

[ScottNY]

You may think you're good at tech and that's where you want to be, but is it? Or is it really that you want to work with technology and more on the office side of things than doing the street medic thing?

If your heart is set on networking, then learn it and go for it in spite of what anyone says or what the market is doing. But, consider...

* You KNOW ambulance. Ideally something about the whole business and maybe dispatching as well. Have you considered tech support for a company that sells vertical market software to emergency services?

* Do you hate sales? Or might sales be something you'd like? Sales can be rough, but if you're good, you can make decent money. That might get you in to a company selling to ambulance/EMS companies. You would get to know product feature sets, etc. And maybe end up doing product management or development if you decide you hate sales. You'd have that frontline customer experience.

Just some thoughts on other ways in if you can't get the networking experience in the time frame in which you feel compelled to make a move.

Good luck!
Scott

 

[IzzyTahil]

heres my 2 cents...

decide carefully which category you prefer to be in - hardware (networks, infrastructure, etc.) or software (programming.)

If you like building things, then go into basic networking - get certified, whether its MS, Cisco, etc. From there you can choose to specialize or get a ton of other certs (some people say to specialize while others say its more marketable to be a generalist.)

I personally started tinkering with computers like you. I started my IT career with an MCSE (skipped the A+) and have since added many other technical and IT project management credentials. Unfortunately, the larger companies still equate ability with certifications - I dont agree with this mindset but thats the reality!

Initailly, I actually worked to free to gain the experience and feel comfortable resolving problems at different network environments - this worked out nicely, it gave me "hands on" experience AND allowed me to use them as references. As they say, the first IT position is the hardest to get, but once you're in you are in.

Take a cert. that will interest you and one that you can apply the theoretical knowledge to. Don't become "paper" certified because if you cannot answer a real life tech problem in the interview you end up looking the fool.