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Making a 180 Career Shift into IT
Hamurabi
MiamiRegistered User regular
MiamiRegistered User regular
So I'm a little frustrated by my lack of success finding steady work post-graduation.
I've been very interested in/have actively followed PC hardware and networking technology/developments for some years now. I'm wondering if this awkward 'transitional period' in my life is the time to finally do something with that passion.
After very briefly asking around in D&D, it sounds like if I wanna break into IT work that I should at the very least have A+ and Network+ certifications, and then work toward getting Microsoft, Oracle, and Cisco certs from that foundation.
Does this seem like a solid plan for someone with no other (formal) credentials in IT?
Thanks.
I've been very interested in/have actively followed PC hardware and networking technology/developments for some years now. I'm wondering if this awkward 'transitional period' in my life is the time to finally do something with that passion.
After very briefly asking around in D&D, it sounds like if I wanna break into IT work that I should at the very least have A+ and Network+ certifications, and then work toward getting Microsoft, Oracle, and Cisco certs from that foundation.
Does this seem like a solid plan for someone with no other (formal) credentials in IT?
Thanks.
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Posts
With your interest in PC hardware and network tech it could lead you to work with selling the goods, doing after-sales support, being part of non-IT company in-house IT-staff or doing server work at a hosting center just to name a few examples. The more you work with the computers and the less with the people around the more the specific education and certifications matter, but of course having documented skills never hurt.
I think your first move should be to try and narrow down a bit exactly what kind of work you want and then look at what the job listings out there asks for. In my experience the bigger work places are more interested in formal education and certifications than the smaller places, so keep that in mind when looking.
The two legs are generally certs and actual experience. You can absolutely turn these into a very productive career, but only if you have the company opportunities, so you may need to move if you're not in a major IT market.
I've spent most of my working life in programming & related roles. The key in that space really is being incredibly detail oriented & a bit obsessive as all the interesting challenges really come down to breaking a problem down into increasing smaller parts.
If you're more thinking operational roles then you probably need to think though whether you want to do desktop support vs work with servers.
Are A+ and Network+ certification the most relevant credentials in that line of work?
(Thanks for your help btw!)
MCSE or A would probably be the most useful, network stuff depends on the university and org structure (some farm it out to each area, some centralize).