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Looking to start over with career and get into IT
APODionysus
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey folks.
I'm gonna give a brief background to start off. I'm 42 years old and despite having a degree in Aerospace Engineering, I have spent my entire adult life working in restaurants as a server (granted currently with some extra authority/responsibility). The reasons for this are... too complicated to get into here. Basically, I've come to realize I have had some pretty gnarly mental health/self esteem/shame issues that have been holding me back for a very very long time and that I'm generally very unhappy with where I am in life.
One part of my journey to try to help myself is getting out of restaurants, finally. I've spent a lot of time thinking about what I want next career-wise that feels like it's something I can get to realistically and that will suit the needs I've identified as well as being more... rewarding? enjoyable? I've been thinking a lot about getting into IT as I think I would both enjoy the work enough and it suits my other needs. The problem is... I don't know where to start. Obviously I'd need some training and/or certifications (this much I can tell from perusing jobs on Indeed) but I'm really unsure what to look for on that front or where to start. I'm a quick learner and used to be pretty knowledgable about computers though that knowledge has atrophied. (I did build my last two desktops from parts though with advice from you all). I figured there's certainly some people here who work in/have experience in the field who might be able to give me some advice.
Thanks for reading, even asking this was... hard. But I want to get to a better life.
I'm gonna give a brief background to start off. I'm 42 years old and despite having a degree in Aerospace Engineering, I have spent my entire adult life working in restaurants as a server (granted currently with some extra authority/responsibility). The reasons for this are... too complicated to get into here. Basically, I've come to realize I have had some pretty gnarly mental health/self esteem/shame issues that have been holding me back for a very very long time and that I'm generally very unhappy with where I am in life.
One part of my journey to try to help myself is getting out of restaurants, finally. I've spent a lot of time thinking about what I want next career-wise that feels like it's something I can get to realistically and that will suit the needs I've identified as well as being more... rewarding? enjoyable? I've been thinking a lot about getting into IT as I think I would both enjoy the work enough and it suits my other needs. The problem is... I don't know where to start. Obviously I'd need some training and/or certifications (this much I can tell from perusing jobs on Indeed) but I'm really unsure what to look for on that front or where to start. I'm a quick learner and used to be pretty knowledgable about computers though that knowledge has atrophied. (I did build my last two desktops from parts though with advice from you all). I figured there's certainly some people here who work in/have experience in the field who might be able to give me some advice.
Thanks for reading, even asking this was... hard. But I want to get to a better life.
+1
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Be aware that getting the certs usually just involves taking a test, no other prerequisites than paying the fee. And there are a wealth of free and paid places off and online to help you study for the tests. Reading material, youtube videos, practice tests, and more.
Maybe look for a single cert on something that interests you, such as computer hardware is the A+ cert, or computer networking is the Net+ cert.
Also look at community colleges, as they often have college courses that prep you to take the cert exam -and- give you college credit for it, so you could apply to jobs with the cert and a shiny new degree in an IT field.
I assume the equivalent in the US is a community college program. My program covered: hardware troubleshooting, windows administration and troubleshooting, linux administration and troubleshooting, windows and linux scripting, networking (essentially the curriculum across each semester covered Cisco's CCNA content; CCNA is probably the most common vendor-specific network cert), security, and then some stuff about service desk procedures and the paperwork side of things.
Benefits to this type of program is it gives you a broad overview of different facets of working in IT and you can figure out what you want to focus on. You'll probably have enough knowledge to write a few certs straight out of it. My program also had a co-op component that I was able to get a job out of. Downside is cost. But if you can afford it and you have a reputable school in your area, I'd highly recommend this route.
I managed to skip over having to work service desk and went straight to deskside support with this education and have over time been able to pivot into a network engineer role. Security is also an extremely in-demand specialty.
Any of the Plus certs (A+, Network+, Security+) are your good basic starting point certs.
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
- An actual course through a college, even community, is CURRENTLY out of my budget. Especially given how little time my job gives me and the costs I already have in Therapy for the... other issues.
- I'm looking at continuing in my current job for now while I attempt to get a CompTIA A+ certification via self guided study. Ive heard good things for example about YouTube videos by a Professor Messer. I'd also get a study book to , well, study though there appear to be a great many to choose from and I'll have to figure out which to get (any advice is SUPER welcome there) After the few months that takes, I'll take the cert.
- at that point I'll look for a Entry level help desk job. Once there I can take time to figure next steps (other certs, specialization paths, possible actual education, etc)
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
Good idea here. Specializing as an application admin is a niche route that can really deliver some cash and make you a mostly indispensable Subject matter Expert. You want to look at suites like Salesforce or ServiceNow for this. Flexible mercenary consulting roles abound, and getting embedded with a mid-size business as the admin makes you virtually layoff-proof even when they're shedding management layers above you.
Progressing through the Amazon classes to net some AWS certs and become a cloud infrastructure engineer will also be interesting, challenging, technically complex, bury you in the arcane and obscure, and make you 6 figures out of the gate. Broaden that to get a working knowledge of Docker and Azure DevOps (Microsoft) and you have a skillset that is very in demand and relatively future-proof for the next tech generation or two.
On the more business-y side, if you can acquire a CISSP (this is hard but doable with the cash for training courses) you will be able to walk into a ton of cybersecurity positions with surprising ease. They are mostly boring paper-pushy audit / oversight type roles but there are some interesting quirks. Everyone will hate you but also be scared to fire you, plus InfoSec engineers cap out in the $180-200K+ range before you really have to start doing a corporate management arc aiming at CIO.
When I started out in IT it was programming that spoke to me and I loved it for a while, but over time I got tired of the constant throwing away knowledge since now the trend had shifted to a new programming language. So I shifted direction and went into doing support, network administration and more. Today I am doing support and also what it called problem management, it is a sort of job where a lot of different type of skills are combined which is really my point here - with your background it may well be that doing IT support, service and all that may be a way to build on your background and use that as a good foundation.
Look up ITIL, it is a sort of common way of thinking and working with IT service build on best practices and really just common sense.
https://ibm.com/topics/it-infrastructure-library
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITIL
You can get the basic certification in ITIL with not much time and money spend, it can be a way in to IT that then can lead you in all sorts of directions.
If you focus on something that is tied to a specific vendor, like getting an AWS or Azure certification, then you're hitching your wagon to theirs. To give an example, the whole IT world is in upheaval right now because VMware was purchased by Broadcom, and Broadcom has slashed support while raising prices. As recently as 5 years ago, having VMware skills was a strong position in the job market because VMware is ubiquitous and essential. But today there are companies ranging from small law firms up to Fortune 500s looking strongly at dumping VMware, which puts any VMware specialists on their payroll at risk of layoffs. Right now, I would not get an AWS certification without also getting an equal and competing certification in a different cloud vendor, like Google or Azure.
Beyond technology specific skills and certifications, stuff that isn't directly about a specific technology but about the workflows and processes surrounding technology will remain relevant. Infosec starting with Security+ and building up to CISSP, like spool32 said, is a strong path. DevOps and PMP (Project Management Professional) are also strong paths. ITIL is still good, but there's an (unwarranted) perception out there that it's old-fashioned so I would bolster any ITIL certification with something a little trendier like DevOps or Agile. All of these (ITIL, DevOps, Infosec, Agile, PMP, etc) are positioning you towards less hands-on roles and more towards management, consulting, and auditing. That might not be as satisfying for you but they're generally stable and you don't have to work on-call shifts or sweat about resuscitating a dead server at 2 in the morning.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
If you do an AWS certification, then get the AWS free tier and mess around with it. Try to get a web site or web app going. Same with Google Cloud or Azure. If you want to do Cisco, then sign up for a program that lets you play around in a test lab, or even just buy some used Cisco gear and break it (and fix it, and break it again).
When it comes to hands-on technology work, certifications get you past HR and demonstrate that you have a minimal knowledge level. You need to also show that you have worked with the technologies you're certified in, even if it was just in a school lab or a home lab.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Entry level help desk may or may not be available. There's been a ton of outsourcing or replacing frontline roles with call trees and chatbots. If you can land a good one that actually lets you use your skills instead of simply following a script it can be gold. One of my favorite jobs to this day was working for a good helpdesk for 2-3 years. And it was my foot in the door to bigger role in the org.
Back when I took the A+ (like 16 years ago?...) the CompTIA website had really good resources on their website, including outlines of topics that were mostly accurate, and where they weren't accurate it's because the outline suggested knowing all sorts of details that were well below the level granularity any of the test questions were. They also had very useful practice tests you could take for free, and about half the questions were verbatim on the actual test.
Yeah, application admin is another good route. If you have domain familiarity (sorry, forum's busted right now, so I can't see the OP), and general ability to use computers and problem solve, supporting a specific application can be an in demand role.
E.g. if you work in healthcare so you know a lot about how the end users use a particular product, interfacing between end users, internal IT, and vendor support, and managing the configuration for that product can be a whole job in and of itself.