help me start a new career.

stawk

So as many of you who have read my posts may know i have been trapped working retail the past few years while going through college, and after dicking around quite a bit and trying to figure out what i want to do with my life i have finally decided what i want to do as a career. I.T.

Specifically i want to get into a low level IT position where the work is not to hard and gives me the opportunity to work my way up the career ladder to more challenging jobs as i get more comfortable.

I would really like to know what i should do to help me achieve these goals, i understand that i need to get my IT certifications, what is the best way to go about getting these and which ones should i get to start off with.

Im going to be graduating college with an associates in fine arts in a few months, should i focus on getting a bachelors degree through devry immediately or jump into the job market right away?

What are good place to apply for IT jobs that may not seem conventional and would give me good work experince and a decent shot at a job in this shitty job market?

Also any advice that i seem to need would be greatly appreciated.

lizard eats flies

As far as places to apply, you can always try non-profit orginizations and stuff. Pay isnt as good, but it would allow you to work up a resume if you dont have a degree in it. Though many are not fairing well in the economy right now, and have shipped IT duties to .. well people who shouldnt be doing IT.

I dont know about certs or anything. I'll let others chime in.

PeregrineFalcon

Let's start with the obvious: Do you know anything about fixing computers? Because that's what entry-level IT usually is; telephone help desk or repair service.

The standard one to start with would be the CompTIA A+ - that's the GED of the IT world. It shows that you can probably disassemble and reassemble a computer without blowing it up or killing yourself.

From there it depends on the field you want to go into. The support side of things has the MCDST and other service-oriented ones, if you want to get networking you'll usually run into Cisco's CCNx certs eventually, and there's more server/security ones than you could shake a stick at.

But that primary question needs to be answered first. Can you do that? If not, you need to learn.

TheFullMetalChicken

Big companies that do telephone IT support need people all the time if you can hack it there then moving on to another job may take time but can be done. From there going to a company where they have there own IT guys is a good move, you'll deal with the same shit as you did at the other place but the people are better to you.

As for the papers it's not hard to find a college or IT testing place that does MS cert for windows, servers, or networking around here they start about every 4 months.

stawk

PeregrineFalcon wrote: »

Let's start with the obvious: Do you know anything about fixing computers? Because that's what entry-level IT usually is; telephone help desk or repair service.

The standard one to start with would be the CompTIA A+ - that's the GED of the IT world. It shows that you can probably disassemble and reassemble a computer without blowing it up or killing yourself.

From there it depends on the field you want to go into. The support side of things has the MCDST and other service-oriented ones, if you want to get networking you'll usually run into Cisco's CCNx certs eventually, and there's more server/security ones than you could shake a stick at.

But that primary question needs to be answered first. Can you do that? If not, you need to learn.

yes, easily having been doing "tech support" and building computers for friends and family for years.

Erandus

Unfortunately personal experience doesn't go far on a resume. A+ or an MCP in XP/Vista are the easiest ways to at least get a toe in the door on a helpdesk somewhere. After that, you keep pushing through microsoft certs and bust your ass and try to move up from there.