Job Out of High School

jacobszall

Hey!

I'm new to these forums. Today, in my I.T. class at school I stumbled upon this place from Reddit. Since I can't check my email in class, I couldn't post on here till now. Anyways, on to it, eh? The I.T. class that I'm in at my school is, more or less, a waste of three years. I have several certifications (MTA Networking, PowerPoint 2007, MCP through associate of having the MTA).. but those don't mean too much from what I can gather. I'm a senior this year and (since we're really not doing that much in class) I'm studying for the CompTIA A+. I just bought the Mike Meyers book today! Freshman year of high school, we worked on a lot of typing and some Microsoft Office. Sophomore year, we did a little Cisco.. then we moved to MTA (in junior year) because we were told it was better for us. Senior year.. we're trying to get back on track and learn what we should have started to study for awhile ago. I'm curious to know that if I get my A+ certification, what kind of jobs and/or pay I can hope to achieve straight out of high school?

Thanks!

olaHalo

Since you got some certs to throw on your resume Id say those classes were not a waste.

With the A+ and your other certs and no experience your looking at entry level jobs doing helpdesk, tech support, or low level desktop support most likely.
Pay range will be on the lower end. Dont worry about the pay too much. Just get the experience and keep getting certs.
You'll climb in no time.
Its so easy to shine in this line of work

jacobszall

Thanks!

Maybe I'm not seeing it right, but the way I view it is that the certifications were more of something to put on the resume. Not an actual benefit to my education, since I didn't learn much of anything from them.

olaHalo

REMOVED UNNECESSARY QUOTED REPLY FROM PREVIOUS POST
Many certs are nothing more than resume padding. But if you got them for free and probably picked up a little knowledge too (and likely you were able to avoid other more boring classes) then it was worth it for sure.
Good luck!

jacobszall

Thank you, very much. It's been awhile since I've used a traditional forum.. the last thing I used like this was the Minecraft Forums back in the Alpha days. Is it more organized to quote what you say when I respond to it?

J_86

Well even with just those certifications, you are a head of most people coming right out of high school. As long as your interview skills are ok, I would think you shouldn't have too much of a problem landing an entry level help desk or desktop support role. If the A+ cert goes well, I would maybe then get the N+ or CCENT.

I actually landed my first IT job when I was a senior in high school. I went to a vocational school and we were allowed to attend school a half day and work the rest of the day as long as we meet some strict rules.

Good luck!

jacobszall

REMOVED UNNECESSARY QUOTED REPLY FROM PREVIOUS POST


Thank you! I was looking into the CCENT as well, so I think that'll be my first stop after the A+.

olaHalo

REMOVED UNNECESSARY QUOTED REPLY FROM PREVIOUS POST
*shrugs
I have no clue on the etiquette of quotes. Im sure it differs forum to forum. I do it so others can easily see what Im responding too

jacobszall

REMOVED UNNECESSARY QUOTED REPLY FROM PREVIOUS POST

Heh, alright. Thanks.. for the fourth time?

broli720

I hope you're planning to go to college as well because you are doing yourself a huge disservice if you don't...

jacobszall

REMOVED UNNECESSARY QUOTED REPLY FROM PREVIOUS POST

I plan on attending my community college (now a state college) for a degree in Networking Administration. I'm more than likely attending that college no matter what, but I might change my major.. though, in the same field.

Plantwiz

olaHalo wrote: »

REMOVED UNNECESSARY QUOTED REPLY FROM PREVIOUS POST
*shrugs
I have no clue on the etiquette of quotes. Im sure it differs forum to forum. I do it so others can easily see what Im responding too

Well, it is quite simple. For ease of reading the forum, one does NOT quote the comment directly above their post/reply. If you need to specify a person it is very common to use the @username. In the event of a lengthy reply, one will break apart a quote and pit their answers between each quoted section.

As far as what to do, either ask, or simply spend some time reading through the old posts.

jacobszall

Okay, thank you! I'll keep that in mind.

See? I didn't quote you!

Jon_Cisco

One thing to keep in mind about education. Very seldom do people appreciate it at the time they are getting it. Especially at the high school level where people start to develop there own personal identity. Later in life you will realize that it was actually beneficial.

Be proud that you have already earned several certifications. Use that as a starting point to grab a good part time job while you are in college. All of that experience is going to pay a few years into your full time career.

Good Luck.

P.S. In this type of forum setting don't feel you need to respond to every post. If there is more to add go ahead and if the person helped you feel free to acknowledge them. Many posters will ask a question and come back the next day to see if anyone had a chance to respond. It is usually much slower then current social media site.

jacobszall

Alright, thank you. I'll keep that in mind.