Career Switch

Dented

Hi
Background: married, 3 kids. I have been a public school teacher for 10+ years and I bring home about $1,600 a month after child support. My wife is unemployed and we would like her to stay that way to raise the kids until they are school age.

Academic Background: high 20s act in early high school, perfect ASVAB score, good with math and logic.

I am need to career switch to something that can bring home significantly more money. At first I thought I would go down the CCNA path, completing the exam in a few months, and get a high paying job within a year. Now I am reading that a CCNA can land me about a $25,000 a year job.

1. Is that accurate?
2. If so, my next lead would be a code monkey, but I have also recently read that they do not make so much either.
3. Any reccomendations? I am willing to put in the effort to study, but I need a salary upgrade desperately.

scaredoftests

What area do you live in? That influences the pay scale. Also, the experience that you have helps.

Russ5813

Your mileage will vary, depending on your experience, geography, and interests. You may have to bite the bullet and accept a lower-paying, entry-level IT job with the mindset that you'll see better ROI in the long-term scheme of things.

Dented

scaredoftests wrote: »

What area do you live in? That influences the pay scale. Also, the experience that you have helps.

Just outside of Birmingham, AL.
Cost of living is low, but not 1,600 a month low.

How would my education experience help?

I know I have lots of questions, but I am trying to quickly map out a plan of attack. I don't want to keep beating a dead horse, and the longer I teach, the worse off my family is financially.

scaredoftests

Experience in IT/computers. It depends if you were teaching in regard to IT/computers.

Dented

I taught English - literature and grammar.

scaredoftests

Do you have any experience in IT/computers? What are you interested in? Have you set up home labs to practice?

Dented

scaredoftests wrote: »

Do you have any experience in IT/computers? What are you interested in? Have you set up home labs to practice?

I am basically starting from scratch. I have some limited entry level knowledge, but no experience that is worth anything.

I figured network security would be a lucrative and growing industry, so I thought I would start there. I am open to anything with income potential.

I have some cisco books with lab emulation software, but no physical parts. I haven't gotten far enough along in my initial studies to use them yet.

The only thing I have as leverage right now is my intellectual ability. Please don't misunderstand this as bragging, but I would say I am way above average intellectually. Other than that, I have nothing that gives me any advantage-- no experience, no job training, no friends in high places-- nothing.

scaredoftests

Try internships or practice at home. You need some experience at least. Noone will look at you or your resume.

Dented

scaredoftests wrote: »

Try internships or practice at home. You need some experience at least. Noone will look at you or your resume.

It is really hard to intern at 37 years of age with 3 children under 5, bills, and being the sole income provider.

Is there a path where I can certify, like going through CCNA exam, that will produce a "me" that is ready for a decent IT job?

bpenn

Considering your limited knowledge of IT, and your need of a job sooner rather than later, you may be better off trying to get a help desk/desktop support gig. Grab the A+ cert and go from there. Do you have a degree? I would imagine the pay for help desk would be significantly higher than your teaching job - even in Alabama.

Most Help Desk jobs in Northwest Florida run from $30-40k, and running a bit higher if you have a security clearance. I cant imagine it would be far off from Birmingham, considering I live in a small area. Try looking up some salaries for help desk/desktop support in the Birmingham area on Indeed and see what you can find.

EDIT:
In regards to certs, yes, experience is way better but since you dont have any experience, a cert (entry level, mind you) is going to benefit you more than anything else when lacking experience (assuming you dont have a degree)

cyberguypr

Don't look at certs as a vehicle to guarantee anything. A CCNA (or any other cert) guarantees NOTHING. There are guys with CCNA working for peanuts the same way there are guys with just a CCNA making six figures. Certs only give you a slight edge against other candidates. Best advice I have for you is to make sure you like whatever you get into. IT can become an awful chore if you don't have passion for it.

NVLady

Personally, I think experience goes a lot further than certifications. There are so many "paper" (insert IT Cert here) out there, that experience counts for more. I think a cert might give one leverage over someone with the sameor similar experience. Just my two cents. Good luck in whatever path you choose.

xenodamus

Hi Dented,

I live in MS and can tell you that $30k is easy to find as a helpdesk or desktop support tech, and those will be the easiest positions to find. If I were in your shoes with 0 experience, I would start with the A+. In the support arena that tells people that you have a good baseline of knowledge when it comes to PC hardware and operating systems.

CCNA is a great cert to have, but you're diving deep into networking without much consideration for the other aspects of IT. Unless you want to look for a pure networking position (which will be harder to find), I would press pause on the CCNA and start with something more basic. After the A+, maybe buy a book for the Network+ and read it before moving on the the CCNA.

Birmingham and the surrounding area is a great place for IT work, though - as far as Alabama goes.

Fadakartel

Dented wrote: »

I am basically starting from scratch. I have some limited entry level knowledge, but no experience that is worth anything.

I figured network security would be a lucrative and growing industry, so I thought I would start there. I am open to anything with income potential.

I have some cisco books with lab emulation software, but no physical parts. I haven't gotten far enough along in my initial studies to use them yet.

The only thing I have as leverage right now is my intellectual ability. Please don't misunderstand this as bragging, but I would say I am way above average intellectually. Other than that, I have nothing that gives me any advantage-- no experience, no job training, no friends in high places-- nothing.

Your best bet is to go through the CCNA then get a NOC job somewhere, forget network security until you gain experience since no one would want to hire a inexperienced security professional for their network.

mstd0n

I second @xenodamus on looking for a help desk job with decent pay and getting your A+ to start. It just doesn't seem too likely to get a networking job with 0 experience professionally.

It doesn't sound like free time is something you have much of, but I would look to find some professional meetup groups where you can do some networking (social that is) and try to get an in at a company that way. It might be easier if you can have some conversations with people that can see how motivated you are.

2cents

tedjames

www.cybrary.it has some excellent FREE training including A+, networking, security, project management, and more. Check out https://www.cybrary.it/courses/ for a breakdown based on skill level.

Danielh22185

The main concern is building experience and building it FAST. 37 is far from being "too late" to get into the field but you will just need to work hard to get where you need to be quickly. If networking interests you I suggest you don't stop doing your own self-training / learning but you need to start applying to jobs like MAD. An IT guy with zero experience though no matter the cert they have will need to start at the bottom and work his way up. Get exposed and learn fast and you will be well on your way!

Good luck!

dhay13

i agree you will have to start at the bottom and may initially take a pay cut but in IT you can make significant pay jumps quicker than most professions. with 5 years experience and some effort you could likely double what you began your career

markulous

Dented wrote: »

It is really hard to intern at 37 years of age with 3 children under 5, bills, and being the sole income provider.

Is there a path where I can certify, like going through CCNA exam, that will produce a "me" that is ready for a decent IT job?

You can do pro bono work around your work now and not have to do an internship. I made a thread how to get IT experience. Going to something like protonic.com or volunteering goes a long way.

And like cyberguy said, you can't say "How much $ will x cert get me?" Experience and marketable skills will ultimately determine that

alias454

@OP: Why do you want to get a CCNA? Are you just looking for a high paying "IT" job because you hear it's good money? If so, I would implore you to look beyond the money and find something you are passionate about. Other than being good with math and logic, what IT skills do you have? It's tough trying to manage a family and change careers but it can be done. However, there is no easy road to the big bucks, if that is what you are looking for.

grizzlyburr

A friend of mine is in the USAF Reserve working in Alabama, making around $50k+ including all benefits working a Help Desk position. The age limit for Air Force reserves is 39 and if you can get one of the Computer jobs 3D1XX or 3D0XX then the opportunities are endless. They'll train you after basic training and train you while on the job and certifications are a must so they'll fund that. No prior experience needed but you just have to score high on your ASVAB to qualify for the job. When you talk to a recruiter, let him/her know that you are looking to get activated because you have a family to support and have him/her see if there are entry level positions in the area that you can fill when you finish technical training school.


You can go that route or get your A+ and Sec+. They will go great hand in hand when you are starting off. Get 1 year minimum with help desk position to get your feet in the field and excel at that so you can get good referrals or recommendations when you try to apply for other jobs like a networking job. It would be great to get an entry level IT position where they have a networking department that you can move up to as you build relationships with co-workers and management. The help desk position is not a step down at all but it's a good position for people to get to know you and your work ethic.


Have you taken any IT classes in a local college nearby? You can meet other IT professionals there or meet someone who is thinking of starting their own consultant IT company.

AverageJoe

Dented, I can understand you wanting to change careers to something more lucrative, but, as others have mentioned, no experience in IT makes the shift difficult. The biggest concern I'd have is that you don't even know if you'd like the work. While you certainly don't have to love the job to better support your family, if you're investing in starting from scratch in a new career, you at least want to make sure you're not committing yourself to something you'll hate.

The CCNA path is a good one, but I suggest you look at the A+ and/or Network+ certifications first. Their time and effort investments are typically much lower than for CCNA, so you'd have the opportunity to stick your toe in the water and see how you like it. Both can be achieved through straight book learning and neither has any formal experience requirement.

My basic plan would be to pick up an A+ book and move through it quickly to get the gist of it. If it seems like your thing, you can double down and study it hard and take the tests (you have to pass two exams for A+). But my advice is to move through it quickly first, just to get concepts and see if it piques your interest. Then go through a Network+ book (Network+ is one exam) the same way.

Just by going through the books you'll have a much better idea of whether you're compatible with the career area, and if you pass the exams you'll be ready for entry level positions. If you decide they're not your thing, well, then you only invested in a couple of books and the time to read them. Conventional wisdom is to take the A+ exam before the Network+ exam, but you don't have to do it that way. Going straight for Network+ is fine (though a lot of help desks seem to value A+ certifications).

Even if you don't take either exam, you'll be better informed about IT and hopefully know if you really want to go down this road. Then if you decide to do the CCNA it's with your eyes wide open and with some idea of what you're getting into.

Just my 2 cents.

636-555-3226

Not to be discouraging, but if you're looking down the Cisco path I can tell you that at least in my area basic Cisco experience (Juniper, whatever) doesn't get you too good of a job making too much money. Having years of Cisco (Juniper, whatever) experience and being very good at networking can, however, get you a lucrative job as a network engineer, but it's going to take you years and years of experience doing it full-time to get there. It sounds like you may have too much going on in your life to get to that level, but you know your life better than me.

Again, I don't want to be discouraging, but being a highly paid network guy (or security guy, in my line of work) usually works best when you start out in late teens or early 20s and don't have a lot going on so you can dedicate the time and years it takes to get really good at it. Not to say it can't happen for you, but just statistically speaking from what I've seen it's an uphill battle.

AverageJoe

grizzlyburr wrote: »

A friend of mine is in the USAF Reserve working in Alabama, making around $50k+ including all benefits working a Help Desk position.

This is a great option, but anyone looking at the reserves should really consider that they may be called on to deploy in support of military operations elsewhere in the world. My son-in-law has been in the reserves for almost 2 years and just got hit with his first deployment. He'll be going to Kuwait, which is probably one of the safer places for a deployment, so that's good, but it's a long time to be away from family.

Just my 2 cents.

Danielh22185

@OP

Have you explored maybe even teaching IT courses for your school? That could be a great way to get your hands dirty with the tech while also studying to prep yourself for departure for a new endeavor. You could maybe even get an "IN" with the school / district IT departments and start doing work for them on off school hours to learn more, possibly even split into their department as well later on. That transition might be a bit easier to do coming from a background of no experience. Then after a few years you could really make a break for something big.

goldenlight

Have you thought about being a Trainer for companies. Verizon Wireless, AT&T, IBM. Maybe you can get on with a large employer then transition over to IT..