Looking to Break Into IT - Urgently need Help !

thelazyporter

Hi Guys,

I am a career changer (not based in the U.S.) but have applied to U.S. Grad Schools for a Masters in Information Systems this Spring.

I have zero IT experience, have 3-4 years exp in Corp Sales and have started studying for my first Cert (Comp TIA A+). I'm in the middle of a period where if i do get accepted, I could be on my way in 2 months, hence I've been advised to rather use these 2 months to focus on my CERTS and try for an internship (Post Certs and with a longer time to work).

Future Plan : To Land a H1B Job in the U.S.A in IT (I'm guessing this will be an entry level job)

Current Plan : Aim to complete the Comp TIA Triad (A+,Sec+ & Network+) as soon as possible. Then proceed with CCNA and CISSP post gaining some real experience in the form of Internships.

Do I have a shot at achieving my dreams and landing a job, despite no work ex ? What would you advise, for a newbie like me ?

koz24

Sure, if you are motivated you can do it. Sounds like a good plan but I'm not sure on the CISSP. Maybe some of the CISSPs here can help but I don't know if internships count towards the security experience requirement of the cert.

thelazyporter

Thanks ! I'll look into it...

soccarplayer29

CISSP requires 5 years of full time paid work experience so maybe revisit that goal in a couple of years and see where you're at.

I like that you're focusing on the CompTIA certs to build a foundation. Those should help prepare you for the Masters program.

It's a long journey, make smaller (quicker and easier to achieve) goals to help get you where you want to be.

thelazyporter

Thanks a tonne ! I will

kiki162

Starting with the CompTIA trifecta (A+, N+ and Sec+) is a good start. Figure out what area of IT you want to get into first. You can use your Sales background and IT skills gained from certs and education with many infosec-based corporations. If you plan on being a full time student at a university in the US, you can look at student teaching positions, and other internal positions to gain some experience. Internships can also be quite competitive, so unless you are at the top of your class at a well know university, you'll need to market yourself appropriately.

thelazyporter

Thank you for the advice...Yes, I will be a full time student at U.S. University (hence will be looking to land TA's/GA's and on campus work in the I.T. Department or in a related area - before I am legally allowed to apply for off campus internships; I have applied to 2 year programs).

volfkhat

You don't need a MASTERS (nor the student debt) to break into I.T.

Why not get the Certs, Training, and Experience in your homeland instead?

then H1B your way over.
(just saying)

Dakinggamer87

A master's degree will help with management roles primarily. I'm sure it would also be useful for more senior level positions.:)

NotHackingYou

OP - yes, IMO you do have a shot with the Comptia Trifecta! However, I think you will face more competition than if you had some IT experience in your home country first. Is that possible while you work on getting certified? Most people here don't care if you are H1B or not so don't expect some of the negative feedback to be the norm.

The CISSP will require 5 years full-time security-related work so it's a good goal on the horizon but not short-term for you. Do you have a specific area of interest - networking, servers, applications, programming, security, etc?

mudflaps

if you have no IT experience, taking the CISSP would be a big mistake. not only do you not meet the experience requirements, you won't have the knowledge to pass it. it is not an exam where you can memorize answers, take the test, and pass. i say this with all objectivity, not trying to be negative.

aftereffector

What type of career do you want to have? There are a lot of paths in IT - systems administration, networking engineering, architecture/design, virtualization, devops, about 50 different versions of security jobs, and on and on. The CompTIA triad is always a good start but if you are going for a graduate degree, you aren't going to want to end up doing helpdesk support any longer than you absolutely have to!

Where are you going to school? I.E. is it a full time, on-campus program with the possibility of on-campus recruiting? There are a lot of great entry level jobs that exclusively recruit university students - you'll run into those at career fairs and through some good ol' networking with your professors and peers. If it's a distance learning program, you'll still be fine but you may have to seek out more traditional entry-level opportunities to build up that experience. Internships are great, but make sure you get a good one.

One thing that caught my eye - you have sales experience and you will be a grad student. Have you thought about going into a presales role with one of the big vendors? My company is always hiring recent graduates for its sales acceleration program, both on the sales and the engineering side, and I know there are a lot of opportunities with other big-name vendors as well. PM me if you want some more details on that.

chopsticks

OP's dream may be broken now.