Need advice!!!

Hi:
I am new to this site and IT as well. I need some advice for my career and education. Here's what's going on:
I am 22, still in college, not doing so great, but OK. I am computer literate, have the basic skills and knowledge, I'm a quick learner. Don't have any certs.
I want to get a certificate that will put me straight to an entry level job that I can make at least $35k. My personal and family situation making me to quit college for at least next 2 years, and get a full time job to earn some money. I have great interest for network and security. I have planned to quit my present job (making $26k, its office clerk) and stop taking classes and will dedicate the rest of the year to study for a cert.
Can anyone help me with any idea? Any help would be highly appreciated.

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drpower555

I would say keep your job until you have another one, and study in the evenings and weekends. What you need is a paycheck first of all. Everything else comes after that one fact.

sprkymrk

Sorry, there is no "magic cert" that will automatically land you an entry level $35k job. But rather than ask us, check out jobs on monster.com that you would be interested in and see what they require in terms of certifications. Good luck!

rifat13

I was thinking about MCSE. How long usually it takes to get the cert? I know it depends on time spent, study habit and all that. But I am going to put some serious effort on it. How is job prospect? Is anyone going to hire me without any IT experience?
I really appreicate all your help. It's was very good advice DRPower555. You asked me not to quit the current job right now. It atleast paying the bills.
I did a little research and found MCSE is pretty good. Pluse it's some thing good to start with. Do you guys think it will help me anyway? By the way, my major in college was Information system. If I plan to do any cert and finish it down the road, would it be possible to get college credit out of any cert?

blargoe

You aren't going to get a job paying $35k dropping out of college and getting an MCSE.

Cessation

rifat13 wrote:

I was thinking about MCSE. How long usually it takes to get the cert? I know it depends on time spent, study habit and all that. But I am going to put some serious effort on it. How is job prospect? Is anyone going to hire me without any IT experience?
I really appreicate all your help. It's was very good advice DRPower555. You asked me not to quit the current job right now. It atleast paying the bills.
I did a little research and found MCSE is pretty good. Pluse it's some thing good to start with. Do you guys think it will help me anyway? By the way, my major in college was Information system. If I plan to do any cert and finish it down the road, would it be possible to get college credit out of any cert?

Um yeah... Im currently working on my MCSE. its what 7 tests?
You need to study bare minimum 1-2 months to learn and earn your mcse. And that is studying a good number of hours a day. If you have experiance its a definate plus. And I believe that any good MCSE should be making ATLEAST 50k min. My advice is to keep your job and study for your 70-270.

rifat13

I am completely confused. Someone saying I can't be a college drop out and making 35k with just a MCSE. On ther other hand, someone saying I can make 50K. All I need is to start a career in IT within six months that can pay me 35k. is it something that can't be accompolished? guys help me find some ways. I am sorry for acting dumb or not trying to understand. Thnx.

blargoe

Cessation wrote:

Um yeah... Im currently working on my MCSE. its what 7 tests?
You need to study bare minimum 1-2 months to learn and earn your mcse. And that is studying a good number of hours a day. If you have experiance its a definate plus. And I believe that any good MCSE should be making ATLEAST 50k min. My advice is to keep your job and study for your 70-270.

A "good MCSE" would be a person who actually has the SKILLS and EXPERIENCE to match the certification. You can't get this with a couple of months of cramming.

A paper MCSE is unlikely to find $50K anywhere.

jetdynamics

rifat13,

I think we are on the same situation right now, Im also doing some clerical job but also want to get into IT, What I did is I enroll for an evening class in order for me to study my entry level like I took up CompTIA A+ and Network + which I already finish and got my first certification for A+ now on the process of getting my Network + This would at least enable you to get some entry level jobs on IT field now if you still want to move forward there's a lot depends on what path do you want to take like your saying about MCSE or etc...In order for you to be cometitive in the IT industry Certification + Experience will give you the edge.

blargoe

Why do you "need" 35k anyway? You aren't trying to get into IT as an attempt to make loads of money are you? Believe me, it takes a long time and lots of hard work before one develops the skills and knowledge to be able to command the big bucks.

Olajuwon

rifat13 wrote:

I am completely confused. Someone saying I can't be a college drop out and making 35k with just a MCSE. On ther other hand, someone saying I can make 50K. All I need is to start a career in IT within six months that can pay me 35k. is it something that can't be accompolished? guys help me find some ways. I am sorry for acting dumb or not trying to understand. Thnx.

Of course you will need experience to make use of an MCSE certification. Having an MCSE with no experience is worth nothing.

You don't need an MCSE right now. You will have a hard time grasping the technology because you have no real experience. Don't even think about braindump, it will hurt you even more. An entry level Helpdesk / PC tech job pays about 30-40k/yr. Get your A+ and XP MCP and start looking for a job after that. Don't expect to make 35k in your 1st job.

I don't have a college degree, I am 22 with about 5 yrs of real IT work experience and I make around 50k /yr.

sprkymrk

Olajuwon wrote:

rifat13 wrote:

I am completely confused. Someone saying I can't be a college drop out and making 35k with just a MCSE. On ther other hand, someone saying I can make 50K. All I need is to start a career in IT within six months that can pay me 35k. is it something that can't be accompolished? guys help me find some ways. I am sorry for acting dumb or not trying to understand. Thnx.

Of course you will need experience to make use of an MCSE certification. Having an MCSE with no experience is worth nothing.

You don't need an MCSE right now. You will have a hard time grasping the technology because you have no real experience. Don't even think about braindump, it will hurt you even more. An entry level Helpdesk / PC tech job pays about 30-40k/yr. Get your A+ and XP MCP and start looking for a job after that.

No need to be confused, because everyone is right - anything can happen and most of it depends on you.
If you have some experience (beyond normal user eperience) and are fairly savvy with computers, you could very well get an MCSE in 9-12 months that will be more valuable than a 2 month crash course of brain **** and boot camps. After this, an MCSE will look good for an entry level job when competing against guys with no experience and maybe an A+ or Net+ certification, and yes you could get one in the 35K range depending on where you live.
That said, it's also entirely possible that some of the tests required for an MCSE will be too difficult for you without experience and you could get discouraged after failing more than once. You could still earn an MCP by passing at least one exam, which will be as good as an A+ for many employers. However, starting wage may only be in the low to mid 20's. That's not all bad either though, because during your first year or two of working in the IT field you could finish earning your MCSE, plus with 2 years experience - now you are startiing to have more options and the ability to earn better money.

rifat13

Guys:
Thanks all for your help. First thing, many of you saying an MCSE w no exp is a piece of paper. well right now, I don't even have that piece of paper. So getinng that wouldn't hurt anything I guess.
Second, I got to study slowly and steady to get the cert. I just can't finish it like a nascar race car.
Some of you saying start with somehting easier than that such as A+ or Network +. But same thing here, certs w/o any experience= no job. However, most of the people who are A+ or Net+ certified have practically little or no exp at all. somebody mentioned a very good point, a MCSE wil be benificial in terms of getting an entry level job that require A+ or net+

my instict telling me to get a MCSE. i don't know though, I will do a little more research before I jump into something.

blargoe

A+, Net+, and MCP are ENTRY LEVEL certs. Their purpose is to certify that you are ready to to take an entry level position. The MCSE is an expert level cert, if a hiring manager sees you are an MCSE and you don't have no experience, no IT education, and no training, they will know you don't really know what you are certified to know. Plus, it would be very difficult, time consuming, and possibly very expensive for you to undertake at this point in your journey.

Get your feet wet with A+ and/or MCP at first and do everything you can to get your hands on experience with the technology.

Good luck!

sharptech

Certs do not get you a high paying job, EXPERIENCE does! Get A+ certified, get an entry level position w/in a company and work your way up from their.

Danman32

Although certs do say you were exposed to the subject matter, even if you haven't had experience to retain the exposure.

Case in point: I got my CCNA a few months ago. Haven't worked with Cisco before, though I have taken on some simple routing questions from clients, mostly static routing. However, because of my exposure, I at least have a clue in working with routers.

It may be better and certainly easier to obtain an MCSE once you have had experience working with servers and networks, but if you have the time, start working towards it. I can't see it will hurt, as long as you don't set your expectations so high that you won't take entry level positions.