Trying to start a career in IT...

zenzen

ok...I have my A+(hardware/os) and I'm working on network+ right now. I just wanted to get some feedback on whether or not those certifications are generally enough to land an entry level pc technician job.

I really want to stop the 'job' thing and try to start a career. I love building computers and just 'messing' around with them. I just dont' want to have to travel all over the place I want a job where I can work in a centralized location.

one more thing. I went to NC State for a semester, in the college of engineering there. Also have taken online classes of some sort at chapel hill and uncc and went to ecpi for a while. I never finished because honestly I hated it. I felt like we were learning the same 'crap' for about a month straight so I just quit going. I hate the US education system if you can't tell. but anyway does having higher education like that but never finishing hurt your chances? I guess they'd ask in an interview and I wouldn't lie i would tell them I could learn the same exact material in 1/5th the time myself without having to wake up early and if they try and say well we need to know you can stick to something you don't like I could just tell them I've worked retail for 6 years.

int80h

zenzen wrote:

does having higher education like that but never finishing hurt your chances?

Yes

nuglobe

int80h wrote:

zenzen wrote:

does having higher education like that but never finishing hurt your chances?

Yes

No, just play it off as you didn't have enough money to finish and you will be fine. I was in the same boat a few month back. I got my CCNA and was able to answer all the questions for interview and landed a network operations job with a company that owns multiple datacenters across the US. I have worked with this company since Nov and have already gotten a raise after passing 70-270. Aim higher with the certs is what I would suggest.

frankj1247

zenzen wrote:

ok...I have my A+(hardware/os) and I'm working on network+ right now. I just wanted to get some feedback on whether or not those certifications are generally enough to land an entry level pc technician job.

zenzen,

I don't want to blow smoke up your A-S-S and tell you that you're going to get a good job or even a half decent job, chances are you won't without any experience, but then again don't ever let anybody tell you that you can't be something either, You have to decide! You say you worked in retail for 6 years, is it getting you anywhere? Well, I've worked in retail when I was 17-18, but I'm 26 now and thinking about raising a family, you just can't do that on retail wages. You say that you didn't like college; my advice is to get off your A-S-S and go back, change your major to something that you're passionate about because you are nothing without your 4-year degree(don't wanna take my advice? Why don't you not go back to college and come back to this forum in five years and tell me how your retail career is going), you will always be in retail if you don't go back to college. A certification will always become obsolete, but a DEGREE is GOLD!!!

I apologize if I sound cynical, but when I read your quoted portion up above you sounded alot like me circa 2004. So, the answer is certifications will not be enough to get you a job, certifications are educational and fun; they are a piece of paper, a line on your resume, but not a predeterminate of your ability to be a good employee/systems administrator. You gotta have big balls to get the big jobs, do you have'em?

I will tell you my experience, I studied for certifications for a long time while being self-employed(I still am part-time) and I was still being offered 12-13 an hour without benefits, not enough to live on in Northern New Jersey(one of the most expensive places to live in the U.S.). I recently went on my first non IT job interview and was hired on the spot for 15/hour as a CPA's assistant when I know jack S-H-I-T about accounting. HINT, HINT, HINT, i.e Supply & Demand!!!

The moral of my story, I still don't have to stop doing IT, accounting jells well with IT in almost every aspect, sure it's not as sexy or exciting as building computers and messing around with cool stuff all day long, but I'll be able to work in a field that is very very secure and financially rewarding. The most important thing is that I'll be able to raise a family stress free without the anxiety of unemployment that plaques the IT field. I'm glad that I made the switch to accounting, but I will never give up my GEEK for anyone nor leave this great forum!(That's a solute to you webmaster, I sure do like this forum and I hope it makes you rich).

silentc1015

nuglobe wrote:

int80h wrote:

zenzen wrote:

does having higher education like that but never finishing hurt your chances?

Yes

No, just play it off as you didn't have enough money to finish and you will be fine. I was in the same boat a few month back. I got my CCNA and was able to answer all the questions for interview and landed a network operations job with a company that owns multiple datacenters across the US. I have worked with this company since Nov and have already gotten a raise after passing 70-270. Aim higher with the certs is what I would suggest.

I mostly agree with you, and I'm in a similar situation. I wasn't able to finish, however, because I willing let my girlfriend drag me across the country and had to transfer to several different colleges. However, I nailed all of the interviews and all of the interviewers seemed very understanding of my situation. I even got offers on the majority of the jobs! Read the post I'm about to make in this forum for details on that. But anyway, not having a degree didn't seem like much of a hurdle for me. But I have 6 years of IT experience. I nailed the interviews, also, like I said. By the same token, I'm sure I didn't even get an interview for some positions simply because I didn't have the degree.

So, yea, it matters. But not too much if you have experience. To the original poster: I'd recommend taking a job at a call center or something entry-level. Get a lot of experience. Try to choose a large company so you at least have opportunity for advancement. Thats exactly what I did in the beginning of my career. You can do it, and don't let anyone tell you that you can't!

Paul Boz

I suggest that you avoid going from retail to PC repair/support because they roughly parallel each other on the "you don't want to make a career out of this" totem pole. You may enjoy working on and building computers, but after you do it long enough you realize that there's nothing new, and you're just doing the same stuff over and over. The Comptia certs are typically viewed as worthless by legitimate employers because they're so easy to get (you can brain **** the A+ in a week) so without any experience, a degree, or "real" certs, you're really going to have to either climb some serious ladders in your ideal career, or stick it out and get some more advanced certs.

Here's my career track: When I turned 18 I both enrolled at LSU after graduation from high school and got a entry level 1 tech support job working nights for a smallish ISP/Telco. I worked in tech support for about three years while pursuing my degree (all be it slowly, since I've always worked 40 hours a week and go to school 12) then got promoted to a NOC monitoring/maintenance administration position about eight months ago. I did that by clocking in early and leaving late, and spending my extra time at work learning other people's jobs. When the NOC position became available I beat out everyone else that applied because I was able to prove that I could already do the work. I work over night and take as many pickup shifts as I can because it allows me to go to school during the day, and with the night shift it's very quiet (I'm the only person staffed from 10pm to 6am in the entire company) so I can study for my Cisco certifications in peace. I went from 20k a year to 45k a year at the age of 21 by working my butt off and educating myself outside of the parameters of my current job then pounced on a better opportunity as soon as it became available.

In the tech industry you get places by having a solid understanding of the technology prior to getting a promotion, because people would rather hire someone or promote them if they’re up to speed, rather than remediate them. Right now I’m studying for the CCNA ICND exam (which I’m taking next Monday) and the CCDA exam which I should take some time in February. I’ve spent a lot of time at work studying with the network designers so that I could get further insight into what they do and I spend a lot of time running simulations in my lab. The point of this is that if you really want to get into IT, you have to be willing to put in more time than your co workers because you have to beat them out to get places. Someone will always be better than you - you just have to work to limit the number of people that are to improve your chances. I suggest that you think about what you want to be doing ten years from now and work towards that. By the time I’m 30 I’d like to own my own network design consulting firm and that’s already on the way. Sure, for now PC support may sound fun to you, but do you want to be supporting PC’s when you’re 30 or 40? If you like the desktop environment style of support perhaps you should start pursuing the MCSE.

Oh, and get your degree, no matter how “above the American education system” you think you are. To many employers it doesn’t matter what your degree is in (I’m studying astronomy and physics (double major) simply because they interest me. They have zero bearing on my career but having a piece of paper that says “I spent four years dedicated to getting this” says a hell of a lot more than “hurrr the American education system is dumb and I’m far smarter than that.” That just makes you sound arrogant, because in the eyes of an employer, you’re not above anything you flat out quit on - it shows that you can’t stick to something even if it doesn’t interest you. Having experience in your field is worth more than a degree, but a degree is by NO means worthless, and in most cases can be the difference between getting the job and losing out to someone else.

blargoe

Where are you currently located in NC?

You really ought to work on some kind of formal higher education even if it's a 2 year associates degree.

To answer your original question, I would say in general you should be able to land something but at your experience level you will have to accept some temp/contract positions initially if you want to get the ball rolling. Temp-to-hire are the best situations, as usually if you are a good fit with the team and there is a need for a another body, usually that person would be hired in due time (in my observation).

Kaminsky

Golden rule with IT is "Bums on Seat" experience for 2 years and your golden or at least very difficult for you to ever be unemployed again. (Obviously depending on where you live and the level of education of the local population-competitors for work)

Degrees/industry certifications allow you to progress from the entry level faster. Usually a degree will give you a faster chance of moving up into management than an equivelent employee with the same experience. Industry certifications allow doors to open for you that wouldn't normally open if you hadn't proved you can do the job.

With the A+, network+. These are entry level certs but do give the starting place for the rest of your cert path. The bigger (mcse/ccnp/etc) certs will get you money but you have to get there first.

Another way of advancing is what PaulB suggested with getting in early and going home late but this can have a side effect of keeping you in the same position if you are very good at a certain job and they can't get anyone to replace you.

The other thing PaulB said is so true if you want to continue to advance is to study, study, study once your in work and keep continuing on your certification path.

At the end of the day it is your decision which path you choose. Take an entry level job now and get money and slowly work your way up or go off to university for 3 odd years and still start at entry level afterward but hopefully climb faster after that.

sthomas

ok...I have my A+(hardware/os) and I'm working on network+ right now. I just wanted to get some feedback on whether or not those certifications are generally enough to land an entry level pc technician job.

Experience is the most important thing in IT. Without experience it will generally be difficult to find a fulltime job beyond Helpdesk no matter what certification(s) you have. With that said A+ and Net+ should be sufficient for most entry level PC tech jobs, but if you were to and another cert or two you may want to look into getting MCP and MCDST. Just my 2 cents.