Finally got a job in IT

March 2007 I decided to change my career and to be honest look for my first real job after working in retail and bumming about playing sport for years.

Started the CCNA in April 2007 which was real quite difficult for me because I’d never really studied before and didn't know jack about computers, took me 5 months to complete and I’m currently 25% through the CCNP having passed one exam.

Trying to find a job in IT has been real demoralizing looking at job descriptions that list vast amount of skills and experience for little money and having to talk to hundreds of agents that get your hopes up about finding something only never to phone again. All the time this is going on you have to keep yourself motivated to learn more and convince yourself and other around you that the money your spending on equipment will one day pay you back. I have tried to do all the right things by getting work experience and working for free so I could have something on my CV.

Anyway I start work on Monday as an ‘IT support manager’ for 40 XP workstations and 2 servers for a National Health Service Trust. I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in and hopefully this will be the start of a solid career.

Just wanted to say thanks to the guys and girls (not that I’ve ever seen one of them) on here for helping with my studies and stupid questions because without you it really would be me, myself and I.

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Comments

dynamik

Congratulations! Way to stick with it and not give up! I'm glad things are turning around for you.

However, this is no reason to slack on that CCNP

aueddonline

dynamik wrote:

Congratulations! Way to stick with it and not give up! I'm glad things are turning around for you.

However, this is no reason to slack on that CCNP

I am hoping without the stress of having to find work my study might become a little easier, plus i'm my own boss at work so I should be able to find some quite times to pick up a book

ironlung

Congrats! thats awesome got your foot in and your the boss.

Slowhand

Sounds like a familiar road, big kudos for sticking with it. Sounds like you've got a pretty good foot in the door, as well. Most people go from a McJob (retail) to doing something like helpdesk or jr. admin, I'm glad you don't have to start there. Congrats on the new job, good luck on your CCNP studies, and here's to hoping this is just the beginning.

UnixGuy

congratulations and good luck !

I highly recommend you get certifications on the products you're managing. If you're administering Windows server, then go for MCSE.

iburrows

That should get your CV rocking and rolling and really help with your new career in IT.
Well done mate

coffeeking

I can say that "I hear you man"

I too did retailing for a number of years and wasn't really serious about building a career, 6 months ago that changes and I switched from retail to InfoSec.

This has been a great change, yet there is so much to learn, it has been smooth, there was a lot of pressure in the beginning, the pressure of not knowing what I was doing with minimal knowledge, but now its changing.

Good luck with everything mate, I am glad you have changed your career. If you had the gut to do that, you will definitely do alright.

laidbackfreak

aueddonline wrote:

Anyway I start work on Monday as an ‘IT support manager’ for 40 XP workstations and 2 servers for a National Health Service Trust. I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in and hopefully this will be the start of a solid career.

welcome to the world of the NHS....... if youve never worked in the nhs before its a different beast...

it can be both reqarding and immensly frustrating.... but judging by what your looking after its one fo the smaller trusts.... so should be good

enjoy it and LEARN from it, the one good thing I have found (tho not at my current place) is the training opportunities can make up for the lack of other benefits.....

nel

Congrats man,

Just make sure that book reading doesnt interfere with you taking care of the system - we dont want any patients dying on us because of any "system issues"

aueddonline

Just finishing up my second week on the job, it's been hard to start off with because I only had one day handover time and there are quite a few funny systems here. My management experience is helping quite a bit, something I managed to get from retail

I really happy with the job at the moment, especially every time I look on the news

gorebrush

Ironic because I work for the health industry too.

If you ever hear the name Rocialle - that's who I work for.

Congrats on the job!

Mishra

Congrats!