Friend in need?

I got a friend who got absolutely no education. He was like a dropout from upper secondary school (gymnasium here in Sweden) and he cant get a job in these times, neither can he get into any university nor can he get the grades he need to do so becouse he is too young.

I feel for him, and I really think he should try to make it into IT. I have been talking to him about it and he seems encouraged. For an entire year he have done nothing except trying to get crappy jobs only to be denied. I told him that you can show an employee 3+1 things when looking for an IT job, and I listed:
Certs
Experiance
Grades/Degrees
And of course Social skills, therefor the +1.

Since he obviusly got no experiance and cant get any, I told him to get certs. I'm a Ciscoguy and I told him to start with the CCENT, but there it stopped for me. I dont want to force him into networking, maybe he will like SAN:s or anything better? Here to the question, what certs would you recommend for him to try for? I was thinking of Sec+, Linux+, maybe a A+ aswell as a WinXP cert. What do you wise guys think? Maybe I shouldnt even have convinced him into this?

Sorry for my english, I really need to learn to write in english...

Morty

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Comments

networker050184

I think he should go for the A+ and try to get some sort of tech position. From there he can get exposure to the different aspects of IT and choose which he prefers.

I think it is a great thing to motivate a friend, just ensure you do not give him false hopes. Its going to be hard finding a job with no education or experience.

the_Grinch

I agree that he should go for the CompTIA certs to see if it is for him.

maumercado

networker050184 wrote: »

I think he should go for the A+ and try to get some sort of tech position. From there he can get exposure to the different aspects of IT and choose which he prefers.

+1, i agree with this approach...

Daniel333

He needs to round his basics off and decide for himself.

A+ for hardware
MCDST for desktop OS
CCENT for networking basics
Linux+ would be helpful too.

And seriously should consider maybe spending some time really learning the ins and outs of Microsoft office. Going to be a lot of fundamentals he is missing.

NetAdmin2436

+1

The CompTIA A+ would be a first good step.

ULWiz

Yeah i would take either the A+ or Network+ to start.

mikej412

Morty3 wrote: »

For an entire year he have done nothing except trying to get crappy jobs only to be denied.

He doesn't really have much to lose by trying to go for crappy IT jobs

If you can motivate him (and he has either a minimal aptitude for computers or at least a desire for a paycheck) then I'd agree with starting with the basics -- A+ and MCP (MCDST) and basic Office (MS Office

) skills. You can get him started and advise him along the way, but at some point he'll have to figure out what he likes -- assuming he has what it takes to join the elite ranks of the IT Professional.

It won't be easy since he'd be competing against other people with the certifications AND an Education, but that's where the people skills come in -- and motivation and perseverance. Plus the willingness to work for less money than "more qualified" candidates could also help if he can convince an employer that he could do the job as well as the "more expensive talent."

It won't be easy, it may not be fun facing the rejections along the way, but it's very possible.

Slowhand

First of all, feel free to smack him for not finishing up gymnasiet, that's not a good thing. With the way things are, an education is a rock-solid investment. Second, I think that starting him off on something like the CCENT or one of the CompTIA certs is a good idea. He'll probably want to do A+, either Network+ or CCENT, and Linux+ in order to give him a nice foundation in pretty much anything he'll come across. After that, it's a matter of building up his experience and knowledge. If he's interested in networking, then going for the CCNA, CCNP, and maybe even on to CCIE is a good path. If he's into systems administration, then doing the MCSE of MCITP: Enterprise Administrator training will be good, as will additional specialties like learning Exchange or picking up VoIP. It'll be a balance between what he likes to do and what's in demand, (it's been a while since I looked at jobs outside the U.S.) Get him started, make sure he reads up and gets plenty of hands-on training, and he'll be able to find work before he knows it.

Jag förstår vad du menar med att skriva på engelska. Min svenska är urusel och blir bara värre ju längre jag bor i Kalifornien, därför skriver jag nästan aldrig hem. Det blir snart dax att plugga svenska på UC Berkeley.

Morty3

Thank you so much for your help!