best strating place for a 16 year old

Shwan

hello i am a 16 year old and i would love to work in IT. my question is where should i start? the only experience i have is fixing neighbor networks/computer and i am not even sure if that counts as experience! i was thinking geeksquad would that be the best thing to do?

this will also be my first job i really dont know anything so share lots of info!

msteinhilber

A strong high school education, get out and socialize with friends (soft skills are important). Does your school offer any of the Cisco coursework? It wasn't available back in my time, but I hear more about it these days. Perhaps you can check with your school and see if they have any options to volunteer your services too - I know our school had student assistants, it wasn't that glorified - mostly limited to going around to help students in the lab (they let us do this during study halls if we opted). Perhaps of you attend a church or any other organizations you or your parents might be associated with - maybe they need some volunteers to help out with some computer needs.

Any experience you can get at the age of 16 is certainly going to be a great opportunity be it a job where you earn a paycheck or volunteer work, but I think the best thing to focus on is your general studies and maybe some certification studies on the side if your school doesn't offer anything like the Cisco high school programs.

EDIT: Almost forgot - welcome to the forums!

ipconfig.all

Stay in and graduate High School. Gain the needed High School credits to enter university to do a computer degree such as computer science, information systems etc. While you are in High School try and do some I.T certifications such certifications as Comptia A+, Comptia Network +, Comptia Server +. They are entry level I.T certifications that will teach you a great deal of I.T fundementals. Depending on how things go of course, you can try and do some Microsoft certifcation exams such as MCSE, MCSE, MCTS, MCP. By the time you graduate high school you will have a high school diploma and some I.T certifications which will be enough to get your foot into the I.T working world. You can go to university to study a degree if you like, which would also increase your chances in life.

LINKS

COMPTIA CERTIFICATIONS.
CompTIA


MICROSOFT CERTIFICATIONS
www.microsoft.com/learning/certification/

Also try and socliase and build up contacts. Sometimes in I.T it is all about who you know rather than what you know.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Shwan

thanks guys really useful info there.

blargoe

If your high school offers it, be sure to take advantage of any college courses that count toward high school credits. Our school systems in NC use the local community colleges and you can get some core degree requirements out of the way.

Those same community colleges probably have evening courses for A+/Network+/MCP... see if your parents will spring for that

Mishra

I would make sure that IT is definitely the career you want to presue. I would try to get as much information from other people in the career to see what you really think about it. Also, trying to volunteer for non-profit work, doing things like running cable, is a great way to get yourself involved. This is all before you put the time and money into a college degree and a ton of certifications (of course studying for your A+ and other certs qualifies as getting yourself involved).

Ask questions on what it is all about! We can definitely help you out there.

pipemajor

If you are in high school then ask a teacher/administrator for volunteer opportunities supporting IT at school. Often you can get an internship at school.

If you are out of school, it is because you are exceptionally smart and have graduated already or - you left school.

If the latter is true, your career is finishing high school. Period.
Any career field will be tough without a college education or post-secondary training. It will be nigh impossible without a high school diploma.

Nothing wrong with getting a technical certification while you are still in school. Everything is wrong with getting a technical certification in lieu of school.

eMeS

blargoe wrote: »

If your high school offers it, be sure to take advantage of any college courses that count toward high school credits. Our school systems in NC use the local community colleges and you can get some core degree requirements out of the way.

Those same community colleges probably have evening courses for A+/Network+/MCP... see if your parents will spring for that

I couldn't agree more with this advice. If you use your head and plan well you could easily knock out quite a bit of your general education requirements.

My only other bit of advice to you is to write down what your goals are, and then try to work backwards and decompose your goals into as many individual tasks as possible that can be accomplished. Write this down, and look for tasks that can help achieve one or more goal and start getting stuff done...

MS

BroadcastStorm

Shwan wrote: »

hello i am a 16 year old and i would love to work in IT. my question is where should i start? the only experience i have is fixing neighbor networks/computer and i am not even sure if that counts as experience! i was thinking geeksquad would that be the best thing to do?

this will also be my first job i really dont know anything so share lots of info!

That's a great start, geeksquad, it's a doggy dog world out there, have fun party, get as much GF as you can

murdatapes

Definitely see if your school offers any I.T. related courses. A+, and CCNA was offered at my high school after I left. I was pissed as hell when they did that . But really, back then, I didn't really know what I wanted to do anyway so..... But yeah open your mouth and ask.

GeekSquad would be a great place to kick this off. I worked at Big Lots! for my first job in high school, so I say go for it. You will learn a lot there (I used to work part-time there as well

I still Love Big Lots! for my first job experience though

peace