What to learn for an aspiring IT guy?

kroovy

Hey guys!

I just found this site and it is wonderful!

Here is my situation: I am 19 and a CIS major. Im currently a sophmore so I have done mostly GE. My computer experience right now is mostly PC hardware (i build custom computers), repair, troubleshooting, etc. I am planning on becoming a Systems/Network Administrator, systems analyst, database manager, or something else along these lines...I am not entirely sure yet. MY question is what do you gurus think I should be teaching myself now so I can be ahead of the game once I start taking the upper division courses (and maybe some skills that can get me an entry level job)? I honestly don't know most of the skills needed for these jobs.

Thanks in advance!

dynamik

Sounds like the A+/Network+ combo would be a good place for you to start. You should probably spend some time just learning and playing around with various technologies and see what you like. There is a significant difference between all those specializations, so you really need to put some time in and see what you really like to do.

msteinhilber

When I was around that age, I had solid hardware and software troubleshooting skills but was beginning to focus on expanding server and networking technologies. I basically just dove right in and borrowed computers from work (I worked for a computer retailer), man would I have loved to have virtualization technology then.

Download trials of various server software and play around. Mess it up, fix it, break it again, fix it again and keep doing that. You can learn a lot from reading a book and following through with the labs too, but sometimes going in blind and screwing things up a bit can be a good change of pace and help hone your skills further. If you want a good resource for a lot of MS software to play around with as well as a variety of training videos and e-books, you could look into joining the ACM as a Student member - it's like $19 and gives you a lot of resources:

Student Membership — Association for Computing Machinery

I agree with dynamik though, start with a solid foundation like the Network+ and just play around a bit on your own and see what piques your interest the most. Worry about specializing later after you have a bit of a chance to get your feet wet.