Trying to get back into IT...

I'm brand new to the forum and I just wanted to thank everyone in advance for all the knowledge and advice. I'm 26 and I am wanting to make a move back into the IT field from restaurants. I have a bachelors in marketing but have worked in restaurants ever since college. It was good experience I worked my way up through management at a few different companies and eventually was a GM before I kinda lost it a about a month ago. Now I'm just working as a cook to pay the bills. All that being said, I've always loved computers, been somewhat of a nerd, and in my college days I worked as a install technician doing cabling of voip, office networks and things of the such. Very basic experience but experience non the less. I have some A+ training material and I'm going through it my thought is that this cert is what I should get first. Any advice on certifications? What if any jobs can I expect to find with just my A+ and limited experience? Thanks everyone.

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rogue2shadow

mykie413 wrote: »

I'm brand new to the forum and I just wanted to thank everyone in advance for all the knowledge and advice. I'm 26 and I am wanting to make a move back into the IT field from restaurants. I have a bachelors in marketing but have worked in restaurants ever since college. It was good experience I worked my way up through management at a few different companies and eventually was a GM before I kinda lost it a about a month ago. Now I'm just working as a cook to pay the bills. All that being said, I've always loved computers, been somewhat of a nerd, and in my college days I worked as a install technician doing cabling of voip, office networks and things of the such. Very basic experience but experience non the less. I have some A+ training material and I'm going through it my thought is that this cert is what I should get first. Any advice on certifications? What if any jobs can I expect to find with just my A+ and limited experience? Thanks everyone.

First off, welcome to TE!

The A+, at least around these parts, would get you into either a PC technician (break/fix role) or a tier I desktop support job. After the A+, you may want to try for the CompTIA triad to round out your skills and knowledge base (Net+ and Sec+).

These exams will no longer have a lifetime shelf life after December 31st of this year and from then on will expire every three years with a status of "CE" or continuing education. If you see yourself working in government capacity definitely aim for the Security+ earlier than later. At that point you will want to specialize and start gearing the certs you get towards what you are working with (CCNA or Juniper for networking, MCSA/MSCE/MCITP for Windows administration, LPIC-1/2 RHCT RHCE for linux administration). The job market is a bit rough IT wise; if you know someone in the business its easier to grab a job but persistence does pay off.

mykie413

Thanks for the info! I live in the San Diego area and am told that this is not the best market for IT jobs but also not the worst right now. I'd really like to just get my foot in the door as a pc tech or desktop support just to get back into the field. I know once an IT job is my only job it will be easy to immerse myself into more information and continue on. With my limited and non recent past experience do you think I am making a good move or might I not be able to get a job at all? How should my resume look given my mixed background?

krauser

rogue2shadow wrote: »

First off, welcome to TE!

The A+, at least around these parts, would get you into either a PC technician (break/fix role) or a tier I desktop support job. After the A+, you may want to try for the CompTIA triad to round out your skills and knowledge base (Net+ and Sec+).

These exams will no longer have a lifetime shelf life after December 31st of this year and from then on will expire every three years with a status of "CE" or continuing education. If you see yourself working in government capacity definitely aim for the Security+ earlier than later. At that point you will want to specialize and start gearing the certs you get towards what you are working with (CCNA or Juniper for networking, MCSA/MSCE/MCITP for Windows administration, LPIC-1/2 RHCT RHCE for linux administration). The job market is a bit rough IT wise; if you know someone in the business its easier to grab a job but persistence does pay off.

This is the reality. Excellent advise.

rogue2shadow

mykie413 wrote: »

Thanks for the info! I live in the San Diego area and am told that this is not the best market for IT jobs but also not the worst right now. I'd really like to just get my foot in the door as a pc tech or desktop support just to get back into the field. I know once an IT job is my only job it will be easy to immerse myself into more information and continue on. With my limited and non recent past experience do you think I am making a good move or might I not be able to get a job at all? How should my resume look given my mixed background?

A mix background is also good. Its always nice to have the technical skills as well as the street smarts.

For the resumé, I would say use the fact that you went from the bottom to GM status to your advantage (shows dedication). When describing your restaurant years, make sure to highlight all the achievements you made and what your managerial skills did for the company as a whole (increased profits, etc.). This will definitely show potential hiring managers that you have those leadership skills that may come in handy if they decide to switch you into a management capacity (after you've done your time). With the limited IT experience you'll have in your resumé, you'll need to make sure it has some type of "wow" factor and it should basically show the overall concepts you have learned thus far. During the interview, make sure to emphasize a deep love for IT (having a CCJS(Criminology and Crim Justice) degree I am often asked "why go IT"); it really shows that you're there for the long haul and its not just a job you're jumping into because " IT is big right now". The deeper you get into IT, the more you'll have to constantly be reading blogs, white papers, and books to keep up with the trends; if you're down for this, then this is the place to be.

In regards to this being a great move for now really depends on you and your situation. The economy will surely (but steadily) get better as years go by and more people actually retire but the reality is we can't expect a million jobs to appear tomorrow. If you have a family, I would say family comes first and do whats stable for them. If you have huge bills to pay off, you might want to wait till those are settled and you have a strong savings before making the hop (essentially you'd be going from GM to helpdesk/support *huge pay difference depending on your company*).

In the end the decision is yours. Definitely post your resume at some point and make it anonymous; there are tons of great minds here who can give you great feedback on it.

krauser wrote: »

This is the reality. Excellent advise.

Thanks :P

Daniel333

How much time can you honestly set aside to study?

mykie413

I can do about 3 hours on days I work (5 days of the week) and on days off can probably handle about 5 to 6 hours of studying, more than that is probably a waste. I'm really committed to doing this so I can study for a lot of hours. with my limited experience I feel like 2 or 3 weeks of putting those kind of hours in studying should get me ready.

mikej412

mykie413 wrote: »

in my college days I worked as a install technician doing cabling of voip, office networks and things of the such.

Consider using your cabling experience to shift from cooking to cabling to pay the bills. And hopefully the exposure to a large number of customer locations and cabling jobs could give you a better idea of the local job market -- and some connections and contacts to find possible systems/networking job openings.

mykie413

mikej412 wrote: »

Consider using your cabling experience to shift from cooking to cabling to pay the bills. And hopefully the exposure to a large number of customer locations and cabling jobs could give you a better idea of the local job market -- and some connections and contacts to find possible systems/networking job openings.

Thanks for the idea. I'm actually up at 3:30 am right now doing a new resume. A googled a bunched of local cabling companies and hopefully I can get an interview. Any tips for email body, resume, cover letter?

pixelperson1

Hi, Read your posts & I thought you might want to look at getting an older PC for study purposes.

When I was comming up I got some good advise.

I was told to find an older PC (working or not working...doesn't matter) for use as a study aid.

I was lucky and spotted a couple of old PC's at a garage sale. Got two of them, one working, the other not, for $20.00. Tore them apart, fixed them, and used them to study. You don't need to spend big bucks to learn.

You mentioned that you lived in San Diego. There used to be some computer user groups (Mac & PC) in that area. I suggest that you find them and look into attending. You might find a job that way as well. When your starting out you might want to look a project work. Help people remove viruses, install basic upgrades, etc.

On a related note. See about joining forces and form a study group with others. Meet on neutral ground, ie. the local library.

Look into your community college for night/weekend computer courses. MS Word, Outlook, as well as a possible A+ or Network+ track. Remember knowledge of the main software (MS Office) applications is important when troubleshooting.

Good luck

Priston

A+ and Network+ would be a good start.

If you have experience as a network cable technician, you should already know about 50% of the information on the network+ test.