How many of you here got your first job in I.T without experience or certs or degree?

genderdude

How many of you here got your first job in I.T without experience or certs or degree? And what year was this and what was the pay?

and where are you guys now and how much money and qualifications and experience do you all have now?

Heard it was possible to start in I.T without anything before is it still the same case?

wastedtime

I think most of us would agree that it is possible. The question is why wouldn't you want to stand out from the other people that are applying?

While I did have certifications my employer didn't care (military) about them as it was assessment based.

N2IT

~2005

Degree no certifications.

powerfool

I got my first IT job without experience, degree, or certifications in 1999 doing web development. Salary: $25K.

Next job was doing similar for $30K. I didn't move beyond $35K until I had my MCSE under my belt, which put me at $42K, and then my salary began to accelerate as I progressed through and completed my undergrad.

Now, at 12+ years experience with many good certifications and pursuing a graduate degree, I make about 4x what I started at and I am a senior systems/network engineer on the verge of becoming a lead systems/network engineer for a extremely large consulting company on a multi $100mm contract.

effekted

I started doing tech support for colleges over the phone and quickly moved up the chain into Management and etc. and after several years of doing that I was ready for a change and because I was liked by our IT dept and already knew how to fix a lot of the common DST issues I was given a shot. Started doing DST and after a couple weeks was given a troublesome system and been in a system/network/security administration role since.

Just remember, you can always learn/be taught technical skills but if you're a jerk/have a poor attitude the chances of someone hiring you and taking the time to develop your skills will be slim to none. Always keep in mind the saying "You attract more bee's with honey than vinegar".

Hypntick

Network help desk for a Hotel chain, no experience, no certs, and only a high-school diploma. Worked with Cisco gear exclusively supporting 2k+ hotels and over 150k rooms. Was rough work, back to back calls, with no hope for advancement due to the economy and a hiring freeze at the time. I learned a good bit in that job, however I stayed way longer than I should have. The economy however, left me glad to just have a job.

dead_p00l

I guess I got lucky. I started out in a local computer repair shop in 1996 and started doing networking for them shortly afterward. That was a foot in the door and ive managed to work my way up to Senior Network Engineer for my region(Different company) from there. It was a fairly long path and Certs or Degrees would have probably made it easier but there's something to be said for hard work and on the job experience too.

techie2012

I started out at the Geek Squad with no experience, degree or certs making 9.25 an hour last year. Since then I have gotten my A+, Net+, CCNA, A.A.S Net admin and am a network engineer and making more than double what I was making then starting out. All it takes is a little ambition and a lot of prayer.

N2IT

effekted wrote: »

I started doing tech support for colleges over the phone and quickly moved up the chain into Management and etc. and after several years of doing that I was ready for a change and because I was liked by our IT dept and already knew how to fix a lot of the common DST issues I was given a shot. Started doing DST and after a couple weeks was given a troublesome system and been in a system/network/security administration role since.

Just remember, you can always learn/be taught technical skills but if you're a jerk/have a poor attitude the chances of someone hiring you and taking the time to develop your skills will be slim to none. Always keep in mind the saying "You attract more bee's with honey than vinegar".

Truth

Anyone can learn the technical side of things.

Like Cablegod once said. "I can teach anyone anything technical, but I will not teach someone how to be respectful or polite".

drkat

I started out in 2005 as a deployment technician (no professional exp, just home geekin and no degree) The job paid $14/hr with massive OT so my take home was like $580/week or something of that nature.

6 years late - still no degree or certification - salaried in the $50K mark. CCNA is "in progress" just as it's been for the past few years. Guess you could say I'm a school of hard knocks kind of guy. This makes for a rewarding career but ... lots of hard work and "gambling" trying to gain enough experience to be taken seriously. Lots of contract work by the way - which lead to unemployment once it either ran out or "they didnt need you anymore" nothing is like coming home friday night and getting a call saying dont come to work on monday - then having to tell your family there wont be no food next week ... humility is learned VERY quickly.

During those 6 years it was deployment to desktop support to helpdesk to NOC - doing the cisco and voip stuff which is what I do now and currently hold a NOC Engineer title. Got an interview next week for a Sr. Network something or some odd other job so hopefully that'll increase the pay and move on to something better.

Experience really is the key - and once you can show your experience and be adaptable then you can start "demanding" more money. It really depends on the market you're in. My market in Western NY $50K is a good living since COL is so cheap. However with the rising costs of which seems to be everything these days it's not cutting it especially when you have children and a wife.

I believe attitude is key - I agree that being a jerk gets you no where; but you should also be forward and proactive and dont let people push you around either.

MrRyte

N2IT wrote: »

Truth

Anyone can learn the technical side of things.

Like Cablegod once said. "I can teach anyone anything technical, but I will not teach someone how to be respectful or polite".

+100.

Sad to say; humility seems to be a dying trait nowadays.....

QHalo

2000 as an Intern making $10 an hour. Now I make significantly more. BTW, my CCNA had nothing to do with my pay rate or job position. Moreso on my experience with the application they need help on.

vCole

2007 - no degree (9 months on college coursework), no certs and no experience.
$13/hr to start, 3 months later bumped to $14/hr.
Now? Certifications, still no degree and 4 years of experience. Sys Admin making ~$60k

TLeTourneau

1997 as a DoD contractor for the DFSC. No degree, no certs, no formal education & my first IT job. It paid well (over 45K plus per diem) but there was a LOT of travel. Thirteen countries and 38 states in eleven months, I think I was home for a total of five weeks that year.

Akaricloud

I started in 2008 as a Desktop Support Technician for a state university. I had a general AA degree that they didn't actually care about and no certs. Pay started at ~$8.50/hr and eventually moved to ~$11/hr. I was also making $5/hr on top of that through the work study program most of the time.

Just recently I quit that job and moved to a similar position within a healthcare company. Pay is $20+/hr transitioning to salary(hopefully with a nice raise) at the beginning of the year.

It's possible but don't expect anything to be handed to you. You'll have to put in much more work finding employment if you choose to go this route.

SteveLord

Started in 2005 - Desktop Support for Textile factory/companies
-No Certifications
-No professional experience, but I was handy with computers break/fix/build
-My wimpy tech school diploma
-$33k annually, few benefits

Current job since 2008 - IT Specialist State Government
-Added A+ before working here
-Started at $38k
-Now have mores certs and didn't pay a dime for the training or tests
-Reclassified to higher pay grade
-Now make $48k. Free health insurance ultimately makes it worth around $70k

networker050184

SteveLord wrote: »

-Now make $48k. Free health insurance ultimately makes it worth around $70k

Damn, what kind of health care costs over $20k a year?

Bl8ckr0uter

I did. Just my good looks and some computer related stuff I did back in high school.

tbgree00

I got my first IT job in 2007 with a BA in Economics and no IT experience. It was a job in the same company I had been working for. I volunteered to help lighten the IT guy's load some, his help at the time was not helpful. When she quit I was offered the job.

To give an example of who she was my training consisted of her handing me a stack of index cards that she carried around with her that had some common windows troubleshooting tips, and she told me that she walked around for about an hour a day in the locked storage warehouse to appear busy so she never got any extra projects. Anything was a step up from that!

Devilsbane

I got my first job as I was just finishing up my associates degree. I had A+ and Net+ at the time and it paid like $15 an hour.

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

My first IT job was a Field Desktop Support type position in late 2006. It was a small IT consulting firm that outsourced it's IT services to small businesses. I did remote and onsite support. It paid $29K per year. At the time, I had no certifications or degree except a technical diploma from community college (kind of like a one year degree). My only experience at that point was mostly retail sales in Big Box electronic stores and a few months at a Cingular Wireless call center doing tech support for their data devices.

A few more Technical Support and Systems Administrator positions later, I'm now a Support Engineer for a Business Intelligence software vendor. I'm at 70k/year with 100% paid health and dental insurance. My degrees and certifications I had when starting this position are in my signature.

VAHokie56

First job was in Hells call center...no certs no degree in IT and no IT work experience.


I did have an Associates in a unrelated field from the best school known to mankind Virginia Tech, GO HOKIES

SteveLord

networker050184 wrote: »

Damn, what kind of health care costs over $20k a year?

Our finance lady did the numbers for me and told me one day.

I do have 4 kids. 6, 5, 2, 1. The national average healthcare costs for a family of 4 is between $15-$20k depending on where you read it.

So I'd say she was fairly close. Regardless, it's a lot of money not being taken out salary every month.

Anonymouse

First IT job I didn't have a degree. I only had an A+ cert and worthless experience as a computer tech at a large electronics retail store. I needed money fast and applied for data entry at a college and he saw I had an A+ so hired me for desktop support $20/hour.

powerfool

SteveLord wrote: »

Our finance lady did the numbers for me and told me one day.

I do have 4 kids. 6, 5, 2, 1. The national average healthcare costs for a family of 4 is between $15-$20k depending on where you read it.

So I'd say she was fairly close. Regardless, it's a lot of money not being taken out salary every month.

It really doesn't matter how many kids you have... prices are calculated to cover kid(s) vs. no kids and/or spouse vs. no spouse. $20k sounds a little bit high, but not unrealistic. I think mine is worth about $17k.

alxx

no certs but was a few years into undergrad Computer Systems Engineering degree when I got my first "IT" job
working as a technical officer mostly systems engineering projects.
Changed from that now doing mostly embedded systems/sensor systems work.
(But before uni I used to work as an aircraft maintenance engineer Avionics)

Same for my class tutor/TA jobs - started in third year at uni. Tutoring introductory digital systems (basics of pic microcontrollers in asm and cplds via schematics) also Advanced Digital Systems (fpgas and vhdl) , Engineering Communications , Computational Physics (solve physics problems in java), Optics computer labs (image processing) . and couple of others.

Just have to stick it out and finish this degree (been going 10 years part time) double degree -physics and computer systems engineering. Currently working 3 days a week(21 hours), studying 3 days a week , get around $54k Australian (about $57.5k US ) its just under $50 an hour. Mostly embedded systems, embedded linux/linux ,good bit of electronics and bit of IT.


My little brother scored big time with an IT sub contracting job for Caltex also at approx $50 an hour (but 40 - 55 hours a week) and has absolutely zero IT qualifications.He's been doing it for two years now. Just needs to get himself a few certs to fall back on if needed.

Krunchi

I broke into the field around 1997 landing my first IT job making about 32K a year as a project employee a year later I had to go to a couple of NT classes to get hired on full time. Left the IT field in 03 and then decided to come back last year and found out how much you need certifications now so I went to a Tech school picked up a few and now I'm about to start a new IT job next week making 55K a year.

SteveLord

powerfool wrote: »

It really doesn't matter how many kids you have... prices are calculated to cover kid(s) vs. no kids and/or spouse vs. no spouse. $20k sounds a little bit high, but not unrealistic. I think mine is worth about $17k.

Right, I get that. But regardless of premiums...I am still taking 4 kids to doctors offices, hospitals and ERs.

Danny boy

I had no IT experience or certifications when I got my first job working on a helpdesk. I did however have some customer service experience, having worked on an account payable helpdesk. I have a MA but its in History.

tpatt100

I had no experience and certs I had my MCP in NT Workstation and A+. I started out at 29 a year but started during the .com boom was still going on and anybody with a pulse and the ability to put a Windows 95 disc in the CD rom drive without killing yourself could get a job. I also knew somebody on the inside who pushed heavily for me to get hired. Now I am just under 90K working in the private sector took a small pay cut from government contracting.

MrRyte

genderdude wrote: »

Heard it was possible to start in I.T without anything before is it still the same case?

Maybe in the early mid 90s when IT was still establishing itself. But now-far less likely. I've gotten a few contacts from some IT staffing companies but once I tell them that I've never actually worked in an official IT position (the local IT staff are cool enough to let me assist them with little projects here and there but that's about it ) the conversation ends rather abruptly. The way I see it, unless you're good friends with the HR or IT staff at a company then you're pretty much SOL.