New Geek Life

Been cool all my life smoked pot played xbox 360 and football and basketball cool stuff right. Worked on cars for walmart and now im at red river chevy. I get to work on camaros and corvettes all the time. But now im ready for change maybe its time to stop the pot and playing and go to college im only 20 and i want a geek future. I want a degree in computer science and i have an interview at best buy for the geek squad. this may be my opportunity to change into a more cleaner organized and intelligent me but i will need help on this new jorney im about to embark upon thats how i found this site i think if i get more involved with a community of individuals where i can gain geek knowledge and then become a new master geek myself.

IMAG0219.jpg

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

Comments

Master Of Puppets

Welcome to TE!You have come to the right place. There is an abundance of highly motivated and experienced people who give the best advice!

Have you chosen the direction of your IT journey?Programming or networks for example?

Also, you don't have to be a geek like those in the movies.I have always been one of the coolest kids, partied a lot but also studied a lot.I was the only one of the cool kids in school who was a straight A student and along with that the synonym for cool and popular

My advice would be not to take things to excess - yeah sure get high once in a while and party if you like to but get serious when you have to.What I'm trying to say is that you can really have the best of the two worlds, believe me. Now I'm doing my BS degree in Network Technologies, 19 years old, close to landing the perfect job and still the same stuff as in school. Success doesn't necessarily mean having no life whatsoever.

Cisco Inferno

I'm no geek. Im a damn well skateboarder, I dj on the side, party a ton and go clubbing, i go to music festivals where I dance for 3 days straight, i get shitfaced and I get laid.
But then again im 23

I'm just tech savvy with a heavy interest in telecommunications.

Live your life. We live in a tech driven society, the only difference is that cliche geeks have no life whatsoever. You can definitely have the best of both worlds.

Welcome to this forum. It's been a beacon of light for me in terms of direction and professionalism. The members here are polite professionals who range from students looking for guidance to level 1 techs, to IT managers, to six figure network architects and network security professionals.
One of the best things I've seen in these forums are individuals advancing in their careers through the help this forum brings. Its sorta inspirational ya feel?

Anyways, what about IT interests you? There are so many roads to go down. Many of us start at a more general entry level role and work our way up from there. Such focuses range from Microsoft server technologies, to Enterprise networking(Cisco routers and switches), databases to datacenters to high level wireless, security, and even Voice (where your voice travels over the network cable). All these things need administration, management and configuration on various levels. EVERY company needs IT services. IT jobs are expected to boom like crazy in the next couple of years. We need skilled people and people who are determined like you. It's an ever changing world with new technologies coming out all the time with less and less people keeping their knowledge current.

Its good that you mention you wish to go to school. One thing I'll let you in on is that you do not need a pure Computer Science degree. CS degrees consist of high level programming, math and physics classes. An IT degree, or Computer Information Systems degree is more applied rather than theory and certainly works for this career path over a CS degree.

Let me know if you have any questions.

NetworkVeteran

Any degree or certification opens doors. However, a fair number of tech jobs require or prefer a CS or EE degree.

A CS degree typically includes programming, math, and physics classes--but often also public speaking, software engineering, writing reports, computer architecture, networking, security, etc. It lays a well-rounded technical foundation for most engineering roles.

Cleaning up may be wise, but neither path requires nor recommends forgoing a social life.

It's all about where you want to be in five years.

DewayneDaMan

its nice to meet everyone i feel like the new guy and i haven't even started college yet... Ill become more familiar with you guys more as i get on and make more posts and replies I would like to first say that ill respect any ones opinion as long as its helpful with my cause and if i get up to a level where you feel like you can seek my advice feel free to ask me any questions you may have im not a facebooker or twit so i do social communication through forums and blogs like this.

odysseyelite

No reason to kill the social life. I go out, drink beers, work on my cars, play sports, travel and take the girl friend out on the town. You may need to manage your time better. As for the pot, time to kick that habit just because you have drug tests for higher professional jobs. Instead of playing xbox all day, you limit it to a few hours because you need to study for the next certifcation. I have a Information Tech degree and it opens any doors I need. It depends on what you want to do down the road. If security or programming than CS, if PM, administrator, tech than maybe MIS, CIS or IS depending on the college.

Cisco Inferno

DewayneDaMan wrote: »

its nice to meet everyone i feel like the new guy and i haven't even started college yet...

Don't worry. I started college when I was just turning 21. Its no big deal as long as you get your **** done.
If you want to do programming (yuk), take a pure CS degree. If you want to get into grad school, take Calc 1.

If I were you, I would start working on entry level certifications that open your eyes to what lies out there within the IT world. It validates your knowledge and is something to put on your resume as you search for that first IT job. Look into the CompTIA A+ certification.

May I ask you what school you are going to? You can certainly get discounted exam fees from being a student.

dlx509

You are doing the right move, go for it bro. I started in IT at 24 years old, I always like the technology but growing up in a very poor country i never had the opportunity to really express it until 5 years ago when i moved to the US. I dont go to college, I choose the certification path and I am already making 3 times more money than I was making 3 years ago, I am 27 now and i still party a lot get laid and living a cool life with a nice paycheck. I would tell you go for your comptia A+ first, its the foundation for almost everything IT, try to get a job with your A+ then you will decide what to do next on the road after meeting/working with other IT guys.

DewayneDaMan

I'm going to Louisiana State University in Shreveport (Lsus.edu) for a B.S. In Computer Science - Information Systems.

NetworkVeteran

Sweet! A CS degree is almost like a free pass to do any tech work you want to that's not hardware intense (those tend to prefer an EE degree, in case you're curious). I just opened the first networking TAC job in my area and this is in their stated requirements/preferences--

> Bachelors degree in Engineering preferred – CS/EE or equivalent

You, of course, will want to seek out a certification or internship related to your desired career shortly before you graduate.

Cisco Inferno

There are also somewhat more specialized BS degrees, such as a degree in Networking, or a degree in Cybersecurity. As long as its somewhat related and you get it done, you shouldnt have a problem. You may have a problem getting out of school and trying to break in though as some do. Compliment your degree with experience through internships or relevant jobs while in school along with certifications to avoid such a problem.

We here like to call it the trifecta. (Degree/Experience/Certs)

Nobody wants to be making $12 an hour out of college because they have no experience.

DewayneDaMan

well im working on my trifecta now first college lsus, second best buy geek squad interview thursday, third certs from here.

Cisco Inferno

DewayneDaMan wrote: »

well im working on my trifecta now first college lsus, second best buy geek squad interview thursday, third certs from here.

good! keep it up. Dont forget to party in school though. Isnt that what college is all about?

benbuiltpc

Dewayne,

It's great that you want to take your life more seriously, but... and I'm surprised no one else has said it... don't admit to doing illegal drugs in a public forum. You will be haunted for life. Especially when accompanied by a photo!

DewayneDaMan

free speech is powerful but admittance is some i feel better about doing seeing that most people respect it and thanks for the heads up ill be on the careful side with other post

dlx509

Yep the drug stuff.... you gotta leave this behind because some places will ask you to take a drug test and most places will ask for a background check so make sure your stuff is clean.

benbuiltpc wrote: »

Dewayne,
... don't admit to doing illegal drugs in a public forum. You will be haunted for life. Especially when accompanied by a photo!

networker050184

Ok, gentleman let's keep it professional. No need to discuss your drug habits or use inappropriate language.

DewayneDaMan

I would like to learn more about certs starting with A+ whats that?

Cisco Inferno

The CompTIA A+ exam is a two test exam that covers basic PC building, configuring, repair as well as operating system and hardware troubleshooting.

jasong318

Wow, small world, i graduated from LSUS with my CS degree! If I could go back and do it again I probably would of gone the CIS route as I'm not a software engineer. But the program and the professors there are awesome, always willing to help and stay late to work with you.

Like you, I had a colorful past and started college late in life, but better late than never right? If you're interest, there is a defcon group for our area that meets monthly to discuss infosec topics. Here's more info on dc groups and here's the site for our local one.

Good luck on your journey!

DewayneDaMan

hey thanks for the support brother. im going to start a new post here soon but email me more info about our local defcon group

lsud00d

LSU alum here

Good luck Dewayne. As suggested I would recommend editing your posts to remove the unsavory (read: illegal) details.

UnixGuy

Welcome to the forums

Like others have said, giving up social life is a bad idea. Just keep in mind that IT is just another white collar job, after sometime you will realize that's it's just a job that pays. Just saying this so you can adjust your expectations right. It's a good field to be in, you can always work on improving your skills and it can be quite enjoyable when you have the right attitude.