i need advice lol

fbodyfool92

ok as it says in my bio im 21 and i just made the jump to IT and i need as much advice as possible. I bought the A+ book and the CCENT/CCNA as well. And of course, i have absolutely no experience in the field yet and its getting harder to find places to get the experience needed, so maybe if someone could point me to any companies they know of that hire and train people with no experience. i need some way to get my foot in the door. i dont really wanna do a help desk job, but if its the only way then its whatever, but i would even start off pulling cable if i had to. Also, if anybody could tell me if i really should start with the A+ first or if i can just go ahead and get straight into cisco certs. and i notice that a lot of companies want you to have at least four year degree so now im wondering if having a bs is gonna be the only way to get a job now too... one of the main reasons i switched to IT was that i thought schooling for this field wasnt gonna be a long as any other career paths i was considering before. i thought i could either take classes for like 2 years at community college or just take it upon myself and get the certs on my own. one last note, i live with my parents still (and ya it sucks LOL) so i have time to study and get the certs (that is, if the certs alone are even worth enough to get me a job). any advice helps thanks!

Itztal

Welcome to the forum!

IMO...and depending on what tech field you wanted to focus in..id go with CCNA. As far as the job goes...if you can get you're foot in a door then awesome, but I've heard people say you will most likely start out in help desk. What some people also do is once they've gotten the knowledge is do free work..meaning you go to say a church or non profit and set them up for free...that way you have some experience in your portfolio.

Good luck

RouteMyPacket

Look for Help Desk jobs. This will be your foot in the door, if you land at a consulting firm that also has consultants in the field then you can always transition off the HD to Desktop, then to Sys Admin or Network Admin etc..

pamccabe

Schooling for this field will be a life long adventure. You will always have to learn, read, and keep up with the latest technologies. As others have said, start with Help Desk. Might be your only option. The A+ might help you get that first job and shouldn't take too long to accomplish. I guess you should consider what you want to do in IT. If you want to network, then yes, get into Cisco certifications.

fbodyfool92

thanks for the words of wisdom guys, i seriously appreciate it. MY plan is to go into networking, so am i still gonna have to work at a help desk? or would i be able to get some type of entry level network technician job? and if help desk what companies are most apt to hire newbs? and one more question i would like answered above all is, am i absolutely going to have to get a bs or masters degree or will i be able to succeed and move up with experience and certs? anything helps!

pamccabe

I guess you don't have to work help desk if you find an opportunity in networking. Hard to answer that one. I'm a networking student that is going to take my CCENT exam soon. Landed an internship through my school in a help desk role, it is not networking, but it is experience. That is important. If you are attending school maybe check with your advisor or instructors about internships available. That is what I did and found out each program at my school has internships available. My advisor gave me a list I can apply for and they are entry level positions. It is a great starting point. Not only that, but these positions aren't released to the general public so its specifically for students. I'd check with your school to see if they do the same. I can't imagine they don't.

fbodyfool92

Thanks for the tip! not sure why i hadn't thought of doing that yet... lol