Acquiring relevant experience as a student

ITcognito

Hey everybody,

Just stumbled across this site and I'll definitely be taking advantage of the host of information and resources on here.

Quick question. I am a university student in a IT security program wondering how do I go about acquiring relevant experience before graduating? Any advice or suggestions will be helpful.

Hatch1921

Network with other students and faculty. Look for free or paid intern positions at companies in your local area. I've found networking with the students/faculty has been extremely beneficial. It lead me to help with a huge network project starting at the end of this month. I'm in the same boat as you... college student looking for practical, hands-on experience.

Best of luck.
Hatch

DustyRack

Take what ever work you can get - Try scenarios at home / set up a personal lab the more you experiment with the more you see and experience. When I was a student I spent a lot of my free time working voluntary in a local school just trying to pick up experience - I then went on to design and implement a new network at that spot which was great also allowed me to use some of the skills I was learning in University.

sigsoldier

I would study and get a cert or two under your belt. Most college students won't have them, so when it comes time to interview for internships, you'll have something to stand out.

MentholMoose

Besides internships, look for IT-related jobs on-campus. Jobs at my alma mater included lab assistant, desktop support, help desk, junior network admin, junior systems admin, junior developer, and even network security positions. Some of these were easy to get (e.g. a lab assistant in a general-use lab mainly needed to know how to release print jobs and troubleshoot basic problems), whereas others were very difficult to get but would practically guarantee you an offer for a full-time job after graduation. I've since worked at another university and at least half of the IT department staff were alumni and most had held student jobs.

While in school I worked part-time as a lab assistant in an advanced lab, so it was a mix of tier two support for Blackboard, desktop support, helping with multimedia projects, oh and of course releasing print jobs. These jobs were useful for the resume but wouldn't usually get you a full-time offer at graduation, at least not for a job I wanted. However, having that experience on my resume helped me get a desktop support internship at a bank, which led to a full-time junior systems admin position. Further, having higher-ed experience on your resume, even for a student job, it helpful when applying for full-time jobs at a university.

Polynomial

ITcognito wrote: »

Hey everybody,

Just stumbled across this site and I'll definitely be taking advantage of the host of information and resources on here.

Quick question. I am a university student in a IT security program wondering how do I go about acquiring relevant experience before graduating? Any advice or suggestions will be helpful.

Does your school have a help desk? You'll be light years ahead of everyone else with help desk experience.

blargoe

Any IT job you can find, the sooner the better, Go ahead and cert up, but don't necessarily wait until after you get certs before you look for an entry level IT job or internship.

MentholMoose

Hatch1921 wrote: »

I've found networking with the students/faculty has been extremely beneficial.

Besides students and faculty, try networking with college IT staff. It will help if you already have an on-campus student IT position. Once I was working on-campus in a computer lab, I had plenty of opportunities to network with full-time IT staff, and it helped me score some interviews for better student positions. For example, the student network security positions I mentioned earlier were never advertised anywhere. I happened to talk to an IT staff member who knew about the position and referred me to the hiring manager. I interviewed and unfortunately didn't get it (it went to another student who was already working in the IT dept.), but I must have made a good impression since the hiring manager contacted me a few months later to offer me a similar student position (however, by that time I had already scored a "real" job and didn't have time to take a student position).

kurosaki00

Ive said this before on these forums
but NEVER, NEEEEEEEEVEER graduate without experience.
When you're inschool getting a first job/internship/coop/research/voluntary position is WAY EASIER than when out of school.
Research online, with your school, with your department and so on.
Do all the jobs you can do related to your degree, even if they are free.
Something some do is they do some lab work or basic support in their University, that works too.

Get involved with your college, talk with professors and ask them how can you help and so on.
Again, DONT graduate without experience.

Hatch1921

MentholMoose wrote: »

Besides students and faculty, try networking with college IT staff. It will help if you already have an on-campus student IT position. Once I was working on-campus in a computer lab, I had plenty of opportunities to network with full-time IT staff, and it helped me score some interviews for better student positions. For example, the student network security positions I mentioned earlier were never advertised anywhere. I happened to talk to an IT staff member who knew about the position and referred me to the hiring manager. I interviewed and unfortunately didn't get it (it went to another student who was already working in the IT dept.), but I must have made a good impression since the hiring manager contacted me a few months later to offer me a similar student position (however, by that time I had already scored a "real" job and didn't have time to take a student position).

Agree with you 100% I should have mentioned a couple of the IT staff teach adjunct. They are very generous with passing on info about new job openings or volunteer projects. Do talk to your staff members... tons of knowledge (my experiences with them) I'm sure they could point you in the right direction.

Again, best of luck.
Hatch

ITcognito

Thanks for the awesome advice guys.

I'm pretty close with my professors, so Lab Assistant maybe possible next semester. I'll definitely talk with our IT department and ask if I can shadow/volunteer throughout the semester.

What certifications would you advise me to get right now? A+? Network+? I intend on getting the CISSP and CCNA after I graduate.

Master Of Puppets

The CISSP requires you to have 5 years of experience. You will be able to take one out because of the degree and the certs but you still need the other so that would be more of a long term. The CCNA is a great start, +1 for that.

What I'd like to point out, as someone in your shoes, is that when you go on interviews and talk to people you need to show them how into the job you are. It is not entirely impossible to land something more than help desk as a first job. In order to do it, you have to posses more advanced skills, some certs and probably most of all - show them great passion for the job and an immense desire to learn and get better. I don't see much of a point in waiting to graduate so you can start a high-level job when you have a clear idea of what you want and how to get it.

pinkydapimp

Working for your schools helpdesk is the ideal way to go. I did the same. usually they are flexible with your schedule and will work around your classes. And by the time you graduate you will have 2-4 years experience and way ahead of the game.

Hatch1921

ITcognito wrote: »

Thanks for the awesome advice guys.

I'm pretty close with my professors, so Lab Assistant maybe possible next semester. I'll definitely talk with our IT department and ask if I can shadow/volunteer throughout the semester.

What certifications would you advise me to get right now? A+? Network+? I intend on getting the CISSP and CCNA after I graduate.

I would assume you are going through the Cisco NetAcademy classes? If so, if time allows, test for your CCNA. As soon as I finished the last Cisco class several of my classmates and I formed a study group over the Fall/Spring break. We studied very hard for about a month to prepare for it. We were able to use the schools lab/equipment to prep as well. So... depending on your situation and available time/resources... go for the CCNA. If you can test before Sept 30th even better. If I would have waited to test, a year would have gone by... and I would have forgotten a ton of stuff learned in the NetAcad classes.

Hatch

ITcognito

Ordered a study guide for A+. Hopefully I can get that under my belt before returning to school in the Fall. How often do certifications need to be renewed and what's the process like?

Hatch1921 wrote: »

I would assume you are going through the Cisco NetAcademy classes? If so, if time allows, test for your CCNA. As soon as I finished the last Cisco class several of my classmates and I formed a study group over the Fall/Spring break. We studied very hard for about a month to prepare for it. We were able to use the schools lab/equipment to prep as well. So... depending on your situation and available time/resources... go for the CCNA. If you can test before Sept 30th even better. If I would have waited to test, a year would have gone by... and I would have forgotten a ton of stuff learned in the NetAcad classes.

Hatch

That sounds like a great idea.

We are currently doing the CCNA Exploration on CISCO's site. Completed the first module already with three (i think) to go.

PurpleIT

ITcognito wrote: »

Ordered a study guide for A+. Hopefully I can get that under my belt before returning to school in the Fall. How often do certifications need to be renewed and what's the process like?

A+ needs to be renewed every three years, but the nice thing is almost any cert that is "above" A+ will take care of the renewal for you.

Look at CompTIA Continuing Education Program (especially the Renewing Through Achieving Other Certifications section) for details, but especially while starting out know that Network+ will renew your A+, Security+ will renew your N+ & A+, etc.