In a dilemma!

Addixtion

Hey guys, I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I am a marketing professional with a BS in Marketing. I achieved my A+ last month and about to start on my Network+ studying. My spouse is studying to become a Nurse with only 8 months left, currently I am earning enough to put her through college, pay bills, etc. We have no debt at all, except for the car we purchased this weekend lol. However, if I were to jump into the IT field now or with a Network+ cert I am pretty confident I will receive a pay cut. So my plan is to wait until my wife is a nurse so we are able to absorb the pay cut and I can start gaining experience. In the meantime is there any certs I can get without having to start off at helpdesk or is that the best possible starting point for an IT career? I THINK I wanna do databases, been messing around with it but I wouldn't mind getting a CCNA to pay the bills until I can make a lateral move. Am I on the right/wrong track?

matt333

Sounds like a good plan to me. Like any job, you will have to work your way up if you don't have the experience. Certifications help but no employer hires someone based on certs and non entry level position get filled with people that have worked in IT position before. No way around it

blargoe

This doesn't exactly answer your question, but with your background in marketing and your interest in database technology, maybe you could move toward Business Intelligence (BI)?

For entry level IT work, I don't know what your prospects would be for moving into a DBA role without industry experience. Most people I know started somewhere else in IT and gradually acquired database skills/experience. One person I worked with started in sales support and kept trying to develop his own "IT" solutions because IT didn't move fast enough to get meet the needs of his group, taught himself VB, SQL and Access, and eventually worked his way into the IT department. Now he's pulling 6 figures as a BI analyst for a large healthcare organization.

Addixtion

Thanks for the input guys, I looked at BI indeed and it looks like pretty interesting stuff. I think after looking at the topic of BI quite some time ago I saw SQL and was fascinated by it. Yeah I pretty much guessed I will have to get into the help desk role to get into the industry, which is why I am waiting now. Is there a career path to BI? I will continue to do more research on that.

cknapp78

Addixtion,

Would recommend looking for some kind of junior systems/network admin role as well. My first job was officially a junior network admin which included all kinds of help desk stuff as well as systems administration. Keep in mind that the smaller companies tend to post ads for network admins but what they really need is a break/fix guy who can multi-task. Usually the rates here in NJ are around the 15-20 per hour range. Just my opinion.

Corey

TheProf

If you're looking to get into BI side of things, help desk roles can help, but you can also start looking for basic SQL roles like reporting, adhocs, etc. to build the experience.

Addixtion

Thanks for all the advice!