Starting out in IT

Hey you guys,

I was just wondering what path I should take to start out my IT career. I am about to graduate with a B.A degree in Kinesiology, I was hoping to go into medical but doing another 4 years of school doesn't sound appealing to me at all. So now I'm going with my 2nd option which is pursuing a computer networking career. I have my A+ certification and am currently working on Network+ and Security+.

Would I have to start out with a helpdesk job or could i jump straight into a jr. network administrator or IT analyst job?

Any advice would be good, Thanks!

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Bokeh

Well unless you are lucky to find a company to take you on with no experience, expect to start at help desk/support. It's where the majority of us cut our teeth. Get some experience under your belt, then look at moving up in the company if possible, or applying for other positions outside.

bluesteel1541

Thanks Bokeh! I was hoping to skip through the help desk position but it looks like there's no way past it. How many years of experience do you recommend to become a network administrator? My plan is eventually to become a network administrator then a network engineer and maybe get into security or just stick with R&S.

Danielm7

You could also look for smaller companies that don't have a call in helpdesk, that way at least you'll end up doing more desktop support / hands on stuff. Depending on the size of the company you could get exposed to a lot more than just "please unlock my account" sort of requests.

no!all!

I would start at help desk/desktop support. It's where a lot of people start and contrary to popular belief you can learn a lot. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a jr. network admin job with just an A+ and no experience. I'd get your CompTIA triage through and move on to Cisco of MS by that time you'll probably have a good amount of experience under your belt. good luck

Fidelity

With certifications, but no experience you *might* be able to get into Tier 2 Help Desk. If you manage to land a Jr. Administrator role I'd advise you to buy lottery tickets the same week. Most likely every company you apply to is going to want to start you in Tier 1 Helpdesk to prove yourself. If you know the technology well you shouldn't have any problem moving up to a higher tier within a few months though.

markulous

I'll echo the statements here. Try to find a help desk position. There are low-level help desk jobs that pay little, but it's a great way to get your foot in the door. Some of these places will hire anyone with a pulse. After a few months you can start applying to better help desk jobs that pay more unless you're lucky enough to land one of those right away.

As a fall back, you can always try to apply at local PC repair shops around town.

bluesteel1541

Thanks for the advice you guys. I'm going to go on ahead and look for some Helpdesk Tier 1 jobs in the area and take it from there. Thanks again for the input!

N2IT

Help desk or a NOC position. I would try to get into a NOC first but if a help desk position comes up grab it.