Timeline: Your IT Career Progression
I thought it might be a fun topic to do an IT career descriptive timeline... There have been so many questions on the forum regarding career progression, so I figured sharing our own experiences In a timeline format might be helpful. So, here we go:
Title: Tech Support Analyst
Hour/wk: 20
Description: ISP support for residential and commercial customers
Company size: <75
Age: 18-20
Duration: <2 years
How: Applied and interviewed
Certs: None
Education: High School - in college
Pay: $8-9/hr
Title: IT Specialist (part time)
Hours/wk: 20
Description: Special projects and general IT support for state government organization. Had my own office and full benefits!
Company size: 500+
Age: 20-21
Duration: <1 year
How: Found in paper, applied and interviewed
Certs: None
Education: High School - in college
Pay : $16/hr
Title: IT Specialist (seasonal)
Hours/wk: 15
Description: General IT support for major university
Company size: 3,000
Age : 22
Duration: 3 months
How: Networking contact
Certs: None
Education: High School - in college
Pay : $14/hr
Title : Network Administrator (seasonal)
Hours/wk: 80+
Description: "IT guy" supporting 100+ workstations! servers! devices over summer. Taught linux workshops!
Company size: <100
Age: 23
Duration: 1-2 months
How : Craigslist!
Certs: None
Education: High School - in college
Pay : lodging and food in Boston, and a small chunk of change
Title : Systems Administrator
Hours/wk : 40 + on-call
Description: First job out of college. Learning to be an admin in hundreds of servers for a global conglomerate. Great benefits, funded my grad school 100%.
Company size: 250,000
Age : 23
Duration: 2.5 years
How: Monster.com app and single phone interview
Certs: None
Education: BA in unrelated field
Pay: 30's -- though low cost of living area
Title: Systems Engineer
Hours/wk: 40 + on-call
Description: Got to play a much larger role for a smaller organization. Really cool environment. -- casinos, resort, hotels, golf courses, gas stations, police, fire, rescue, government.
Company size: 5,000
Age: 26-28
Duration: 1.5 years
How: Networking, interviewed
Certs: Linux+, LPIC-1, Novell CLA, Novell DCTS
Education: BA in unrelated field, MS CIS
Pay: 60's
Title: Systems Administrator
Hours/wk: 40 + on-call
Description: Systems support, duh! Regional employer, lots of high tech to play with.
Company size: 6,000
Age: 28
Duration: Current position
How: company website
Certs: Linux+, LPIC-1, Novell CLA, Novell DCTS
Education: BA in unrelated field, MS CIS
Pay: 70's
Edit: Updated to include data on certs and education prior to applying...
