No certifications, education, or experience

I have a bachelor's in business and currently work in software support. I have no certifications, no educational background that is technical, and no experience in IT. I've also been out of college for some time.

Which certifications would you recommend? I would like to work in information security and need recommendations on how to accomplish my goals. Are there entry level IT positions that would be needed?

I appreciate your recommendations and suggestions. Thank you for all your assistance.

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jelevated

A solid foundation will be any of the Windows certs. Use the baseline certs such as MCSA Windows Server or Win 10. Then get hired on in some sort of technology role. Many people around here hate the "help desk" but depending on the company its a good way to experience.

Prepare to do some hard work on your own time and try to "lab" at home on technologies you want to be familiar with. Focus on certs and getting experience with the technologies at night and on the weekends. In turn you'll be more confident in the interviews and will eventually get closer to your security goal.

jamesleecoleman

Could you share with us your job duties? Maybe we can expand on from there. I suggest that you volunteer at a small organization to get experience and throw some infosec stuff in there. A good worker creates work (when no more work can be assigned), in my opinion. For example, I work at a small school. I'm doing just about everything but since I would like to work in infosec, I started to do risk management and vulnerability management, along with trying to evaluate the security controls that we have. I don't think that the people before me did stuff that I'm bringing up.

ande0255

I'd suggest setting up a nice looking linkedin, meeting with as many local IT staffing agency recruiters as possible, then connect with them and their connections on linkedin as much as possible as well as posting your resume to monster.com / indeed.com / other it job sites.

The MCSA is great to get into an actual tech role, I'd imagine most peoples first roles in IT is Help Desk purgatory where you're reading off scripts, but as you study how the LAN works your also gaining experience to help sell yourself and experience is absolutely critical to landing an IT job.

Practicing for an interview is like practicing for a lab, you have to do it over and over until you figure out how to do it right, so don't make the mistake of putting a majority of effort into certifications and get ripped to shreds in your first technical interview.

You don't want to f up that first job you really, really want, so consider all the other interviews practice for the day you are interviewing for "that" job

nosauz

Thoughts on the Troy McMillan book? If there deficiencies are there any free resources that could help round out what I need to know for the CCENT?

OctalDump

Look at the Microsoft MTA's, depending on where you are starting these might be too basic. Also the CompTIA IT Fundamentals or Cisco IT Essentials. That training eases you into IT, and can still be worthwhile if it seems a bit simple, since it can build your confidence.

From there, (or if you've got more advanced knowledge), look at CompTIA Network+ (quicker, simpler) or Cisco CCENT (longer, more hands on) for basic networking, and CompTIA Security+ for Info Sec fundamentals.

There's many paths into Info Sec, and many info sec specialities and sub specialisations. One possible route is to get your Cisco CCNA Routing and Switching (follows on directly from CCENT), and get a job in a NOC, get hands on with network security (maybe with CCNA Security), and from there move across into infosec with a job as an analyst in a SOC - recommended training includes CompTIA CSA+ and/or Cisco CCNA Cyber Ops.

But you could also go via help desk support role (eg MCSA Windows 10), to systems role (MCSA Windows Server), to security engineering (CASP, SSCP, CISSP).

Or penetration testing via eJPT, eCCPT, CEH, OSCP. Or digital forensics, incident handling, audit and compliance, secure programming, governance and management...

faintingheart

So the MCSA windows 10 is for Helpdesk and MCSA Windows server are for System Admim role? Would an Comptia A+ or a MSCA windows 10 better for landing a helpdesk job?

ande0255

I would say A+ and Net+ from Comptia would be the best path to a Help Desk job, though I was stubborn and just got a CCNA while accruing Help Desk experience while waiting for my lucky break into a fairly major Network role.

I would first get any helpdesk job you can before considering what certs are the best fit, as your ultimate goal in IT is experience, demonstrated years of experience always speaks volumes over certs both on a resume and in an interview.

So definitely A+, Net+ so you can understand LAN troubleshooting of all devices, then branch off into specialties like server side or network side once you feel out what you'd prefer to do for a living for the foreseeable future.

EDIT:

But definitely start accruing that experience now, job postings will always have "years" required in IT roles on them, you want to get THAT started IMMEDIATELY or you are really going to set yourself back!!!

faintingheart

What happens when you already have the A+ and Network+ but you forgot almost everything because it's been months since I study. Should I still apply for helpdesk job? What do you think?

volfkhat

faintingheart wrote: »

What happens when you already have the A+ and Network+ but you forgot almost everything because it's been months since I study. Should I still apply for helpdesk job? What do you think?

lol
I'd probably go watch the Professor Messer courses.
Do it in little chunks; 30 minutes per day.

Also, check out his Monthly Study Groups; they are 1-hour and help keeps things in your head.