Career Change to IT

mikemhz · May 2017

Hey,

I've wanted to work in IT for most of my life but dropped out of a Computer Science degree and don't have any other related qualifications. I have some time this year before October and I want to upskill. Recently I read about AWS and the salary opportunities and thought, I can do that! At this point I discovered IT certifications generally as an achievable thing.

So is the AWS Cloud Solutions Architect Associate certification a good starting point? Guaranteed work at the end? Or is there a better/more guaranteed way into the industry?

For context, I currently earn no more than 10k per year and I have until October to get the qualification.

Thanks,

Mike

mzx380 · May 2017

If you have no IT experience and no education a single associate level certification will make it difficult for you to break into any facet of IT ESPECIALLY something as hot as AWS. You will face stiff competition from those who have the leg up on you on your deficient areas. I'm not saying it can't be done but expect to upskill further than that if you want to break into your first IT job.

ande0255 · May 2017

Good idea to change careers to IT, the money in it is there, but you have to work your way through purgatory to get to the pearly gates (working help desk and low level **** jobs until you get your break into the industry).

To work with AWS, you will need to know the "underlay" portion which is the network infrastructure to work with AWS clients, so a natural path in my opinion is CCENT and at least CCNA. I would work at lower level certifications like that, and start racking up job experience ASAP in any form of IT to put on your resume, so you can progress in the job market and hopefully grow in skill set along the way.

AWS is extremely complex and a pain in the ass to work with from someone on the other side working with AWS engineers, Amazon does not make their job easy on them provisioning servers and VPN tunnel endpoints that jive with other vendors equipment and network architecture needs, so I personally would not bank on that initially.

If you know computers I'd personally skip the A+ and Sec+ and all that, I've never gotten any comptia or microsoft cert, and I have never heard in a job interview about not having it or if I plan on getting it as they can just ask related questions to determine if I know computers at that level.

I'd consider CCENT if your looking at AWS though, as you will need a very solid foundation of networking, I dare say almost a CCNP level or equivalent experience which takes years to accumulate.

Though getting any cert is a good thing to do, don't expect an immediate return on investment, unless its a lower level cert that might help squeeze you into a helpdesk or NOC job. If you don't have solid PC skills definitely start with A+, and go for CCENT next would be my advice, and by then you should be in an IT job and have an idea of your next steps that you'd like to take.

There are quite a few people below my job duties that want to do networking but just can't seem to study for the exams, so they settle for staying on the helpdesk troubleshooting PC issues, don't become one of these career helpdesk jockeys.

If you get into IT and get a cert or two under your belt and things suck at first, its to be expected, you just need to determine whether you can weather the storm to make it through to the other side and get into a respectable and profitable role some day.

/rant - Good luck with your transition

TheFORCE · May 2017

Get an entry IT jobs, get certificates and you will find opportunities. Prepare to answer Why did you drop out of your degree? when going to interviews

NetworkingStudent · May 2017

mikemhz wrote: »

Hey,

I've wanted to work in IT for most of my life but dropped out of a Computer Science degree and don't have any other related qualifications. I have some time this year before October and I want to upskill. Recently I read about AWS and the salary opportunities and thought, I can do that! At this point I discovered IT certifications generally as an achievable thing.

So is the AWS Cloud Solutions Architect Associate certification a good starting point? Guaranteed work at the end? Or is there a better/more guaranteed way into the industry?

For context, I currently earn no more than 10k per year and I have until October to get the qualification.

Thanks,

Mike

Why do you have until October to get the qualification?

Also, why did you stop going to school?

I don't have much experience with AWS, but as andee said you will need several years of IT experience before you can get a AWS job.

Check out Comptia, they have a scholarship opportunities, where they can place you with companies at a certain amount of training

Who Is Qualified - Creating IT Futures

The application process starts with these questions:
Do you live in near an IT-Ready class location?
Locations - Creating IT Futures
Atlanta, GA
Cincinnati, OH
Columbus, OH
Dallas, TX
Minneapolis / St. Paul, MN
New York, NY
Portland, OR
Washington, DC

Are you at least 18 years old?

Are you a U.S. citizen or legal immigrant?

Can you demonstrate financial need?

Are you a high school graduate or do you have a GED?

Do you have access to a computer with Internet connection?

Can you commit to eight weeks of unpaid training, followed by a six-month paid on-the-job experience with an employer?

If you can answer “yes” to these questions, then select the location best for you and apply for our next class.

mikemhz · May 2017

Thanks for the advice. I think doing the CCNA would be achievable for me, since I have an ok baseline understanding of networking and general IT, UNIX, RDB, programming.

NetworkingStudent wrote: »

Why do you have until October to get the qualification?

Also, why did you stop going to school?.

I dropped out because I wanted to do my own thing - some big app I am still working on. But currently I am riding my 125 motorcycle around Colombia - teaching English

I have until October because then I am resuming studying long-distance for a degree in Environmental Management. That will completely take up my free time until Summer 2018 and it will probably be another 2 or 3 years before I complete. However I'm thinking this time next year I will return to the UK and try for a better salary.

Career Change to IT

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