What was your first IT job?

jryantech

Simple questions:

What was your first IT job, how old were you and how did you find the job?

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eMeS

scheistermeister wrote:

In 1988 I was 4.

Things have changed a lot since then...this field really wasn't called "information technology" then.

What's most interesting though, is that despite all of the change, you see some of the same patterns and concepts repeating themselves.

For example, in my first job, as I climbed the ranks, I learned about the MVS (mainframe OS) sub-system interface. Conceptually, this works on a publish/subscribe mechanism. About 10 years down the road I worked on some monitoring tools for an operational group. These tools were built in Java, and had a customer user interface. The same pattern is employed in user interface design, but there it is called "model-view-controller"

The point is that 20 years from now, all of us will be doing something different, but we're likely to encounter many of the same abstract solutions that have worked forever.

Another thing that has been interesting has been to watch "mainframes" shrink from a footprint the size of a large house to a point nowadays where the most powerful ones could fit in a normal-sized closet. BTW, mainframes currently represent between 5-10% of IBM's revenue, and this has increased in recent years.

In 1988 I remember 10-20 MIPS (mainframe MIPS) was a big deal...the newest IBM z10 cranks at about 30K MIPS. Usually these things are clustered in groups of 2 or more.

And in 1988, my wife was 6....

MS

Anonymouse

Well...

Did IT relocations with some company called Murphy, Mckay, & Associates in the SF Bay Area when I was 23. It wasn't technical at all but IT related. Just unplugged computers, peripherals, and phones and then plugged everything back together at the new office location. Couple months later I worked at Fry's Electronics after getting my A+. That one sucked.

But, I guess my first real IT job is doing desktop support at UC Berkeley at 24 after I quit that horrible PC tech job at Fry's.

Oh but wait would it count if I assisted the IT guy at my highschool and also updated the webpage when I was 14????? Hehe.

Mishra

It Assistant at a small consulting/contracting company.

I had some classic lines then like

"So what is ping? It communicates with another system? Ok, you learn something new everyday!"

I only worked there 3 months when I was laid off due to them closing.

That was back in 2003! I bet you all were only like 3 then.

Anonymouse

Mishra wrote:

That was back in 2003! I bet you all were only like 3 then.

WRONG! I wasn't even born yet.

eMeS

Mishra wrote:

"So what is ping? It communicates with another system? Ok, you learn something new everyday!"

Once in the early 90's I had an interview with Microsoft. One of the interview questions was "What is ping?"

MS

KGhaleon

When I was really young my parents owned a plant nursery in Florida. They would pay me and my siblings to help out from time to time. It was usually low wage <_<;

Later I got a job working in a small fishing store, maintaining their inventory using Excel spreadsheets.

bleScreened

xwesleyxwillisx wrote:

Geek Squad. You have to start somewhere.

As others have mentioned, help desk is the status quot for starting an IT career.

If you haven't already, look for some unpaid/internship work. It is experience you can put on your resume that employers will value more than just an A+ cert.

Good luck!

I have a question. I thought that you needed to know your stuff to work for geek squad, but I have heard horror stories of them really screwing up ppls PCs on home-based service calls. Does that really happen?

bleScreened

TryPingingTheServer wrote:

Help Desk Support . Age 20. Loved every minute of it as it was a valuable experience at the time.

LMAO, love the screen name.

bleScreened

I was 7 in 1988.

My first delve into IT was when I was a video editor. Our branch office was in a decline and since I was then getting my associates in Networking with 2000, the manager fired the girl doing the IT stuff and had me do it. So I was IT and editing. Yes, two employees for the price of one. I just followed the directions of the IT guys in NY. Got to work on NT server and troubleshoot UNIX email though. That was in 2002, I was 21.

Then I got a more significant job with Comcast doing internet tech support. Learned a lot about dealing with nasty people. I got that with the help of one of my college classmates that was hired a month before. He told me they were hiring and I applied. That was in 2003.

jworley

Got my first IT job when I was 17 as an internship-do-it-all-do-boy position for the Escambia County School District. haha. On my first day... I assembled cheap office furniture with an allen wrench. I did basic end-user support. Also re-did a schools wireless network. Cleaned up a school's rack that looked like spaghetti. They let me do some patch/drop terminations when I was going through the Cisco/Panduit cabling class.

Eventually, I moved on. Minimum wage just wasn't cutting it, though 2-3 hour lunch breaks were nice.

oops... forgot to put the year. That was 2005.

snadam

dynamik wrote:

Slowhand, this thread has already gotten off topic, quit trying to reclaim it. You now have to state your age in 1988. I was 5.

me too!!!!

arwes

First IT job was at the trade school I was attending, doing network backups and desktop support when the instructor was out or busy.

TechJunky

Got my first job in 1999 when I was 16 as an Internet Technical Support technician for an ISP up here. I had my A+ already, which was a huge help.

preecy

My first job was as a 1st level helpdesk support agent for HP back in 2003 (covered support for printers, cameras, scanners, etc). It was good fun but could only handle it for 12 months, i then moved on to become a desktop support engineer... and began my microsoft studies/cert track!

Oh i was 21 back in 2003.

bradtechonline

IT Director straight out of college for a Public School System.. Now moved on to become a IT Coordinator III for the State Government.

jamesp1983

Field engineer when I was 21.

BigO1120

I landed my first IT job as a Technical Support Representative when I was 19. It was for a major Telecommunications/Web Hosting company (base out of Denver, CO) with offices in NJ. Within 5 months of being there I was promoted to Supervisor of the department but within 12 months of my promotion the company decided to consolidate the department out to their Central Offices.

That started a major trend in my career in where I kept landing positions in where the company would move their department to another location.

The next job I landed was for a Help Desk position with a big time Healthcare provided. I was there for over 2 years but they decided to consolidate their department out to another state. There weren't any positions available at the time so I ventured out of the company.

The next job was working as an Application Support Analyst for a news company in NYC. My first day on the job I was told that the department is being moved to St. Louis, MO. Why the FCUK did they hire me if this was going on. I was with that company for only 6 months and was able to find a job with my old Healthcare company.

Now...I'm working for the USGA in their PC and Network Services department. I also do IT training for the staff on-site and across the US. I'm having such a blast here.

BradleyHU

Technical Support @ a global publishing & information services company. I started here last year, and i turned 27 the day b4 my first day there...

jbrown414

I was 7 in 1988.

My current job is my first IT job. Repairing Dell PCs and Lexmark printers for a big name pawn and payday lending company. Been doing it 2 years and I'm severely burnt out. Coming in, I told myself I would work 2 years to build up some experience and certs and then start looking elsewhere. I've got a few other possibilities lined up.

the_erickee

Well... i started at a small shop where i had to climb through ceilings in the hottest part of summer in dallas running cat5 cable. It sucked. but i was happy to get 7 bucks an hour.

Dhrystone

My first IT job was in 1994 (I was 2

. I got a job as a Systems Administrator for a graphic design company in Illinois. I built a database, managed a server, repaired Macs, PCs and peripherals, and set up a network. I remained there for 4 years, and learned a ton.

jryantech

Why won't my own thread die!

supertechCETma

In 1985 I got a job supporting a mainframe running a high speed manufacuring plant. 8 in. floppies, Diablo disk drive, maxed at 256K of memory, 4 - 4 bit processors, 12 MHz.

I was 30.

aidan80

Long story short I first stated in IT when I was 17 back in 1997 lol as a trainee "using and supporting IT" for a fairly well known UK organisation.. Which I'm sorry to say turned out to be as bent than a £6 note

ejected 2 years later into unemployment...

My first real IT job after that was in 2000, I was 20. I was hired as a Technician for a small organisation with only 12 workstations and 1 tiny wee linux server on a 10/100 CAT5 system. The pay was $hite but.. I was meant to be there just 6 months... By the time I left (5 years later) that network had grown into about 25 workstations, 2 file servers, 3 DSL connections and a small 802.11b WiFi network in there for the laptops. The pay didn't matter at that point the experience alone made up for it!

I also worked out of hours for myself, fixing, building, installing.. all the usual for home users. I learned a ton just by doing my 9-5 and even more people wise and experience wise with home users.

I'm currently out of the IT field as I moved from Ireland in 2005 to the US, one work permit and a green card later by the end of 2006... I've had to bring my credentials up to scratch to at least match my experience/training from back home. Almost 3 years after arriving I'm ready to get back on the horse I was quite happily on before I left home.

Currently in Florida and looking for new job!!

Mrock4

Network tech...army. I couldn't find work to save my life without any prior experience. Thankfully things worked out well, and now I have a lot of very good experience I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. I have done full installs from scratch, worked with foundry, cisco, desktop troubleshooting, dealt with line-of-sight systems (Orthogon, Redline), satellites, fiber. If I hadn't joined, I'd be answering phones right now. Not for everybody, but my situation was OK.

jamesp1983

jryantech wrote:

Simple questions:

What was your first IT job, how old were you and how did you find the job?

Field engineer for Citizens Bank. I was 21. A recruiter contacted me after finding my resume on monster.com. It was 14$/hr and we travelled from branch to branch working on ATMs, security cameras, locks, PCs, printers, and network equipment. I only had my Associates degree at that point.

jamesp1983

jryantech wrote:

eMeS wrote:

1988

I was born this year.

i was 5

sliptmickey

First IT job was when I was 18. Printer Administrator on a large deck amphib command and control ship in the Navy over in Japan. Didn't know a toner cartridge from a hole in the ground...and now...I'm a Sr. System Engineer working in the private sector.

stupidboy

I was 18, it was for a Hosting/Web development company. I covered everything PC and Server related (odd considering I had zero experience or certs), I learnt so much whilst having to learn to swim at the deep end.

Psoasman

My first job was with a Telecommunications Company. Good stepping stone to my current job.