Trying to get into the IT field

Hey everyone,

I was referred here by a guy at work who typically reads the forum here. I was looking for some advice on how to get into the REAL IT Field. Now, I say REAL IT field because I'm currently a GeekSquad Manager at a Best Buy. I'm looking to get married soon and start a family. Anyone who has worked in Retail before knows that is almost impossible working 50-60 hours a week and no holidays/weekends. I have A+ training (never took the test, just the class in HS). So, I have some experience, but I'm not sure if I should either:

A) go to school which would be very hard while being full time leadership in a retail environment, or

Start on some certs...

What path would make the most sense that would also coincide with the job I currently have? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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Comments

GAngel

A+ and N+ at a bare minimum seems to be the norm for either a helpdesk or call centre job. I would start there and then start working on the MCSA track.

(XP or Vista/Win7) + 70-290 + 70-291. MCSA should be able to land you help desk and junior admin.

nx1no

I agree. With an N+ and A+ though, what kind of salary are we looking at?

Is an associates really worth getting at this point in time? Are there any good schools online to get that degree from?

Turgon

nx1no wrote: »

Hey everyone,

I was referred here by a guy at work who typically reads the forum here. I was looking for some advice on how to get into the REAL IT Field. Now, I say REAL IT field because I'm currently a GeekSquad Manager at a Best Buy. I'm looking to get married soon and start a family. Anyone who has worked in Retail before knows that is almost impossible working 50-60 hours a week and no holidays/weekends. I have A+ training (never took the test, just the class in HS). So, I have some experience, but I'm not sure if I should either:

A) go to school which would be very hard while being full time leadership in a retail environment, or
Start on some certs...

What path would make the most sense that would also coincide with the job I currently have? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

A lot of IT professionals work those same hours and more besides so if you are used to working long hours that will help you.

I think I would press on with the entry level certs and look at doing a degree parttime. One school says that although times are hard right now the baby boomers pushing off will create a dearth of jobs in IT. However there are many experienced IT professionals still looking for work and over time possibly less need for them as companies continue to reduce headcount and look at virtualisation, offshoring, outsourcing. So on the one hand, yeah some of the older people pushing off creates a gap, but the gap will get a bit smaller anyway because of the way things are heading technologically and strategically and have been heading for a while. Meanwhile there are all the IT wannabees coming through. So to compete, certs, degree, hands on and when you get a break move out of helpdesk and support as quickly as you can generally into the design space/specialist space..if possible.