No IT experience; what to study?

Hi,

I want to learn IT for a living, starting out fixing home computers. What should I study? A general degree or diploma in IT?

Any help would be appreciated.

TechZoo

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nelson8403

I'd look into computer science for a degree, you can minor in a specialization but at the heart of most IT careers is programming/scripting. Computer Science is also the most highly regarded of the degrees.

Slowhand

I'll second that degree option: if you're going for an Associates(2-year) or Bachelor's(4-year), computer science is the best option available. While it may not seem like it while you're studying, the coding and in-depth software background will help you in IT. If you're unsure of what, exactly, you want to do, go to your local community college and start on an AS, then you can look at other options moving forward.

As for certifications, that's going to depend largely on what you're interested in. If you want to get into systems and servers, then something like CompTIA's A+ or starting with Microsoft's desktop or server support certs is a good choice. If you want to dive into networking, the CCNA is your best bet. There are also a wide variety of Linux and programming certs out there, and much more. Figure out what general topic interests you, and start from there.

In an ideal world, a successful candidate will have both a degree and some certifications, (especially if you're lacking experience.) How much time and effort you want to invest in your career is up to you.

TheFORCE

TechZoo wrote: »

Hi,

I want to learn IT for a living, starting out fixing home computers. What should I study? A general degree or diploma in IT?

Any help would be appreciated.

TechZoo

How old are you? What other degrees or schooling do you have? Why do you what to do IT, what interests you about IT?

kohr-ah

Look at an associates or bachelor's in computer science.

Get your A+ first and land that help desk role and branch out to specialization after that (CCENT/CCNA or MCSA, etc)

OctalDump

If starting out fixing home computers, the obvious choice is support/infrastructure. You'll want a bit of hardware, a bit of networking, a bit of client OS, and then a bit of server, a bit of security, and a bit of virtualisation/cloud. You can start down that track by self study.
Read, try, break, fix, read. If you are working, then the 'break' part will be done for you.

A+, Network+ to start and then Server+, Security+ or the similar associate offerings from MS, and try either/both HyperV/VMware, get a trial AWS account. You can get a lot of stuff cheap or free. Books new or 2nd hand, ebooks, Youtube, udemy, lynda, etc. Trial versions of MS stuff from technet, trial version of VMWare, trial AWS (cloud). If you have a half decent computer, you can run most of the lab on that. You can also pick up 'last seasons' Cisco gear for cheapish if you want to try some hands on.

You don't need to sit all the certification exams, but you will need to know your stuff. The certification books, videos, courses are just convenient ways to get a particular domain of knowledge covered reasonably comprehensively.

All that is stuff you can do without worrying about signing up for a course and then discover you don't like it, or it wasn't what you thought, or it wasn't a good course.

Community college is probably the next choice. The good thing is you can generally get some kind of credit for previous study or certifications. Even if you don't get full credit, if you have some knowledge of the subject going in, it will be easier.

If you are 100% positive for certain, and are academically inclined, then Comp Sci or Engineering are the serious choices, but they take smarts and effort, and don't reward too well if you drop out, but they will take you a long way from "fixing home computers".

v1ral

Why is bachelors in CS preferred over bachelors in IT?

White Wizard

Depends where you want to go. A college degree is only necessary if your goal is to get a high level position somewhere. The majority of IT positions that pay more/ are higher up so to speak, typically require a degree although most applications will say experience can be substituted. Personally, I've dealt with so many "college" kids that dont know jack squat, I'd rather have someone with certs than a degree but I'm not a corporation.

Identify your career goals, be more specific.

I would recommend pursuing certs while getting your degree if you do not know which field you want to be in. You can learn more at home with the right equipment than you will when you get out of college. Im not against college in any way, but it is not necessary depending on your goals.

markulous

Degrees are being required by more and more places, even for entry-level and mid-level positions. If you want to go towards networking/systems/virtualization/etc, I'd recommend one of the IT BS degrees at WGU since you get some certs also.

To get admitted though, you'll need a cert. MTA or CIW certs are the easiest but you'll want to make sure they accept them. A+ is probably the most ideal since you have a shot at getting a job somewhere with that and it'll get you enrolled.

kohr-ah

v1ral wrote: »

Why is bachelors in CS preferred over bachelors in IT?

Generally a more open degree such as computer science you can find at any college. Both online and brick and mortar.

More specific degrees (example I have one in Computer Internetworking Technologies) unless I want to go online for a 4 year degree the closest place to me that has a 4 year degree in this is Purdue.

kurosaki00

v1ral wrote: »

Why is bachelors in CS preferred over bachelors in IT?

It's just better. It's a better developed degree and more challenging (usually). If you complete CS you can usually go on and study a bunch of other things without major hassle.

Although if you end up going for CS, consider becoming a Developer. A good developer will earn more than a good IT technician (at least at early-medium career level).

If you want to do other things in IT, go for A+ and Net+, Sec+ and maybe CCENT and then see which subjects you liked the most. After you decide then keep moving on in that field

beads

Get your degree first. Trying to get a job and later a position with nothing but paper certificates will only hold you back.

- b/eads

techfiend

It's kind of difficult to justify CS being a more relevant degree than numerous other IT degrees but it's seen a higher-level degree. I know there's a lot of high level math involved like calculus which isn't very relevant in IT except developing.

Dakinggamer87

Degrees+Certs+experience = IT Trinity

OctalDump

v1ral wrote: »

Why is bachelors in CS preferred over bachelors in IT?

It does depend a bit on the specifics of the program, but generally Computer Science deals with more abstract concepts, and Information Technology degrees are more concrete. Abstract reasoning is a higher level, and maybe higher value skill. The assumption is that if you can do the higher level stuff, you should be able to do the lower level stuff.

The reality in IT, is a lot of the specific information you learn is obsolete within 3-5 years. So it's constant learning. The hope is that the Comp Sci graduate is better at learning, and will be able to use their powers of abstraction to pick up the new techs quicker.

One example I was given comparing the training of Engineers with Technicians is that technicians are given a big bag of tricks to solve most of the problems they are likely to encounter eg when you have problem A, use solution 4. On the other hand Engineers are taught from first principles. The end result is that often the Technician can be quicker to solve a problem, but gets stumped on something novel, but an Engineer should be able to use their training to solve any problem (or at least demonstrate why the problem can't be solved).

Having said that, technicians still make good money and good technicians are often better than bad engineers. I think it is the same sort of thing with a B CS vs a B IT or B Networking Administration.

TechZoo

I'm back. Thanks for the replies and information everyone.

My situation: I'm working with an employment agency to find IT work. They're going to train me, paying my tuition in full and with no cap on tuition. They're also covering transportation costs, parking, hotel and food if required. The only catch is that they don't fund four year degrees, and where I study must be PCTIA (Private Career Training Institutions Agency of B.C.) Accredited. I'm from British Columbia, Canada.

Any suggestions since they won't fund a four-year degree? (and I can't afford to get one?)

I'm also legally blind and with other health problems, but I don't see computers as posing a problem with the right adaptive tech and doing things by feel.

aderon

This is actually a REALLY broad question lol. Do you have an idea of the kinds of things that interest you about IT? Is it systems? Storage? Security? Data? Hacking? Hardware? Cloud? Virtualization? Programming? Networking? Mobile Devices? Apps? Games? Performance? QA?

As a first step, I'd suggest just browsing around and learning about all the various IT positions that exist. Job boards will help with this. Just get a feel for what you think sounds interesting or could be something that you might be interested in. Then it will be much easier to direct your interests along a career-path. If you're 100% unsure, then a CS degree is probably the most valuable general degree you can get.