Anyone work in the IT field?

Thinking of going into IT, as i've been a nerd for many a years.

Is school needed? cba @ all. I've heard many stories from guys who got into the field doing some meh-level IT job, and the experience from that will pretty much guide the rest of the career.

Where's a good place to start?

ty

 

[DillVintage]

School isn't a requirement but obviously a degree looks better then no degree. School also leads to IT internships (normally paid) which opens resume builders and experience.As for working IT you'll always get treated like shit by the normal employees of the company. However, some jobs do pay very well depending on the company/government agency you'll work for. Full benefits usually as well (not sure if that matters were you live). It's hard to say where to start without knowing more information but obviously step 1 is a resume. Step 2 is applying for a ton of positions (regardless if you want to work there or not) just to get a feel for the type of interview to help you land a job where you could see yourself work. I'm assuming you have little experience interviewing for an IT position

 

Yeah, no experience but people are easy. What's the starting pay like, on bottom-level? Is it enough to live on at least? I wouldn't mind making a career of it at all, and i'm definitely down to learn more and apply myself, I'm just not sure if it's worth it. Also, I'm willing to relocate anywhere, prefer a country/state where marijuana is legal recreationally.

 

[Add My Msn]

For interviews I recommend you read these tips that I have bookmarked while browsing reddit.
What are the Do's and Don'ts of a job interview? • /r/AskReddit
At the end of a job interview they always ask "Would you like to ask any questions?" What question should the candidate ask? • /r/AskReddit

To see what you will be dealing with as an IT support you can read what people post here, usually emplyees are retarded. I saw this one thread where they changed the browser's home page to something related to the company and the worker was like "there's no internet" because google wasn't the first thing that popped up lol.
Tales From Tech Support • /r/talesfromtechsupport

 

[70i]

You can get an entry level job making roughly $15 if you get A+ certified.

 

[chr1$]

No pro here but i was trying to get the certs for an amazon tech job. You'll want all the cisco training you can get, all the microsoft admin certs under enterprise, Shit about servers, Not to mention get linux crammed into your head.

Any ideas on what job specifically you had in mind? You want to build your certifications around what you are going for.

 

[Laptop65]

A degree is always a nice plus, however at the start you'll find that its more of just a way of getting a slightly higher than average salary. As time goes on you may find you are able to advance into higher positions than others more quickly due to having a degree (this is not always the case, but I would imagine it helps).

Also some places made having X degree a requirement, pretty stupid but oh well.

I would look at IT certifications personally, things like CompTIA A+ and Microsoft's MCSA certs are two of the most popular ones and ones that people go for.

I guess at the end of the day you should go into what interests you and you enjoy.

This PDF might be helpful (as a guide) - https://certification.comptia.org/docs/default-source/downloadablefiles/it-certification-roadmap.pdf

 

[bigbuyer01]

I'm currently an IT manager and manage 11 staff members. What I can tell you from my own experience and is that experience is everything and personally, every job I've applied for, I've never got and every job I have is from word of mouth and contacts.

School isn't needed, but vendor relates certificates will help you greatly for an entry level position. I would be looking at a CCENT/Microsoft Server Cert (Azure).

Should note, I am Australian so entirely sure how applicable this information is to you.

 

[LooneyToon]

Thinking of going into IT, as i've been a nerd for many a years.

Is school needed? cba @ all. I've heard many stories from guys who got into the field doing some meh-level IT job, and the experience from that will pretty much guide the rest of the career.

Where's a good place to start?

ty

Simply put, school is not needed to get into the IT field. I work in the IT field and have worked in management and have done some hiring for entry level positions. Many times we hired guys who had no schooling but showed aptitude for technology and troubleshooting skills over guys with bachelors degrees.

If you are good at teaching yourself, I would advise to try to get an entry level job asap, if you are having trouble getting one, get an inexpensive cisco certification. Once you get your foot in the door and that on the job experience on your resume, the possibilities are endless. ESPECIALLY in programming, very good money, and you can teach yourself everything you need to know from Google/Youtube

Edit: Oh, in my state of Ohio, you can easily make $30k/$15 per hour minimum without any education/certifications.

 

[70i]

Simply put, school is not needed to get into the IT field. I work in the IT field and have worked in management and have done some hiring for entry level positions. Many times we hired guys who had no schooling but showed aptitude for technology and troubleshooting skills over guys with bachelors degrees.

If you are good at teaching yourself, I would advise to try to get an entry level job asap, if you are having trouble getting one, get an inexpensive cisco certification. Once you get your foot in the door and that on the job experience on your resume, the possibilities are endless. ESPECIALLY in programming, very good money, and you can teach yourself everything you need to know from Google/Youtube

Edit: Oh, in my state of Ohio, you can easily make $30k/$15 per hour minimum without any education/certifications.

Programming and IT are very different.

 

[LooneyToon]

Programming and IT are very different.

True. I mentioned programming because I've seen guys move from entry level IT positions into programming without any degree, and earn very good money in the process.

 

[Ninostap]

This is my first year as a application host its fun and you learn alot about it. Ofcourse if you like to work with PC's why not.

 

[ZincNation]

You don't need to get into school to get into IT, you can study at home and follow a course or so.

Although, if you don't go to school you'd need to experiment and read allot of things on the webs.

 

One of my coworkers in a healthcare-IT field was a history major. Most of it is just work ethic and skillset. If you canlearn everything on your own then it doesn't matter, especially because I don't think any job will cover everything you did in school anyway. Just parts.

 

[Chris Sioure]

Well, at university, i did bachelors Sociology and Criminology, and now im working for an IT firm and i came in this company knowing nothing and ended up learning, youtube vids helped me alot aswell, so i would YES you do not need to go to school,