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Question about a career in IT.

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  • Networking
  • Business Computing
Last response: in Business Computing
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December 17, 2013 5:56:20 PM

I have been looking at getting a job doing IT, networking, security, wireless, servers, etc etc. However I am unsure on what path I want to take. So I wanted to ask guys who actually work in the field/s about their jobs.

1. What is your job?
2. What would say is necessary to start?
3. What certification is required or beneficial?
4. How do you get experience?
5. Do you need a degree, was it helpful, if so what kind?
6. If you don't need a degree, are there any classes you would suggest?
7. What do you do on an average day?
8. How bad is it for you if something goes pear shaped?
9. What is a good position to start on with?
10. How are the job prospects?
11. What area of IT has the best prospects for a long and sustainable career.
12. Is there anything else you find interesting or good about your job?

More about : question career

December 24, 2013 7:33:04 AM

1. What is your job?
My company is a small MSP for small businesses (Our clients are sub-75 employees). I am our Lead Engineer. I handle the more serious issues that arise, in addition to delegating lesser issues out to our level 1/2 engineers. I also meet with clients to plan projects, and then implement them.
2. What would say is necessary to start?
You need to be able to troubleshoot. Most of your time in IT is spent figuring out what the hell broke. Once you get the troubleshooting part down, you need to know how to Google properly (or, if you're lucky, use your company's knowledge base!)
3. What certification is required or beneficial?
Most cerifications are fluff pieces, but getting some basic Hardware and networking certs helps.. A+ is the basic hardware certification, but I can't remember the basic networking cert off the top of my head. If you can explain what DNS and DHCP is in a job interview, you'll be in better shape than most.
4. How do you get experience?
By getting a job (which of course requires experience) - The first one is the toughest. Unless you know someone, you'll probably start off doing really basic helpdesk.
5. Do you need a degree, was it helpful, if so what kind?
No. I have a degree in History and a minor in Psychology. My degree taught me to read and write, which is more than some people can say from their college experience. Truth be told, getting into IT sort of just fell into my lap. That said, 'IT' is broad. If you're going to get a degree, computer science is always a safe bet but is not necessary by any means. Answer #2 is more important than a degree.
6. If you don't need a degree, are there any classes you would suggest?
I would take classes along the lines of answer #3
7. What do you do on an average day?
Bang my head against the wall constantly because the damn thing should be working, but it isn't. You will be frustrated. I'm also on call 24/7. My guys do a lot of password resets and they fix a lot of printer issues. You will hate printers more than anything in the world, until you get to the point that you can delegate those out (WOOHOO!)
8. How bad is it for you if something goes pear shaped?
I did a 72 hour shift one time. That was fun.
9. What is a good position to start on with?
Anything you can get. You may get a job at an MSP. You may get a job at some in-house IT department. I would recommend starting at a place where you will get broad experience. Getting too specific early on can limit you later.
10. How are the job prospects?
That depends. There are tons and tons and tons of 6-12 month contract jobs. I don't think I would ever WANT one of those (and haven't taken one). Full time positions are more rare, but there will always be computers breaking so it's a pretty good field.
11. What area of IT has the best prospects for a long and sustainable career.
I don't see windows sys admins going away anytime soon, but the market for virtualizing an entire office and the BYOD (bring your own device) office is growing quickly, Technologies like VMWare View mean that offices don't need to buy new computers, they just pay for virtualized computers that they can basically access from any webbrowser, tablet, etc.
12. Is there anything else you find interesting or good about your job?
The hours are generally flexible depending on where you work. I work from home when I'm not at clients. Some weeks you'll do 60 hours (or more!) but some weeks you'll be on Toms Hardware answering questions for people - and it doesn't even need to be Christmas eve for that!

My favorite part of my job is putting in a new system and having customers be happy about how quickly it works. My second favorite part is when I finally fix the damn thing that should have been working but wasn't; it feels like beating the last boss of a video game.
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January 8, 2014 7:36:34 AM

1. What is your job?
I'm and IT Support Technician for an IT Services Company

2. What would say is necessary to start?
You need to be able to quickly learn new skills & concepts, and you need to be willing to as well as proactively trying to learn. You have to be good with customers, and know how to explain more complex concepts to non-technical clients/staff without being condescending.

3. What certification is required or beneficial?
Nothing is required. Potentially doing some kind of MCITP, or similar could be useful. But I've never bothered.

4. How do you get experience?
It's a bit of a catch-22: the best way to get experience is on the job. But, you'll struggle to get a job without experience. When i left school I managed to get a job as a Junior Computer Technician, which was mostly kind of grunt work. It involved a lot of erasing HDD's (which they taught me how to do), fixing simple issues, and lots of data entry on the work I was doing. But - working there meant I got to learn form the senior technicians who did more technical work. I was always asking question, or doing research on things that I had seen. Eventually they trusted me with some more complex tasks and these were all thing I could add to my CV. After 5 months, I had some experience and a good reference and I got my first IT job (working for a retail company). And from there it was easy to get more experience, because you're surround by such a diverse range of issues.

5. Do you need a degree, was it helpful, if so what kind?
I don't have a degree. A degree is useful more because of what you learned than actually saying you have a degree. The truth is, a lot of employers don't really care about degrees now because everyone and their mother has one. That said, if you're the only one without a degree you might get over looked. Still, it's never been my experience that not having a degree has cost me a job, and when i'm recruiting I don't write off applicants with no degree. Learning from a book isn't the same as doing.

6. If you don't need a degree, are there any classes you would suggest?
You might find once you've started a job it's worth taking evening or weekend classes in certain areas. But there isn't really anything you would need to do to get a job.

7. What do you do on an average day?
On an average day I deal with technical queries from "my printer isn't working" or "I don't know how to use this new version of office" to writing complex SQL Statements, managing servers, designing and implementing new networks for clients. And a lot of reading, especially through forums. Because you never know it all. The industry moves so fast that one of the best skills you can have is the ability to keep up! To often have I worked with IT guys who are still living in the 90's and don't know anything about the technology in place now, or what's going on in the technology world.

8. How bad is it for you if something goes pear shaped?
Days can be long, i've never done a 72 hour shift though! My longest to date was 23 hours a couple of years ago. It's not something that happens terribly often (though it depends on where you work), but it can happen and that's just part of the job. Those occasions are usually not to bad though, especially if you're not the only one doing an awful long shift - there's a great sense of camaraderie with these things!

9. What is a good position to start on with?
Junior something, that requires little to know prior experience or knowledge but gives you the chance to learn and develop. As I said above, I started out as a Junior Computer Technician and it served me immensley well for the rest of my career.

10. How are the job prospects?
Short contracts are always available, and if you get a really specialised set of skills like data analysis (especailly if you become a Crystal Reports expert or something) then you'll always be able to find a job. Support jobs, or lower level jobs can be hard to come by because there is a lot of competition. But once you have a foot in the door you just have to prove that you're the best, make sure you make a good impression (references are incredibly useful) and you shouldn't ever be out of work. Short of redundancy or something.

11. What area of IT has the best prospects for a long and sustainable career.
In my opinion Data Analysis and DBA jobs are probably your best bet (though I work in neither of these kind of jobs). Especially with Oracle and Crystal Reports skills. Make sure you're not to specialised though!

12. Is there anything else you find interesting or good about your job?
I love working with clients, customers, other staff, whoever it is that i'm supporting. Because when I get the job done and business can continue is usual, or better than usual the feeling is just awesome. And some people are so appreciative. Equally it's worth noting that a lot of the time, people will only notice you when things go wrong... IT is a gret industry to get into.

I hope this was of some small help, all the best for the future. Let me know if you have any more questions or if you want me to elaborate on anything!

Thanks,

Matt :-)
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