Newbie Looking To Get Into Tech

[Dusttroy]

Hello Everyone, I will try to keep this short and sweet, My name is Dustin I am 25 and I was hoping to get some help from fellow tech people. This is my first time posting in any type of forum so please bear with me. I don't have any type of Tech background besides loving video games and computers since I was a kid, but I'm looking to get into the Tech field. To give you a little background on me, I love working with my hands, I do not have a college degree, and I do have my diploma/GED. I currently work as a Courier for FedEx and It's wearing on me due to the fact that I have nothing in this field that I am passionate about. The field of Tech has always intrigued me and I have always loved everything about it. I have been watching LTT and MKBHD videos for a very long time and those two guys are definitely a big influence on why I want to finally make the move. I have always been interested in computer hardware and computers in general, but due to the fact that I don't have a degree, I feel limited. I am not very good in classrooms, I went to college at one point in time for Automotive but dropped out because I was failing and I knew I didn't want to be in the field all along. I am a car guy and I love tinkering and building things, but cars are more of a hobby than a passion for me.

With my lack of education and experience, I have no idea where to start and I am very scared to leave my stable job just to go somewhere else and fail. If you have any questions about me, or for me please feel free to ask, I am an open book. 
I know this is a broad post but any help is much appreciated, I don't know where else to go.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and thank you for any input you may have.

 

*I am Located in the Northeast region of USA if needed to know*

[Ali-481]

I have one thing to say, college degree is not everything. You can do whatever you want if you willing to put the work in...

[Eximo]

College degree is not everything. I landed my first IT job while still attending school. However, it really depends on the type of work you want to do.

 

Small computer repair business will often hire under-qualified people, but pay them appropriately. Small schools and businesses might seek out helpers and temp workers for deployments and things. And even contract suppliers like Dell Services will round up people to do big deployments at businesses.

 

But at the corporate level, degrees and certifications play a more important role. Certifications are somewhat risky as they now all expire in two or three years, and some places will make renewal mandatory, sometimes at your expense. Other companies will pay for certifications.

 

You mention liking tech, but that covers a wide range of things.

 

In big business you will have general desktop support (helpdesk), depot technician (hands on with physical desktop computers), printer techs, networking, security, data center operations, asset management (hardware or software), procurement, software development, database operations, database engineer, I could certainly go on.

 

Something to look up might be ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library). It is an industry standard model for IT and the services and roles necessary for keeping a business running. In smaller companies these can get combined. In larger companies you might see a person or department per role. See if any of those roles peak your interest.

 

On the smaller scale you have groups that might provide simple computer helpdesk support for individual consumers, and even on-site support. There are also telecom companies that help people setup modems and routers, televisions and DVRs. Also home entertainment installers that work for major electronics retailers like Best Buy.

 

There are a lot of online universities out there. Which I use to keep up to date when self learning isn't enough. But you can seek entire degrees from them.

 

Seeking out Microsoft, Cisco, or CompTia certifications never hurts. I like to think of them as proving you are at least capable of retaining information long enough to pass an exam. But they can be expensive. Something like the entry level certs might be enough to get you a job in a call center.

[Dusttroy]

2 hours ago, Eximo said:

College degree is not everything. I landed my first IT job while still attending school. However, it really depends on the type of work you want to do.

 

Small computer repair business will often hire under-qualified people, but pay them appropriately. Small schools and businesses might seek out helpers and temp workers for deployments and things. And even contract suppliers like Dell Services will round up people to do big deployments at businesses.

 

But at the corporate level, degrees and certifications play a more important role. Certifications are somewhat risky as they now all expire in two or three years, and some places will make renewal mandatory, sometimes at your expense. Other companies will pay for certifications.

 

You mention liking tech, but that covers a wide range of things.

 

In big business you will have general desktop support (helpdesk), depot technician (hands on with physical desktop computers), printer techs, networking, security, data center operations, asset management (hardware or software), procurement, software development, database operations, database engineer, I could certainly go on.

 

Something to look up might be ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library). It is an industry standard model for IT and the services and roles necessary for keeping a business running. In smaller companies these can get combined. In larger companies you might see a person or department per role. See if any of those roles peak your interest.

 

On the smaller scale you have groups that might provide simple computer helpdesk support for individual consumers, and even on-site support. There are also telecom companies that help people setup modems and routers, televisions and DVRs. Also home entertainment installers that work for major electronics retailers like Best Buy.

 

There are a lot of online universities out there. Which I use to keep up to date when self learning isn't enough. But you can seek entire degrees from them.

 

Seeking out Microsoft, Cisco, or CompTia certifications never hurts. I like to think of them as proving you are at least capable of retaining information long enough to pass an exam. But they can be expensive. Something like the entry level certs might be enough to get you a job in a call center.

Thank you very much for your response.

 

I know Tech has a million different career paths to go down, the reason I didn't mention anything specific is that I am unsure on which role I would fit best.

briefly, from the rolls that you outlined, I feel like I would enjoy more of a desktop technician type of role where It is more working with your hands, and I don't really have any knowledge on the software side of things, that is something I would have to learn and I am more than willing to learn.  

 

I will definitely be looking into ITIL 

 

I also wanted to find the role before getting certifications or degrees because I do not want to go spending a lot of money getting these things and end up being in the wrong space of tech, that's why I am trying to narrow down my choices and find a role before pilling money into certifications

 

 

[Ja Krispie]

1 hour ago, Dusttroy said:

Thank you very much for your response.

 

I know Tech has a million different career paths to go down, the reason I didn't mention anything specific is that I am unsure on which role I would fit best.

briefly, from the rolls that you outlined, I feel like I would enjoy more of a desktop technician type of role where It is more working with your hands, and I don't really have any knowledge on the software side of things, that is something I would have to learn and I am more than willing to learn.  

 

I will definitely be looking into ITIL 

 

I also wanted to find the role before getting certifications or degrees because I do not want to go spending a lot of money getting these things and end up being in the wrong space of tech, that's why I am trying to narrow down my choices and find a role before pilling money into certifications

 

 

Well one cert you should get no matter the path is the A+. At least learn the basics of I.T. then you can look into other areas like Networking, Security, Programming, Collaboration, ect ect.

[Dusttroy]

1 hour ago, Psybadek said:

Well one cert you should get no matter the path is the A+. At least learn the basics of I.T. then you can look into other areas like Networking, Security, Programming, Collaboration, ect ect.

Perfect. Thank you very much, I will definitely look into that Certification