Here's hoping the LTT community can advise on a career

[FlightRisk]

This is kind of a shot in the dark here.

However I recently quit my retail job to try and find a career and I am thinking something in IT as it is the only thing to hold my attention, perhaps something with networking or security. Problems are though, I have no experience or knowledge outside of dicking around at home.

To get to the point, I'm hoping somebody here has industry experience is able to give some advice/recommendations of where to start.

I have found a place online offering a cheap course material for some Cisco Certs (CCENT, CCNA, CCNP, CCDA), although not covering the exams.

Hopefully this is not unwelcome.

 

[Anghammarad]

At first I would suggest the "trenches" start in IT Support... It is a broad field to get into... 

After getting all hopes in humanity destroyed, pick the IT path which gave you the most satisfaction.

 

I personally am an IT allrounder, I like the diversity. So my current "evolutionary" It Job is It System Architect... as in long form... being able to plan and size a whole companies IT, from server, to storage, to WAN/LAN, securtiy, to clients to internal it processes... And not only planning but implementing as well... no matter if from scratch or with migrating of the old IT. Even some coding as well.

 

But this is what I like to do in IT =) 

 

I can only hint at getting a broad spectrum IT Job at first... pick up knowledge, find out what tickles your fancy, and from there move on.

[DutchTexan]

10 minutes ago, FlightRisk said:

This is kind of a shot in the dark here.

However I recently quit my retail job to try and find a career and I am thinking something in IT as it is the only thing to hold my attention, perhaps something with networking or security. Problems are though, I have no experience or knowledge outside of dicking around at home.

To get to the point, I'm hoping somebody here has industry experience is able to give some advice/recommendations of where to start.

I have found a place online offering a cheap course material for some Cisco Certs (CCENT, CCNA, CCNP, CCDA), although not covering the exams.

Hopefully this is not unwelcome.

 

Maybe look around your local community college and look for a quick certification related to something that sounds attractive to you.  

[Crunchy Dragon]

Another certification that can get you pretty far is the CompTIA A+, gives you a pretty well-rounded knowledge of most of the things you'd need to start in IT: basic understanding of what all your hardware does and how it functions, operating system skills, security, etc.

 

I'm studying for my A+ right now, also planning on going into IT.

[FlightRisk]

9 minutes ago, Anghammarad said:

After getting all hopes in humanity destroyed

Retail. Already there.

16 minutes ago, Anghammarad said:

I personally am an IT allrounder, I like the diversity. So my current "evolutionary" It Job is It System Architect... as in long form... being able to plan and size a whole companies IT, from server, to storage, to WAN/LAN, securtiy, to clients to internal it processes... And not only planning but implementing as well... no matter if from scratch or with migrating of the old IT. Even some coding as well.

I do quite like the idea of having a broad skill set, I have always enjoyed doing bits of everything. I've got to be honest though, I'm really hoping to leapfrog the bullshit of 1st line/ 'trenches' but I guess I need to just accept that fact:( This is helpful information which I will look into though, thanks!

 

32 minutes ago, DutchTexan said:

Maybe look around your local community college and look for a quick certification related to something that sounds attractive to you.

I have looked in the past and the only options I have ever found have been full time education, which isn't an option for me. Or online courses which I'm looking at now.

 

33 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Another certification that can get you pretty far is the CompTIA A+, gives you a pretty well-rounded knowledge of most of the things you'd need to start in IT: basic understanding of what all your hardware does and how it functions, operating system skills, security, etc.

I had forgot about CompTIA, I will check that out tomorrow. It may be my best option.

[Bhav]

Get sick. Get free money. Eat caterpillar fungus because doctors refuse off label meds that might help.

 

Yay, my life so great.