Anyone work in IT?

[ShadowRun]

well for me I'm a information security engineer ... no degree started off at the help desk worked my way up by studying for certs and the company paid for some training here and there along with training me at the job... i work on a base so getting a security clearance alone helped me get in the door .. if you could get a clearance i would check out jobs at your local base there are always openings only thing right now is the DoD budget cuts a lot of ppl are going to be losing jobs... im a contractor btw

 

[marioh]

Wow alot of mixed opinions about it. Everyone saying negative things about IT, I basically feel the same exact way about my current field which is why I need a change. The few people I know working IT are generally happy with the job but I guess its like any other thing in life. Some like it some don't

Like anything else, it all depends on the company you work for.
I would've had plenty of positive things to say 7 years ago when I worked for a software company.

Now I work for a media company that's 4 times as large, and senior mgmt and execs here almost seem like they have never run an IT dept. I still can't figure out how a company that is as large as this can have such an incompetent set of senior IT execs and mgmt. Right now, everyone in my dept is setup to FAIL, not succeed. Major projects are rushed out with little to no project planning or testing. Departmental responsibilities aren't clear (or followed), and most shit ends up being dumped on the support dept which doesn't have the expertise, nor personnel to handle it.

 

[Parallax Error]

I've been in IT as a systems administrator for about 15 years, so I was able to get in at a time where experience didn't matter quite as much as it does now. I feel bad for people trying to get experience nowadays because it's not easy.

Expect to be stuck working a call center/help desk position for the first year of your career. The people who make it off the help desk are the people who show some interest in other departments and take a little initiative when it comes to helping other people and learning new skills. If you don't understand something, ask questions. If you can find someone to mentor you, that's even better. The help desk will not be your dream job but if you treat it as a stepping stone to other things and keep learning your time there will hopefully be short. If you've picked up new skills or certifications and after a year it seems unlikely you'll get moved off the help desk, consider changing jobs.

Also, I'd highly recommend picking a career direction as early on as possible and learning everything you can possibly know about that field. If you like working with networking and Cisco products, pursue that. If you like the Windows or Linux administration, focus on that and learn it inside and out. Being an IT generalist is mostly only useful if you want to work for a smaller company, which means less opportunity for growth. Larger companies will usually have different departments for different duties, so if you're a Windows administrator, you may need to have a good idea with the Cisco people do but you probably won't have to sit down and configure a router.

 

[Xion385]

I've been in IT as a systems administrator for about 15 years, so I was able to get in at a time where experience didn't matter quite as much as it does now. I feel bad for people trying to get experience nowadays because it's not easy.

Expect to be stuck working a call center/help desk position for the first year of your career. The people who make it off the help desk are the people who show some interest in other departments and take a little initiative when it comes to helping other people and learning new skills. If you don't understand something, ask questions. If you can find someone to mentor you, that's even better. The help desk will not be your dream job but if you treat it as a stepping stone to other things and keep learning your time there will hopefully be short. If you've picked up new skills or certifications and after a year it seems unlikely you'll get moved off the help desk, consider changing jobs.

Also, I'd highly recommend picking a career direction as early on as possible and learning everything you can possibly know about that field. If you like working with networking and Cisco products, pursue that. If you like the Windows or Linux administration, focus on that and learn it inside and out. Being an IT generalist is mostly only useful if you want to work for a smaller company, which means less opportunity for growth. Larger companies will usually have different departments for different duties, so if you're a Windows administrator, you may need to have a good idea with the Cisco people do but you probably won't have to sit down and configure a router.

This is really helpful was really helpful for me. I recently obtained my A+ and Network+ certifications. Working to get my Security+ sometime around May and get my CCNA around the end of this year. Getting my Associates this May.

I always expected to work a help desk in the beginning and move up gradually. I'm trying to get a DoD job with the certifications I've obtained/trying to obtain. I haven't taken any Linux/Server administration class, but I'll be looking into that.

 

[bubbleboyjones]

My question is-is this common for the field? Do companies frequently hire entry-level guys and then train them themselves? I really dont have the time or money to go back to school and I'm looking for anyone who is in the field that may be able to offer some info. Thanks

Well the one thing I frequently see posted by people is they think IT is the promise land, where they are handing out jobs left and right and they pay is great ......blah blah.


Its nothing like that. Maybe during the 90's before the .com bubble burst but in a 2013 era where the country is in a recession and there is jobs being off shored and tons on workers coming into the US taking up jobs on work visa.....its not a perfect world in IT.

Its not common for companies to hire guys without experience and no schooling. Its just not and it doesn't even make sense for them to. There are so many students with degree's looking for entry level positions that companies for the most part are not looking for for a guy with no schooling and no degree. Not saying you can't do it but you're swimming an uphill battle.

Also with that said as mentioned earlier in this thread IT is pretty huge area. Its not just fixing someones PC. Its System Administrators, Database Administrators, Data Modelers, Programmers, Business Intelligence analysts/developers, Security, Networking....the list literally goes a mile long. And everyone of those areas can be extremely complicated if you dive into them enough. Whatever you do pick a specific career direction like Parallax Error said and dive into it.

 

[Bolshevik***]

i did when i was an undergraduate. it was a boring school job. it actually ended up being pretty cool. most of the things i dealt with were people just not knowing how to use their computers. the rest was installing new computers, and sitting in the it room watching tv, reading manga, and surfing the web. once in a while i'd do my homework and grade papers too. obviously that's not what most people do when they work in it, but the fact that my co-workers/supervisor let me get away with it shows that it was pretty relaxed.

 

[Nomad Nemesis**]

let me add in what others havent. you will get bored of it.

i will completely disagree with this. I am a network/security engineer (senior engineer, lol). if you like your field there is always more shit to learn. also, i am doing different shit all the time. but yeah, some dudes have very specific functions and do the same shit all the time.

I say this, the most important thing in getting a job = knowing somebody.

i went to college and did a 6 moths tech school after. spent 5 years in the shittiest IT job on fucking earth where you only skills needed was carrying 20 imacs up 5 flights of stairs in the summer in the 90% poverty public schools in nyc.

the whole time i was studying and getting certs and getting nowhere. i was actually learning the shit i was studying but had no real world experience: mcse, ccnp, ccsp, 2 checkpoint certs, and etc.

then a coworker got a job somewhere else and got me an interview at a new company. I ended up going from like a very jr level engineer to senior engineer - and by sr engineer to me, is the buck stops with you. you have to design shit and configure it and figure everything out. you have no one to go to (well, except tac).

like tripled my salary and finally got my CCIE.

certs will not get you a job but they can help. to become cisco partners and etc, you need a certain amount of employees with X certs. i know CCIEs that are fucking morons though.

there are so many fucking idiots in IT, it pisses me off to this day it took me so many years to get a good job while there are so many fucking idiots that shouldn't have their jobs.

but anyway, knowing someone is the best way to get a job in IT (or anywhere)