This was how I got started in IT, though admittedly it was a lot easier 8 years ago than it is now. I blagged my way through the first interview I got and stayed at that place for 5 years. I basically taught myself everything I could, and went on as many courses as I could persuade them to send me on. Unfortunately nowadays the competition at even the entry level is extremely tough, so it's difficult to get a break like mine.
Advice needed, trying to find an I.T support job.
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Really? thats good to know, i actually work for lloyds already so i'll do some investigating!
Saundie, do you work with a lot of VM's or something? That pc in your sig would be no doubt beastly for a home lab.
When people say they got their first jobs in I.T. tech support was it in a specialised area? or just general tech support. Also what kind of company did you apply for the jobs at?
A lot of the jobs I've looked at on second line or further have required far more knowledge than I have. I've had interviews but only for graduate positions so far, aside from the job I'm currently in.
I currently have a part time job doing tech support for PC's/mobile phones but its not complicated stuff and my contract is running out soon so I'm trying to look elsewhere to see what's available. The small amount of work experience I have isn't going to help me when jobs are asking for industry qualifications and 3 years experience.
Also, has anyone worked up from a tech support role into the management side of I.T, and if so how did you go about it?
A lot of the jobs I've looked at on second line or further have required far more knowledge than I have. I've had interviews but only for graduate positions so far, aside from the job I'm currently in.
I currently have a part time job doing tech support for PC's/mobile phones but its not complicated stuff and my contract is running out soon so I'm trying to look elsewhere to see what's available. The small amount of work experience I have isn't going to help me when jobs are asking for industry qualifications and 3 years experience.
Also, has anyone worked up from a tech support role into the management side of I.T, and if so how did you go about it?
My first role was in support, it was a pretty general role covering a lot of stuff. As time went on with the job I became more specialist in certain areas.
Firstly an MCITP in what, there are loads of them?
Secondly, why specifically an MCSA for server side stuff? An MCITP in server technologies would probably be better suited nowadays with most people on or moving to 2008.
2 ways most people do it are work somewhere for long enough to naturally move up when the opportunity arises, or to jump ship for a management job elsewhere after some time.
You usually need to have had some greater responsibility than just a standard support person to do so but not always, experience is generally what counts when moving on to management positions.
Firstly an MCITP in what, there are loads of them?
Secondly, why specifically an MCSA for server side stuff? An MCITP in server technologies would probably be better suited nowadays with most people on or moving to 2008.
2 ways most people do it are work somewhere for long enough to naturally move up when the opportunity arises, or to jump ship for a management job elsewhere after some time.
You usually need to have had some greater responsibility than just a standard support person to do so but not always, experience is generally what counts when moving on to management positions.
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Why were you even applying for another 1st line role with that much experience and qualification?
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If you have a degree in computers why are you considering additional certifications? If you have an interest in computers then you are one step ahead of most of the people with comp science degrees. Answer me one question with out, google. Do you know what xVid is?
I think you need to work on your confidence, IT support is pretty easy if you know computers and have a bit of confidence to speak to people. If you learn fast you can pick up the corporate software and other things pretty fast. Maybe take a realy cheap and quick customer service course, that might go down quite well with recruiters.
But if you want to get in to more advanced corporate IT jobs then you would be best taking software specific courses.
I think you need to work on your confidence, IT support is pretty easy if you know computers and have a bit of confidence to speak to people. If you learn fast you can pick up the corporate software and other things pretty fast. Maybe take a realy cheap and quick customer service course, that might go down quite well with recruiters.
But if you want to get in to more advanced corporate IT jobs then you would be best taking software specific courses.
Whats knowing what xvid is have to do with anything related to IT support? You're talking about a codec that is ancient now and has mainly been replaced by MKV which most companies won't use. WMV is probably the most common codec in a workplace.
IT Support, along with any other job, is easy. Once you have experience and know what you're doing.
OP just needs to find a first line job and move on from there. That's when the qualifications kick in. If you want to stay in your role but progress down the line (i.e. Helpdesk Supevisor or Senior Helpdesk) then you take the relevant qualifications (mainly ITIL / Microsoft Desktop Support) if you have a couple of years experience and want to move up to a different position (2nd line, etc.) then you need to start planning for this - even doing part of the exams or revising will stand you in good stead as many jobs for higher positions now include competency tests.
M.
IT Support, along with any other job, is easy. Once you have experience and know what you're doing.
OP just needs to find a first line job and move on from there. That's when the qualifications kick in. If you want to stay in your role but progress down the line (i.e. Helpdesk Supevisor or Senior Helpdesk) then you take the relevant qualifications (mainly ITIL / Microsoft Desktop Support) if you have a couple of years experience and want to move up to a different position (2nd line, etc.) then you need to start planning for this - even doing part of the exams or revising will stand you in good stead as many jobs for higher positions now include competency tests.
M.
I don't quite follow why a CS grad would want to do vendor certificates or work in support.
I mean if you really want to work in support and think it's something you might enjoy then go for it - it's always best to do something you enjoy. There are however a lot of people who don't enjoy it and are just trying to use it as a stepping stone while pursuing some generic certificates. I'm just wondering whether you've explored options for getting involved in a dev or analyst role perhaps. As you're working already then perhaps take a look at an open source project that interests you etc...
I mean if you really want to work in support and think it's something you might enjoy then go for it - it's always best to do something you enjoy. There are however a lot of people who don't enjoy it and are just trying to use it as a stepping stone while pursuing some generic certificates. I'm just wondering whether you've explored options for getting involved in a dev or analyst role perhaps. As you're working already then perhaps take a look at an open source project that interests you etc...
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Sorry got confused with my certs, I meant
MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Support Technician on Windows 7 - to get started
MCITP: Server Administrator on Windows Server 2008 - for server stuff
We had a Comp Sci grad recently, he lasted 6 weeks.
Indeed, that's the reason I put it together. At the moment I am working my way through the MCITP: Enterprise Administrator series of exams. Admittedly you don't need much more than a quad core with 8GB RAM to lab for it, but I plan to do the Exchange MCITP once I have this one done. As that's going to be at least another 5 months away the sensible choice would have been to stick with the quad core I had until then, but it was a good excuse to upgrade
I think this is a pretty reasonable opinion to hold. Working on a helpdesk for the past couple of years has made me realise that it's more about customer service and less about actual technical knowledge. Obviously you need to know a fair amount about the stuff you're supporting, but these days there's no need to memorise error codes and their fixes, you just look it up in the relevant knowledge base. Once you've gotten used to dealing with people in this context, your confidence will build and you'll eventually grow to be utterly sick of dealing with end users, and this will push you to move up the ladder. That's when the pursuit of certifications starts to become more worthwhile, as they go some way to demonstrate your understanding of the relevant product.
Hate to be pedantic (I don't really, I enjoy it
) but you just compared a codec with a container.Point taken though, they have absolutely nothing to do with IT support. When I read groen's posts these days I automatically change his name to "groan".
Apply for 1st line roles everywhere. You don't particularly need much experience for them and a Degree in Computer Science should be more than enough to get you an interview...
If you have time in between look at vendor neutral qualifications like CompTIA and LPIC, and of course some Microsoft stuff if you feel they will help you. Even if you can only land a job in customer services somewhere for 6 months it might give you either the opportunity to move into a technical department or more experience on your CV (exposure to dealing with customers over the phone etc).
If you have time in between look at vendor neutral qualifications like CompTIA and LPIC, and of course some Microsoft stuff if you feel they will help you. Even if you can only land a job in customer services somewhere for 6 months it might give you either the opportunity to move into a technical department or more experience on your CV (exposure to dealing with customers over the phone etc).
Haha, i couldnt agree with this more!
I walked into this job with a 30 second interview with no qualifications, learnt a few things but for the last 2 years been pulling my hair out trying to move up....alas the NHS and its redundancies!
Thinking of getting myself some certs when i have the funds, were moving over toa virtual infrastructure so some VMware related ones would be helpful and a little more interesting then desktop based ones!
A degree in computer science is way over the basics of the A+, if you feel that you don't know how to do very basic troubleshooting for a system then maybe buy an A+ book just so that you can read it but there's no need to try and get the certification. If you do end up going for it then do it yourself and find a testing center (there's a fee for the test and retakes obviously)
The CCNA may be a bit too advanced for you if you don't have any experience, it's a jump to the very top of the Cisco certs and I wouldn't recommend it.
CCNA is one of the bottom end Cisco certs? I've seen people who claim to have the certification who have a questionable real world understanding of networking...I'd recommend doing this along side working in a related role so you have some real world experience to be honest...
Sorry, got the CCNA and CCNP mixed up.
A CCNP isn't the very top of the Cisco certs either, its just above the NA which is a prerequisite for the NP.