I'm (almost) CompTIA A+ certified!

opethdisciple · 23 Jul 2017 at 00:58

MadMossy said:
If you want to get anywhere, concentrate on networks and security. Installing software and fixing printers is for mugs

100% this. It's OK for a first job, but you definitely don't want to still be doing it 10 years later!

I did tech support for years..... and finally moved on in to DevOps... now I cant stand giving anyone any tech support. I'm just so bored with it.

Also if you have any hopes of salary increases then your have to move on up the ladder.

Gypo said:
For entry level jobs around 20k employers now want experience and knowledge in Server 2012+, SCCM, Citrix, GPO, backup and anti virus platforms and a hell of a lot more.

Market is flooded with IT techs and wannabe IT techs who think they know something.

This may be true, but in my experience a lot of landing a job is down to your personality and getting on with the person interviewing you.

If they like you your half way there.

I would say to the OP, work in 1st line/tech support for 2-3 years ish, then think about do you want to go down the Microsoft route, Cisco route or Linux route.

There maybe a Security route too, but to be honest if you don't have experience in one of the three I mentioned above, I don't think learning the security aspect is going to be of much benefit.

It's a bit like wanting to be a football coach but having never actually played football. Not impossible, but people will take you much more seriously if you've got in the field experience to back it up.

Also how old is the op?

grudas · 23 Jul 2017 at 01:21

Do Unix/DevOps and you'll earn enough

basic support sadly doesn't get you much these days.

malachi · 23 Jul 2017 at 07:58

Well done, convinced my friend to do N+ then Sercuity+ next year to get himself his first IT job.

At least he is now doing something instead of moaning how crap his currently office job is. A bad habit many fall into.

Beerbaron · 23 Jul 2017 at 08:11

I've done the N+ and S+ and was going to do the CSA+ some time this year.

Narj · 24 Jul 2017 at 02:06

I think a lot of jobs are going to change significantly over the next 5 years in the IT sector. I'm hoping I get made redundant so I can do something else.

malachi · 24 Jul 2017 at 06:14

Narj said:
I think a lot of jobs are going to change significantly over the next 5 years in the IT sector. I'm hoping I get made redundant so I can do something else.

Do something else within IT or leave IT all together?

grudas · 24 Jul 2017 at 06:51

Narj said:
I think a lot of jobs are going to change significantly over the next 5 years in the IT sector. I'm hoping I get made redundant so I can do something else.

And why do you think that?

Freefaller · 24 Jul 2017 at 07:40

I'm not an "IT" guy - but tried the test paper successfully. So it can't be that tough for anyone with an interest in this sort of thing. It was quite fun to see how much I still knew about this stuff - clearly a lot has changed since I was interested in this stuff.

Ayahuasca · 24 Jul 2017 at 07:52

grudas said:
And why do you think that?

Probably automation, there's a place an old colleague of mine works at who cut 2 man hours a day using IFTTT.

Diddums · 24 Jul 2017 at 07:57

We obviously have a fairly strong IT community on these boards for obvious reasons, and it never fails to amaze me how much you guys have to know to get a £20k job. Obviously the higher echelon specialists earn more than double that but it seems to be a very fierce and competitive industry to get in to with very little guarantee of ever crossing the £30k threshold.

Add to that that many of you guys are contracted so live from project to project and it really does make me question your sanity a bit.

Or am I reading it completely wrong?

glenimp617 · 24 Jul 2017 at 08:05

IT jobs aren't going anywhere. First it was all about outsourcing, look how that went. Now it's cloud computing, and again....have you seen the prices?
If anything, it's swinging back the other way.

Ayahuasca · 24 Jul 2017 at 08:08

The vast majority of the population aren't earning over 30k. Nearly every job sector is extremely competitive now with hundreds of applications for roles, most people aren't contracted and those that are will be earning over 30k easily or they're doing it wrong.

grudas · 24 Jul 2017 at 08:40

Ayahuasca said:
Probably automation, there's a place an old colleague of mine works at who cut 2 man hours a day using IFTTT.

I deal with automation everyday, someone needs to automate things, and if you keep developing what ever needs to be developed it will require the same amount of work if not more. I'm very much in DevOps/automation role right now and at my age I'm earning pretty good and there's always need for more people was the same in other places I've worked at. It's the IT support roles that are less valued now due to outsourcing the support to other countries.. like India.

malachi · 24 Jul 2017 at 08:40

Ayahuasca said:
Probably automation, there's a place an old colleague of mine works at who cut 2 man hours a day using IFTTT.

Even with automation you still need a manned infrastructure behind it to make sure it doesn't fall over or to support when it does.

Ayahuasca · 24 Jul 2017 at 08:46

malachi said:
Even with automation you still need a manned infrastructure behind it to make sure it doesn't fall over or to support when it does.

grudas said:
I deal with automation everyday, someone needs to automate things, and if you keep developing what ever needs to be developed it will require the same amount of work if not more. I'm very much in DevOps/automation role right now and at my age I'm earning pretty good and there's always need for more people was the same in other places I've worked at. It's the IT support roles that are less valued now due to outsourcing the support to other countries.. like India.

I'll agree in the term Narj used which was 5 years but I think longer term it's going to cause unemployment, obviously if you're a valuable asset in automation or AI roles you're safe but realistically how many people are going to be interested, have the intelligence and the training/experience for that?

grudas · 24 Jul 2017 at 08:48

Ayahuasca said:
I'll agree in the term Narj used which was 5 years but I think longer term it's going to cause unemployment, obviously if you're a valuable asset in automation or AI roles you're safe but realistically how many people are going to be interested, have the intelligence and the training/experience for that?

Depends where you work, if your company stays on top of things there's no reason why you can't keep up. Bleeding edge in tech never ends up in real companies. The stuff I work with now is very much out of date but it's the same everywhere.

malachi · 24 Jul 2017 at 09:56

Ayahuasca said:
I'll agree in the term Narj used which was 5 years but I think longer term it's going to cause unemployment, obviously if you're a valuable asset in automation or AI roles you're safe but realistically how many people are going to be interested, have the intelligence and the training/experience for that?

A few months ago big organisations such a Microsoft had a massive meeting on automation can cause unemployment in the future and to avoid it. At least it is a problem have acknowledged.

Science and Technology are forever evolving so it's something I don't worry about.

Sleepery · 24 Jul 2017 at 10:14

Get into IP telephony. I think Cisco have an entry level exam for it, a variant of the bog standard CCNA. I got out of IT about 3 years ago, but it would have gotten you snapped up back then. Do not, under any circumstances. get into IT security. You're never appreciated, every project you work on is seen as a pointless cost, and everyone comes down on you like a ton of bricks when the security they refused to pay for fails.

Biz.Kid09 · 24 Jul 2017 at 10:18

Congrats on passing, I have done desktop support for a couple of years and just did a couple of the practice tests and it is all pretty straightforward stuff. Half tempted to take it just to have on the CV. I think the Security+ might be better for me however.

Narj · 24 Jul 2017 at 11:31

grudas said:
Depends where you work, if your company stays on top of things there's no reason why you can't keep up. Bleeding edge in tech never ends up in real companies. The stuff I work with now is very much out of date but it's the same everywhere.

I think you will always need a limited number of bread and butter guys for when things inevitably go wrong but yes, automation and devops, cloud & virtualisation will get big in the next five years. It's creeping in to my place now.

I really don't want to do a programming/scripting heavy role. That's just me though and plenty of others may relish the opportunity to do something different. I've done plenty of bash/Perl/expect scripting in the past but it doesn't excite me anymore and I can't summon the enthusiasm to learn another language.

Mid life brain resistance methinks. I used to soak up new stuff and love it...