n00b here, looking for a career change in IT?

Soldato
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Hey there, thought this would be a decent place to get some advice et al.

Finished uni awhile back with my Music Tech/Radio Broadcasting degree, but nobody wants to seemingly hire me in that world. Pah. For now I'm doing a dull desk job and wouldn't mind potentially jumping the gun into IT. I've always had a passing interest due to my dad working in the field from the early 90s till 2006 or so.

I'm guessing the first place to start is the CompTIA A+/N? From what I understand it looks pretty basic but employers generally like to see it? Then after that MCITP? Could acquiring an entry level job with the CompTIA stuff be even possible?

Cheers for any answers, much appreciated.

RJ
 
Hey, welcome to the forums.

I did something similar, currently working in business intelligence.
My route was college HNC, HND, to a job and worked up.

As for yourself, two routes really, more education and find a job or start at the bottom and learn on the job. Already having a degree will get you interviews to tech companies but you have to sell yourself to compete with those who have a degree in core IT.

I do see the odd helpdesk job, junior apprenticeship going around on sites some read to be better entry points than I've seen the last few years, those might be worth a try.
The education route will be a faster track up the ladder, but in IT experience is just as good I think. I often find that issues that arise in IT are plastered all over google, and if they ain't there's always some person on a forum who will chime in on an ITproblem (guess that's what I'm doing :p) to help out of interest etc.

I do think though that you need to prep for this, to choose a sector you want to work in and something that won't chop and change. Having that clear will help you in interview, self study can help too. Start using your PC apps like Excel, Excal VBA, Access, SQL, HTML, CSS, PHP if you choose an app based path.
Start answering posts on here about hardware if that is more suited to you, take a look at networking basics and what devices like routers, repeaters, switches all do.
All that stuff will help you fill in the interview time or even uni time and show that your passing interest can come to a good use.

HIH, good luck!
 
My initial plan for now was to get the CompTIA Exam Cram books and just take all that in, my job is mornings at the moment so I could easily finish when I do at 12:30, get home and study them over and over. From music production stuff myself, I get a lot more out of self-study than these courses that look ridiculously overpriced and crammed.

I'd be OK with volunteering/interning somewhere small and local and work my way up; I already spend my current spare time at hospital radio so that wouldn't be an issue. I like the idea of apprenticeships but at 23 you cant live on £95 a week or whatever it is, even living at home.

As for where I want to work specifically, the Enterprise Administrator stuff looks interesting, but I'm obviously quite a ways from even getting near to that sort of standard!

Cheers for the advice, much appreciated!
 
I hear you, I did an apprenticeship in my previous career and it was no fun then either.
The book method sounds good, if you know you will stick to it or as you say you have done for self motivation then you would soak up those books and probably fly the exam.
Don't forget to look for practise exam papers online, although most good books come with that type of structure.

If you have that free time start looking about, even in your company just now and see what their plans/structure are for IT roles, could you help out there?
Would HR and tech teams let you shadow on of the other employees?

Failing that get calling the local network installation firms, IT firms ask them for openings part time help and to remember your name if they need someone in future.

Cheers
 
If you currently work for hospital radio, give your hospital IT department a call, ask to speak to a manager and offer your services as a volunteer. You'll probably find that within 6mths you'll be offered a junior role or fixed term contract. (when i was managing our IT helpdesk/techie dept i had 3 volunteers all of which are still working here now and are on full time contracts)
 
A bump, ha. Enjoying the reading so far, for a n00b with a general outline in computing it's still useful stuff.

And obviously I'm asking a question thats like asking how long a piece of string is, but there is still a good core of IT jobs out there? My parents are trying to put me off taking up the time to give it a go. Hmm.

Ta.
 
Career in I.T isn't as lucrative as it used to be. But it's a lot more lucrative than a bog standard desk job.

What were their reasons?
 
Career in I.T isn't as lucrative as it used to be. But it's a lot more lucrative than a bog standard desk job.

What were their reasons?

That was my reasoning, there's still a demand for it.

Dad used to work in that industry before leaving 5/6 years ago, mum just dismissed as extremely competitive. Every industry is competitive!

If I can work my way up and earn a respectable salary, then I'm happy to give it a go. They're not so convinced, ha.
 
Also on another note but which are the best jobsites that others on here would recommend? I use Reed/TotalJobs for generic stuff right now but don't know if there's anything a little more IT specific I could just browse at for research purposes.
 
Cheers. Then again upon further inspection right now it's redundant, they all want the experience, understandably. Might spend sometime this week ringing up some local IT places as well.
 
A bump whilst I continue reading on my study day off from work, enjoyable enough so far.

Also I don't know if anyone can answer this, but does anyone know if the Jobcentre people will assist with exam fees? Due to the nature of my job it's very much I'm there when I'm required; some weeks I'm there Mon-Fri and some not at all. I've never signed on but if there was the possibility whilst I'm barely working pondered it.
 
I have tried a plethora of graduate roles within a variety of industries, I just can't catch a break.

I've also noticed my local college does a 15 week course in CCNA, says after successful completion of the 4 modules I can go to a test centre for Cisco Accredited Qualification, is that worth considering? £15 registration fee, hah.
 
Another small 'bump' for the n00b. Been grinding through the book again today, it's been pretty drab but need to know sorta stuff so far (MOBOs, power, RAM etc) that I already had a general idea of.

Is there anywhere online where I can take some mock exams once I've read it all up? I'm kinda keen to set myself a new target of around 6 weeks to get it. Cheers.
 
I found out about him last week, generally reading up on those areas above and then watch his videos; agreed in that they've proven pretty useful so far and help retain what I've got so far.
 
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