Career change; Need some advice

[new2IT]

I was laid off from my previous employer and I've decided to change careers to what I should have done long, long ago. I've always been interested in computers and getting into the IT field, but never did anything about it. Now I intend to change that! I have absolutely no professional computer experience, (only screwing around at home, built my own computers, nothing too fancy), so I know getting my foot in the door won't be easy, but I'm determined to do so but I would like some honest advice, suggestions, or just a general idea of what I should expect when I start looking for a job in the IT field.

I just started a college course to get Networking+ certified, and next summer I'll start their Cisco course to get CCNA certified. I'm also considering getting A+ certified, but I'm not sure how I should do so. I was at Barnes & Noble skimming through the A+ Exam Cram book with test questions from the exam and to me it seemed incredibly easy. I haven't studied at all for A+ and was getting a lot of questions correct, so I'm wondering if I could just buy some books on A+ and self teach myself what I need to know in order to pass the exam. The school I'm going to also has a class for A+, but I don't really know if I would need to do that or not.

So my first question is basically if I should pay for the schooling to get A+, or if I would be better off saving the money and just buying some books on it instead. I'm not just looking to pass the test, I do want to learn, but considering A+ is such a basic certification I don't know if school is really necessary for this certification or not.

My next question is what should I expect as far as job prospects go once I have that A+ certification, (be it through school or self taught, I do plan to getting A+), and Networking+. I won't get the CCNA certification until next summer, so I'm really hoping to get a job before that! I should have the Networking+ by the end of this year, and the A+ hopefully by next spring.

I made about $50-55k a year at my last job, but I understand I probably won't get anything near that starting out without any experience, but I just want to have a general idea of what I should expect. I just want to get my foot in the door somewhere as quickly as I can. I don't expect any decent pay checks until I get more experience and more certifications.

 

[Lexluethar]

First question: I think you would be better servered just purchasing a book and reading it, then taking the A+ exam. Technically speaking you can do that for all of those other exams you are taking. IMO it is all about how you learn, I can sit down, read a book and play with the hardware/software and pass an exam. Some people need structure and a class to pass an exam. It depends on your time, money (obviously less money to just buy a book) and how you learn.

Second question: Pay depends on the industry, job you get and the company. Since you have no experience the hardest thing will be getting your foot in the door. That was my biggest hurdle. I had desktop support experience and I supported my other companies desktops but my job title never had 'IT' in it. I had my A+ and MCP. My main suggestion would be not to get discouraged, you WILL get a TON of people (recruiters) will say that there is 'little hope' because you don't have experience. That is the stupid thing about IT, it is extremely hard to get a job without experience, but how do you get the experience without that first job...

Anyways, starting out with an A+ and Net+ with NO experience you'll probably be looking at around 30k to 35k starting out. Reason being that the job will more than likely be something like Geek Squad or a local computer shop. Most large companies won't hire you until you've got experience since you are the one that would be fixing their computers. If you work at a local PC shop you'll make around 30k, if you land a job at a larger company being one of the people supporting their computers you'll be looking at around 35k to 40k.

 

[jert467]

There are a number of good training companies on the internet, i wouldn't recommend actually going to a classroom or anything. If you talk to 10 people you'll have 10 different opinions on which company is the best. Personally, I've had the most success with Preplogic. Just be sure and stay away from companies that sell braindumps, these just make you memorize the questions and answers and don't actually teach you anything

There's some free material out there from the top training companies that might give you a good idea where you stand. Preplogic publishes free 15 minute study guides.

See how much of that material you know and then you'll have a better idea of where you stand.

 

[Lexluethar]

There are a number of good training companies on the internet, i wouldn't recommend actually going to a classroom or anything. If you talk to 10 people you'll have 10 different opinions on which company is the best. Personally, I've had the most success with Preplogic. Just be sure and stay away from companies that sell braindumps, these just make you memorize the questions and answers and don't actually teach you anything

There's some free material out there from the top training companies that might give you a good idea where you stand. Preplogic publishes free 15 minute study guides, you can get the one for A+ here:

Free Complete IT Study Guide - CCNA MCSE A+ Study Guide - Free Online

See how much of that material you know and then you'll have a better idea of where you stand.

See i'm going to respectfully disagree. I believe if you are paying for training you should get it from an accredited institution. I agree there are SOME good online material, but the vast majority that i've come accross are overpriced and crap. And I have yet to find something free online that was worth while when it comes to studying. You'll find a study guide here or there but nothing that will every cover all topics needed for the exam. In fact I remember studying for my MCP and I looking continually for free material and I could only find one or two decent guides that only covered about 1/5th of the exam.

 

[jert467]

See i'm going to respectfully disagree. I believe if you are paying for training you should get it from an accredited institution. I agree there are SOME good online material, but the vast majority that i've come accross are overpriced and crap. And I have yet to find something free online that was worth while when it comes to studying. You'll find a study guide here or there but nothing that will every cover all topics needed for the exam. In fact I remember studying for my MCP and I looking continually for free material and I could only find one or two decent guides that only covered about 1/5th of the exam.

I'm not trying to bash school. But with certifications it's hard for a traditional institution to keep up. How often do they really update their coursework? Are you really gaining skills that are current? More importantly, when you graduate in 2-4 years, will those skills still be relevant?

Certification training vendors race to update their products in order to stay in business. it's their job to be relevant. And I don't know too many professionals who have the time to go to school.

But I do agree with you on the free material. You won't find free material that is comprehensive enough to get you a cert. I was just recommending it as a way for the OP to figure out where he stands in relation to the test.

 

[Lexluethar]

I agree with you. But most schools that do training in certifications are only 4 week courses, like for the A+, Net+, etc. The longest one i've seen was the MCSE and I believe it was a year long course.

As with anything you definately need to ensure they are training you (book, private vendor or school) with the most current material. Make sure you are taking the course that corresponds with the most recent certification. Because believe me they are still doing courses and selling books for the old Net+ and A+.

 

[new2IT]

I think I'd prefer going to a classroom for anything other than A+, A+ is the only one I might consider doing on my own. One thing you can't do with a book is ask it a question if you are not entirely sure about something, so having a teacher that works in the industry can be a major bonus. I don't think I'd even consider attempting an online school or self teaching myself on CCNA, but I've already got the school paid for so I don't have to worry about that anyway. I just want to get A+ out of the way since it seems like something I should have as a foundation.

The school I'm at is a University, and their teachers seem to be pretty knowledgeable. My only complaint is that it's just a 10 week course, one day per week. That isn't really a lot of class room time, but I am also reading through the big CompTIA book so I figure I should be fine when testing comes around. The teachers all seem to be well qualified, they all still work in the industry as well as teach it, so I don't think I should have to worry about any coursework being out of date.

As far as tech schools go, I've never really heard anything spectacular from them. I've heard a lot of bad things about ITT tech specifically. The fact that their courses are so expensive and yet don't transfer is one major issue, but I've also had friends that say the teachers didn't really know that much or care if they passed or failed. There are a lot more smaller tech schools, but they all seem to have similar bloated costs for what you'd expect from a school situated in a simple office building. Maybe I'm wrong and these schools are worth the thousands of $ they charge, but personally I think this University is a bargain and probably just as effective. I also figure the University would look a tad better on a resume than a no-name tech school, but who knows, I could be wrong.

 

[new2IT]

I forgot to ask about Security+ and how important that might be for me. I don't really know what it is about, but I'm just reading through some threads and it seems like A+, Net+, and Sec+ all would be a good start, (then of course CCNA later would help as well).

 

[NightSurge]

If you really want to get into IT and have the best chances of both getting a job and having job security, go to a university for a Software Engineer or Computer Programmer/Computer Science degree.

I have had extremely good luck so far with getting simple desktop related IT positions. I got the first one in high school as a cooperative education/training program. Then that experience gave me the leg up for the second job which pays about 30k a year and is at the University I attend so it is very convenient for me. I have no doubt that I could probably get an even better paying job if I looked into Geek Squad or some other well known tech division, or a job at large computer-using companies as a technician/IT Manager, but I'm only 20 and still in college so I don't want to overwork myself and hurt my studies. I am going for a Computer Science degree and I know without a doubt I will be able to find work starting out at 40-50k without any problem at all once I graduate.

 

[Lexluethar]

Surge is right on.

As for the security+ is is one of the 'foundation' certiifactions that everyone suggests.

A+, Net+ and Sec+ are the three that a lot of people start out with. From there they go into the Cisco certs and microsoft certs.

I would say in order of importance:
1. Experience (there are a lot of high level techs w/o degrees because someone gave them a shot and they got tons of experience) This is a gamble though as a lot of people won't hire you w/o experience or an education.
2. Degree, bachelors to be specific.
3. Certifications. (A+, Net+, MS, Cisco, etc).