I Need Change.

VintageModMan

Baseband Member
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34
Location
Ohio
In short. I'm 23. I have been working warehousing and assembly for the last 5 years and gave myself carpal tunnel in the process which I will be having surgery on soon. I was told by my doctor that I should really consider a career. I have always had a love for computers and I'm not limited to one OS. I will and can figure it out as I have done with the Mac OS that my church insist on using. I'm the family tech guy anyone who has a problem comes to me for repair, troubleshooting Ect. I have avoided a Tech degree because once upon a time someone put a bug in my head that I may end up hating IT if it was a job. With the help of my wife I have come to the realization that it is my calling something I naturally excel at.

So now my question becomes with no relative customer service experience. Where do I start? What sort of jobs should I be looking into for entry level work? In the mean time should I get an A+, Microsoft and Cisco certification just to help move myself along since I don't have a college education atm? I would love to start school but due to location and life commitments taking traditional school seems like it is out but online schooling would be more workable for me. Does anyone recommend any online programs that would be credible and accepted by employers?

I would greatly appreciate the feedback. I just want to pursue something I love and be able to work towards it while still being able to pay my bills and support my family. Hope to hear from you all soon!
 
Well the first question would be: what part of IT are you interested in? Tons of different fields within IT.

Usually people start out in a help desk / support role - taking phone calls and/or working with users directly.
 
Well the first question would be: what part of IT are you interested in? Tons of different fields within IT.

Usually people start out in a help desk / support role - taking phone calls and/or working with users directly.
I have been leaning more towards network administrator but am still unsure. I would love some insight. Pros and cons of different positions. I have heard that specializing in one specific area yields great results.
 
I got lucky and landed a job in a school district, and while we try to retain uniformity, there are a respectable amount of differences even within our fairly straightforward spectrum. I started as "Computer Support" (aka Peon, Gopher, Whipping Boy, etc) and did everything I could to prove myself ready for the responsibility of my now current position of Hardware Maintenance Tech. While I still work with a team of other techs (we're spread out across 35 schools and there are only 5 of us), we handle a lot of issues on our own, and are responsible for our individually assigned sites. In my experience, facetime with teachers/administrators is the most common work I find myself in. Someone somewhere always wants to know something. Next would be hands-on, physical parts replacement/repair, and after that would probably be comms with Dell or Microsoft, our two main benefactors, via phone, email, or chat. Sprinkle in occasionally assisting another tech, and various projects throughout the year, and that more or less makes up this career of mine. Not really all that physical, but still drains me after communicating with so many different people all day. It can definitely be mentally/emotionally exhausting.
 
I got lucky and landed a job in a school district, and while we try to retain uniformity, there are a respectable amount of differences even within our fairly straightforward spectrum. I started as "Computer Support" (aka Peon, Gopher, Whipping Boy, etc) and did everything I could to prove myself ready for the responsibility of my now current position of Hardware Maintenance Tech. While I still work with a team of other techs (we're spread out across 35 schools and there are only 5 of us), we handle a lot of issues on our own, and are responsible for our individually assigned sites. In my experience, facetime with teachers/administrators is the most common work I find myself in. Someone somewhere always wants to know something. Next would be hands-on, physical parts replacement/repair, and after that would probably be comms with Dell or Microsoft, our two main benefactors, via phone, email, or chat. Sprinkle in occasionally assisting another tech, and various projects throughout the year, and that more or less makes up this career of mine. Not really all that physical, but still drains me after communicating with so many different people all day. It can definitely be mentally/emotionally exhausting.
I can definitely see where it could be challenging in that way. I know at times troubleshooting can be frustrating at times as well.
 
I don't have a college degree
My first computer job was on campus working in the computer lab, basic support for students.
I then became a flight attendant for 3.5 years and had to get out because I knew that this is now what I was meant to do.
I got a help desk job, my first professional IT job at corp. This is where I started learning how IT works in the big world.
Since then I've worked with supporting users to working with infrastructure, and now I'm working with web support.
The easiest way to get in is Help Desk, if you do a good job and someone notices you, you can move to different teams and find the one that works best for you.
If someone asks you if you'd be interested in a new project, you NEVER say no, it's the only way I've gotten exposure to new departments.
There are plenty of videos on youtube to get a basic learning of help desk.
I can send you my resume if you want an idea of how it should look like, I can show my mine from now and from years ago to see the difference when I didn't have much experience.
Security and cloud seems to be the buzz word now and it's getting big.
Feel free to ask more questions.
Hope some of this helped
 
I don't have a college degree
My first computer job was on campus working in the computer lab, basic support for students.
I then became a flight attendant for 3.5 years and had to get out because I knew that this is now what I was meant to do.
I got a help desk job, my first professional IT job at corp. This is where I started learning how IT works in the big world.
Since then I've worked with supporting users to working with infrastructure, and now I'm working with web support.
The easiest way to get in is Help Desk, if you do a good job and someone notices you, you can move to different teams and find the one that works best for you.
If someone asks you if you'd be interested in a new project, you NEVER say no, it's the only way I've gotten exposure to new departments.
There are plenty of videos on youtube to get a basic learning of help desk.
I can send you my resume if you want an idea of how it should look like, I can show my mine from now and from years ago to see the difference when I didn't have much experience.
Security and cloud seems to be the buzz word now and it's getting big.
Feel free to ask more questions.
Hope some of this helped
I would love a copy of your cv to give me an idea of what it should look like!! Just pm me. Hopefully I can get a head start.
 
I don't know what Apple is like in Ohio, but a friend of mine works CS for them from his own home, just fielding calls all day. He told me they're almost always hiring, if you wanted to start with small and work your way up, that might be a good place to do it! Dunno what the pay is, but I think it's decent.
 
I don't know what Apple is like in Ohio, but a friend of mine works CS for them from his own home, just fielding calls all day. He told me they're almost always hiring, if you wanted to start with small and work your way up, that might be a good place to do it! Dunno what the pay is, but I think it's decent.
Have any links on where I could follow up on that. Not sure I have a space to set up. If it gets me in I'll figure it out
 
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