Optimum Technology Skills?

[akasixcon]

Hello,
I'm a nerd. I'm a geek. I tried to be a jock. I don't fit into civilization.

From CIS and beyond.. What are my education routes or skills or techniques I can master? I've been around computers since I was 4. No skill really. Graphic design, simple virus procedures. Nothing more. I want to maximize my technology talent for 2017. Advice?

 

[PP Mguire]

If you've been around PCs since you were 4 and don't have any skills yet then are you sure it's the way you wanna go? You joined in 06 so I'm going to assume you're a deal over 18. Plenty of time to at least pick something up useful.

 

[carnageX]

Hello,
I'm a nerd. I'm a geek. I tried to be a jock. I don't fit into civilization.

From CIS and beyond.. What are my education routes or skills or techniques I can master?

Honestly, that's really up to you. Depends entirely on what you're interested in. Networking? Desktop support roles? Security? Sys admin? Software development? UI design? GIS? Electronics / hardware? Bio / medical tech?

I've been around computers since I was 4. No skill really. Graphic design, simple virus procedures. Nothing more. I want to maximize my technology talent for 2017. Advice?

Like PP said, if you haven't picked up at least some skills and you've been around computers since you were 4...then you may want to either try and focus on a single area of tech to see if you like it, or look into another field entirely.

 

[akasixcon]

Honestly, that's really up to you. Depends entirely on what you're interested in. Networking? Desktop support roles? Security? Sys admin? Software development? UI design? GIS? Electronics / hardware? Bio / medical tech?

Is there an assessment test I can take? I don't know exactly which one to go to.

I'm interested in Instructional Technology. Robotic learning. Artificial intelligence. Is that even "techy"?

Honestly no one accepts me in the mainstream culture that I feel like I've been running away from my destiny. A geek .



Like PP said, if you haven't picked up at least some skills and you've been around computers since you were 4...then you may want to either try and focus on a single area of tech to see if you like it, or look into another field entirely.

Negative, no skills. I did go into a different field in the arts. The arts aren't as accepting.

If you've been around PCs since you were 4 and don't have any skills yet then are you sure it's the way you wanna go? You joined in 06 so I'm going to assume you're a deal over 18. Plenty of time to at least pick something up useful.

Just a general udnerstanding of comptuer. I can be good at research.

 

[carnageX]

You could check out the courses that MIT offers online; their full course catalog is available for free
https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

 

[akasixcon]

Thx!!

 

[kmanmx]

Everyone cares about money so...

Salary wise software development is pretty good pay if that's your thing, doesn't really require qualifications so much - just proven ability and experience. I mainly do sys admin work myself but you tend to need to have a broad range of knowledge about most things rather than specialising, the pay isn't great unless you land a senior role at a big company. Can be stressful in some situations as you are the go to guy when everything breaks. The upside of the job is you can find yourself doing wildly different stuff on a day by day basis, so provided your workload is good, you won't be bored or stuck with repetitive work. It's quite rewarding when you get to the point of being able to answer every IT related question people ask you at work because you know your companies setup like the back of your hand. But again, medicore pay unless you're at a good company and in a lead/senior sys admin role.

If you want to earn the most bucks, you pretty much have to specialise. If you work your way up through the Cisco networking qualifications, you can start making really good money at CCNP level (it's *not* easy !). If you're really going for it, you can become a Network Architect and go contracting. At that point you can earn as much in a day as many people do in a week, but it's super hard to get that far - you have to be a talented network guy to get to architect level. Same thing if you become an expert along with the higher up Microsoft qualifications.

It's pretty logical really. The harder the qualification and the less people that have it, the pay skyrockets the more extreme you get. If you get the most basic qualification that 1 million people have it's going to get you a job with maybe $3k to $5k better pay than no qualification. Once you're at CCNP level, you're going to be paid $50K+ more than an IT guy with no qualification/specialisation. The absolute top level ones ? make that $200k+ over the no qualifications guy.

But you can't get to that level in 1 year. You can get pretty high up qualification wise in 5 years though if you work hard.