3 months in IT - Very little prior experience.

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I've got very little prior experience in IT, but somehow landed a job as a technician with a great company. I currently have no certifications but plan to take the CompTIA A+ exam. Does anyone have any advice regarding what certifications I should go for first, or just any advice for IT in general.

 

Thanks Jim. I'll be going A+ then Network+ first, as that's what is required for the next pay scale with the company I'm with.

 

Good luck, I'm on the same path but just don't have a role within IT yet. I've been poking around cybery website which has A+ course videos to get a sense of what it's all about!!

 

The best advice that I've been given so far is to avoid hitting too far outside of your weight class. I've been told to avoid getting too far ahead of myself, and to just roll with what's thrown at you; eventually we will learn what we need to succeed.

 

John, well done landing the job without certs. You are very lucky and you must have good self sale skills. The A+ is a great foundation course. I did it back in 2006 and it was a tough one. It took me 12 months of around 10hrs per week on top of a non IT job to pass it for me. I landed a poorly paid Technician job after this and after a few years ended up on £50k per year when i set up my own business.

After 5 years of this i took a role which was only £30k but low hours, many benefits and they include paying for certs. I've done Apple certs and Cisco CCNA R&S. since which has taken me 3.5 years to achieve. The CCNA R&S took two years alone. They did change the curriculum/exam halfway through though. My salary is only £35k now but fingers crossed i can improve this when i have a few Security Certs.

What next for me!... I have decided to take the Security route. I'm currently studying CCNA CyberSecurity and Cisco Security. I'm the manager where i work so i have the luxury of implementing security systems to improve our reflexes in the event of an attack but also to build that all important hands on knowledge and experience.

I wish you well, its really hard to keep dedicating time and effort into study. The CompTIA certs are well respected and from memory i'm sure they're compulsory for military roles/posts. If your company provide performance management/pay rises for passing courses it means they respect the courses and they respect the candidate for passing the courses. You are in a good position just keep on track and you will be successful.

James

 

Thanks for the words of encouragement Wilki. I'll keep trucking along; hope you do the same!