Are there any employers out there..

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Are there any employers out there that would consider giving someone with no IT history other than self study work experience? The idea is to gain experience (part time for free) to go along with self study certifications to give myself a better chance of employment.
Does this sound crazy?
I have thought about going with one of the well known training companies but after thousands of pounds you have no guarantee of work. Speaking for myself I don't think I could get through something like MCSE without hands on experience.

 

Thanks AJ. I am going to start e-mailing people offering my services. As much as i dislike my current job the shift pattern means i get days off in the week which could be just what i need
I'll let you know how i get on

 

Hi Boyce,

You took the words right out of my mouth. I have also been considering offering my services for free, in order to get that damned elusive job experience that I don't have, and every employer wants. I have asked the personnel officer in my current job if I could get some experience in the IT department (gratis) and I am at the moment waiting on a reply from her. Here's hoping!!

Anyway, keep me posted of how you get on.

 

Hi,
It is comforting to hear that there are other people in the same boat! Fingers crossed for all of us

 

Actually, most of us start out this way. We get the idea we want to go to school and develop a career in IT but we end up in the same fix. We need experience to get a job but we need a job to get experience.

I got my first experience in the classroom. I highlighted my lab expereince on my resume. One class project was to completely wire and install a network in a neighboring classroom including installing and configuring the router, switch, and PCs (I used that classroom the following year and it worked).

I had earned my A+ and Network+ certs and posted my resume on the web (I was still studying for my CCNA). I was at an IT convention in my community attending a workshop when my cell phone rang. It was an IT recruiting outfit from across the country asking if I'd be available to do a one day hardware install the next day.

Needless to say I panicked. . This is where the rubber met the road and I'd never actually *worked* in IT before. Long story short, I did that job, added it to my resume, added my CCNA to my resume...eventually other calls followed and I gained more experience.

Things began to snowball but rather slowly at first. I was working my "slave job" to make ends meet until finally, the demands on my time from IT work overwhelmed the demands from my slave job and I made the switch.

It happens.