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Advice on switching careers to I.T

Yiddo

Yiddo

Cecil Poynton
I am really into computers and i am the go to guy to friends and family when laptops / PC’s have issues. Now i am not saying i am any good at it but i know my way around a computer and know most of the basics.

I know a few people on here are in the I.T industry and i was just wondering what would be the best way to get some qualifications to get me started. I have looked at some of them I.T course websites but not sure if they are legit? Like ITCertify.co.uk and the likes.

I know i will be needing the Comptia A+ Qualification but i have no idea where to start to get me going.

any advice would be greatly appreciated.


Sorry if there is a thread already on this, i had a quick look and couldn’t find any, feel free to merge if so.
 
I've been in IT for decades, I started with no formal qualifications, straight from school. I don't really have any now, just specific certifications for platforms or software I've worked with.

It's a wide field, qualifications can certainly help in time but if you know what type of IT you want to do you can target the learning.
 
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Baleforce said:
I've been in IT for decades, I started with no formal qualifications, straight from school. I don't really have any now, just specific certifications for platforms or software I've worked with.

It's a wide field, qualifications can certainly help in time but if you know what type of IT you want to do you can target the learning.
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It seems most of the jobs in this area want you to have some qualifications of some sort. I have friends that work in I.T and they said they just fell into it. Thought i would get the basic qualifications to give me some sort of edge.
 
Yiddo said:
It seems most of the jobs in this area want you to have some qualifications of some sort. I have friends that work in I.T and they said they just fell into it. Thought i would get the basic qualifications to give me some sort of edge.
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That depends on the type of role you are looking for, project management roles would look for prince2 or similar, support would look for ITIL, devops would be more concerned with coding skills, networking could require Cisco.

How would you like to spend your day?
 
Baleforce said:
That depends on the type of role you are looking for, project management roles would look for prince2 or similar, support would look for ITIL, devops would be more concerned with coding skills, networking could require Cisco.

How would you like to spend your day?
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Things have changed.

It's been a while since I was in that line of work but my policy was absolutely to never employ people with IT qualifications as they would never know their arses from their elbows. That was the same across most managers I knew too.
 
More relevant for larger companies, there are plenty of smaller companies who have one person who can have a go at everything, that’s how I started, effectively a janitor.
 
Been in IT for nearly 30 years now and it has changed hugely, but loosely speaking you'd either be one of the following areas - Desktop hardware, Infrastructure servers and networking, Database Oracle etc, Support monitoring and fixing, development coding etc, Process Mgt or People mgt.
From your brief post I'd say it sounds like you'd lean towards the first 5 areas.
My only concern right now is that you'd be going up against grads with IT degrees or other qualifications, just for that step past screening.
I agree with the others though around qualifications.
 
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I work with technology rather than IT but most of the people I know in it fell into and have stayed there ever since, they tend to get qualifications to supplement their existing job rather than to find one.

Luckily with IT you can learn a lot just on the net, I'd say what you need is a lucky break in some ways and being willing to take a low level job initially just to get in there and work your way up. I'd just keep reading, apply for a stack of jobs and see how you go.
 
First off decide what area interests you, support, infrastructure, DevOps, development, project management, there are loads.
Then look for certified courses, companies like learningtree are quite reputable or you could do some Agile courses (scrum master, etc) or you could look at some of the Microsoft ones.
Then hit the world with your CV, give it to people on here, make sure you pester the agencies and be on the job websites like a hawk for the latest postings
As has been said, you don’t need to certified up to the eye balls but enough to show you have some experience, are interested and are willing to learn
You might, depending on your circumstances, be able to take some temp or contract roles to get a bit of experience on your cv


Oh and good luck
 
I started off doing desktop support and then got in to data eventually just by chance. Not IT anymore but still very technical. I focus on CRM and Digital strategy. I'd suggest trying to get a junior business analyst role rather than going in to dead end support work.
 
this sounds like a very bad idea, I would never hire anyone without verifiable experience and a CV that shows solution driven work, qualifications/certificates mean nothing
 
Mr_B said:
this sounds like a very bad idea, I would never hire anyone without verifiable experience and a CV that shows solution driven work, qualifications/certificates mean nothing
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In desktop support (where most people without a specialist area start) problem solving skills and reasoning are far more valuable.

At that level, if advanced knowledge is required, the fix will be put in place by higher level support.
 
scaramanga said:
In desktop support (where most people without a specialist area start) problem solving skills and reasoning are far more valuable.

At that level, if advanced knowledge is required, the fix will be put in place by higher level support.
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I agree.

There is an element of gate keeping now, using requirements to thin the candidate base.
 
Schools and other small public institutions have broad IT needs usually in a small independent and mobile team offering wide variety and ingenuity and might suit you.

All the kids have and need access to laptops and then there is all the network stuff, teaching aids.

Might be a good place to start.
 
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