where to start?

[foulmouth860]

I want to get started towards an education in IT/networking/programing. Not really sure would just like to get into computers. I have no clue where to start any help would be appreciated. I'm 22 and just started attending college classes, just general classes. I work full time and attend night classes. I would like to figure out in which direction I should be headed. Thanks

[nemowolf]

Well, i would recommend that if your interested, start on the ground floor and work your way up. Find an A+ book and start skimming through it and see if you are learning or glossing over material you already know. Once your comfortable working on the majority of issues covered you can do one of several things;

Get a job doing basic computer stuff through one of the big chains of retailers; FireDog, Geek Squad, Etc. Or get a job through a local computer repair shop.

Start getting Certificates (A+ is the most common "beginner" certificate) to get yourself a job doing level 1 tech support through contract companies and work your way up.

Attend a tech trade school, Devry or ITT, get a degree through them and have them help you with job placement.



My personal experience is that i got a job with the Geek Squad to get a feel for how IT work is. GS is a sales position more than it is an IT job so your expected to sell services as well as work on machines, so if your not ready to put on a car salesman type smile ... but I have several friends who are agents and i knew that there was a huge amount of experience to be had. I worked as an agent and went sleeper status after six months when i got my current gig doing Help Desk for a large real estate company. I still have not taken a certification test but i am studying for them, no time left in the day to actually take a test with my current workload.


I did junior college for three years and have a 2 year degree in English and Creative writing. Glad to see it's doing alot for me ... sigh. Personally, if i had known then what i know now. I would have skipped out of college after getting my first two year degree and went straight into IT instead of working crappy jobs until GS. Its a crappy job but its a crappy entry level job that is a good base for real IT work.

[famosbrown]

What do you like to do? The I.T. industry has so many directions to go. If you go to a traditional college and take up a degree like Computer Science, then programming/software engineer/coding would be a good path for you. Some CS degrees coincide with computer engineering so might get into programming not just PC's, but the computers that are in our cars, smart appliances, planes, machinery, etc.

If you are looking to go toward the networking side of things, decide on what you want to do...do you want to be more netowrking hardware, or networking software. If hardware, try going down the Cisco certification route, if software, try going down the MS certification route...or be bold like some of us and go down both so you can demand even more attantion and money .

So many options...If you really aren't sure, I would start by attaneding a taditional college for a Bachelor's of Science in MIS or something mixing Technology and Business just in case you get a technical manager role one day or if you just don't want to be in IT anymore. If you know exactly what you want, then you could go to a tech school like DeVry or ITT, but do your research in your area to see how employers view degrees from those schools.

Good luck!! I was in your shoes before, and I went the software engineering route, then ended up in the Systems/Networking side of IT.

[foulmouth860]

thanks for the great advice