How to get into IT
A non-techy friend of mine asked me how to get into IT. She's smart, articulate and could likely be molded into a great IT gal. We were texting each other, mostly just catching up. I hadn't seen her for a while and we recently got back in touch. The usual questions were in order; We got to talking about work and that's when she asked me. I didn't answer it for 2 reasons; Firstly, the answer was longer than my thumbs and the tiny keyboard on my iPhone could reasonably handle. Secondly, I didn't have a straight answer for her. I myself asked the same question years ago. I had this long write-up on how I came to get into IT but I recently watched a great video that explained it better than I could have. It was by Eli The Computer Guy and was very thorough. I've linked the video below for your convenience so I suggest giving it a watch if you're thinking about an IT career but aren't sure where to start.
As for myself, I moved out at 18 and lived with some family in California. I'd grown up there but hadn't lived there for nearly 5 years so things were very different. My school situation was "unique" to say the least but that's another story in itself. School ended up being not what was best for me at the time. I managed to land my first job at Best Buy working in the Computer department. It was a seasonal job and they were going to throw me in Media (think CDs, games, movies, etc) but when I mentioned that I knew how to build a computer, they deemed that enough for me to work in the computer department.
Working for Best Buy wasn't exactly as cool as I'd hoped. While I knew a lot about computer hardware, I didn't know squat about printers which is where they put me. The printers were lumped into the same section in Computers as PC accessories, peripherals and monitors. Pretty much, everything but computers themselves and routers (another item I regret not learning about sooner). I worked at Best Buy until just after the holidays when they laid me off. While I appreciated the experience, I learned more about working in general than I did anything technical. This definitely wasn't what I wanted to do with my life.
After a 2 week stint at Bed Bath & Beyond (Hey, I needed a job), I got hired at a local computer shop called PC Club computers. They were part of a west-coast retail chain of computer shops. The shop had about 8 guys and I was to be one of the sales guys. My job was to answer the phone, ring up purchases, provide consulting for people asking about computer parts, building a new computer, etc. This is what I wanted or so I thought. (Years of experience now tells me that most users don't need anything specific. Any budget box from Wal-Mart will do. In fact, you'll save money because you can't get all the parts, including a monitor, keyboard/mouse and Windows for $300 if you build it yourself.) While there were some things about this job I did enjoy, there was no money in it. Any kid who's read TigerDirect catalogs for a while (like me!) can help someone build a computer for meager pay. I hated the retail aspect of it so I set my sights on something higher; On-site PC Repair and Consulting.
This is where I bit off way more than I could chew. I was the CEO and sole-employee of Gigahertz PCs. I knew nothing about running my own business but what was there to know? I had a set of Phillips head screwdrivers, Craigslist ads and my aunt's '91 Ford Escort wagon. The cheapest place in town for on-site computer gigs was charging $100/hour. I figured since I was just a kid trying to make money and not hate my job, I'd charge $30. Let me tell you, there's a lot more to running a business than what I had. Not only did it not last long, I hated it. I learned that while the retail aspect of it was gone, I hated being my own boss and trying to start/run a small business. Gigahertz PCs ended up doing volunteer work for families with low or no incomes. I put all my spare parts to good use in building free PCs and getting them online with dial-up. This was about the same time I'd played around with Linux a bit.
It was also around this time that I'd looked back on my job history. I only mentioned a few things here but I'd also worked at Sears, Albertson's (a grocery store), a jewish catering business & deli, and had been a student in adult-school. I was living temporarily with a family friend and her husband, Deanna and Greg. They graciously offered to let me live there for a few months if I helped around the house and rebuilt a fence for them. Greg was an old UNIX Admin and Developer, formerly working for IBM and Bank of America. I knew that I wanted to get out of retail and into IT for a company. While it seemed everyone and their mom had some Microsoft certificate, I decided to go the Linux route. It seemed to me that while the job pool for Windows pros was bigger, the talent pool was proportionately smaller for Linux pros.
About a year later, while working days at a grocery store and nights at a fast-food joint, I ate, slept, and lived Linux and IT. I ran a web server and figured out Apache (to a very basic level). I learned how to manage tweak system properties and settings via command line. I encountered problems, searched them on Google, figured them out, and just ran with it.
A couple years later, I landed an interview for a Linux Admin position for a publishing company in my current city. After the interview and some testing, the CIO and HR person deemed me still a bit too green to be a SysAdmin just yet but I was a great fit for Technical Support. That's how I got my first actual IT job.
As a basic run-down of my experience and skills, I knew how to:
How I Got Into IT
As for myself, I moved out at 18 and lived with some family in California. I'd grown up there but hadn't lived there for nearly 5 years so things were very different. My school situation was "unique" to say the least but that's another story in itself. School ended up being not what was best for me at the time. I managed to land my first job at Best Buy working in the Computer department. It was a seasonal job and they were going to throw me in Media (think CDs, games, movies, etc) but when I mentioned that I knew how to build a computer, they deemed that enough for me to work in the computer department.
Working for Best Buy wasn't exactly as cool as I'd hoped. While I knew a lot about computer hardware, I didn't know squat about printers which is where they put me. The printers were lumped into the same section in Computers as PC accessories, peripherals and monitors. Pretty much, everything but computers themselves and routers (another item I regret not learning about sooner). I worked at Best Buy until just after the holidays when they laid me off. While I appreciated the experience, I learned more about working in general than I did anything technical. This definitely wasn't what I wanted to do with my life.
After a 2 week stint at Bed Bath & Beyond (Hey, I needed a job), I got hired at a local computer shop called PC Club computers. They were part of a west-coast retail chain of computer shops. The shop had about 8 guys and I was to be one of the sales guys. My job was to answer the phone, ring up purchases, provide consulting for people asking about computer parts, building a new computer, etc. This is what I wanted or so I thought. (Years of experience now tells me that most users don't need anything specific. Any budget box from Wal-Mart will do. In fact, you'll save money because you can't get all the parts, including a monitor, keyboard/mouse and Windows for $300 if you build it yourself.) While there were some things about this job I did enjoy, there was no money in it. Any kid who's read TigerDirect catalogs for a while (like me!) can help someone build a computer for meager pay. I hated the retail aspect of it so I set my sights on something higher; On-site PC Repair and Consulting.
This is where I bit off way more than I could chew. I was the CEO and sole-employee of Gigahertz PCs. I knew nothing about running my own business but what was there to know? I had a set of Phillips head screwdrivers, Craigslist ads and my aunt's '91 Ford Escort wagon. The cheapest place in town for on-site computer gigs was charging $100/hour. I figured since I was just a kid trying to make money and not hate my job, I'd charge $30. Let me tell you, there's a lot more to running a business than what I had. Not only did it not last long, I hated it. I learned that while the retail aspect of it was gone, I hated being my own boss and trying to start/run a small business. Gigahertz PCs ended up doing volunteer work for families with low or no incomes. I put all my spare parts to good use in building free PCs and getting them online with dial-up. This was about the same time I'd played around with Linux a bit.
It was also around this time that I'd looked back on my job history. I only mentioned a few things here but I'd also worked at Sears, Albertson's (a grocery store), a jewish catering business & deli, and had been a student in adult-school. I was living temporarily with a family friend and her husband, Deanna and Greg. They graciously offered to let me live there for a few months if I helped around the house and rebuilt a fence for them. Greg was an old UNIX Admin and Developer, formerly working for IBM and Bank of America. I knew that I wanted to get out of retail and into IT for a company. While it seemed everyone and their mom had some Microsoft certificate, I decided to go the Linux route. It seemed to me that while the job pool for Windows pros was bigger, the talent pool was proportionately smaller for Linux pros.
About a year later, while working days at a grocery store and nights at a fast-food joint, I ate, slept, and lived Linux and IT. I ran a web server and figured out Apache (to a very basic level). I learned how to manage tweak system properties and settings via command line. I encountered problems, searched them on Google, figured them out, and just ran with it.
A couple years later, I landed an interview for a Linux Admin position for a publishing company in my current city. After the interview and some testing, the CIO and HR person deemed me still a bit too green to be a SysAdmin just yet but I was a great fit for Technical Support. That's how I got my first actual IT job.
As a basic run-down of my experience and skills, I knew how to:
- Install Windows or Linux on a computer
- Install programs/drivers/plugins/etc in either OS
- Build a computer from parts
- Troubleshoot hardware/software issues
- Replace/Add parts
- Install consumer networking equipment such as modems and routers
- Knew basic wired and wireless network configuration
- Understood basic networking principles
- Could troubleshoot common software issues such as email "not working"
- Knew how to load printer trays with paper
What I learned about working in IT at that job were a lot of the soft-skills that come along with this field.
- COMMUNICATION SKILLS x1000000000
- How to own and direct a phone call
- How to read a customer and feel for what they need and/or don't need
- Better Customer Service skills
- Office Politics and Huge Egos
- Chain of Command
- The undying need for amazing documentation
- Teamwork and inter-group communication
- How to deal with vendors
Based on my experience, getting into IT takes the right mixture of passion, knowledge, skill, hunger (in a learning sense) and luck. It's certainly not for everyone but you'll learn pretty quickly if it's something you want to make a life out of or not.
The longer I do this, the less and less I can see myself doing anything else. If I didn't care about a stable job and steady pay, I'd try to make it as a comedian. If IT hadn't worked out for me, I'd have enrolled in the Police Academy and worked at starting a career in Law Enforcement. If I didn't care about money had to settle for a crappy job the rest of my life, I'd clean floors or mow lawns for a living (which isn't a terrible job if you do it well enough). However, so far this is working out well and I love what I do.
I think a lot of figuring out what you want to do in life is having a realistic vision of your future, doing the best you can at the time, making the right next-moves and figuring out what you don't want to do. In the shitty jobs I've had, I've learned what I like and don't like about them and it's helped me figure out what I want to do. I've also usually learned something about myself through that work and learned at least one new skill from each job. Working at McDonald's might really, really suck (it usually does) but you still learn basic skills in teamwork, customer service, and following instructions. If you become a shift manager, you'll also get experience in management, something I haven't gotten to do yet.
It's been suggested that people should do what they love and figure out how to get paid for it. While this is great advice, it doesn't work for everyone. Sometimes you just have to take whatever work is available and do the best you can. With a solid plan, hard work and some luck, there isn't much you can't accomplish.
The longer I do this, the less and less I can see myself doing anything else. If I didn't care about a stable job and steady pay, I'd try to make it as a comedian. If IT hadn't worked out for me, I'd have enrolled in the Police Academy and worked at starting a career in Law Enforcement. If I didn't care about money had to settle for a crappy job the rest of my life, I'd clean floors or mow lawns for a living (which isn't a terrible job if you do it well enough). However, so far this is working out well and I love what I do.
I think a lot of figuring out what you want to do in life is having a realistic vision of your future, doing the best you can at the time, making the right next-moves and figuring out what you don't want to do. In the shitty jobs I've had, I've learned what I like and don't like about them and it's helped me figure out what I want to do. I've also usually learned something about myself through that work and learned at least one new skill from each job. Working at McDonald's might really, really suck (it usually does) but you still learn basic skills in teamwork, customer service, and following instructions. If you become a shift manager, you'll also get experience in management, something I haven't gotten to do yet.
It's been suggested that people should do what they love and figure out how to get paid for it. While this is great advice, it doesn't work for everyone. Sometimes you just have to take whatever work is available and do the best you can. With a solid plan, hard work and some luck, there isn't much you can't accomplish.
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