01-31-2024, 08:52 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-31-2024, 08:53 PM by RussEfarmer. Edited 1 time in total.)
hello system administrator here
first of all good luck on the A+
The first positions you are probably going to go for as a first IT gig is desktop support or for a helpdesk/service desk (or more commonly both). I would recommend starting at an MSP (managed service provider) who provides IT infrastructure and support to other companies as a contract service, this will give you a TON of coverage across different areas of IT. Don't worry if it feels like you have no idea what the hell is happening, if you have a supportive team who lets you learn and helps you out a bit you are in the right place.
Use this time to get familiar with the industry and learn from your peers. You will learn a lot from how your coworkers solve issues and by shadowing tier 2 support/admins, watching their thought process, reading documentation they put out about certain issues, etc.
Once you get a little comfortable in helpdesk you can start thinking about what you want to specialize in, and start to learn on your own. There are industry certifications for virtually every major part of IT (CCNA for networking, RHCSA for enterprise Linux, Cisco CyberOps Assosiate/CySA+ for general cybersecurity, AZ-900 for MS Azure cloud), I would pick an area you enjoy working in/more interested in than the others and start studying and labbing.
I would also highly recommend doing some projects at home. You don't need any crazy equipment, just a crappy computer to play with or even Virtualbox on your computer. Use it to learn Microsoft Active Directory, DNS, how to set up file shares, Hyper-V, or whatever else you think is cool. Just decide to do it, look up the documentation for it, and get it working so you can understand it. You can also learn Linux and figure out how to run a web server, set up containers, make a database server, or do whatever else you can find if you search "linux homelab" on reddit
Most important thing is don't stagnate, always be learning and experimenting with new crap. If you have no idea what the hell you are doing and are doing it anyway, you are doing it right. You will never NOT feel like that, you just feel like it with different stuff than last month, because you learned it and moved on to the new thing this month.
As for the job market in IT... it's "meh" right now, but it's nothing catastrophic and it will get better. Compared to the 2020-2023 boom in IT jobs this year looks like crap, but it's just par for the course.
first of all good luck on the A+
The first positions you are probably going to go for as a first IT gig is desktop support or for a helpdesk/service desk (or more commonly both). I would recommend starting at an MSP (managed service provider) who provides IT infrastructure and support to other companies as a contract service, this will give you a TON of coverage across different areas of IT. Don't worry if it feels like you have no idea what the hell is happening, if you have a supportive team who lets you learn and helps you out a bit you are in the right place.
Use this time to get familiar with the industry and learn from your peers. You will learn a lot from how your coworkers solve issues and by shadowing tier 2 support/admins, watching their thought process, reading documentation they put out about certain issues, etc.
Once you get a little comfortable in helpdesk you can start thinking about what you want to specialize in, and start to learn on your own. There are industry certifications for virtually every major part of IT (CCNA for networking, RHCSA for enterprise Linux, Cisco CyberOps Assosiate/CySA+ for general cybersecurity, AZ-900 for MS Azure cloud), I would pick an area you enjoy working in/more interested in than the others and start studying and labbing.
I would also highly recommend doing some projects at home. You don't need any crazy equipment, just a crappy computer to play with or even Virtualbox on your computer. Use it to learn Microsoft Active Directory, DNS, how to set up file shares, Hyper-V, or whatever else you think is cool. Just decide to do it, look up the documentation for it, and get it working so you can understand it. You can also learn Linux and figure out how to run a web server, set up containers, make a database server, or do whatever else you can find if you search "linux homelab" on reddit
Most important thing is don't stagnate, always be learning and experimenting with new crap. If you have no idea what the hell you are doing and are doing it anyway, you are doing it right. You will never NOT feel like that, you just feel like it with different stuff than last month, because you learned it and moved on to the new thing this month.
As for the job market in IT... it's "meh" right now, but it's nothing catastrophic and it will get better. Compared to the 2020-2023 boom in IT jobs this year looks like crap, but it's just par for the course.
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