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Anybody Work in IT?

ndh777

ndh777

Android Expert
I work for my family and they have me doing IT things on the side...minor stuff like managing the server, setting up new computers, troubleshooting internet and server issues, virus removal...very basic things for a mid-sized company. But I'm enjoying it and I'm thinking of pursuing it as a career.

I'm in college but working towards a degree in psychology. I'm wondering what sorts of certifications, classes, etc. do you guys that do work in IT have? I know how to get by for the most part but I'd like to have some certifications to back up my word and to learn some extra things or easier ways to complete tasks.
 
Wow... considering a switch from psychology to IT. Whatever got you into psychology in the first place?
 
jefboyardee said:
Wow... considering a switch from psychology to IT. Whatever got you into psychology in the first place?
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I was very interested in the psychology field when I was younger and still am today. But working with computers has felt a whole lot more satisfying and it's something I see immediate results in. People and myself notice when I have accomplished a task as an IT but not so much with psychology.

More than anything, I'm keeping my options open by trying to advance myself in this area while still going towards the degree in psychology. I have taken a few classes on coding while attending this university, but it's really been for electives or just because I was curious.
 
Well. I guess your access to people's hard drives will be a playground for budding psychologists! (Yes, I know you don't mean it that way.)
 
I work in IT and I'm finishing up my degree in Software Engineering. As for certs, I have my A+, Mobility+, and Network+.

I'll likely seek out the Healthcare IT Technician one in the near future.
 
jefboyardee said:
Well. I guess your access to people's hard drives will be a playground for budding psychologists! (Yes, I know you don't mean it that way.)
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lol I know exactly what you mean. I've seen my share of material when helping people out...I get the, "Please don't click this folder" from LOTS of people.

NYCHitman1 said:
I work in IT and I'm finishing up my degree in Software Engineering. As for certs, I have my A+, Mobility+, and Network+.

I'll likely seek out the Healthcare IT Technician one in the near future.
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That sounds great! Good luck to you and thanks for sharing. Gives me a better idea of what I should aim for.
 
To help decide what sort of qualifications you need, you might want to think about what area of IT you'd like to move into. And to consider how much they're likely to pay: the sort of support things you've been doing to date tend not to pay too well and - if you stick with server-side things - can mean having to work shifts which, as a medical type, you'll know is extremely bad for you. Like taking 10 years off your life bad for you.

Also, you might want to consider how much of a future there is in IT in the west. A lot of server side stuff is moving to the cloud which means fewer jobs supporting servers. Most hands-on stuff like programming, quite a bit of analysis and even some project management has either already moved to places like India or will be almost certainly be making the move in the next few years.

Longer term, there are going to be opportunities managing relationships with outsourcers and there'll almost certainly still be some project management work.

Since you appear to most like getting your hands dirty, I'm not sure how much that sort of thing will suit.

You might find psychology somewhat more interesting ;)
 
Don't know that it will help you much, but I am IT manager for a small logistics company in the Mid-Atlantic and my degree is in fine art. :rolleyes: I have never got any of the certs, and seem to know more than many that have them, so I don't put a lot of stock in them when evaluating a new hire. However, that limits my employability to small to medium private companies (fine by me) as the large tech corps want the alphabet soup after your name.

Now, what you describe you are doing now is completely different from applications development or Network engineering. I think you will have to focus on the area you'd most like to work in.

Computer Science Careers
 
ndh777 said:
I was very interested in the psychology field when I was younger and still am today. But working with computers has felt a whole lot more satisfying and it's something I see immediate results in. People and myself notice when I have accomplished a task as an IT but not so much with psychology.

More than anything, I'm keeping my options open by trying to advance myself in this area while still going towards the degree in psychology. I have taken a few classes on coding while attending this university, but it's really been for electives or just because I was curious.
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If you changed each instance of 'psychology' to 'medicine' I could've written the above. That's exactly how it played out for me when I took a break [due to absolute burnout] prior to med school. Got hooked on UNIX programming and system administration, and never looked back. :D

FWIW, I had no certifications, no classes, no experience, no NOTHING in IT--and had an amazing career.
 
I've also had a great career in IT without any certs, but went back ti Uni and graduated last year with a 2:1 in Computer Security & Forensics. I now have my own IT training business. What is also useful is to be a member of professional bodies like the IEEE. I've been a member for years, and would be happy to refer people working in IT.
 
I am not in IT, but I have and still do manage to get IT-type tasks assigned to me in my line of work (avionics).

I have no formal training, just lots of experience fixing computers and hacking software to suit my needs. Once someone finds out you can do computers, you become the local go-to guy...
 
Davdi said:
I've also had a great career in IT without any certs, but went back ti Uni and graduated last year with a 2:1 in Computer Security & Forensics. I now have my own IT training business. What is also useful is to be a member of professional bodies like the IEEE. I've been a member for years, and would be happy to refer people working in IT.
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How do you become a member of something the IEEE ?

I was the go-to guy in an aircraft hangar for a while, then I started school and got my associates. Along the way I also got my A+, my Security+, my Microsoft Win 7 Configuration, and Microsoft Server 2008 Network Infrastructure.
When I all I had was my A+ I got on part time at a bank (my airline went out of business) and from there I've been moving up the ladder.
Systems Administrator now focusing on servers and everything Windows, including what runs on it.

SCCM has become my life as of late, and for every new project (SCCM, 1st and 3rd party patching, rolling out new Trend Micro, Airwatch MDM) the boss let's me just figure it out and run with it, with training of course.

The sky is the limit at my job. And if you are lucky any IT job can be like that.

Find a part of IT you enjoy and you can make a career out of it.
 
NightAngel79 said:
How do you become a member of something the IEEE ?
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Give them about $2,000 per year. If you're a student though, you should be able to join your university chapter (assuming your university offers electrical/computer engineering) for tens of dollars per year.

I'm a developer. I have a BS in computer science, plus the Oracle Java Programmer certification and the Spring Certified Professional certification. In the development world, I think certifications are not valued too much, unless you are working for a government or a government contractor (as I was); they eat that stuff up. The contract I was working on mandated that a certain percentage of the developers have the OCP/JP certification; my company later paid for my Spring cert to get into position for a better contract. I've since moved on to a small medical billing shop doing Ruby on Rails.

On second thought, though, since I added the Spring cert to my Linkedin profile, recruiters have hit me up all the time, so I suppose that's worth something. I did land my current job through a headhunter on Linkedin, though Spring was not a qualification (and we don't use it).
 
big_z said:
I'm a developer. I have a BS in computer science, plus the Oracle Java Programmer certification and the Spring Certified Professional certification. In the development world, I think certifications are not valued too much, unless you are working for a government or a government contractor (as I was); they eat that stuff up. The contract I was working on mandated that a certain percentage of the developers have the OCP/JP certification; my company later paid for my Spring cert to get into position for a better contract. I've since moved on to a small medical billing shop doing Ruby on Rails.
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I think the OCP certification is undervalued in terms of recruitment. Most places are not interested in the slightest about Java certifications. I myself consider having the qualification a plus point for any such candidates I interview. The exam itself is certainly not a walk in the park, you cannot simply breeze into the exam room expecting a pass. It requires intensive study, and by the end of it you will certainly understand the more esoteric corners of the language.
Even experienced developers would benefit from at least reading through the study material.
 
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