To My IT Famb

[Velle47]

I'm about to start my junior year of college. I am majoring in IS. Are there any licenses that I could attempt to get before I graduate? I'm trying to get my foot in there door before I actually graduate. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

 

[datznasty]

Windows 70-686 and 70-680

 

[atlien seeko]

Windows 70-686 and 70-680

What are these? Windows 8 certs?

 

[Velle47]

^what he said

 

[datznasty]

Windows 70-686 and 70-680

What are these? Windows 8 certs?

Nah, Windows 7. Are companies going to Windows 8 on a large scale? I work in Government so I wouldn't know what the private sector is doing, but on even a personal consumer level, Windows 8 seems to be a massive failure and we are continuing to update and create packages for our Windows 7 AGM image so I don't expect the D.O.D to go to Windows 8 anytime soon.

Both tests are surprisingly easy IMO. You can find a braindump from a site like www.examcollection.com, get yourself a decent paying job while finishing up school. I mean, by all means learn the material too, but this will get you the cert faster than reading the whole book or taking a course at an Institute of Higher Learning. It's largely what we did when somebody in charge all of a sudden passed this reg that said IT professionals had to have Windows 7 certs or be fired and only gave us 30 days to do so.

 

[Velle47]

Nah, Windows 7. Are companies going to Windows 8 on a large scale? I work in Government so I wouldn't know what the private sector is doing, but on even a personal consumer level, Windows 8 seems to be a massive failure and we are continuing to update and create packages for our Windows 7 AGM image so I don't expect the D.O.D to go to Windows 8 anytime soon.

Both tests are surprisingly easy IMO. You can find a braindump from a site like www.examcollection.com, get yourself a decent paying job while finishing up school. I mean, by all means learn the material too, but this will get you the cert faster than reading the whole book or taking a course at an Institute of Higher Learning. It's largely what we did when somebody in charge all of a sudden passed this reg that said IT professionals had to have Windows 7 certs or be fired and only gave us 30 days to do so.

do I just download the file and read it?

 

[okaykk]

Windows 8 is useless for a business setting. We have been doing the same with windows 7 at Columbia University.

 

[Undefined]

I'm pretty sure Windows 8 loads in the tablet view and you have to manually switch to Desktop so its not widely used in the business world.

 

[Rootin4EverybodyBlack]

*Semi thread jack*

I got my degree in Business Admin/Management. finding a job has been tough..to say the least. What's the best way to transition into IT and make myself marketable without going back to school? (if that's possible).

Reps will be provided for answers

 

[datznasty]

Just get the certs and learn on the job. With that examcollection link just download the software and take practice exams, it breaks it down even by subject matter if you want. And when you find a dump, you read the comments on the bottom of the page which will let you know if it's current or not or if you should find another dump. It'l say like, "took the test yesterday, these are the right questions, most questions were about the imaging side," or something.

Again, don't just be a dude who got the cert but doesn't know ****. But getting the cert helps you get your resume and apps in. I'm actually trying to get out of IT, just have too many bills right now to just up and say I'm changing careers from something solid to something that may or may not be as successful right off the bat. FWIW I'm an Exercise Kinesiology major.

 

[omgitswes]

IT itself is not for me. I'm doing it now and hate it. I'm more interested in IA and cyber security. Taking security+ by the end of this month and once I graduate I hope to get in with DOD for cyber security, or anywhere really. Cyber security and information assurance seem to be really not career fields these days, and it's exciting from what I've read and the seminars I've been too.

 

[qtnettles]

SQL Server Certification

 

[JJ Goon]

IT itself is not for me. I'm doing it now and hate it. I'm more interested in IA and cyber security. Taking security+ by the end of this month and once I graduate I hope to get in with DOD for cyber security, or anywhere really. Cyber security and information assurance seem to be really not career fields these days, and it's exciting from what I've read and the seminars I've been too.

I feel you as im the same, Looking for a way out of I.T but need to keep paying these bills

 

[qtnettles]

*Semi thread jack*

I got my degree in Business Admin/Management. finding a job has been tough..to say the least. What's the best way to transition into IT and make myself marketable without going back to school? (if that's possible).

Reps will be provided for answers

If you dont wanna go back to school the easiest way is just to get some certifications in whatever aspect of I.T. you want to do. If you want to do networking get an CCNA(Cisco Networking) or if you want to do coding and programming get an .net or C++ certification. If those are not for you, just find an organization with a big I.T. department and start at the bottom in tech support. This will expose you to all the software and devices within that company and when you fix problems you are constantly learning. Do your time in tech support at the bottom and bide your time to ascend to the top

 

[Rootin4EverybodyBlack]

If you dont wanna go back to school the easiest way is just to get some certifications in whatever aspect of I.T. you want to do. If you want to do networking get an CCNA(Cisco Networking) or if you want to do coding and programming get an .net or C++ certification. If those are not for you, just find an organization with a big I.T. department and start at the bottom in tech support. This will expose you to all the software and devices within that company and when you fix problems you are constantly learning. Do your time in tech support at the bottom and bide your time to ascend to the top

Preciate it.

I can definitely go the certification route, I *think* I would be able to learn that fairly quickly.

Honestly, I'm not hysterically excited about IT, but it interests me a hell of a lot more than this entry-level, Administrative life my degree path has led me down.

 

[omgitswes]

Preciate it.

I can definitely go the certification route, I *think* I would be able to learn that fairly quickly.

Honestly, I'm not hysterically excited about IT, but it interests me a hell of a lot more than this entry-level, Administrative life my degree path has led me down.

only downside to certs is that they can get pretty pricey. A lot of companies will pay for them for you though.
My school lets us get the CompTIA ones for half off so that's good....also I'm telling you now entry level IT positions are awful, you deal with some pretty incompetent people. But there's a light at the end of the tunnel, you're always going to be in demand and once you leave help desk it gets better.

 

[Rootin4EverybodyBlack]

only downside to certs is that they can get pretty pricey. A lot of companies will pay for them for you though.
My school lets us get the CompTIA ones for half off so that's good....also I'm telling you now entry level IT positions are awful, you deal with some pretty incompetent people. But there's a light at the end of the tunnel, you're always going to be in demand and once you leave help desk it gets better.

Yeah my cousin does entry level IT (help desk type stuff) now at a hospital. He tells me all the time the people he deals with are incompetent, but he's getting 23/hr with only an associates (he's still in school) so he doesn't complain too much

Trust me, once you see the pay and job descriptions for regular "office jobs" you'd be like :x Not majoring in CIS or Comp Sci in college is one of my biggest regrets, because the job market for most Non-IT entry level jobs is trash out here.

 

[datznasty]

IIRC, through prometric.com I paid $150 per test. Help desk can get dull but the good thing about it is you are sitting on a computer most of all day waiting for something to go wrong so you can be on NT or whatever. Or if you are an extremely proactive person, which is how I need to be, you download the Rosetta Stone online package or take some online courses or study, read a book, etc. and find a way to maximize your time doing two things at once. I pretty much just sit here and try to fight falling asleep and listen to my same iPod songs from 09. I am going to start studying though so I can switch careers and do the secondary one on the side until I feel like I can make enough at it to quit IT and preserve my lifestyle

 

[trynafeelmink]

Preciate it.

I can definitely go the certification route, I *think* I would be able to learn that fairly quickly.

Honestly, I'm not hysterically excited about IT, but it interests me a hell of a lot more than this entry-level, Administrative life my degree path has led me down.

Bruh it sounds like we have the exact same problem.. I'm not even done with school yet but just the thought of doing this Admn thing for more years is giving me a midlife crisis at 24

 

[Rootin4EverybodyBlack]

Bruh it sounds like we have the exact same problem.. I'm not even done with school yet but just the thought of doing this Admn thing for more years is giving me a midlife crisis at 24

Man, I worked in Admin while I was in school and during the summers, I would almost fall asleep every day. Luckily the people were cool tho

Now that I'm out of school looking for something it's even worse. Half of these positions I don't even remotely want, I'm just applying cuz I know I need a job

 

[trickster360cj]

I've been doing help desk for about 6 months and I'm trying to move to desktop support. I just started studying for that Microsoft cert mentioned above.

 

[goste187]

Studying for Linux+ myself now

 

[dens415]

 

[trynafeelmink]

That was another question i had are jobs willing to hire although your degree isnt in the IT field. I'm a poli sci major but i am really interested in making a career in IT

 

[Ruck13]

To answer your question, get some CompTia certs knocked out before you graduate and if you are looking into do any network admin type stuff, start going after some Cisco/Juniper certs as well. Check your school and surrounding areas for an intern, you can easily flip that into a job after graduation and/or use the experience to move up within the company.

IIRC, through prometric.com I paid $150 per test. Help desk can get dull but the good thing about it is you are sitting on a computer most of all day waiting for something to go wrong so you can be on NT or whatever. Or if you are an extremely proactive person, which is how I need to be, you download the Rosetta Stone online package or take some online courses or study, read a book, etc. and find a way to maximize your time doing two things at once. I pretty much just sit here and try to fight falling asleep and listen to my same iPod songs from 09. I am going to start studying though so I can switch careers and do the secondary one on the side until I feel like I can make enough at it to quit IT and preserve my lifestyle

I agree with the above 100% minus quitting IT..I'm in the Telco field, started from helpdesk at a major retailer..flipped that into a helpdesk/noc job for an ISP, moved up to Sr. level tech there and flipped that into the job I have now. The key is getting in..figuring out what you want to do in I.T. and going all in until you get the job you want. If that means 3rd shift helpdesk for a year..do it. Most of the companies hire you in as entry-level expecting you to eventually plateau at that position and move on somewhere else within the company and they just refresh w/ new hires in the same boat as you.