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Most Recent Articles
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- Starting Your Career In Information Technology - Or Accelerating Your Current One !
Many newcomers to the IT field are surprised when they find out it's tougher to get that first job than they thought it would be. I know exactly what that's like. I've had a great career in IT and I'd recommend it to anyone, but I had a tough time breaking in as well. I'd like to share some tips with you on how to get started on what can be a financially rewarding and personally satisfying career in Information Technology.
School systems are a great place to start. A lot of newcomers forget that schools around the world need IT personnel to support school networks, printers, etc. I began my career with a public school system and it was the best move I could ever have made. If you land such a job, you'll be doing everything from unjamming printers to supporting the school's Local Area Network (LAN). You get experience that is going to look great on your resume - you'll have a big advantage over those whose job responsibilities are narrower. You won't make a lot of money, but what you need at the beginning of your career is experience, not money. Which brings me to my second point .... - Computer Careers: Getting Your First Job
The hardest part of getting a computer career started is just that - getting started! For many career changers, the first step in a rewarding career in IT is attending a tech school such as ECPI or ITT Tech, and then it's off to the job hunt.
When it comes to the difficulties you can face getting that first job, I speak from experience. Today, I possess the world's most valuable computer certification and own my own computer training company, but the beginning of my career was very, very difficult. Just getting an interview when you're looking for your first computer job is tough, but I'm also living proof that it can be done and you can go on to a great career. - Computer Jobs: How To Figure Out What Your Career Speciality Should Be
Making the decision to pursue a computer career is a great choice. I can vouch for that personally -it's the most important career decision I have ever made. Having said that, I know from experience that it can be hard to decide which computer job to pursue! Many of you are attending or thinking of attending a tech school such as ITT Tech or ECPI, and once you get started you may be overwhelmed at the number of fields you can enter from there.
Should you specialize in Microsoft networking software, or email programs, or Novell, or Cisco, or Linux, or network security, or voice over IP, or….? The list goes on and on. I faced a similar decision when I attended a computer school. I took some programming classes, and while they helped me understand computer logic, it just wasn't what I wanted to do for a living. Then I took a networking class and I just knew that's what I wanted to do. - Computer Careers And Training Schools: Building A Network Of Contacts
Almost all computer schools and colleges have some sort of job placement assistance (and you should ask about this before signing up!). The people who work in these departments work very hard to get your computer career started and get you into your first job in the computer field, but you shouldn't leave it all up to them. You need to know how to build two kinds of networks to get ahead in IT - the physical kind that carries packets, and the personal kind that can get you hired and get you ahead.
When it comes to getting that first computer job, you have to show initiative. Don't just send a pile of resumes out and expect the phone to ring off the hook. If you're attending a computer training school, you have two great resources to draw on in your job search. First, schedule an interview with someone in the job placement assistance department. Ask them what you can do to help them get your computer career started. Showing initiative will also help you stand out from the crowd, and there's nothing wrong with that. - Computer Careers: Your First Job And Salary Hype
Computer careers can be highly lucrative, and I'll be the first to say that starting a career in information technology is one of the smartest decisions I ever made. Most computer training schools and tech schools are realistic with you about the kind of money you can make in getting started, but occasionally I still hear radio ads for schools using a salary survey or "average salary" as a recruiting tool.
This is in no way meant to talk you out of starting a career in computers, but keep in mind that the average salary survey in no way reflects the kind of money you should expect to make when starting out in IT. One recent survey I read reflected an average salary of $70,000 a year. While you can certainly make that kind of money in a computer career - and frankly, you can make even more - there are so many other factors involved in an "average salary" that I'd go as far to say that there really isn't such a thing as an average salary. Salaries are affected by your geographic location, your certification, your education, and your job role.
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