• Starting a career in computers? :)
    17 replies, posted
So basically I already build computers for my self and friends. I would like to know what I do to get started in the computer field seeing as though big companies require a good amount of experience. I already have an associates degree in medical assisting which I found out I'm not that great at (people make me nervous... Computers not so much LOL). Plus they say do what you love and since I was a teen I have always loved computers. Hopefully you can point me in the right direction :D
Any IT field is going to require you to interact with other people on some level, with some much more than others, but it's still going to be a requirement.
IT jobs are very stressful, as what I've heard. People don't understand what you're doing so they think that's a good reason to complain to you.
I just started my internship in the IT department for a local company. It's pretty much what the other guys said. Prepare to explain what you are doing and why something can't be done EXACTLY the way the employee/customer/etc wants it done. And yes, 99% of people think IT sit around doing literally nothing but you're really fixing everyone's problems and making sure shit doesn't break.
I appreciate your input but I'm also wondering where would I start to gain experience to eventually be in one of those bigger companies?
Advertise as a computer repairman in your area I suppose?
Get your A+, look for a job at a repair shop in town. You'll get better experience at a smaller shop than a big box store
Try and get yourself into a College practitioners/technician course. I did a year of IT in college even though I self taught a lot of the stuff I knew anyway. Companies like to see official qualifications. Other than that expect a lot of problem solving and customer interaction (some people can get really heated if their computer isn't working). This is what I did anyway, I started at my current company as a regular Customer Service Agent and got myself an induction in IT and now I'm an IT Engineer looking after 2,000+ users. Persistence is key, good luck.
Not a lot of money in PC repair. Too much competition. Go to school for one of the other highly competetive networking jobs such as network admin or some shit. at least if you score a job you should make more money. (does everyone that builds computers at some point 'think' this is what they want to do for a living and then ask on some forum?) I have seen this question posted many times over the years. I got my A+ cert over 15 years ago. Even back then the money for a repair tech was shit. I ended up going into warehousing myself. Good money.
I think the best place to get a look in would be getting work experience in a small independent shop. Some things i have found while in one. Note down your actions and diagnosis on the jobsheet so somebody else knows where you left off. It also covers your arse if something goes wrong. BACKUPS, BACKUPS, BACKUPS. Try finding ways of making a task faster without cutting corners, for instance installing and setting up windows, learning to use sysprep and other deployment tools. No news is usually good news. Don't use technical speak like GPU, CPU RAM HDD or whatever, or the customer gets confused. Use stuff they can get an understanding of such as video chip, processor, memory and main storage. There's still a few more things if you want me to continue.
Get into the trades, kid. These days you'll stumble along barely making anything in IT until you get something like 10 years of experience.
[QUOTE=GiGaBiTe;45300625]Any IT field is going to require you to interact with other people on some level, with some much more than others, but it's still going to be a requirement.[/QUOTE] I'm gonna go ahead and say that this will be a requirement for almost [I]every[/I] job. If you are uncomfortable around people you're going to need to learn how to overcome that.
[QUOTE=SGTNAPALM;45353286]I'm gonna go ahead and say that this will be a requirement for almost [I]every[/I] job. If you are uncomfortable around people you're going to need to learn how to overcome that.[/QUOTE] This. People don't believe it, but IT is actually one of the more interaction heavy jobs. It doesen't matter which part of IT you are in (Support, Sysadmin, Programmer). Here are some examples of what I mean: * Attending Regular meetings with Team Members and Project Lead * Regular communication with customer while developing a product for him, to make sure everything is as he wants it. * Sometimes driving to customers to give IT support. And much much more.
[QUOTE=kaukassus;45356380]This. People don't believe it, but IT is actually one of the more interaction heavy jobs. It doesen't matter which part of IT you are in (Support, Sysadmin, Programmer). Here are some examples of what I mean: * Attending Regular meetings with Team Members and Project Lead * Regular communication with customer while developing a product for him, to make sure everything is as he wants it. * Sometimes driving to customers to give IT support. And much much more.[/QUOTE] In IT you're going to often find yourself needing to explain somewhat complex technological concepts to people who aren't experts in technology like you are. This will require strong communication skills. It doesn't even need to be complex, things that seem very simple to you will confound many people.
Yeah, being able to translate between nerd and English is pretty essential in nearly all IT jobs, and the ones where it's not as important tend to be the kind where you're working with people specialised in different areas and need to be able to understand and be understood by people who don't have the same knowledge.
[QUOTE=SGTNAPALM;45356511]In IT you're going to often find yourself needing to explain somewhat complex technological concepts to people who aren't experts in technology like you are. This will require strong communication skills. It doesn't even need to be complex, things that seem very simple to you will confound many people.[/QUOTE] Yep, and if they say "I don't understand", even on something basic, do NOT belittle them (even passively) or become visibly frustrated. Just try and think of a basic way to explain that concept by substituting terms and using analogies.
[QUOTE=Demache;45358386]Yep, and if they say "I don't understand", even on something basic, do NOT belittle them (even passively) or become visibly frustrated. Just try and think of a basic way to explain that concept by substituting terms and using analogies.[/QUOTE] It helps to remember "Hey, this shit is obvious to me because I spent a lifetime doing this and they haven't. I'm sure if I was told to be an accountant or whatever their job was without any prior experience I wouldn't understand shit that is really obvious to them. Not everyone can be an expert at everything." Keeping that perspective usually prevents me from becoming frustrated at all.
If you have no experience, start out as a Level I doing help desk or something and then work your way up. You're going to have to communicate with people for just about any job, so you might as well get used to it. Communication is a valuable skill.
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