A few questions about starting a career in IT.

[ArthurOrton]

So I haven't completely decided to do this yet as I'm still weighing my options at the time, but I just had a few preliminary questions about starting out in IT. I guess these are for those of you who work in the field.

Did you have to get a college degree? I think experience would probably be far more important but is that how do the people that interview you see it?

How valued are certifications? I realize they're just pieces of paper and don't guarantee you knowing a whole lot, but from my limited knowledge they seem like the key to getting your foot in the door. And which ones would be good to start with? I hear some things about A+ being the first stepping stone as far as certs go but I don't know how true this is. Confirm/deny?

What job did you start out doing and how'd you land it? Was it by knowing a friend in the field, due to having a cert or two, or just by sheer luck? Did it pay enough to get you by while you picked up some experience?

What's all this stuff about outsourcing jobs to eastern countries? How bad is it, really?

I've been reading around about the field in general and from what I've read, it seems like a job with Cisco (or something network related) would be a pretty solid place to aim your career at (no such thing as too ambitious!). Confirm/deny?

Thanks for reading this and of course, any comments, tips, etc. you may have from your experience in the field would be appreciated. 8-)

[seijuro]

So I haven't completely decided to do this yet as I'm still weighing my options at the time, but I just had a few preliminary questions about starting out in IT. I guess these are for those of you who work in the field.

Did you have to get a college degree? I think experience would probably be far more important but is that how do the people that interview you see it?

How valued are certifications? I realize they're just pieces of paper and don't guarantee you knowing a whole lot, but from my limited knowledge they seem like the key to getting your foot in the door. And which ones would be good to start with? I hear some things about A+ being the first stepping stone as far as certs go but I don't know how true this is. Confirm/deny?

What job did you start out doing and how'd you land it? Was it by knowing a friend in the field, due to having a cert or two, or just by sheer luck? Did it pay enough to get you by while you picked up some experience?

What's all this stuff about outsourcing jobs to eastern countries? How bad is it, really?

I've been reading around about the field in general and from what I've read, it seems like a job with Cisco (or something network related) would be a pretty solid place to aim your career at (no such thing as too ambitious!). Confirm/deny?

Thanks for reading this and of course, any comments, tips, etc. you may have from your experience in the field would be appreciated. 8-)

1) Yes most jobs require you to have a degree.
2) 2nd only to the degree in importance is experience, you can technically argue exp. is more, less, or equal to the degree however many larger corps are automating application processes so the computer may overlook you if you do not have the degree even with the proper experience.
3) I'm still working on my degree but I know lots of professional IT workers and have done a fair amount of research on the subject.
4) Out sourcing is a pretty heated subject (at least here in the US) it's not so much as out sourcing only but also bringing in workers on visas. I suggest you read up on this subject it is really an issue one should be aware of and monitoring for anyone entering or working in the IT field.
5) Not sure about Cisco I've heard about the same amount of info good and bad and since I don't work/haven't worked for them I can't give any first had accounts.

[ArthurOrton]

So certifications won't get you very far? even for an entry-level job?

[seijuro]

Sorry didn't mean to leave those out, in general certs can net you higher pay if you have ones that are really important to whatever particular job and in some less common cases may also be required by a particular job.

[runningwithscissors]

So I haven't completely decided to do this yet as I'm still weighing my options at the time, but I just had a few preliminary questions about starting out in IT. I guess these are for those of you who work in the field.

Did you have to get a college degree? I think experience would probably be far more important but is that how do the people that interview you see it?
I have a college degree. It is however, not a CS or IT degree. It's a degree in industrial engineering. Though I work as a programmer. :)


How valued are certifications? I realize they're just pieces of paper and don't guarantee you knowing a whole lot, but from my limited knowledge they seem like the key to getting your foot in the door. And which ones would be good to start with? I hear some things about A+ being the first stepping stone as far as certs go but I don't know how true this is. Confirm/deny?
They make a decent impression. I know a lot of organisations won't even grant you an interview without an IT degree or certification, so I suppose some kind of certification is essential.


What job did you start out doing and how'd you land it? Was it by knowing a friend in the field, due to having a cert or two, or just by sheer luck? Did it pay enough to get you by while you picked up some experience?
I was looking for any decent job really. It didn't have to be IT related. I just happened to have taken a programming course and found employment as a programmer. If not, I'd probably have been doing something else.
It pays alright. Althought there are better opportunities out there.


What's all this stuff about outsourcing jobs to eastern countries? How bad is it, really?
I'm someone from the eastern countries. :) So, I don't really know how bad it is over in the west. I suppose if you're really good at the stuff, you'll find employment anyway.


I've been reading around about the field in general and from what I've read, it seems like a job with Cisco (or something network related) would be a pretty solid place to aim your career at (no such thing as too ambitious!). Confirm/deny?
I don't think so. Just my opinion. Building a career around some organisation's technology has never appealed to me.


Thanks for reading this and of course, any comments, tips, etc. you may have from your experience in the field would be appreciated. 8-)
It's like any other job, I suppose. If you really enjoy it, go ahead. If something else excites you, then you'd be better off checking that out.

[der_joachim]

So I haven't completely decided to do this yet as I'm still weighing my options at the time, but I just had a few preliminary questions about starting out in IT. I guess these are for those of you who work in the field.

I write web applications for a living, and I manage my own small project.



Did you have to get a college degree? I think experience would probably be far more important but is that how do the people that interview you see it?


Although both a degree and experience are quite important. The answers to your question though vary from case to case. I had neither. I did a university study for a few years (computational linguistics), but I never graduated. They wanted my linguistic knowledge though, so I got hired.



How valued are certifications? I realize they're just pieces of paper and don't guarantee you knowing a whole lot, but from my limited knowledge they seem like the key to getting your foot in the door. And which ones would be good to start with? I hear some things about A+ being the first stepping stone as far as certs go but I don't know how true this is. Confirm/deny?


I did not have any certifications, but I got the job quite easily.



What job did you start out doing and how'd you land it? Was it by knowing a friend in the field, due to having a cert or two, or just by sheer luck? Did it pay enough to get you by while you picked up some experience?


I started as a junior programmer, but got promoted to assistent project manager after two years. I got in by sheer luck. They wanted somebody with both some linguistic knowledge and some programming experience. They found my GFs CV, but she already had another job, so she gave them my E-mail address. I am not going to tell you about my interview, which was actually quite absurd.

The pay was quite decent (for someone who never graduated) and my income has grown quite steadily. I still work there (almost 5 years now) and I've seen our little company grow. Never really had the urge to find something else.



What's all this stuff about outsourcing jobs to eastern countries? How bad is it, really?


Not much of an issue in Europe, although here in the Netherlands a few big companies have outsourced their IT projects.


Thanks for reading this and of course, any comments, tips, etc. you may have from your experience in the field would be appreciated. 8-)

There will probably be a huge knowledge gap between you and your customers. I know many people in IT who have a severe case of techie tunnel vision. That is not good. Never try to explain the intricacies of a well-written piece of code to somebody who still thinks that the Internet is behind the Big Blue E. I've seen it happen and it is not a good thing. As long as you do try to think from the consumer's perspective, you'll be good. The customer does not care about how nice your code is. They want results and they want them yesterday!

Another word of advice: you'll be judged. You'll be typecast as a nerd. Since you are a technician, people will assume that you have some social deficiencies. I even have a colleague from a non-IT department who stil thinks that way. I guess it is something that you will have to learn to live with.

[ArthurOrton]

Thanks for all the replies. guys!