I.T. Sector Careers
Apr 2nd 2015, 3:22 am
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2008
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 38
I.T. Sector Careers
Hope there are some people in the I.T Sector who can help out with this.
I'm a Brit based in Toronto, Canada and I am in the process of changing careers into I.T. I have been a video gamer for 20-plus years, so I have at least a passing interest in the computer world.
Currently progressing through the entry level industry qualifications (CompTIA A+/Network+) so that I can land at least a help desk job. My time in Canada has not been very successful career-wise so I have chosen a field and qualifications that provide global opportunities.
Also have a 10-year career as an online journalist behind me and wanted to use those job skills in I.T. - would the business networking and communications skills developed as a journalist be useful in, say, I.T. sales?
Just looking for input and advice from people in the industry (no matter which country you are in).
I'm a Brit based in Toronto, Canada and I am in the process of changing careers into I.T. I have been a video gamer for 20-plus years, so I have at least a passing interest in the computer world.
Currently progressing through the entry level industry qualifications (CompTIA A+/Network+) so that I can land at least a help desk job. My time in Canada has not been very successful career-wise so I have chosen a field and qualifications that provide global opportunities.
Also have a 10-year career as an online journalist behind me and wanted to use those job skills in I.T. - would the business networking and communications skills developed as a journalist be useful in, say, I.T. sales?
Just looking for input and advice from people in the industry (no matter which country you are in).
Jul 30th 2015, 7:15 am
#2
Just Joined
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 1
Re: I.T. Sector Careers
Playing Video Games for 20 Years doesn't qualify you for anything unless you want to make it as a professional gamer.
Having Journalist skills probably means you have good conversational skills so interacting with people when they are trying to explain what is wrong will be easier.
Getting your A+ / Network plus is a good idea as a lot of companies will require that for entry level work, even at a helpdesk. But alas, you may only know what the book has taught you and not the 'real world' solutions.
So get yourself a old system and tear it apart. Remove all the components inside the computer and figure out how it all works. I'd recommend learning your hardware 1st so you know how to crack open a case and replace a faulty component.
Learn the different connectors - AGP, PCI, PCU-E, HDMI, VGA, DVI, DisplayPort, IDE, SCSI, sata, sata ii, sata III, etc, etc. There has been a huge leap in new connectors over the last several years which has made my head dizzy trying to keep up and I'm sure there will be more to come.
Understand RAID. It's very common now.
Learn what a BIOS is and what UEFI firmware is.
Learn the different types of motherboards and what they are used for (i.e. Choosing The Right Size Motherboard - Form Factor Diagram)
Learn the different memory types and speeds.
Once you understand the hardware, then learn the OS's. I presume you want to know about windows? Or Linux or Apple? I know only Windows. I'm sure there are still plenty of XP OSs out there so you have a lot to learn there as well from XP, Windows 7, windows 8 (and 8.1), and now windows 10.
There is a lot to learn but if you are willing to learn, it won't be bad. Plenty of resources online and you also have Youtube tutorials (i.e. https://www.youtube.com/user/NCIXcom).
Perhaps you can become an intern for a few months at a repair shop?
I started as a kid myself by tearing apart system since DOS 2.0 so I'm used to figuring out things for myself.
Hope this gives you a start.
Having Journalist skills probably means you have good conversational skills so interacting with people when they are trying to explain what is wrong will be easier.
Getting your A+ / Network plus is a good idea as a lot of companies will require that for entry level work, even at a helpdesk. But alas, you may only know what the book has taught you and not the 'real world' solutions.
So get yourself a old system and tear it apart. Remove all the components inside the computer and figure out how it all works. I'd recommend learning your hardware 1st so you know how to crack open a case and replace a faulty component.
Learn the different connectors - AGP, PCI, PCU-E, HDMI, VGA, DVI, DisplayPort, IDE, SCSI, sata, sata ii, sata III, etc, etc. There has been a huge leap in new connectors over the last several years which has made my head dizzy trying to keep up and I'm sure there will be more to come.
Understand RAID. It's very common now.
Learn what a BIOS is and what UEFI firmware is.
Learn the different types of motherboards and what they are used for (i.e. Choosing The Right Size Motherboard - Form Factor Diagram)
Learn the different memory types and speeds.
Once you understand the hardware, then learn the OS's. I presume you want to know about windows? Or Linux or Apple? I know only Windows. I'm sure there are still plenty of XP OSs out there so you have a lot to learn there as well from XP, Windows 7, windows 8 (and 8.1), and now windows 10.
There is a lot to learn but if you are willing to learn, it won't be bad. Plenty of resources online and you also have Youtube tutorials (i.e. https://www.youtube.com/user/NCIXcom).
Perhaps you can become an intern for a few months at a repair shop?
I started as a kid myself by tearing apart system since DOS 2.0 so I'm used to figuring out things for myself.
Hope this gives you a start.
Sep 1st 2015, 5:37 pm
#3
Just Joined
Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 9
Re: I.T. Sector Careers
I'm a bit late to this party, have literally just joined the forum!
I definitely agree with dinodod, tearing an old system apart and playing around with it is a great place to start.
There's so many different roles in the tech world you need to find out which way you want to go.
Have a look at the ITIL foundation course, this is the backbone of IT Service Delivery just about worldwide (and an easy non-technical exam!). Other soft skills like process improvement (LEAN Six Sigma) and Project management (PMP, Prince2) go down well too.
Visit codecademy and learn some programming languages for free (I'm working through Python right now myself), if you're looking for a tech job coding and scripting is always going to be necessary. Maybe coding turns out to be something you love or hate, either way it looks good on a CV.
Lastly, READ. sites like Theregister.co.uk, anandtech.com, hothardware.com post lots of news and projects, they also have great forums. And have a look at bcs.org, lots of great resources for career building and learning.
Best of luck!
I definitely agree with dinodod, tearing an old system apart and playing around with it is a great place to start.
There's so many different roles in the tech world you need to find out which way you want to go.
Have a look at the ITIL foundation course, this is the backbone of IT Service Delivery just about worldwide (and an easy non-technical exam!). Other soft skills like process improvement (LEAN Six Sigma) and Project management (PMP, Prince2) go down well too.
Visit codecademy and learn some programming languages for free (I'm working through Python right now myself), if you're looking for a tech job coding and scripting is always going to be necessary. Maybe coding turns out to be something you love or hate, either way it looks good on a CV.
Lastly, READ. sites like Theregister.co.uk, anandtech.com, hothardware.com post lots of news and projects, they also have great forums. And have a look at bcs.org, lots of great resources for career building and learning.
Best of luck!
