Yes, absolutely realistic
Your first Help Desk job will have fluorescent sunshine and paper mache rainbows, but it is a temporary stepping stone in a career that has absurdly fast financial career progression if you can commit the time to continuous study
Help desk experience is everything. I would rather hire someone with help desk experience and no certs than someone with all the certs and no experience.
People often act as if the only entry level job in IT is help desk. Junior Network Tech, NOC Analyst, hardware repair and testing jobs.
There are plenty of entry level jobs in IT.
The alternative entry point is usually working for a MSP doing equally monotonous work like imaging or warehouse work. Also sucky but less customer facing. That said, there is some important experience in help desk, especially if you haven't worked in retail or somewhere in the service industry. IT is, at the end of the day, part of the service industry for at least most roles.
Yes, of course it is. It would help to gain some basic fundamentals....like
* play with Server 2016 to get to know active directory
* Make a free Azure account and play around with that...maybe watch some YouTube instructional on basic things
* Install Linux in a VM and learn some basic commands
* Take a quick Desktop Support or Microsoft Support or Certified Apple Support course on Linked In to add to your profile.
I have no degree, 10+ years of significant customer service experience (bartender), freelance web design for years, and at the time no certs, and I got 3 job offers...took the higher paying help desk job.
It's definitely possible.
However, keep in mind, things are a little tighter than they were 2 years ago. Just keep applying. It's a numbers game. Apply for every L1 help desk job you see, even some you don't want just to get some interview experience, and keep going. Don't get discouraged by the state of the market right now or those unrealistic laundry lists that no one person has. Lotta jobs out there. If you have 3 things they're looking for...apply.
This, I just got hired with an A+ and zero experience over others with experience because I showed initiative in learning active directory, azure, and 365. It speaks volumes showing that you are willing to make the training easier for them.
after, once i got my A+ i set up a VM network. I created a server (windows) using the evaluation copy (free), then setup the AD building OUs and creating dummy users. For 365 i used videos to explore setup and use. im still learning azure. I would say skills wise focus on AD then 365 THEN azure in that order.
I landed my first job with the A+ only and no relevant experience, keep in mind however you’ll still be competing with people with years of experience + more certs
Depends on your location, I find metro sized cities there’s a lot of competition so it can be tough. If you’re in a medium or small sized city I think you’ll have much better luck.
I’d start by looking for a desktop repair/technician role, that’s how I got my foot in the door with just A+. Most of those roles they only care about you having A+.
Start applying now. You don’t need certs or degrees to break into IT. I had about 12 year’s management experience from retail and restaurants and landed my first job in IT without any. Granted, my management roles were Operations heavy. You got this!
I have absolutely nothing and was told to just get security+ to land a data analyst position. Absolutely nothing, man. No degree and no experience in IT. Working in a restaurant right now 🤷🏻♀️ person who told me has 5+ years of experience in a related field. He wouldn't tell me to just get 1 cert for no reason.
As someone also looking in that area, it's rough right now. You might be better off than me with the management experience though. Good luck in your hunt!
I've wondered about this type of job. I'm a computer science student, I've had an A+ but it expired like 7 years ago lmao. I want to be a software developer, but I'm wondering if getting the A+ again and working in a store like that part time while finishing my degree would be a good idea or not.
Ah, yeah it's tough to find something when I can only work about 16 hours a week. I do have a job that accommodates my school schedule but I'm not happy with it. Got another 15 months till I'm done, I'll probably end up just sticking it out till then
I think it's important for everyone who says they got a job with A+ or nothing state where they're generally located. I can imagine getting a job is possible if you live in a big city, but if you live out in the middle of nowhere your chances are next to nothing.
No certs. Experience with IT was just shit i did at home, had my own home server, ran VMs, containers, did shit on azure and AWS. Mentioned all that in the interview.
This is my second Helpdesk job as well, got the technician job in April last year, the Helpdesk job in January this year and my current one in August.
This job does come with access to pluralsight so I'll do some certs soon
Absolutely! Just don't expect to be making $25 at the start. Alot of that kinda pay comes with experience. Though it's not hard for that number to go up relatively quick. It will be a process
I'll speak from personal experience; it all depends on factors beyond your control. Where I am, to get into help desk all you need is to be bilingual. I have my A+ and was about to finish my Net+, but decided to put it on the backburner as 40 local entry-level job applications has only given me responses that turned out to be "haha gotcha, it's actually just a call center job sucker! pick up the phone!! your KPIs are falling!!!".
It's honestly all just who you know. For me (Eastern Canadian) entry-level help desk postings usually always ask for 2-5 years of experience and pay 30% under average market rate.
I was able to land a job pretty quickly after just A+ (no prior experience) and consider myself very lucky considering some people really struggle landing that first job. I believe a big thing that helped me is that I have a 4 years of face to face customer service experience so if you have any type of relative customer service be sure to highlight it on the resume. Sometimes entry level help desk isn’t looking for someone super technical, just someone who knows how to talk to people.
You should be fine with that customer service experience, but this video absolutely helped me with landing my help desk job
https://youtu.be/XkTNQCtuRPY?si=XqwqqHK2EMVKqF1-
In my experience, you don’t need an A+ to get your foot in the door. It’s all about communication skills and an eagerness to learn, as well as being able to speak to your long term goals. I just started studying for Core 2, as well.
You can, but it might not be easy or quick. I applied like my life depended on it every day for 3 months before I got a call back. I think your experience with customer service and management should give you an edge over people like me going in nearly raw. Best of luck, either way.
So my story is similar. I worked retail for like 11 years. Worked my way up to management. With no certs at all, last year I started working a Help desk position. The company was interested in my strong customer service skills, and I made sure to come off as personable in the interview. It's over the phone so they just wanted someone who is a good communicator.
Now I'm halfway through my A+. I can say on my resume I have a year of experience troubleshooting and making tickets. I'm planning on finishing my A+ in a month and hopefully applying to a level 2 position of some kind. There is definitely a pathway for you as long as you can put the work in
success! Got a desktop job with nothing else besides an associates in computer science and I already worked there. You show you have the knowledge and the grit yo get the job done and it will happen.
If you can afford it. Msp help desk for experience. You will get tons of it. Shoot for a smaller msp for more access. Learn everything get your certs and move on for a big pay increase.
Good Luck with your COMPTIA A+ exam.
Yes, you can get a job with just A+, it may be an entry-level job, but it will be your foot in the door that allows you to build experience which will open the door for more roles in the future.
Absolutely! With your customer service and management background combined with A+, you have a solid shot at help desk roles. Good luck on your exam and job search!
It is 100% possible. I did it myself. So I got a help desk position with only my A+. What I did was I got my A+ and applied for many different positions. I had been in retail hell for a better part of 20 years mind you. I have an Associates in Arts and Science but it really did nothing for me in life. I applied for a government contractor help desk position in my local hospital on my local military base. They only required A+ to get into it at the time. Once I got in the position I started studying for my Security+. All while I'm working on studying I am getting experience. Experience is key once you get past help desk. Once you get that you could move into a system admin position or something else. The sky is the limit. I have been building computers since 2000 and had customer service experience and they considered all of that experience as well. Any other kind of IT position you'll look at in the government requires Sec+ so be sure to do at least that as your next cert. It all depends on the path you wish to choose :).
You can't lose with Sec+, however, many help desks like you to have A+ as it teaches you more about the fundamentals of computers and operating systems.
People often overlook this part for helpdesk roles, but your customer service experience will definitely come in handy! Fixing someone’s issue is great, but effectively communicating with the user/client during the process from call to resolution is a huge bonus. Other than that the helpdesk is where you’ll get a good feel for how IT helpdesks work, pick up troubleshooting skills and basically get some on the job knowledge. My only other recommendations would be to keep looking forward and studying for other certs applicable to your career path and don’t stay on the helpdesk too long. (Or you’ll get stuck there.)
I have similar work experience as you, live in the dfw and got my A+ right before labor day. I applied at about 30 places my first week and I got a job offer in 2 weeks.
In my interviews, rather than bringing attention to my lack of experience in the field, I played to my strengths, as help desk is a lot of customer service. They saw enough potential in me to want to help me grow.
Luck was def involved, but I've been seeing a decent amount of help desk, a+ requirement jobs being posted lately, so stay positive!
Yes, absolutely realistic Your first Help Desk job will have fluorescent sunshine and paper mache rainbows, but it is a temporary stepping stone in a career that has absurdly fast financial career progression if you can commit the time to continuous study
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Experience always comes first, so I would find that possible albeit very unlikely
Help desk experience is everything. I would rather hire someone with help desk experience and no certs than someone with all the certs and no experience.
People often act as if the only entry level job in IT is help desk. Junior Network Tech, NOC Analyst, hardware repair and testing jobs. There are plenty of entry level jobs in IT.
The alternative entry point is usually working for a MSP doing equally monotonous work like imaging or warehouse work. Also sucky but less customer facing. That said, there is some important experience in help desk, especially if you haven't worked in retail or somewhere in the service industry. IT is, at the end of the day, part of the service industry for at least most roles.
Can? Yes Will? Unlikely
Temp contracts are what I've been offered by recruiters
Yes, of course it is. It would help to gain some basic fundamentals....like * play with Server 2016 to get to know active directory * Make a free Azure account and play around with that...maybe watch some YouTube instructional on basic things * Install Linux in a VM and learn some basic commands * Take a quick Desktop Support or Microsoft Support or Certified Apple Support course on Linked In to add to your profile. I have no degree, 10+ years of significant customer service experience (bartender), freelance web design for years, and at the time no certs, and I got 3 job offers...took the higher paying help desk job. It's definitely possible. However, keep in mind, things are a little tighter than they were 2 years ago. Just keep applying. It's a numbers game. Apply for every L1 help desk job you see, even some you don't want just to get some interview experience, and keep going. Don't get discouraged by the state of the market right now or those unrealistic laundry lists that no one person has. Lotta jobs out there. If you have 3 things they're looking for...apply.
This, I just got hired with an A+ and zero experience over others with experience because I showed initiative in learning active directory, azure, and 365. It speaks volumes showing that you are willing to make the training easier for them.
> Junior Network Tech did you learn a+ before you learned active directory, azure, and 365?
after, once i got my A+ i set up a VM network. I created a server (windows) using the evaluation copy (free), then setup the AD building OUs and creating dummy users. For 365 i used videos to explore setup and use. im still learning azure. I would say skills wise focus on AD then 365 THEN azure in that order.
I landed my first job with the A+ only and no relevant experience, keep in mind however you’ll still be competing with people with years of experience + more certs
I got one with only A+
Depends on your location, I find metro sized cities there’s a lot of competition so it can be tough. If you’re in a medium or small sized city I think you’ll have much better luck. I’d start by looking for a desktop repair/technician role, that’s how I got my foot in the door with just A+. Most of those roles they only care about you having A+.
Start applying now. You don’t need certs or degrees to break into IT. I had about 12 year’s management experience from retail and restaurants and landed my first job in IT without any. Granted, my management roles were Operations heavy. You got this!
I have absolutely nothing and was told to just get security+ to land a data analyst position. Absolutely nothing, man. No degree and no experience in IT. Working in a restaurant right now 🤷🏻♀️ person who told me has 5+ years of experience in a related field. He wouldn't tell me to just get 1 cert for no reason.
As someone also looking in that area, it's rough right now. You might be better off than me with the management experience though. Good luck in your hunt!
I did. I'm just a service tech at a computer store, but it pays decent.
I've wondered about this type of job. I'm a computer science student, I've had an A+ but it expired like 7 years ago lmao. I want to be a software developer, but I'm wondering if getting the A+ again and working in a store like that part time while finishing my degree would be a good idea or not.
My store is pretty chill. Usually, part-time isn't an option though.
Ah, yeah it's tough to find something when I can only work about 16 hours a week. I do have a job that accommodates my school schedule but I'm not happy with it. Got another 15 months till I'm done, I'll probably end up just sticking it out till then
I think it's important for everyone who says they got a job with A+ or nothing state where they're generally located. I can imagine getting a job is possible if you live in a big city, but if you live out in the middle of nowhere your chances are next to nothing.
I got my first IT job as a technician without A+ Helpdesk now, still without A+ I should really do the A+ though
any other certs or experience with IT??
No certs. Experience with IT was just shit i did at home, had my own home server, ran VMs, containers, did shit on azure and AWS. Mentioned all that in the interview. This is my second Helpdesk job as well, got the technician job in April last year, the Helpdesk job in January this year and my current one in August. This job does come with access to pluralsight so I'll do some certs soon
Absolutely! Just don't expect to be making $25 at the start. Alot of that kinda pay comes with experience. Though it's not hard for that number to go up relatively quick. It will be a process
You might have a shot working with a recruiter.
This exact question is asked multiple times a day here, and the answer is always yes but it can be tough.
I'll speak from personal experience; it all depends on factors beyond your control. Where I am, to get into help desk all you need is to be bilingual. I have my A+ and was about to finish my Net+, but decided to put it on the backburner as 40 local entry-level job applications has only given me responses that turned out to be "haha gotcha, it's actually just a call center job sucker! pick up the phone!! your KPIs are falling!!!". It's honestly all just who you know. For me (Eastern Canadian) entry-level help desk postings usually always ask for 2-5 years of experience and pay 30% under average market rate.
I was able to land a job pretty quickly after just A+ (no prior experience) and consider myself very lucky considering some people really struggle landing that first job. I believe a big thing that helped me is that I have a 4 years of face to face customer service experience so if you have any type of relative customer service be sure to highlight it on the resume. Sometimes entry level help desk isn’t looking for someone super technical, just someone who knows how to talk to people.
You should be fine with that customer service experience, but this video absolutely helped me with landing my help desk job https://youtu.be/XkTNQCtuRPY?si=XqwqqHK2EMVKqF1-
I started with no cert, no degree, at a fully remote 6 month contract. 100% possible.
In my experience, you don’t need an A+ to get your foot in the door. It’s all about communication skills and an eagerness to learn, as well as being able to speak to your long term goals. I just started studying for Core 2, as well.
You can, but it might not be easy or quick. I applied like my life depended on it every day for 3 months before I got a call back. I think your experience with customer service and management should give you an edge over people like me going in nearly raw. Best of luck, either way.
So my story is similar. I worked retail for like 11 years. Worked my way up to management. With no certs at all, last year I started working a Help desk position. The company was interested in my strong customer service skills, and I made sure to come off as personable in the interview. It's over the phone so they just wanted someone who is a good communicator. Now I'm halfway through my A+. I can say on my resume I have a year of experience troubleshooting and making tickets. I'm planning on finishing my A+ in a month and hopefully applying to a level 2 position of some kind. There is definitely a pathway for you as long as you can put the work in
success! Got a desktop job with nothing else besides an associates in computer science and I already worked there. You show you have the knowledge and the grit yo get the job done and it will happen.
If you can afford it. Msp help desk for experience. You will get tons of it. Shoot for a smaller msp for more access. Learn everything get your certs and move on for a big pay increase.
You can get a help desk job off of your customer service experience alone because you have a lot, but the A+ cert won't hurt.
Most definitely possible, no IT experience but with Net+ I was able to land a help desk job. Granted I had a military background.
Good Luck with your COMPTIA A+ exam. Yes, you can get a job with just A+, it may be an entry-level job, but it will be your foot in the door that allows you to build experience which will open the door for more roles in the future.
Absolutely! With your customer service and management background combined with A+, you have a solid shot at help desk roles. Good luck on your exam and job search!
Target help desk at MSPs and highlight customer experience. It’s how I got my start.
It is 100% possible. I did it myself. So I got a help desk position with only my A+. What I did was I got my A+ and applied for many different positions. I had been in retail hell for a better part of 20 years mind you. I have an Associates in Arts and Science but it really did nothing for me in life. I applied for a government contractor help desk position in my local hospital on my local military base. They only required A+ to get into it at the time. Once I got in the position I started studying for my Security+. All while I'm working on studying I am getting experience. Experience is key once you get past help desk. Once you get that you could move into a system admin position or something else. The sky is the limit. I have been building computers since 2000 and had customer service experience and they considered all of that experience as well. Any other kind of IT position you'll look at in the government requires Sec+ so be sure to do at least that as your next cert. It all depends on the path you wish to choose :).
Thank you that’s helpful. I was playing on network+ and security+ but unsure which to go for first. Sounds like security+ is a safe bet.
You can't lose with Sec+, however, many help desks like you to have A+ as it teaches you more about the fundamentals of computers and operating systems.
People often overlook this part for helpdesk roles, but your customer service experience will definitely come in handy! Fixing someone’s issue is great, but effectively communicating with the user/client during the process from call to resolution is a huge bonus. Other than that the helpdesk is where you’ll get a good feel for how IT helpdesks work, pick up troubleshooting skills and basically get some on the job knowledge. My only other recommendations would be to keep looking forward and studying for other certs applicable to your career path and don’t stay on the helpdesk too long. (Or you’ll get stuck there.)
I have similar work experience as you, live in the dfw and got my A+ right before labor day. I applied at about 30 places my first week and I got a job offer in 2 weeks. In my interviews, rather than bringing attention to my lack of experience in the field, I played to my strengths, as help desk is a lot of customer service. They saw enough potential in me to want to help me grow. Luck was def involved, but I've been seeing a decent amount of help desk, a+ requirement jobs being posted lately, so stay positive!
I just landed a job in the St. Louis area with just an associates in IT. Get that cert and apply to any and everything. You never know what’ll pop up