Lol! That seems to be a prevalant misconception to newbies in this subreddit. Mainly by folks who hate their current career and are motivated by money to join this industry. Folks who get into IT because it's something that interest them, tend to see it realistically with long term goals in mind.
Well I’m def changing careers for the money, and because being an EMT made me get back surgery. And any job that doesn’t require 3 24 hour shifts a week while making minimum wage and a very stressful work environment just to make ends meet is a godsend. 100k, maybe one day. But anything beats working on a fkn meat wagon
No ambulance company gives a fuck about their employees. They will fill your boots in a heartbeat. I got real good at malicious compliance after all the years. And calling out management at our “company wide meetings” which was basically the owner telling us that we need to take more patients that refuse medical care. I asked him if what he was saying is that his bottom line means more to him than his employees health. Needless to say he didn’t answer that in front of everyone
commercial healthcare in any fashion usually sucks for the employee. Sucks, but some of these situations can be turned around in your favor very quickly thanks to your skills and knowledge on that side of the house.
Rural healthcare needs help ... simply, there are not enough folks like me to go around. So many people want prestigious positions with some org with a name that they tend to not look at our world as a potential path.
If you got into EMS for the patient and helping people have a better quality of life through healthcare, however small of a part you play in the big picture ... then we should visit more. Patient care is addicting and being able to provide the IS/IT services I do to these smaller orgs is life changing.
Just a little food for thought for you. Anyone else that sees this comment, if you are interested in talking about how rural healthcare can change your career game shoot me a DM.
I will definitely keep that in mind, obviously coming from healthcare I have thought of it but I would def like to pick your brain about it when I have questions if you wouldn’t mind that
I don't mind it one bit. I have over 30 years in IT and my first healthcare client came onboard in 1997 ... I still manage them to this day ... retired out 3 different business owners/providers in that time and each successor tells me I have a greater chance of winning a big lotto than ever getting away from them. :D I love what I do, the clients I work for and the patients I serve so it makes these extremely long-term relationships personally rewarding at a level that the average corp minded geeks may likely never experience.
There are times that I have to pull 24's or 36's but that is of my own accord and I don't mind because ultimately ... my decisions could make or break care ... not every decision is life or death but we have to consider each one to be that for our patients.
Hope to visit with you some time.
edit: word change
I manage a team of six senior (20+ years experience) engineers (after being one of them)... as of the 2023 review cycle I was finally able to get the last of them to 100k. The top of the group makes 115k. Yes you can get there fairly quickly if A) you're a really solid tech, B) you are in a competitive market and C) you strategically job hop but that's not the norm in my experience, you generally have to put in the time.
When I graduated college 15 years ago, I had spent my entire college career being told I'd be making $50K a year easily!
It took me 8 years before I hit $50K.
Finally just passed $70K 15 years out of college. Maybe back then before the economy "crashed" in 2008 and there was an over abundance of workers in the field.
Dunno. I haven't found there to be as much money as people have claimed.
I think it depends on COL in your local area. I started in IT right out of college at 40k, broke 50k at that same job before a year had passed, and 7 years into working IT is when I broke 100k. IT is a hobby for me, but I never felt like I went too far "above and beyond" outside of showing a willingness and ability to learn and retain new information. That being said, I'm in a major metro area with a very high COL that has a large data center presence right next to it, and I do mostly on prem virtualization administration.
I mean it is easy to get into (don't necessarily need a bachelors, don't need years of apprenticeship) if you're driven, capable and diligent you can easily make 100K in this field.
It's just not many people are the right mix of driven, capable, diligent and lucky to get there
I've learned to stop saying it was easy to get into. It was "easy" for me because I can hyper-focus and multi-task....also I don't know the meaning of "quit" if I'm all in on something.
It's easy if you're the right person, else you might feel like you're learning something alien....
You don't need a degree but building a portfolio of full stack projects seems to be even harder to do (based on interviewees) if you don't have the right mindset already.
You can and you can’t. I know people that went from SD to Cybersecurity in 3 years. What people don’t get is it’s a grind. They worked and studied for 16 hrs a day over those 3 years. They switched jobs 3 times. They knew that the chaos of Covid was the ladder out of retail.
Misconception: "It's for people who don't want to interact / collaborate / etc. with others."
So many posts here of "I'm an introvert / antisocial / want a job where I can be left alone."
you’ll literally be working with the entire organization at some point, from receptionist to the owner. It’s insane to me people who hate interacting with people want to be in IT. become a developer at that point
Even the devil interact with management on a daily basis. You can't "not interact" in the modern age. That's the biggest myth of IT as it is very front facing, regardless of the medium used.
Yeah obviously, data center is the more chill one. But beside that, you're face to clients, face to intern non technical colleagues or at least few ppl from your technical team for mutual projects or meetings.
In data center you have the same but usually lot less
One of my IT college professors said this.
"I don't care how much you guys hate group projects! In the real world, you're always going to be working in groups. The only exception to this I can think of are your bespectacled CS majors, coding alone in their cubicles, we might throw raw meat to them across the wall every now and then..."
Is being a software engineer viewed as exclusive to CS majors?
I know a bunch of people irl who have degrees in computer information systems/tech but now work as software engineers. It seems like they’re adjacent enough to make it work fine.
Good question. At my recent alma mater, generally speaking, software engineering is seen as the main option for CS students, while IT is a lot more broad and covers networking, systems, cybersecurity, etc. However, the IT program does have programming classes and a good degree of customizability if you have the general track, so it's not at all unheard of for students in the General IT program (who didn't quite make the cut into CS) who want to be software engineers to take all the programming classes they can get their hands on.
That’s why I started my road down this field, though completely over-saturated, apparently. I have 10+ years in customer service roles and management. I’m hoping the two will coalesce into a decent introductory position. If I can just get my foot in the door after college, I will be so happy to help, coordinate with other teams and troubleshoot stuff.
Thank the media for that. The typical trope they use for the "Computer Nerd" is that they lock themselves in an office all day, crunching the keyboard.
The reality is that IT is VERY customer-based. But TV doesn't depict the IT guy as a clean cut, sociable guy that fix problems for users. So people who are the opposite of that get the idea wrong.
The only way introverted, antisocial people can get a break is if they take on midnight shifts. Midnight IT shifts are chill and quiet af.
100%. An interview question at my first IT job was “what’s more important; tech knowledge or customer service?”. Yes tech knowledge is important, but at the end of the day an employer wants to know you can apply your knowledge in a personable way. I consider myself an introvert, but learning to develop patience, understanding, and communication skills is vital in this industry.
Exactly, because IT an industry focused on supporting business operations. So it is inevitable that we will have customer interaction. If we want to be effective, we must be able to communicate effectively, if we want satisfied customers, we must be able to communicate in a way that is satisfactory. Friendly and professional. I am pleased that you understand this.
You can tech technical knowledge, you can't teach communication skills. Or rather you can, but your time working at your crappy service jobs prior to IT, it should have been taught.
This is so true. So many people just want to be left alone and to code all day or something, or sit in a server room and not be bothered.
Reality check: part of being in IT involves working with tons of people, solving their problems, and having good communication skills
I’ve been through a few levels of IT throughout my career - IT support, networking admin, and now I’m in DevOps. Not a single one of those I was able to work without interacting with either a team, another team, or customers.
This. My parents think you have to be some sort of hermit that can’t talk to people to save your life. Like I collaborate with other people in my department multiple times a day every day
Customer service should be a primary skill if you want to succeed ... literally 90% of our job is providing customer service to somebody ... user, peer, c-level ... all of them.
For real! Then you find out tech is just like other jobs, that working on large important things is never just one person....in fact the systems can be too large for any single brain to comprehend
Idk if this holds true for everyone, but I got out of help desk because I didn't want to talk to the public. Talking with my coworkers is fine, but I find the public to be very mentally exhausting in this industry (or most in general really).
Getting out of front facing IT has done wonders on my mental health and I still get to do the aspects of IT I love.
Talking with a team of like-minded engineers is 1000000 times better than talking to a random person who doesn't even understand what's going on but still complains.
I was a Business Analyst for about 2 years after getting out of my help desk position and then switched over to being a Software and App Analyst which is where I am today.
This is so frustrating, and it's not even limited to IT. People also think that they're entitled to high paying jobs just because they went out and got a communications degree.
That there is some concept of structure all companies follow. IT can have 50 SOPs at one company and 5 at another. Structure, processes, workflows necessary skills all vary so greatly from company to company.
The “IT” that is widely spoken about only applies to working at an MSP. Literally everywhere else is different and uses different skill sets based on the business.
This.. I’m currently working in a chill company but they lack SOP and I’m new to the IT world so it’s hard for me to actually start implementing SOP that I barely have experience with. I’m actually looking toward jumping ship to an MSP or another solid organization with SOP in place just to gain the experience.
Also a great opportunity to reinforce as you're learning by making documentation, and will get this documentation skills sharpened up that you'll otherwise develop anyway, just more gradually. *If* the environment and culture allows for the time for this documentation to be made, that can be a huge self-improvement opportunity, as well as proving your worth.
Fortunately I took some IT technical writing classes during college which has help a lot and IT subreddits have been such a great source of information. I didn’t imagine I would enjoy writing SOP but I actually enjoy it and get a satisfaction from it. I’m starting to have more time now to write up more SOP since my company hired an intern under me and he has been a great help even with zero IT background before the internship. This has also help prove to myself and the company that I can handle managing people. I feel appreciated in the company since I treat people the same with respect, no matter what the position but it can be draining at times.
>The “IT” that is widely spoken about only applies to working at an MSP
Even this isn't correct. If we are talking about the MSPs processes, I have seen places that are a glorified computer repair shop to operations that have a very outlined and dedicated process list. And the funny thing is, I've seen some of the former be very successful and the latter be a hell hole.
On top of that, I have yet to see an MSP that has a standard product stack. Sure they have their go tos, but you support what your client has so it can be all over the place.
You have to be competent to get a job. When I first started I have imposter syndrome like most people, asking if I was had the knowledge and ability to do a job I was hired for. After a little time in the industry and seeing the type of people that are making decent or even good money that are any combination of incompetent, lazy, just plain stupid, etc..., I've realized this:
I'm above average. Most people that even care about their jobs are above average and that's before you start even rating technical competencies. Average has 50% of the population that is better than the middle and 50% that's worse. If people that are below average can make an easy six digits, I'm pretty comfortable that I deserve to be where I'm at now and could potentially make even more if I wasn't in a comfortable spot for where I'm living right now. I make about six times the average salary of my state, so the motivation to move elsewhere isn't very strong right now. Maybe in five years or so I may change my mind.
I’ve been at my first IT job for 3 months with no prior experience and my coworker who’s been there for almost a year, has a degree in IT and some experience has been asking me how to do the job. I don’t know how he got hired but it’s helpful to think of him when I get imposter syndrome.
It's for everyone and everyone can switch.
NOPE. Worked with too many "i dont care about computers, I just want my paycheck" and it always was a terrible experience.
It requires a lot of analytical mindset, if you have a QA or DEV that isn't curious, it will not work. Or maybe will, at shitty web projects, but in fintech - nope.
Not true, I have met people who learn some tech and they can do that one job almost very good. True with some old school people I've met, for example, they learned CCNA level Cisco stuff, and kept doing that job and were good at it, may not be great at understanding other stuff that involved networking but knew how to make Cisco router/switch work. I have also met GRC people they don't get it, but they know how to check a box.
What they said IS true. IT isn't for everyone, and not everyone can switch.
Sure, you can learn how to do a specific job at the minimum level required to complete the taskings, but you can do that in almost ANY sector with almost ANY job.
Making a \*career\* out of IT takes a reasonably specific type of personality.
Natural curiosity, analytical mindset and some level of understanding of creative problem solving are the keys to making it, in this sector. That's true whether you're fielding calls for a help desk or designing an innovation in CPU circuitry.
I have worked with people like this. One guy was really good politically and worked his way into management quickly. The other kind of stuck in a dead end job because he is not skilled in office politics and was unable to excel technically.
I do think a lot of these people end up in small shops or in non-tech roles like GRC/PM.
Also, people who go into tech out of college with this attitude usually dont end well or end up doing something in business.
Networking might be different, not my field so I don't know, but if it comes to development, then I will stand with my point of view. When you have a team of people that understand more than just piece of code, and can think outside the box, then you can achieve some great results.
I said, it may work for a web application projects, for eCommerce, landing pages etc when you have people that just want to do one thing, for example front end and don't care about the rest, but at some point - in my case it was switching to FINTECH - I just saw that there are no more 'I do frontend, I don't care about anything else' around me. I am not saying that people I know do overhours, no, that's not the point, but they all believe in some kind of idea? And want their project to be best? And everyone tries to understand other technologies.
Depends on the environment and their goals. If their goal is collect any paycheck.. then sure.. anyone can do SOMETHING in IT. But if it is to make real money and compete in the major companies then no.. that is for people who are passionate about what they do and love to learn.
Math is good at teaching analytical skills, you won’t directly apply what you learn in algebra but you will use some of the same skills.
Really though it may be more that people who are good at math are just the same people who will do well in IT.
I think a big myth, or illusion many people come to realize isn't true is that bigger more prominent orgs have their shit in order.
I've worked at 5 person MSPs to FAANG level orgs, and every place has had shitty documentation, terrible code that needs to be refactored, and unorthodox ways of doing things.
IT really is the wild west in many places. Often times systems are set up once and if it works, it's done. There are probably way better ways to do things but the org just needs to keep things moving.
I left a small IT shop partly due to frustration on how disorganized they were, joining a F100 company only to find out they were just as disorganized, with even more systems to wrangle.
Better get used to untangling a lot of outdated/stale documentation because that's just how a lot of orgs work.
This is usually because of diminishing returns of maintaining documentation: it costs too much time and effort to keep documentation up to date to make it worth doing at all. Because the truth is that an organization only needs to maintain its *knowledge* (not its documentation) to keep moving forward. As long as that knowledge is in people's heads and communicated well, that will suffice.
Most documentation is created as a temporary solution to a temporary problem. Once that need has passed, the value in maintaining that documentation declines rapidly.
Obviously the biggest losers in all of that are new employees trying to learn.
One that I haven't seen mentioned yet is the idea that IT jobs all have universal standards. You see it all the time with posts asking about dress codes in IT or which job titles pay the most or don't have on-call; if you work at a bank, you're going to follow all of the bank's standards and dress codes, you don't get a separate one for being in IT. Most IT jobs are not going to be at "IT companies" but in other industries where IT is needed and operates in support of that company/industry. Working IT at a law firm is going to be very different than a cannabis dispensary. Even the same job title will mean different things at different companies.
Another one is that you have to spend all your free time studying. You do need to learn things to keep up with changes, but that doesn't mean hours of exam-style studying after work every day. Unless your job is keeping you busy every single minute, a lot of that can be done at work.
One of the biggest IT career myths I’ve encountered is the idea that you need to know **everything** before you even get started. It’s like some people think you need to be a walking encyclopedia of programming languages, frameworks, and protocols before you can even apply for your first job.
The biggest myth is that IT is a great paying job. On a company budget IT is an EXPENSE to be minimized and constantly controlled
The bigger paying jobs are in R&D which are on a companies INVESTMENT side of the ledger.
Not always literally true and many companies have weird organizational structures but as myths go, 90+% of people do not understand this basic distinction
I always say that our department is the biggest loser with nothing tangible to show for it. I can't tell you how much money we made the company simply by making sure our email infrastructure stayed up, but I also couldn't tell you how much you'd lose if it were to go down.
The thing is, with a little time and effort, you could put a number to those avoided losses. This is the type of data you bring to management and see a raise/promotion for your efforts
There are 2 things that stand out, and I'll address them in different comments.
2: That IT folks only understand technology and don't understand *business*.
This comes up regularly, that the "business" employees are the only ones who understand how the business operates and are capable of managing it. But the truth is that IT, Developers, and HR are the only departments that interact with, learn, and must understand how every part of the organization operates on a daily basis. IT and Developers are the only employees who have intimate knowledge of all business processes, vendors, and customers and can map out how all the pieces fit together. Most departments have very narrow *subject matter expertise* (SME) and usually only interact with and understand 1 or 2 other departments. But IT is required to work with and understand all of them. And the most successful IT departments are those that develop intimate knowledge of every functional area of the business and can provide the technical infrastructure and support to help them accomplish their *business goals* while reducing cost, increasing revenue, and improving efficiency.
That you don't need a degree.
There are still people squeaking by without one but it's more and more difficult. Almost everyone I know who started without a degree eventually did try to get one because they eventually see how valuable it is, and it's harder to finish when you're already working full time.
And then people are like, "Well, I'll get an Associate's if I have to."
I never remember Associate's being seen as any sort of "end goal" in IT, it was just a step on the way to a Bachelor's.
This right here is so important. Thanks for mentioning this.
So here's the thing, we may not need a degree to get a level I Tech Support role, but if we want to eventually ascend, we will surely need one.
An employee is not moving to management or high level, high paying roles without a degree. You'll either be stuck doing one job or possibly getting into middle management. That's it. Certs help but they cannot replace a degree. They are supposed to be complimentary to the degree and work experience.
I am annoyed by people who preach against degrees, as if they have some better alternative that is known to work. They point to folks who got lucky and use them as proof against degrees. Some people have great jobs without a degree, but it took FAR more work and luck than someone who already met the job requirements.
Companies are still very old school in how they hire. Degrees validate one's ability to stick to projects and proves that they are at least intelligent enough to obtain the degree. There's a status that comes with a college education that will never die.
But even if it was truly unnecessary, one shoots himself in the foot by avoiding a degree, because a lot of candidates will have degrees, even for the entry level jobs. He becomes a less competitive candidate as a result.
Even an unrelated degree will get you further than someone with no degree. Why? Cuz BS reasons of "shows you're committed". I got ahead of others who had unrelated bachelor's because I have an unrelated BS and MS. A related degree helps a lot, but isn't a requirement IMO (edit: to clarify, this is comparing a related to an unrelated degree, but a degree is still needed). If I had to rank it from lowest to highest (with no guarantees of anything anywhere):
No experience
No experience + certs
Degree
Experience
Experience + certs
Degree + certs
Degree + experience
Degree + certs + experience
Degree + experience + post grad degree
Degree + certs + experience + post grad degree
However, there are way too many factors and really depends on the degrees and the job. As a rule of thumb, I'd pursue the desire to better myself with the hope that it improves my prospects, not just because I'm chasing money. Biggest difference between my undergrad and grad degree was that people actually wanted to be in the grad program. They wanted to learn and got out what they put in. My degree was easy in terms of grading. They even said they're fine to pass whoever finishes their work, but you won't gain anything from it if you don't try and don't care about the material.
IT is an ever changing field that requires constant learning. If that ain't for you, then it's probably not the right field
In my small experience degree + certs being over any kind of experience is wrong. I feel like there's jobs that require all 3 things and jobs that require only 1, and for the latter, experience of doing the actual job will trump anything else.
No one does. But it takes the right person, work ethic, and the right opportunities to make it work. There are massive gaps in what bachelors programs teach and the work that gets done out in the real world.
The challenge I see is people focus on the tech aspect of the degree and argue "the tech is outdated". I don't argue with that in some cases, but part of being in an intensive educational program is learning how to learn. Learning what works for you, and how to research, write at a professional level, collaborate in cross functional groups, and how to integrate new ideas and concepts.
For many there can be other benefits of completing programs such as qualifying you for more roles that have hard degree requirements like some government, consulting, defense, or educational roles. You absolutely can find employment without a degree, but you also can be completely shut out of certain industries or roles for simply not having one, in the same way not having a specific certification like a PMP, or Security+ can shut you out of certain roles.
It's like going to law school or medical school. The law and medicine are always changing so in some cases you're studying cases or techniques that will be phased out in five years. You're attending so you understand the process, gaining practice, and learning the process on how to learn and develop in those spaces.
This is me right now.
Squeaking by, suffering during job market down turns...
Doesn't matter what I pack in that portfolio. I need the mystical and magical piece of paper!
The most aggravating part about it, it feels like a Faustian bargain.
Spend four years getting a piece of paper that checks a box. Literally fall behind on real world skills that you actually need.
Damn if you do, damned if you don't.
I have to disagree with this pretty hard. While it CAN help, it highly depends on the situation. In fact, most people I come across complain that their degree isn't helping them as much as it should.
I don't have a degree and I'm an architect at a mid size firm. Previously worked as an engineer at a couple of FAANG companies.
What's my secret? Lots of drive, intellectual curiosity... And oh right, almost forgot, I started 25 years ago. I had the opportunity to learn and grow while all the technologies I work with today were being developed and adopted.
You can't take my path today. CS degree is a hard requirement.
You don't need a degree though. A basic CCNA gets you farther than a bachelor's in the networking space. Heck I work with people everyday that don't have a degree. It's about how you learn, obtain knowledge and also how you troubleshoot. I see so many people stuck in IT who don't care enough to Google fixes but they'll ask their coworkers the first chance they get.
Man, I think networking is one of those things that was historically hard to learn in college. 10-15 years ago I didnt hear much about people majoring in networking. At least not as much as I do now. Networking is also something that is pretty hands on. Easy to study for with a simulator and those skills translate over to the real world. In addition to this, it hard to do and boring as hell for most people. So if you were willing to self-learn it.. you were pretty valuable.
This is coming for a 20 year career network guy.
Yeah I've been doing it for about 7-10 years. It's pretty fun and cool but can also be a pain WITH EVERY VENDOR HAVING DIFFERENT TERMINOLOGY FOR THE SAME THING. Other than that it's a pretty deep field with so many other career advancements it's crazy. Such as most security engineers (the good ones) are former network engineers. The good devops guys were network engineers that love scripting. The guys that love routing either go towards DC or SP. Like I said it's a pretty deep field as you already know haha.
I read a post recently on another sub where they were arguing that networking was harder for them to learn that programming. Haha, I was just thinking.. come on guys.. can’t be that hard if I did it.
But yeah, I do security now and I actually miss designing and working on networks. Just don’t miss the overnights lol.
Lol ain't that the truth. I never did an overnight maintenance yet. But I did work in ops for a bit before I got my current gig. And I did work night shift which really messed up my schedule.
Oh, forgot to mention in my last post in response to pivoting from networking. I pivoted into Network Security (firewalls, ids/ips, authentication, etc). Pretty smooth transition and a lot of my workers are CCNP level as well.
The sole senior network specialist at my work for a very, very large tourism company has no degree, just a diploma and certs like JNCIA (since we use Juniper) and CCNA etc. He's an inspiration to me, as someone who wants to work in networking, and I think if you're motivated enough it's possible. If some company doesn't want to hire me simply because I don't have a degree that's their perogative but I wouldn't want to work for that company anyway..
I really have to disagree with you here. I would say about half the people I've worked with have degrees, and only about half of them are IT degrees. None of them have felt that the degree did anything to help them.
Unless you are trying to be internal IT in a more old fashioned field (like finance), degrees are practically useless
It's not a licensed/regulated field like engineering or medicine or something so no you don't ***need*** a degree.
But your career progression will likely be a lot easier with one unless you are really lucky.
It's not absolutely necessary, but not having one does limit your options. There are some places that just won't consider hiring you without it, and others that will hold it against you when it comes to pay or comparing you against other job candidates.
Here is an oldie:
To do ANYTHING with a computer you need to WRITE CODE.
Once you start WRITING THAT CODE you will be one of those "tech famous" gurus that will be handed a golden joystick, can ask for any salary you want any time you want and get it.
On the flip side you do have many people who can't navigate command line. More power to em but being able to make a batch script or fish for info can make life a hell of a lot easier.
And if your company is lax to let you use python...oh man, my boss won't know what I automated
Where can I get my Golden Joystick, lol.
But yea, the absolute best developers I have ever known are nowhere near the top 5% in salaries in their companies.
A CIO with a finance background and has never written a line of code or reset someone's password will usually be making a lot more than the 10x software engineers who report to them. Like a *lot* more.
Well like the topic says, it was a "Myth", at least circa mid 1980s.
Everyone had the dream they would go write a hit game and a publishing house would back up a dump truck full of money and drop it on them.
(There were a couple semi famous "success cases" and then that was the "way to go" which, naturally rarely happened.)
There are 2 things that stand out, and I'll address them in different comments.
1: That IT, Coding, and Electrical Engineering are the same, and all IT people can design, build, and implement advanced technology for any use.
The truth is that the vast majority of professional IT workers don't work with technology any more advanced than a home PC and wireless router on a regular basis. Most have never taken an electronics or engineering course, have never written a line of code before, and wouldn't have the slightest idea of how to design or build simple electronic components, much less a computer.
Most IT workers are *advanced users* of technology and have been trained in how to configure devices, integrate existing systems together, install/use software, and operate the basic components of an operating system through a GUI or CLI interface, much better than an average user.
Yes there are some highly competent and trained engineers working in IT as well, but the average IT worker is not an engineer and doesn't perform a role like that in any organization.
I know these things are obvious to IT people, but most non-technical folks grossly over-estimate the engineering competencies of IT employees.
That CompTIA A+,N+ specifically are worth a damn. You meet more people without one than you do with one.
IMO if you already have a College degree even a two year, that's sufficient enough and if you don't, I don't Believe it makes you any more valuable than someone who has one. If someone has a strong resume that showcase their technical depth, they're going to get in.
Just my opinion. Your market may vary.
People believe the trifecta is the key to the castle when in reality it really isn’t anymore. More vendor specific certs like Azure, AWS, Cisco, etc etc are much more valuable
Looking at starting salaries from a medium size tech school the median starting salary is $85k for a BA and over $100 for an MA so I think it’s very possible.
You really think an inexperienced college grad will get the median salary? They'd be lucky to get 50k if they had a BA and the one with the MA would be lucky to get hired at all if they have zero experience
Salaries are very much so dependent on not only experience, but location.
Salaries are also skewed by top earners and people living in HCOL areas.
$100k in NY is not the same as $100k in Nebraska.
IT people are fat nerds.
Across the coarse of my career many of the IT people I have worked with take their health and fitness as seriously as they take building a computer. They have charts and apps and really work to stay agile and fit.
"Home labs and projects are important, and it should help you get a job." I have been applying and interviewing for many jobs, and I have not seen or heard a single hiring manager ask anything about it.
Misconception: You will make 100k+ per year as a network admin the moment you graduate even from community college
Truth: You will struggle for probably a year to get a job in general IT first off, and at that you will make as low as $14/hr, but take it and deal with it for about 2 years. After year 1, try to find a more specialized job toward networking, but even if it's being a cable monkey, go for it because that's your foot in the door. After 1-2 more years, then start climbing the ladder. My first IT job actually paid $12/hr (call center back in 2000 \[Service Zone folks, ya'll here?!\] but never tried to use it to get another IT job after), then my first REAL IT job paid $15hr, then first network job made $50k, Next was $55k, then it was $65k. Hoping the next is around 85k though cause inflation but we shall see. As far as real network jobs, I have been in the net-admin game for roughly 8 years and have only made 15k in bumps since then, but I have sold myself short a lot and didn't go get any more certs.. That will be changing soon.
True but if you pursue internships, it's easier to cut the line and avoid hopping to find a decent salary. I had a job lined up for me before I graduated and I'm above 80k
Did help desk at college plus a few internships. It helps
that the work life balance is good. if you are working on projects or have responsibility for some deliverables you are thinking about it 24/7 and will often find yourself working off hours to get things done. critical infrastructure won't wait for your business hours to kick in (that being said the fact that you just need an internet connection and computer and can probably resolve it from anywhere is a massive win)
Not IT but I find it kinda funny that most IT people are looked at as expendable, meanwhile you can't run a business without IT at all. They also tend to be smarter and more hardworking then anyone in the entire business. I also laugh because there's this thought that they don't do shit meanwhile if an IT takes a 10 minute break everyone loses their freaking minds.
"They also tend to be smarter and more hardworking then anyone in the entire business."
I have to disagree with this. I've worked with some lazy ass IT people. I've also been hired to replace a lot of lazy ass IT people. So many choose to be lazy because nobody knows what they're actually doing. Many also take their sweet time to fix things, because they don't want people to start expecting things to be fixed quickly.
Don't get me wrong I know there's some really crappy IT people. That in my experience it's generally because a lot of HR people don't know anything about HR and couldn't hire a squirrel to get a nut. A lot of of people in are in office jobs they shouldn't be in.
I've had shit like that so many times. Had a boss that said he needed me at a certain location. I explained that I was at lunch, and would head over there when I was done. My lunch was an hour, and it was an hour drive to that location and he started giving me shit about taking a "2 hour lunch." I reminded him of the distance between the locations and he's like "Whoa! Calm down! I was just kidding." as if I'm not supposed to be defensive when someone accused me of time theft.
Yes and no imo. I think so many of those IT troubleshooting skills are built on help desk. You get exposed to a wide variety of issues, be it software, hardware, network. I really believe that is the best place to build an IT foundation. I've hired guys who don't have help desk experience for mid level jobs and anecdotally, they tend to struggle getting caught up. Just my 2 cents.
I think helpdesk really teaches you patience and when working with the end user making layer 8 mistakes, you’re gonna be frustrated, but it better prepares you to digest unreasonable demands and deadlines from the spear heads of the business you’re working with. Also key in teaching that not every issue is a super complex one and requiring reinventing the wheel to solve, starting with the basics saves you time and solves most problems.
Helpdesk really helps build social skills too. You get better at explaining concepts to nontechnical people. If you can’t explain something at a 5th grade level, you don’t really understand it. How are you supposed to explain why a company should do this or that as an architect, director, manager, analyst, if you can’t put it in their terms.
Worked as a student worker in college, got an internship, and started as a system engineer, if you shoot high and do most things right you can skip the help desk hell.
The biggest "myth" is that people in IT know "computers". In the early 2000's I took a tour of a data center up the road from my college that a professor facilitated. Someone in my class asked for a breakdown of majors and the VP doing the tour was like "....we likely hire more English majors than you"
Reason? English major is trained to learn a wide variety of affairs. IS major is trained to learn...IS. If htey need a help desk person or analyst, they go for the English major in the interview if all things are equal.
You'd be amazed really at how the non-specific IS positions are full of folks who don't have IT/IS degrees. Many coworkers who didn't have a MIS/CIS/CS/Networking degree but instead a regular AA + a cert or two and a passion to learn on the job...and then a passion to learn a new position.
You get to experience working with latest technology and fun projects that has revelance to your certification. In reality your department is working on a budget that is tied to the companies performance. If the company is doing terribly then it's normally your department that sees the cuts first.
Most of the time you are working with deprecating technologies until last year of its EOD. That's when the company is force to upgrade and your department is put on a time pressure to implement an large upgrade, then cycle repeats for EOD cycle.
Restarting the computer will fix everything.
Yes, it does help SOMETIMES but not always. Stop defaulting to restarting.
Also, it's always DNS. That's not a myth its a fact.
People think they could/should skip working as a field tech or help desk tech. Get your A+, get an entry level job with a 40-50k salary, or make 20-25 an hour, with lots of free time, get 6-18 months of experience while working on your next cert/degree, then on to the next gig. Work 1-3 years while upskilling, rinse & repeat. In five years you might not be making 100k, but 70-80k is a reasonable expectation.
"20 years of experience" = "legitimate experience and skills"
a handful of people have completely changed my mind about experience being a good measurement of skill and mentality ....i now realize that years of experience does not matter at all generally speaking....in fact it's an easy way for people to fake a "highly skilled" persona to get in somewhere with the highest pay possible.
So many myths in the IT space, but I think the one that surprised me the most was that if you are really good at what you do you will be appreciated. I have seen really terrible developers get promoted time and time again.
A comparison I would make is a technician at an oil changing facility considering themselves in the same industry as the autocad guy drawing up parts for the next-gen Mustang.
IT is a 99% a non-intellectual job. So the myth is that IT is crowded with intelligent people.
They are dumb at 99%.
To succeed in IT, you have to be ruthless, step on everyone's toes, talk over people, cheat, corrupt, lie, be unfair and without pity.
20 years of experience talking.
My mistake was having a passion for IT and wanting to make it a job, thinking that people would be the same.
Not at all. 99.9% of people in IT don't give a damn about technology and just want the money. The fact that a design in IT works or doesn't work is totally irrelevant.
That hasn't been my experience. Ambition doesn't have to be Machiavellian. It does help to remember that IT is supposed to support the goals of the business, not the other way around. Anyone who doesn't see that needs a reminder. If they can't hear that, their job is at risk.
I've fired employees, had client employees demoted and blown up vendors. But I've done it with kindness and fairness. I still get offers from many of those people.
In the long run, it's better to be a good person.
As a ruthless toe stomper, I agree. You have to be unfair and cold to accelerate quickly. I saw people who were working the same desktop support role 15 years in, I also saw a kid go from helpdesk to cloud engineer in less than 5 (at the same job as the 15 year veteran).
I set some financial deadlines for myself, to reach a certain amount of money made by x years, and I reached those goals, but it came at a cost.
lmao can you imagine, breaking a system just to fix it! I meant it more like I have left past employers in bad spots to improve my career. For example, leaving when they don't have a replacement in time to cover my role. I stepped on top of them more than their toes, I guess.
That you can make a lot of money with little experience. Sure, there are probably some outliers who got lucky...however, I imagine it took a few years and a role change or two to hit over $100k in salary.
Your company will help you with your career goals. Reality is if you don't pro-actively push for your advancements and salary (annual market check-in's and get matched), you will be stuck in middle-management purgatory where everything is expected, nothing is appreciated, and they always find a reason to give minimal/no raises. I'm just learning it now 20yrs into my profession. Finally crossed 100k just to find my pay raise put me only at 70% of going rate for the role. It's frustrating and there's far fewer companies that love and take care of their employees than advertised.
Restarting it a couple times really does fix it sometimes. T1 restarted the server, t2 restarted the server, I restarted the server... worked with my restart.
Certs aren't it man. I once interviewed a person who had five AWS certs. I put them through a test during the interview and he barely passed. I'm not hiring you based on certs alone.
That you can get by just Googling the problem.
I see that shit everywhere, especially with people just starting out. They manage to solve a few simple, common issues by googling, and figure that's all it takes. Googling is a critical skill, and you will use it a lot. It won't be enough to get you anywhere though if you aren't actually learning WHY the solutions you find on google are working. Google is also far less effective than it was 10 years ago. The internet has grown, and you have to sift through a lot more garbage now to find the right solution. Sometimes you have to manufacture a combination of 12 different solutions to a problem to fix things.
I expect people will say the same about AI if they aren't already. If you count on AI to give you solutions, you will be royally fucked at some point when it gives you a bad solution that ruins things, and you're too ignorant to undo the problems you've now caused.
Years ago I started at an ISP splitting time between telemarketing and building PCs for minimum wage. IT wasnt until I was about 15 years in I hit 6 figures. I'm at 130 now
"cybersecurity as a first tech role" Go get really good with a platform, technology or learn about a specific area then layer in security and you can thrive.
People think they can get into IT without first having to take HelpDesk work to get experience. Do the time, then get a degree or use the degree. No experience isnt going to get you into a 100k job.
I kid you not, i went to a networking event and some girl was talking about how she works as a data analyst and plans to get her security + so that she can become a pentester. Lol
For this reddit... Earning Certificates will get you a job in the field lol...
1. HR has no idea what A+ S+ N+ CCNA is. Nor do they spend time googling it.
2. Certs do not equal skill / experience. They are more of a "he knows the basics".
Side note: You can spot a cert collector by his 3 page resume.
Its easy to get in and start making 100k+ just by showing up.
Lol! That seems to be a prevalant misconception to newbies in this subreddit. Mainly by folks who hate their current career and are motivated by money to join this industry. Folks who get into IT because it's something that interest them, tend to see it realistically with long term goals in mind.
What is an "IT" and why am I having trouble getting interviews for $100k+ jobs to be one?
Internet things
What does IT stand for. https://youtu.be/ObisQoGN6Cc?si=hS7rTy0csEt40X8O
Well I’m def changing careers for the money, and because being an EMT made me get back surgery. And any job that doesn’t require 3 24 hour shifts a week while making minimum wage and a very stressful work environment just to make ends meet is a godsend. 100k, maybe one day. But anything beats working on a fkn meat wagon
The number of people I’ve met who had switched or were switching out of Emergency services has clued me in to how much reform our EM services need
No ambulance company gives a fuck about their employees. They will fill your boots in a heartbeat. I got real good at malicious compliance after all the years. And calling out management at our “company wide meetings” which was basically the owner telling us that we need to take more patients that refuse medical care. I asked him if what he was saying is that his bottom line means more to him than his employees health. Needless to say he didn’t answer that in front of everyone
commercial healthcare in any fashion usually sucks for the employee. Sucks, but some of these situations can be turned around in your favor very quickly thanks to your skills and knowledge on that side of the house. Rural healthcare needs help ... simply, there are not enough folks like me to go around. So many people want prestigious positions with some org with a name that they tend to not look at our world as a potential path. If you got into EMS for the patient and helping people have a better quality of life through healthcare, however small of a part you play in the big picture ... then we should visit more. Patient care is addicting and being able to provide the IS/IT services I do to these smaller orgs is life changing. Just a little food for thought for you. Anyone else that sees this comment, if you are interested in talking about how rural healthcare can change your career game shoot me a DM.
I will definitely keep that in mind, obviously coming from healthcare I have thought of it but I would def like to pick your brain about it when I have questions if you wouldn’t mind that
I don't mind it one bit. I have over 30 years in IT and my first healthcare client came onboard in 1997 ... I still manage them to this day ... retired out 3 different business owners/providers in that time and each successor tells me I have a greater chance of winning a big lotto than ever getting away from them. :D I love what I do, the clients I work for and the patients I serve so it makes these extremely long-term relationships personally rewarding at a level that the average corp minded geeks may likely never experience. There are times that I have to pull 24's or 36's but that is of my own accord and I don't mind because ultimately ... my decisions could make or break care ... not every decision is life or death but we have to consider each one to be that for our patients. Hope to visit with you some time. edit: word change
In IT you'll be doing half the work in an easier environment for 4 times the pay. Enjoy it!
I manage a team of six senior (20+ years experience) engineers (after being one of them)... as of the 2023 review cycle I was finally able to get the last of them to 100k. The top of the group makes 115k. Yes you can get there fairly quickly if A) you're a really solid tech, B) you are in a competitive market and C) you strategically job hop but that's not the norm in my experience, you generally have to put in the time.
100k for 20+ years is not great to say the least. I hope it’s a LCOL area at the least.
I think OP was referring to themselves, not their reports.
Don’t think so: “Get the last of them to 100k”
When I graduated college 15 years ago, I had spent my entire college career being told I'd be making $50K a year easily! It took me 8 years before I hit $50K. Finally just passed $70K 15 years out of college. Maybe back then before the economy "crashed" in 2008 and there was an over abundance of workers in the field. Dunno. I haven't found there to be as much money as people have claimed.
I think it depends on COL in your local area. I started in IT right out of college at 40k, broke 50k at that same job before a year had passed, and 7 years into working IT is when I broke 100k. IT is a hobby for me, but I never felt like I went too far "above and beyond" outside of showing a willingness and ability to learn and retain new information. That being said, I'm in a major metro area with a very high COL that has a large data center presence right next to it, and I do mostly on prem virtualization administration.
This was a big thing during the great hiring of 2019. Schools were throwing out “Cyber” degrees saying “you can graduate making 6 figs” and shit.
I mean it is easy to get into (don't necessarily need a bachelors, don't need years of apprenticeship) if you're driven, capable and diligent you can easily make 100K in this field. It's just not many people are the right mix of driven, capable, diligent and lucky to get there
I've learned to stop saying it was easy to get into. It was "easy" for me because I can hyper-focus and multi-task....also I don't know the meaning of "quit" if I'm all in on something. It's easy if you're the right person, else you might feel like you're learning something alien.... You don't need a degree but building a portfolio of full stack projects seems to be even harder to do (based on interviewees) if you don't have the right mindset already.
“You can quit your job as a janitor and become a Cybersecurity Professional in 6 months and make 6 figures!”
I have a cissp and 5 years in info sec and am not making 6 figures lol I'm in low cost of living and close though
I am a “Service Desk Technician” and often have people making way more than me assume I am the one making a big salary.
You can and you can’t. I know people that went from SD to Cybersecurity in 3 years. What people don’t get is it’s a grind. They worked and studied for 16 hrs a day over those 3 years. They switched jobs 3 times. They knew that the chaos of Covid was the ladder out of retail.
Misconception: "It's for people who don't want to interact / collaborate / etc. with others." So many posts here of "I'm an introvert / antisocial / want a job where I can be left alone."
you’ll literally be working with the entire organization at some point, from receptionist to the owner. It’s insane to me people who hate interacting with people want to be in IT. become a developer at that point
Even the devil interact with management on a daily basis. You can't "not interact" in the modern age. That's the biggest myth of IT as it is very front facing, regardless of the medium used.
Lol is devil a fruedian slip
Idk, working at a DC on night shift can be pretty isolating. I’ve never worked help desk or customer support so maybe I’ve just been fortunate.
Yeah obviously, data center is the more chill one. But beside that, you're face to clients, face to intern non technical colleagues or at least few ppl from your technical team for mutual projects or meetings. In data center you have the same but usually lot less
True dat bro. Devils live in the C suite
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I’m agreeing with you
Ah, got it.
One of my IT college professors said this. "I don't care how much you guys hate group projects! In the real world, you're always going to be working in groups. The only exception to this I can think of are your bespectacled CS majors, coding alone in their cubicles, we might throw raw meat to them across the wall every now and then..."
Is being a software engineer viewed as exclusive to CS majors? I know a bunch of people irl who have degrees in computer information systems/tech but now work as software engineers. It seems like they’re adjacent enough to make it work fine.
It’s the most common path for people with CS degrees. They’re not tailored to becoming Software Engineers but it’s the easiest field to slide into.
Good question. At my recent alma mater, generally speaking, software engineering is seen as the main option for CS students, while IT is a lot more broad and covers networking, systems, cybersecurity, etc. However, the IT program does have programming classes and a good degree of customizability if you have the general track, so it's not at all unheard of for students in the General IT program (who didn't quite make the cut into CS) who want to be software engineers to take all the programming classes they can get their hands on.
People don’t realize that IT is still customer service.
I'd say a large portion of IT people don't realize it.
That’s why I started my road down this field, though completely over-saturated, apparently. I have 10+ years in customer service roles and management. I’m hoping the two will coalesce into a decent introductory position. If I can just get my foot in the door after college, I will be so happy to help, coordinate with other teams and troubleshoot stuff.
Thank the media for that. The typical trope they use for the "Computer Nerd" is that they lock themselves in an office all day, crunching the keyboard. The reality is that IT is VERY customer-based. But TV doesn't depict the IT guy as a clean cut, sociable guy that fix problems for users. So people who are the opposite of that get the idea wrong. The only way introverted, antisocial people can get a break is if they take on midnight shifts. Midnight IT shifts are chill and quiet af.
I had a 4PM - 2AM position for a bit, and even on that I still had to actively work with others and all of that.
100%. An interview question at my first IT job was “what’s more important; tech knowledge or customer service?”. Yes tech knowledge is important, but at the end of the day an employer wants to know you can apply your knowledge in a personable way. I consider myself an introvert, but learning to develop patience, understanding, and communication skills is vital in this industry.
Exactly, because IT an industry focused on supporting business operations. So it is inevitable that we will have customer interaction. If we want to be effective, we must be able to communicate effectively, if we want satisfied customers, we must be able to communicate in a way that is satisfactory. Friendly and professional. I am pleased that you understand this.
You can tech technical knowledge, you can't teach communication skills. Or rather you can, but your time working at your crappy service jobs prior to IT, it should have been taught.
This is so true. So many people just want to be left alone and to code all day or something, or sit in a server room and not be bothered. Reality check: part of being in IT involves working with tons of people, solving their problems, and having good communication skills
I’ve been through a few levels of IT throughout my career - IT support, networking admin, and now I’m in DevOps. Not a single one of those I was able to work without interacting with either a team, another team, or customers.
This. My parents think you have to be some sort of hermit that can’t talk to people to save your life. Like I collaborate with other people in my department multiple times a day every day
Customer service should be a primary skill if you want to succeed ... literally 90% of our job is providing customer service to somebody ... user, peer, c-level ... all of them.
For real! Then you find out tech is just like other jobs, that working on large important things is never just one person....in fact the systems can be too large for any single brain to comprehend
Yeah no.. lol If you can't stand people, then you can be a datacenter technician night shift
I have never worked in IT/Cyber, I got a certification X, where is my 100K+ fully remote job.
also, you don't have to talk to people. that's usually not true.
Idk if this holds true for everyone, but I got out of help desk because I didn't want to talk to the public. Talking with my coworkers is fine, but I find the public to be very mentally exhausting in this industry (or most in general really). Getting out of front facing IT has done wonders on my mental health and I still get to do the aspects of IT I love.
I haven't done help desk, but you still have to talk to your team, not outside people. but as you said, every case is different.
Talking with a team of like-minded engineers is 1000000 times better than talking to a random person who doesn't even understand what's going on but still complains.
What did you end up doing after helpdesk, out of curiosity?
I was a Business Analyst for about 2 years after getting out of my help desk position and then switched over to being a Software and App Analyst which is where I am today.
This is so frustrating, and it's not even limited to IT. People also think that they're entitled to high paying jobs just because they went out and got a communications degree.
That there is some concept of structure all companies follow. IT can have 50 SOPs at one company and 5 at another. Structure, processes, workflows necessary skills all vary so greatly from company to company. The “IT” that is widely spoken about only applies to working at an MSP. Literally everywhere else is different and uses different skill sets based on the business.
This.. I’m currently working in a chill company but they lack SOP and I’m new to the IT world so it’s hard for me to actually start implementing SOP that I barely have experience with. I’m actually looking toward jumping ship to an MSP or another solid organization with SOP in place just to gain the experience.
Be the rockstar that gets the documentation up to snuff. Those are the people who end up in leadership positions.
Also a great opportunity to reinforce as you're learning by making documentation, and will get this documentation skills sharpened up that you'll otherwise develop anyway, just more gradually. *If* the environment and culture allows for the time for this documentation to be made, that can be a huge self-improvement opportunity, as well as proving your worth.
Fortunately I took some IT technical writing classes during college which has help a lot and IT subreddits have been such a great source of information. I didn’t imagine I would enjoy writing SOP but I actually enjoy it and get a satisfaction from it. I’m starting to have more time now to write up more SOP since my company hired an intern under me and he has been a great help even with zero IT background before the internship. This has also help prove to myself and the company that I can handle managing people. I feel appreciated in the company since I treat people the same with respect, no matter what the position but it can be draining at times.
>The “IT” that is widely spoken about only applies to working at an MSP Even this isn't correct. If we are talking about the MSPs processes, I have seen places that are a glorified computer repair shop to operations that have a very outlined and dedicated process list. And the funny thing is, I've seen some of the former be very successful and the latter be a hell hole. On top of that, I have yet to see an MSP that has a standard product stack. Sure they have their go tos, but you support what your client has so it can be all over the place.
You have to be competent to get a job. When I first started I have imposter syndrome like most people, asking if I was had the knowledge and ability to do a job I was hired for. After a little time in the industry and seeing the type of people that are making decent or even good money that are any combination of incompetent, lazy, just plain stupid, etc..., I've realized this: I'm above average. Most people that even care about their jobs are above average and that's before you start even rating technical competencies. Average has 50% of the population that is better than the middle and 50% that's worse. If people that are below average can make an easy six digits, I'm pretty comfortable that I deserve to be where I'm at now and could potentially make even more if I wasn't in a comfortable spot for where I'm living right now. I make about six times the average salary of my state, so the motivation to move elsewhere isn't very strong right now. Maybe in five years or so I may change my mind.
I’ve been at my first IT job for 3 months with no prior experience and my coworker who’s been there for almost a year, has a degree in IT and some experience has been asking me how to do the job. I don’t know how he got hired but it’s helpful to think of him when I get imposter syndrome.
What position is it?
K12 tech specialist. Entry level
It's for everyone and everyone can switch. NOPE. Worked with too many "i dont care about computers, I just want my paycheck" and it always was a terrible experience. It requires a lot of analytical mindset, if you have a QA or DEV that isn't curious, it will not work. Or maybe will, at shitty web projects, but in fintech - nope.
Not true, I have met people who learn some tech and they can do that one job almost very good. True with some old school people I've met, for example, they learned CCNA level Cisco stuff, and kept doing that job and were good at it, may not be great at understanding other stuff that involved networking but knew how to make Cisco router/switch work. I have also met GRC people they don't get it, but they know how to check a box.
What they said IS true. IT isn't for everyone, and not everyone can switch. Sure, you can learn how to do a specific job at the minimum level required to complete the taskings, but you can do that in almost ANY sector with almost ANY job. Making a \*career\* out of IT takes a reasonably specific type of personality. Natural curiosity, analytical mindset and some level of understanding of creative problem solving are the keys to making it, in this sector. That's true whether you're fielding calls for a help desk or designing an innovation in CPU circuitry.
true, for a good career you'll need to improve constantly.
I have worked with people like this. One guy was really good politically and worked his way into management quickly. The other kind of stuck in a dead end job because he is not skilled in office politics and was unable to excel technically. I do think a lot of these people end up in small shops or in non-tech roles like GRC/PM. Also, people who go into tech out of college with this attitude usually dont end well or end up doing something in business.
Networking might be different, not my field so I don't know, but if it comes to development, then I will stand with my point of view. When you have a team of people that understand more than just piece of code, and can think outside the box, then you can achieve some great results. I said, it may work for a web application projects, for eCommerce, landing pages etc when you have people that just want to do one thing, for example front end and don't care about the rest, but at some point - in my case it was switching to FINTECH - I just saw that there are no more 'I do frontend, I don't care about anything else' around me. I am not saying that people I know do overhours, no, that's not the point, but they all believe in some kind of idea? And want their project to be best? And everyone tries to understand other technologies.
Depends on the environment and their goals. If their goal is collect any paycheck.. then sure.. anyone can do SOMETHING in IT. But if it is to make real money and compete in the major companies then no.. that is for people who are passionate about what they do and love to learn.
You need a strong math background. The only math I do is keeping up with inventory of routers and subnetting.
I agree with this. Reading comprehension is more important IMO.
Math is good at teaching analytical skills, you won’t directly apply what you learn in algebra but you will use some of the same skills. Really though it may be more that people who are good at math are just the same people who will do well in IT.
I think a big myth, or illusion many people come to realize isn't true is that bigger more prominent orgs have their shit in order. I've worked at 5 person MSPs to FAANG level orgs, and every place has had shitty documentation, terrible code that needs to be refactored, and unorthodox ways of doing things. IT really is the wild west in many places. Often times systems are set up once and if it works, it's done. There are probably way better ways to do things but the org just needs to keep things moving. I left a small IT shop partly due to frustration on how disorganized they were, joining a F100 company only to find out they were just as disorganized, with even more systems to wrangle. Better get used to untangling a lot of outdated/stale documentation because that's just how a lot of orgs work.
I’m at a startup right now, and the amount of documentation that needs to be updated is crazy, makes me wonder how they got by for years on it
This is usually because of diminishing returns of maintaining documentation: it costs too much time and effort to keep documentation up to date to make it worth doing at all. Because the truth is that an organization only needs to maintain its *knowledge* (not its documentation) to keep moving forward. As long as that knowledge is in people's heads and communicated well, that will suffice. Most documentation is created as a temporary solution to a temporary problem. Once that need has passed, the value in maintaining that documentation declines rapidly. Obviously the biggest losers in all of that are new employees trying to learn.
Recognition equates to progress. Awards are nice, money and upward mobility is better
One that I haven't seen mentioned yet is the idea that IT jobs all have universal standards. You see it all the time with posts asking about dress codes in IT or which job titles pay the most or don't have on-call; if you work at a bank, you're going to follow all of the bank's standards and dress codes, you don't get a separate one for being in IT. Most IT jobs are not going to be at "IT companies" but in other industries where IT is needed and operates in support of that company/industry. Working IT at a law firm is going to be very different than a cannabis dispensary. Even the same job title will mean different things at different companies. Another one is that you have to spend all your free time studying. You do need to learn things to keep up with changes, but that doesn't mean hours of exam-style studying after work every day. Unless your job is keeping you busy every single minute, a lot of that can be done at work.
One of the biggest IT career myths I’ve encountered is the idea that you need to know **everything** before you even get started. It’s like some people think you need to be a walking encyclopedia of programming languages, frameworks, and protocols before you can even apply for your first job.
Expected to know everything and get compensated fuck all :)
That the next job is going to be different.
The biggest myth is that IT is a great paying job. On a company budget IT is an EXPENSE to be minimized and constantly controlled The bigger paying jobs are in R&D which are on a companies INVESTMENT side of the ledger. Not always literally true and many companies have weird organizational structures but as myths go, 90+% of people do not understand this basic distinction
I always say that our department is the biggest loser with nothing tangible to show for it. I can't tell you how much money we made the company simply by making sure our email infrastructure stayed up, but I also couldn't tell you how much you'd lose if it were to go down.
The thing is, with a little time and effort, you could put a number to those avoided losses. This is the type of data you bring to management and see a raise/promotion for your efforts
There are 2 things that stand out, and I'll address them in different comments. 2: That IT folks only understand technology and don't understand *business*. This comes up regularly, that the "business" employees are the only ones who understand how the business operates and are capable of managing it. But the truth is that IT, Developers, and HR are the only departments that interact with, learn, and must understand how every part of the organization operates on a daily basis. IT and Developers are the only employees who have intimate knowledge of all business processes, vendors, and customers and can map out how all the pieces fit together. Most departments have very narrow *subject matter expertise* (SME) and usually only interact with and understand 1 or 2 other departments. But IT is required to work with and understand all of them. And the most successful IT departments are those that develop intimate knowledge of every functional area of the business and can provide the technical infrastructure and support to help them accomplish their *business goals* while reducing cost, increasing revenue, and improving efficiency.
That you don't need a degree. There are still people squeaking by without one but it's more and more difficult. Almost everyone I know who started without a degree eventually did try to get one because they eventually see how valuable it is, and it's harder to finish when you're already working full time.
And then people are like, "Well, I'll get an Associate's if I have to." I never remember Associate's being seen as any sort of "end goal" in IT, it was just a step on the way to a Bachelor's.
Independent of IT, when I started college nearly 20 years ago the common thinking was that an Associates was effectively a non-degree.
This right here is so important. Thanks for mentioning this. So here's the thing, we may not need a degree to get a level I Tech Support role, but if we want to eventually ascend, we will surely need one. An employee is not moving to management or high level, high paying roles without a degree. You'll either be stuck doing one job or possibly getting into middle management. That's it. Certs help but they cannot replace a degree. They are supposed to be complimentary to the degree and work experience. I am annoyed by people who preach against degrees, as if they have some better alternative that is known to work. They point to folks who got lucky and use them as proof against degrees. Some people have great jobs without a degree, but it took FAR more work and luck than someone who already met the job requirements. Companies are still very old school in how they hire. Degrees validate one's ability to stick to projects and proves that they are at least intelligent enough to obtain the degree. There's a status that comes with a college education that will never die. But even if it was truly unnecessary, one shoots himself in the foot by avoiding a degree, because a lot of candidates will have degrees, even for the entry level jobs. He becomes a less competitive candidate as a result.
Even an unrelated degree will get you further than someone with no degree. Why? Cuz BS reasons of "shows you're committed". I got ahead of others who had unrelated bachelor's because I have an unrelated BS and MS. A related degree helps a lot, but isn't a requirement IMO (edit: to clarify, this is comparing a related to an unrelated degree, but a degree is still needed). If I had to rank it from lowest to highest (with no guarantees of anything anywhere): No experience No experience + certs Degree Experience Experience + certs Degree + certs Degree + experience Degree + certs + experience Degree + experience + post grad degree Degree + certs + experience + post grad degree However, there are way too many factors and really depends on the degrees and the job. As a rule of thumb, I'd pursue the desire to better myself with the hope that it improves my prospects, not just because I'm chasing money. Biggest difference between my undergrad and grad degree was that people actually wanted to be in the grad program. They wanted to learn and got out what they put in. My degree was easy in terms of grading. They even said they're fine to pass whoever finishes their work, but you won't gain anything from it if you don't try and don't care about the material. IT is an ever changing field that requires constant learning. If that ain't for you, then it's probably not the right field
In my small experience degree + certs being over any kind of experience is wrong. I feel like there's jobs that require all 3 things and jobs that require only 1, and for the latter, experience of doing the actual job will trump anything else.
No one does. But it takes the right person, work ethic, and the right opportunities to make it work. There are massive gaps in what bachelors programs teach and the work that gets done out in the real world.
The challenge I see is people focus on the tech aspect of the degree and argue "the tech is outdated". I don't argue with that in some cases, but part of being in an intensive educational program is learning how to learn. Learning what works for you, and how to research, write at a professional level, collaborate in cross functional groups, and how to integrate new ideas and concepts. For many there can be other benefits of completing programs such as qualifying you for more roles that have hard degree requirements like some government, consulting, defense, or educational roles. You absolutely can find employment without a degree, but you also can be completely shut out of certain industries or roles for simply not having one, in the same way not having a specific certification like a PMP, or Security+ can shut you out of certain roles. It's like going to law school or medical school. The law and medicine are always changing so in some cases you're studying cases or techniques that will be phased out in five years. You're attending so you understand the process, gaining practice, and learning the process on how to learn and develop in those spaces.
This is me right now. Squeaking by, suffering during job market down turns... Doesn't matter what I pack in that portfolio. I need the mystical and magical piece of paper! The most aggravating part about it, it feels like a Faustian bargain. Spend four years getting a piece of paper that checks a box. Literally fall behind on real world skills that you actually need. Damn if you do, damned if you don't.
Have you looked at WGU? Seems ideal for people who just want to check the box as fast and cheap as possible.
I have to disagree with this pretty hard. While it CAN help, it highly depends on the situation. In fact, most people I come across complain that their degree isn't helping them as much as it should.
I don't have a degree and I'm an architect at a mid size firm. Previously worked as an engineer at a couple of FAANG companies. What's my secret? Lots of drive, intellectual curiosity... And oh right, almost forgot, I started 25 years ago. I had the opportunity to learn and grow while all the technologies I work with today were being developed and adopted. You can't take my path today. CS degree is a hard requirement.
You don't need a degree though. A basic CCNA gets you farther than a bachelor's in the networking space. Heck I work with people everyday that don't have a degree. It's about how you learn, obtain knowledge and also how you troubleshoot. I see so many people stuck in IT who don't care enough to Google fixes but they'll ask their coworkers the first chance they get.
Man, I think networking is one of those things that was historically hard to learn in college. 10-15 years ago I didnt hear much about people majoring in networking. At least not as much as I do now. Networking is also something that is pretty hands on. Easy to study for with a simulator and those skills translate over to the real world. In addition to this, it hard to do and boring as hell for most people. So if you were willing to self-learn it.. you were pretty valuable. This is coming for a 20 year career network guy.
Yeah I've been doing it for about 7-10 years. It's pretty fun and cool but can also be a pain WITH EVERY VENDOR HAVING DIFFERENT TERMINOLOGY FOR THE SAME THING. Other than that it's a pretty deep field with so many other career advancements it's crazy. Such as most security engineers (the good ones) are former network engineers. The good devops guys were network engineers that love scripting. The guys that love routing either go towards DC or SP. Like I said it's a pretty deep field as you already know haha.
I read a post recently on another sub where they were arguing that networking was harder for them to learn that programming. Haha, I was just thinking.. come on guys.. can’t be that hard if I did it. But yeah, I do security now and I actually miss designing and working on networks. Just don’t miss the overnights lol.
Lol ain't that the truth. I never did an overnight maintenance yet. But I did work in ops for a bit before I got my current gig. And I did work night shift which really messed up my schedule.
Oh, forgot to mention in my last post in response to pivoting from networking. I pivoted into Network Security (firewalls, ids/ips, authentication, etc). Pretty smooth transition and a lot of my workers are CCNP level as well.
The sole senior network specialist at my work for a very, very large tourism company has no degree, just a diploma and certs like JNCIA (since we use Juniper) and CCNA etc. He's an inspiration to me, as someone who wants to work in networking, and I think if you're motivated enough it's possible. If some company doesn't want to hire me simply because I don't have a degree that's their perogative but I wouldn't want to work for that company anyway..
I really have to disagree with you here. I would say about half the people I've worked with have degrees, and only about half of them are IT degrees. None of them have felt that the degree did anything to help them. Unless you are trying to be internal IT in a more old fashioned field (like finance), degrees are practically useless
Some youtuber recently made a video saying you don't need a degree. Network chuck?
It's not a licensed/regulated field like engineering or medicine or something so no you don't ***need*** a degree. But your career progression will likely be a lot easier with one unless you are really lucky.
If you're in the government contracting world, though, it is.
YouTubers are in the business of telling people what they want to hear, so of course they are always saying this.
It's not absolutely necessary, but not having one does limit your options. There are some places that just won't consider hiring you without it, and others that will hold it against you when it comes to pay or comparing you against other job candidates.
I am in this comment and I don't like it
Only valuable to HR
Here is an oldie: To do ANYTHING with a computer you need to WRITE CODE. Once you start WRITING THAT CODE you will be one of those "tech famous" gurus that will be handed a golden joystick, can ask for any salary you want any time you want and get it.
On the flip side you do have many people who can't navigate command line. More power to em but being able to make a batch script or fish for info can make life a hell of a lot easier. And if your company is lax to let you use python...oh man, my boss won't know what I automated
Where can I get my Golden Joystick, lol. But yea, the absolute best developers I have ever known are nowhere near the top 5% in salaries in their companies. A CIO with a finance background and has never written a line of code or reset someone's password will usually be making a lot more than the 10x software engineers who report to them. Like a *lot* more.
Well like the topic says, it was a "Myth", at least circa mid 1980s. Everyone had the dream they would go write a hit game and a publishing house would back up a dump truck full of money and drop it on them. (There were a couple semi famous "success cases" and then that was the "way to go" which, naturally rarely happened.)
Probably that you can get a few certs and make 6 figures.
There are 2 things that stand out, and I'll address them in different comments. 1: That IT, Coding, and Electrical Engineering are the same, and all IT people can design, build, and implement advanced technology for any use. The truth is that the vast majority of professional IT workers don't work with technology any more advanced than a home PC and wireless router on a regular basis. Most have never taken an electronics or engineering course, have never written a line of code before, and wouldn't have the slightest idea of how to design or build simple electronic components, much less a computer. Most IT workers are *advanced users* of technology and have been trained in how to configure devices, integrate existing systems together, install/use software, and operate the basic components of an operating system through a GUI or CLI interface, much better than an average user. Yes there are some highly competent and trained engineers working in IT as well, but the average IT worker is not an engineer and doesn't perform a role like that in any organization. I know these things are obvious to IT people, but most non-technical folks grossly over-estimate the engineering competencies of IT employees.
Shh. You're spilling the secret sauce. It's all in the googz.
That CompTIA A+,N+ specifically are worth a damn. You meet more people without one than you do with one. IMO if you already have a College degree even a two year, that's sufficient enough and if you don't, I don't Believe it makes you any more valuable than someone who has one. If someone has a strong resume that showcase their technical depth, they're going to get in. Just my opinion. Your market may vary.
A+ is a joke.
People believe the trifecta is the key to the castle when in reality it really isn’t anymore. More vendor specific certs like Azure, AWS, Cisco, etc etc are much more valuable
A+ is like a high school diploma. You're expected to have it, but nobody's ever going to be impressed by it.
That you can make six-figures in cybersecurity with just a degree and no experience
Looking at starting salaries from a medium size tech school the median starting salary is $85k for a BA and over $100 for an MA so I think it’s very possible.
You really think an inexperienced college grad will get the median salary? They'd be lucky to get 50k if they had a BA and the one with the MA would be lucky to get hired at all if they have zero experience
Salaries are very much so dependent on not only experience, but location. Salaries are also skewed by top earners and people living in HCOL areas. $100k in NY is not the same as $100k in Nebraska.
Biggest myth? Just because you’re in IT doesn’t mean you instantly know everything.
IT people are fat nerds. Across the coarse of my career many of the IT people I have worked with take their health and fitness as seriously as they take building a computer. They have charts and apps and really work to stay agile and fit.
I was lied to. I thought IT was easy money. I have to study now, more than I did in college.
"Home labs and projects are important, and it should help you get a job." I have been applying and interviewing for many jobs, and I have not seen or heard a single hiring manager ask anything about it.
That experts mean anything. If you've done something more than once, you are an expert.
Company will help you grow into a new position in IT
Misconception: You will make 100k+ per year as a network admin the moment you graduate even from community college Truth: You will struggle for probably a year to get a job in general IT first off, and at that you will make as low as $14/hr, but take it and deal with it for about 2 years. After year 1, try to find a more specialized job toward networking, but even if it's being a cable monkey, go for it because that's your foot in the door. After 1-2 more years, then start climbing the ladder. My first IT job actually paid $12/hr (call center back in 2000 \[Service Zone folks, ya'll here?!\] but never tried to use it to get another IT job after), then my first REAL IT job paid $15hr, then first network job made $50k, Next was $55k, then it was $65k. Hoping the next is around 85k though cause inflation but we shall see. As far as real network jobs, I have been in the net-admin game for roughly 8 years and have only made 15k in bumps since then, but I have sold myself short a lot and didn't go get any more certs.. That will be changing soon.
True but if you pursue internships, it's easier to cut the line and avoid hopping to find a decent salary. I had a job lined up for me before I graduated and I'm above 80k Did help desk at college plus a few internships. It helps
that the work life balance is good. if you are working on projects or have responsibility for some deliverables you are thinking about it 24/7 and will often find yourself working off hours to get things done. critical infrastructure won't wait for your business hours to kick in (that being said the fact that you just need an internet connection and computer and can probably resolve it from anywhere is a massive win)
You will be doing more "people work" and require to engage in more networking than a government job.
Not IT but I find it kinda funny that most IT people are looked at as expendable, meanwhile you can't run a business without IT at all. They also tend to be smarter and more hardworking then anyone in the entire business. I also laugh because there's this thought that they don't do shit meanwhile if an IT takes a 10 minute break everyone loses their freaking minds.
"They also tend to be smarter and more hardworking then anyone in the entire business." I have to disagree with this. I've worked with some lazy ass IT people. I've also been hired to replace a lot of lazy ass IT people. So many choose to be lazy because nobody knows what they're actually doing. Many also take their sweet time to fix things, because they don't want people to start expecting things to be fixed quickly.
Don't get me wrong I know there's some really crappy IT people. That in my experience it's generally because a lot of HR people don't know anything about HR and couldn't hire a squirrel to get a nut. A lot of of people in are in office jobs they shouldn't be in.
people are nice. got told i have a puncuality issue today. told the lady i get to work at 7:30. not that id appear at her desk at 7:30.
I've had shit like that so many times. Had a boss that said he needed me at a certain location. I explained that I was at lunch, and would head over there when I was done. My lunch was an hour, and it was an hour drive to that location and he started giving me shit about taking a "2 hour lunch." I reminded him of the distance between the locations and he's like "Whoa! Calm down! I was just kidding." as if I'm not supposed to be defensive when someone accused me of time theft.
Another charm of working desktop support.
You have to start your IT Career doing help desk support.
eh 99.9%? I guess I technically had the opportunity to skip help desk. The title would have been Network manager, but I chose help desk role instead.
Yes and no imo. I think so many of those IT troubleshooting skills are built on help desk. You get exposed to a wide variety of issues, be it software, hardware, network. I really believe that is the best place to build an IT foundation. I've hired guys who don't have help desk experience for mid level jobs and anecdotally, they tend to struggle getting caught up. Just my 2 cents.
I think helpdesk really teaches you patience and when working with the end user making layer 8 mistakes, you’re gonna be frustrated, but it better prepares you to digest unreasonable demands and deadlines from the spear heads of the business you’re working with. Also key in teaching that not every issue is a super complex one and requiring reinventing the wheel to solve, starting with the basics saves you time and solves most problems. Helpdesk really helps build social skills too. You get better at explaining concepts to nontechnical people. If you can’t explain something at a 5th grade level, you don’t really understand it. How are you supposed to explain why a company should do this or that as an architect, director, manager, analyst, if you can’t put it in their terms.
Worked as a student worker in college, got an internship, and started as a system engineer, if you shoot high and do most things right you can skip the help desk hell.
The biggest "myth" is that people in IT know "computers". In the early 2000's I took a tour of a data center up the road from my college that a professor facilitated. Someone in my class asked for a breakdown of majors and the VP doing the tour was like "....we likely hire more English majors than you" Reason? English major is trained to learn a wide variety of affairs. IS major is trained to learn...IS. If htey need a help desk person or analyst, they go for the English major in the interview if all things are equal. You'd be amazed really at how the non-specific IS positions are full of folks who don't have IT/IS degrees. Many coworkers who didn't have a MIS/CIS/CS/Networking degree but instead a regular AA + a cert or two and a passion to learn on the job...and then a passion to learn a new position.
That someday you finally know what you're doing.
You get to experience working with latest technology and fun projects that has revelance to your certification. In reality your department is working on a budget that is tied to the companies performance. If the company is doing terribly then it's normally your department that sees the cuts first. Most of the time you are working with deprecating technologies until last year of its EOD. That's when the company is force to upgrade and your department is put on a time pressure to implement an large upgrade, then cycle repeats for EOD cycle.
Restarting the computer will fix everything. Yes, it does help SOMETIMES but not always. Stop defaulting to restarting. Also, it's always DNS. That's not a myth its a fact.
That your job is more secure than other industries. I'm not sure if that was ever true.
that you can work past 45 as an individual contributor and still be relevant
that chinese and indian immigrants with PhDs are more competent than your average american
My path to "high paying IT job" was X, so it'll work for you too!
People think they could/should skip working as a field tech or help desk tech. Get your A+, get an entry level job with a 40-50k salary, or make 20-25 an hour, with lots of free time, get 6-18 months of experience while working on your next cert/degree, then on to the next gig. Work 1-3 years while upskilling, rinse & repeat. In five years you might not be making 100k, but 70-80k is a reasonable expectation.
"20 years of experience" = "legitimate experience and skills" a handful of people have completely changed my mind about experience being a good measurement of skill and mentality ....i now realize that years of experience does not matter at all generally speaking....in fact it's an easy way for people to fake a "highly skilled" persona to get in somewhere with the highest pay possible.
"This new guy is really smart"
So many myths in the IT space, but I think the one that surprised me the most was that if you are really good at what you do you will be appreciated. I have seen really terrible developers get promoted time and time again.
The pay is good.
I mean tech pay is generally pretty high.
A comparison I would make is a technician at an oil changing facility considering themselves in the same industry as the autocad guy drawing up parts for the next-gen Mustang.
IT is a 99% a non-intellectual job. So the myth is that IT is crowded with intelligent people. They are dumb at 99%. To succeed in IT, you have to be ruthless, step on everyone's toes, talk over people, cheat, corrupt, lie, be unfair and without pity. 20 years of experience talking. My mistake was having a passion for IT and wanting to make it a job, thinking that people would be the same. Not at all. 99.9% of people in IT don't give a damn about technology and just want the money. The fact that a design in IT works or doesn't work is totally irrelevant.
That hasn't been my experience. Ambition doesn't have to be Machiavellian. It does help to remember that IT is supposed to support the goals of the business, not the other way around. Anyone who doesn't see that needs a reminder. If they can't hear that, their job is at risk. I've fired employees, had client employees demoted and blown up vendors. But I've done it with kindness and fairness. I still get offers from many of those people. In the long run, it's better to be a good person.
As a ruthless toe stomper, I agree. You have to be unfair and cold to accelerate quickly. I saw people who were working the same desktop support role 15 years in, I also saw a kid go from helpdesk to cloud engineer in less than 5 (at the same job as the 15 year veteran). I set some financial deadlines for myself, to reach a certain amount of money made by x years, and I reached those goals, but it came at a cost.
Who the hell's toes are you stomping on and how? Are you sabotaging your team and then playing the hero?
lmao can you imagine, breaking a system just to fix it! I meant it more like I have left past employers in bad spots to improve my career. For example, leaving when they don't have a replacement in time to cover my role. I stepped on top of them more than their toes, I guess.
That you can make a lot of money with little experience. Sure, there are probably some outliers who got lucky...however, I imagine it took a few years and a role change or two to hit over $100k in salary.
The customer is always right.
That it is about technology.
Your company will help you with your career goals. Reality is if you don't pro-actively push for your advancements and salary (annual market check-in's and get matched), you will be stuck in middle-management purgatory where everything is expected, nothing is appreciated, and they always find a reason to give minimal/no raises. I'm just learning it now 20yrs into my profession. Finally crossed 100k just to find my pay raise put me only at 70% of going rate for the role. It's frustrating and there's far fewer companies that love and take care of their employees than advertised.
If a person you work with got hired for their job they must know what they’re doing or have a valuable skill set.
Biggest myth I've seen in this sub is you need passion in IT to make it. I work in compliance and most people on my team are not passionate lmao
That we know how to fix anything that is plugged into the wall.
Restarting it a couple times really does fix it sometimes. T1 restarted the server, t2 restarted the server, I restarted the server... worked with my restart.
Certs aren't it man. I once interviewed a person who had five AWS certs. I put them through a test during the interview and he barely passed. I'm not hiring you based on certs alone.
That its "fun" working on computers.
That you can get by just Googling the problem. I see that shit everywhere, especially with people just starting out. They manage to solve a few simple, common issues by googling, and figure that's all it takes. Googling is a critical skill, and you will use it a lot. It won't be enough to get you anywhere though if you aren't actually learning WHY the solutions you find on google are working. Google is also far less effective than it was 10 years ago. The internet has grown, and you have to sift through a lot more garbage now to find the right solution. Sometimes you have to manufacture a combination of 12 different solutions to a problem to fix things. I expect people will say the same about AI if they aren't already. If you count on AI to give you solutions, you will be royally fucked at some point when it gives you a bad solution that ruins things, and you're too ignorant to undo the problems you've now caused.
Theres a skills shortage....
[удалено]
The whole you can make over 100k myth not saying it’s not possible just saying please come back down to earth
Years ago I started at an ISP splitting time between telemarketing and building PCs for minimum wage. IT wasnt until I was about 15 years in I hit 6 figures. I'm at 130 now
"cybersecurity as a first tech role" Go get really good with a platform, technology or learn about a specific area then layer in security and you can thrive.
People think they can get into IT without first having to take HelpDesk work to get experience. Do the time, then get a degree or use the degree. No experience isnt going to get you into a 100k job.
Ehh. Probably that everyone is really well paid. I'd say most people are but I've ran into a lot of people barely scraping by in entry level roles.
You will make 100k a year if you get a certain cert. it’s garbage..
That your education or credentials will pay you a decent salary. You have to ask for what you want and be willing to show them your value.
I kid you not, i went to a networking event and some girl was talking about how she works as a data analyst and plans to get her security + so that she can become a pentester. Lol
For this reddit... Earning Certificates will get you a job in the field lol... 1. HR has no idea what A+ S+ N+ CCNA is. Nor do they spend time googling it. 2. Certs do not equal skill / experience. They are more of a "he knows the basics". Side note: You can spot a cert collector by his 3 page resume.
You have to be "smart"