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IT certifications for newcomers
August 30, 2016 at 2:04 pm
Alright so I wanted to hear from those of you who are in IT or related fields. I have worked in IT before as a Technical Support Rep I and II. I've also contracted work for building / ghosting machines for a couple of companies. My personal life has involved the building and troubleshooting of hundreds of computers since I was a child, it's what I'm actually good at.
The sad truth is that years have passed and I haven't received any formal training at all. I'm not happy with the way my professional life has turned and want to get back to what I love, computers.
I have interests in Networking, Programming, Databases, Security, Web Development - pretty much everything.
What I'm looking for is the first certifications I should be looking to get, the most essential things to get me in the door!
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RE: IT certifications for newcomers
August 30, 2016 at 2:24 pm
(This post was last modified: August 30, 2016 at 2:25 pm by SteelCurtain.)
I think the best thing to do is to look for job postings that interest you, and the certifications/skills that are required.
You can start learning the basics of programming for free with http://www.codecademy.com.
Start with Python, then Java. Python is a great starter for an interpreted language, Java would be a good bridge into the C compiler languages.
I would start with networking classes. Maybe parley that into Cybersecurity. Tons of jobs in that field.
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great
PM me your email address to join the Slack chat! I'll give you a taco(or five) if you join! --->There's an app and everything!<---
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RE: IT certifications for newcomers
August 30, 2016 at 2:26 pm
(August 30, 2016 at 2:04 pm)wolf39us Wrote: Alright so I wanted to hear from those of you who are in IT or related fields. I have worked in IT before as a Technical Support Rep I and II. I've also contracted work for building / ghosting machines for a couple of companies. My personal life has involved the building and troubleshooting of hundreds of computers since I was a child, it's what I'm actually good at.
The sad truth is that years have passed and I haven't received any formal training at all. I'm not happy with the way my professional life has turned and want to get back to what I love, computers.
I have interests in Networking, Programming, Databases, Security, Web Development - pretty much everything.
What I'm looking for is the first certifications I should be looking to get, the most essential things to get me in the door!
It depends on where you are in the world. Either way, if you are interested in Networking for example, take any course with Cisco. They should have numerous colleges around that double for Cisco Networking Academies that give courses like CCENT 1 and CCENT 2. Although the CCNA exists, the CCENT was introduced so that you can study the necessary basics before going onto harder modules. After the CCNA? you could specialise or go further into the networking field such as CCAI (Academy Instructor.) As for databases, that is a tough one, when there are so many to choose from. Same goes for Operating systems, from the basic yet stable UNIX, to the comlexities of Linux which is open-source. You could ideally go the Microsoft route and study the Networking modules (info: when doing the tests, make sure you answer the way Microsoft want you to answer, and not the way Cisco would teach you.) Then there are programming languages, from basic HTML 5 (which isn't really programming), C, C++, J#, C#, ASP.Net, Visual Basic. The world is your oyster. Just make sure that if you want to do HTML web development, use HTML 5, CSS3 and Javascript together. Here is a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Oggpc9gl5g
Good luck.
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RE: IT certifications for newcomers
August 30, 2016 at 2:27 pm
(August 30, 2016 at 2:24 pm)SteelCurtain Wrote: I think the best thing to do is to look for job postings that interest you, and the certifications/skills that are required.
You can start learning the basics of programming for free with http://www.codecademy.com.
Start with Python, then Java. Python is a great starter for an interpreted language, Java would be a good bridge into the C compiler languages.
I would start with networking classes. Maybe parley that into Cybersecurity. Tons of jobs in that field.
Indeed. Knowing how to calculate subnets and how to reduce the hexadecimal IPv6 into a shorter version without leading zeros etc.
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RE: IT certifications for newcomers
August 30, 2016 at 2:33 pm
I've been looking at the CompTIA certs -- Network, Security, A+. CCNA and Microsoft certs were definitely on my list as well.
I've been told by a few people that the Cisco CCNA and Network+ are two that I should definitely focus on.
College is another option, but it's prohibitively expensive and makes me concerned... The last time I went and majored in Electrical Engineering, I ended up dropping out due to cost and life in general. Granted this was 10 years ago and I just paid off my loans 2 years ago. I don't want to put myself in huge debt if I don't have to.
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RE: IT certifications for newcomers
August 30, 2016 at 2:38 pm
Community college, son!
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great
PM me your email address to join the Slack chat! I'll give you a taco(or five) if you join! --->There's an app and everything!<---
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RE: IT certifications for newcomers
August 30, 2016 at 2:40 pm
(August 30, 2016 at 2:38 pm)SteelCurtain Wrote: Community college, son!
Ha, ya... I went to a community college. It's what cost me 9 years of debt.
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RE: IT certifications for newcomers
August 30, 2016 at 2:42 pm
(August 30, 2016 at 2:33 pm)wolf39us Wrote: I've been looking at the CompTIA certs -- Network, Security, A+. CCNA and Microsoft certs were definitely on my list as well.
I've been told by a few people that the Cisco CCNA and Network+ are two that I should definitely focus on.
College is another option, but it's prohibitively expensive and makes me concerned... The last time I went and majored in Electrical Engineering, I ended up dropping out due to cost and life in general. Granted this was 10 years ago and I just paid off my loans 2 years ago. I don't want to put myself in huge debt if I don't have to.
If you have some experience with networks, then CompTIA is a great option. With Cisco, you get a virtual software free of charge called "Packet Tracer", which allows you to build and configure very large networks over a small geographical area i.e. office environment or over a large georgraphical area i.e. various states of America. It is tough to get used to, but in the end, it is well worth it. I was offered a chance to do the CCNA because I did a first course, where we had to run Red Hat Linux and Windows 2000 at the same time, and then configuring the files both in Windows and Linux so file sharing can be enabled.
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RE: IT certifications for newcomers
August 30, 2016 at 2:50 pm
(August 30, 2016 at 2:42 pm)RobertE Wrote: (August 30, 2016 at 2:33 pm)wolf39us Wrote: I've been looking at the CompTIA certs -- Network, Security, A+. CCNA and Microsoft certs were definitely on my list as well.
I've been told by a few people that the Cisco CCNA and Network+ are two that I should definitely focus on.
College is another option, but it's prohibitively expensive and makes me concerned... The last time I went and majored in Electrical Engineering, I ended up dropping out due to cost and life in general. Granted this was 10 years ago and I just paid off my loans 2 years ago. I don't want to put myself in huge debt if I don't have to.
If you have some experience with networks
Oh yes. I spent my teens and early 20's having some good ole fashion fun with Red Hat / Backtrack Linux. Taking down networks, redirecting packets / images. Capturing passwords, bypassing SSL with certs. Before anyone jumps on that stuff, I didn't do it maliciously and reversed everything I did to mess with friends and family lol
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RE: IT certifications for newcomers
August 30, 2016 at 2:59 pm
(August 30, 2016 at 2:50 pm)wolf39us Wrote: (August 30, 2016 at 2:42 pm)RobertE Wrote: If you have some experience with networks
Oh yes. I spent my teens and early 20's having some good ole fashion fun with Red Hat / Backtrack Linux. Taking down networks, redirecting packets / images. Capturing passwords, bypassing SSL with certs. Before anyone jumps on that stuff, I didn't do it maliciously and reversed everything I did to mess with friends and family lol
A script kiddie then. 
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