Starting career in I.T

RancidM

Chin up Vinny.

You sound like a sensible chap and i'm sure something will come along.
Keep plugging on with the first line support role to get some experience.

if your going to spend any money on certifications then vMware / Citrix / ITIL / Prince2 are the choice ones which look nice on the CV.

is the move to London out of the question ?

vinny_vimto

I would love to do an OU or university course but am not in a position to do so at the moment financial or time wise. Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to get some towers and and components and start building and reading books on c++ and save to complete a cisco cert at the local college.

woodworm001

Good advice on here already. Personally I wouldn't bother with CompTIA exams as I feel those are to get you the job you have already (no offense to anyone that has achieved those, this is just my opinion!).

Cisco have the CCENT (similar to Network+) which is pretty easy and is the first exam required for CCNA and Microsoft have the Desktop Technician (W7) / MCSA: Windows 8 certifications. These can be upgraded to higher level certs if required.

Personally, I felt I learned more from the CCNA when I did it several years ago as it covers the ISO 7 layer model, TCP/IP (subnetting!) and more which is important to know regardless of what IT track you go down.

I have no idea about programming or databases, far too nerdy for me

Good Luck

pjread

Seriously, don't run before you can walk. A combination of enthusiasm, a thick skin and maybe an A+/Server+/Network+/MS desktop OS cert is great.

In a few years, an MCSE or VCP is great, but I'd be suspicious of anyone with a few months on a helpdesk doing 1st line with one, in terms of whether they really understood the content. Don't take it the wrong way, it's a good longer term goal, just wait until you have at least some real experience with the technologies in an administrative or design function.

If I was hiring a 2nd liner/desktop support chap, I'd take the first paragraph over the second, and this sounds like the next role you want.

Check out www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com for some no-cost training - ease in gently though re: VMWare specifically - you can't get the VCP cert without the course anyway, and they're not cheap (I wouldn't self-finance it personally - was around £2500 I think when I did it)

vinny_vimto

Thank you for all your suggestions they have been truely helpful. I have had a bit of a result at work today they have said there is no scope for my role to change but to keep me 'interested' they will pay upto £1000 on any I.T course I want. My manager said he's willing to pay it as it means I will have to stay an extra year or pay back the money. I did suggest a pay rise instead but said no as this money comes from a training fund.

So I was looking at an ethical hacking course as it seems interesting BUT in the back of my mind I still have one eye on progressing in the I.T field so maybe kill 2 birds with one stone. I understand without actual on job experience a cert will be less valuable but as it will cost me nothing...

pjread

Usual "next major step" from where you are would be a desktop support type role or a project role doing desktop roll-out or similar. So as un-cool as it might be (!) it may help you more short to medium term to focus on something that'll help you in that arena.

The world is still surprisingly low on windows 8/8.1 guru's considering win7 is out of mainstream support in Jan, so I'd expect to start seeing an increase in larger enterprises and maybe public sector upgrading from around Q1 2015 when people start noticing that. If I were in your shoes, I'd be looking at boning up on win8...

Anonimas

If you have a serious interest in programming, then a direct line to software house would be having a published app in the app store. Doesn't have to be amazing, just serve a purpose and a clear demonstration that you know the platform. Given your mention of Linux, the open source nature and low cost barrier of Android might be a good shout. All the development tools are free, if you have a Android device you're ready to go.

The software industry has massive scope, but mobile apps are massive now and in great demand - and there's nothing stopping you in your spare time to fire up Android Studio and see how you like it.