|
SSH IT ZOMBIE posted:24, 5 years in IT, went from help desk to a server admin. Hey now, I got my Computer Engineering degree and ended up as a server admin (Unix server admin, actually). I can honestly say that, at least with my company, I should have taken an easier college route for this career path (computer science or simple informations systems, really. CompE is hard). Similar to how you're looking to jump to networking, I'm looking to jump to security. quote:We're so understaffed, nothing is patched, constant downtime and virus outbreaks, and they're still giving us more and more to do. Heh, we're overstaffed and nothing is patched... and they keep giving us less to do. At least the money's good. I'm 24 with 8 years of IT experience. If I was 16 and knew what I know now, I wouldn't be anywhere near IT support. I'd probably do something like financial consulting/advising or music or sales engineering or ???.
|
#
¿
May 14, 2010 13:36
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 2, 2024 08:47 |
|
|
SSH IT ZOMBIE posted:Whaaa? I could go work as a code monkey, embedded code / drivers monkey, or hardware design monkey... But those are tough jobs and the pay isn't as good as IT enterprise architecture. I'm just saying that for the IT path I've chosen (fallen in to is more accurate) I could have taken an easier college path and been just as well off. And certainly you wouldn't need a compE to get into networking. Seriously though I've got friends with compE coding at companies like HP, doing really interesting work on embedded devices, storage systems, whatever, and they're pulling down high $40k low $50k salaries two years after graduation. Ick.
|
|
#
¿
May 15, 2010 16:34
|
|
|
Bob Sacamano posted:That's not to brag, but just to let you know that there are some decent paying gigs left, especially with your degree. Hmm... maybe I need to look into again. I'm not sure why they're pulling down lower salaries.
|
|
#
¿
May 16, 2010 02:01
|
|
|
IMJack posted:I was in IT for 4 years before I managed to get a job doing web development. How did you move on to web dev? Did it involve taking a considerable pay-cut or were you able to get into a not-quite-entry level development position?
|
|
#
¿
May 17, 2010 13:41
|
|
|
damage path posted:A lot of you seem to have found your way into the IT field as teenagers. I'm 25 now, and thinking about changing my current career (or lack thereof) to something IT related. What kind of IT stuff are you thinking about - networking? Server admin? IT helpdesk? Desktop/client services? Application/middleware admin?
|
|
#
¿
May 18, 2010 02:37
|
|
) with a minor in IT so I'm not really looking for another four year BS degree.
|
necrobobsledder posted:This is why you get out of security and into business development or operations management consulting, which for these accounts will get you into the $200-$400k range instead of the piddling $150k range of most security consultants for a much more comprehensive consultation on how information security fits into the business's operations. Teach me how to become a $400k consultant.
|
|
#
¿
May 19, 2010 13:29
|
|
|
three posted:I do System Administration, and I never answer Help Desk tickets for user problems; that is for tier 1 help desk staff. If you're doing that then you're probably making bad wages. Or your company has a terrible tier 1 staff and instead of fixing employment issues they make sysadmins do all the simple crap those idiots can't seem to figure out.
|
|
#
¿
May 20, 2010 00:34
|
|
|
necrobobsledder posted:You can do higher-level consulting for IT with mostly finance customers, which you get into by holding down a job where you actually get to talk to these people and get on a first-name basis with a few of them. There is only a payoff if you know the right people and have the sort of experience that would appeal to people at the CTO level or so in the Fortune 500. This means forget about getting better at your technical skills if you want to skip the bullshit for paydirt. But I've always thought if I didn't give a drat about much besides money, I wouldn't be in IT whatsoever. I love high-level existentialist IT consulting nonsense. What would be a better career path to get started in this direction? System admin/architecture, or info security? In my company it's obvious that our high level architecture guys make lots of money for doing nothing technical, but I don't know if that's the same everywhere. I'm looking to switch jobs soon...
|
|
#
¿
May 20, 2010 02:12
|
|
|
Namlemez posted:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_administrator ? Certain DBAs (e.g. Oracle) usually get paid pretty well and I've heard it is a good gig. For what it's worth, DBA positions at my company start at 56k/year (although we don't currently have anyone making less than 70k, I believe).
|
|
#
¿
May 30, 2010 15:53
|
|
|
Mobius posted:A lot of bigger organizations are looking at IT as an investment that will save money for them in the long run. In my experience most organizations view IT similar to the way they view utilities. Every large company pretty much has an IT department, so it's lost the "competitive advantage that makes us awesome compared to everyone else" image. Now management's all about minimizing the cost of IT support and solutions, however business critical IT might be. GregNorc posted:I might be biased, but I'd look into security. Oh hey, I'm in the process of making a lateral move from sysadmin to security. The best reasoning someone gave me was the idea that Operating Systems (and programming languages, too) are kinda like fads and change every few years and your experience tends to expire if the technology expires. So, if you have years of sysadmining Solaris and the company decides to go all Windows (because some consultant said it was a good idea and management said "yay sounds good") then you could be screwed, depending on how nice management is. But security will always have a role regardless of the underlying technology.
|
|
#
¿
May 31, 2010 18:08
|
|
|
In a strange way my company is a non-profit. Maybe that's where a lot of my views of IT are being jaded.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 10, 2010 04:33
|
|
|
SmellsOfFriendship posted:I'm about burned out with user problems now. Any advice for getting out of it? I'm so loving sick of I NEED THIS RIGHT NOW and HOW PASSWORD CHANGE IT. In my experience, there is no way out of it. I got out of "user" support by moving from desktop to Unix Server admin, and figured out that even when the people you support are in IT they do the same stupid crap your users do. Most of the time it's even dumber crap. I thought IT security stuff would be a little better in this respect and it's not. I get insane requests like "hi are you blocking port 5000 on the network firewall I can't telnet localhost 5000 SEND HELP OK!" all of the time. From senior IT employees making 75k+. Maybe consulting is better? Or working for a company that's in the tech field instead of working in a cost center IT supporting some other function?
|
|
#
¿
Jul 28, 2010 12:50
|
|
|
mr_cardholder posted:get out of IT and take on a less involved role but still be part of the tech world IT Analyst? How far away from IT do you want to get?
|
|
#
¿
Aug 7, 2010 01:35
|
|
|
spog posted:Ta for the guidance. Ah, the hilarious topic of certs. Besides getting past resume filters, I don't particularly see the point of certs. I've been pretty disappointed with the quality of "IT Security Professionals" I've seen come through my company who hold a CISSP. Right now we have two newer guys (to the company, not the field) who are pretty smart (but lack any Unix knowlege at all, and 70% of our server infrastructure is Solaris :V ), but a ton of the candidates we've gone through (hiring a whole new team this year) have had trouble with really basic stuff. Aren't certs supposed to guarantee some sort of minimum qualities?
|
|
#
¿
Aug 11, 2010 04:40
|
|
|
Tab8715 posted:I spent my earlier twenties in college being stupid and immature, so I obviously dropped out. Fortunately, I'm not completely retarded and I was able to land myself a mediocre IT Job. While the pay was a low, it was a job and not that bad. I stayed for a bit more than two years, learned quite a bit but the company crumbled I ended up getting laid off. I figured, I'd go back to school but after going I don't really feel motivated and given the time I'd take me to graduate - what's the point? The point is getting past the HR resume filters and finding employment. Unless you're getting ready to retire, it's probably a good idea to grab a proper degree. Tab8715 posted:I've started looking for a job expect I haven't had a bit of luck. I've sent my resume around to over a dozen places, had a few interviews but no luck. And, I'm actually quite extensively networked around town since I live in a town of ~100k yet no one knows anything. I'd say yes, but I have a friend who never set foot in school after HS and is making around 90k/year as a general IT guy for some IT contracting company (he's in his mid 20s). Of course, we live in a town of 500k with lots of military and military contracting stuff. Tab8715 posted:Another thought did cross my mind, go for the two-year programming degree. Does anyone have experience with this? How will I stack up against in the job market against actual CS Majors? I can't speak to CS type jobs, but at my company and all the companies I've applied to in the past few years a four year bachelors is bare minimum, masters/doctorate preferred. The only exception I've found is some sysadmin work has been "or equivalent experience" (I haven't seen this at all for entry programming in my town), and IT Security has been all about certs. I suspect you're getting beat out by a lot of degree holder's because HR at whatever-company wants pretty paperwork. It happens all time where I'm at. We'll interview someone who is probably the best fit for the job, but upper management and HR will force the hiring of someone with better education on the resume. 3/4 of my old Unix team have masters in Math 
|
|
#
¿
Aug 23, 2010 13:05
|
|
|
Luna posted:Working with a cherry picker that the controls randomly freak out and extend the bucket arm straight up. This work occurs within 3-6 feet of power lines. Also all protection has been bypassed on the power lines so if any of my cable comes in contact with it, it will energize that cable until it burns up. You were working for a utility company? Isn't there some organization you can contact about this kind of thing? OSHA? At my company, if there are these types of obvious safety screwups we're encouraged to stop work until the problem has been resolved and if there's any push-bash we run the problem up the chain all the way to the CEO. And the CEO will come bust some heads over this kind of crap, he has in the recent past.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 5, 2010 14:06
|
|
|
CZwtrpolo2 posted:I am so glad I only stayed at help desk for 8 months. I am 25 and have only been in the IT field for 3 years. I am doing security now and couldn't be happier. I have an interview on friday to be a security manager that would pay 6 figures if I had the proper certs. Do you have the proper certs (and what certs are they looking for)? My company likes to mess with people. We hire Security positions with rank/pay based on certs. If you come in at a lower level because you lack some certs, but then you go get certs, you become "eligible" for re-class and a higher pay, which basically means good luck getting re-classed. I'd take the manager job regardless, just saying companies can be crooked like that.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 7, 2010 12:44
|
|
|
CZwtrpolo2 posted:The cert everyone is looking for now is the CISSP. From what I hear, it is going to be a necessity for any security position (analysts, security managers, etc) working with the government at the start of 2011. Yes it is. I'm going for the test at the beginning of next year (soonest I can get my company to pay for it, otherwise it comes out of my pocket). So far I have mixed feelings on it. They say they require 5 years security experience for it (4 years if you have a degree) but they count basic sysadmin or network admin stuff for that. I've also heard it's this grueling 6 hour test, covering everything in super-detail, but from the idiots I've met who hold the cert, I'm not convinced it's anything that tough (I mean guys who don't know what authorized_keys authentication is, guys who don't understand NAT, guys who have a very hard time wrapping their heads around a server with two network interfaces, etc). I picked up some "prepare yourself!" books and it looks like a very basic understanding of "the ten domains" is all you really need to pass the test. Guess I'll find out. Anyway, hope it works out for you! I got kinda jipped in that there's no guarantee my rank/pay will increase when I load up on the cert requirements for the upper ranks at my company. But... they are paying for the classes and certs, and it's great for getting higher pay at a different company I guess. I'm seeing DoD hiring in my town with pay starting in the 90k range for people with no "real" experience. So load up on those certs, buddy!
|
|
#
¿
Sep 8, 2010 00:54
|
|
|
CZwtrpolo2 posted:If you don't think rank/pay will increase when you get cissp then I would tell them go to gently caress themselves and look for a different job. Well maybe look for another job first... I've been guaranteed my rank won't increase (at least not in 2011), but I'm not exactly making bad money right now. It's just not over 90k. I don't think I can make better money at another company with my current resume, and this company is "filling the gap" in pay by covering the costs of ~$10k worth of cert training each year. And I get to do the training on work's time, so that's neat.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 8, 2010 13:04
|
|
|
CZwtrpolo2 posted:Do you owe them any time after you finish all of the training and get the cert? Not outside of being polite, I don't. I kinda like working for this company, but it depends on what they can do for me. Gotta feed my household first.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 9, 2010 00:43
|
|
|
Notitia posted:networking. I've got a little bit of a unix background Ever considered getting in to the security/firewall side of things?
|
|
#
¿
May 18, 2012 17:36
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 2, 2024 08:47 |
|
|
Superhaus posted:What should one do to head in that direction - CCENT/CCNA? Skip Security+? I have a CS degree and I have been doing user support for 6 years and I need to specialize and make some more money. Depends on what company you want to work for, and exactly what kind of stuff you want to do. Overall, getting your CCNA and Security + (sec+ is pretty easy) is a really good step to make you marketable to a broad range of companies. CISSP is tremendously useful for getting your foot in the door, too. The blend of networking and unix background just struck me as a good combination for firewall stuff. Working on checkpoint firewalls, for example, you'd need some unix/linux background to set up the devices... and then networking stuff to understand and design what they're supposed to do. I got a very decently paying firewall engineer job because I had networking experience (CCNA stuff, worked a few years in a networking team) and a bunch of Unix stuff (Unix admin for a few years), even though I have zero security certs. Love the work and the people I get to interact with, only complaint is the hours (but that's mostly due to my insane company and not the actual field). There are a crap ton of firewall engineer positions out there too.
|
|
#
¿
May 25, 2012 16:26
|
|