IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[Apollo Creed]

One of my old bosses that got laid off from one of my previous employers is in his final rounds of interviews at Facebook.

That guy wanted me on his team back in the day when I was just a support tech. He was one of the guys that got me into cloud storage operations and gave me a chance . I hope he gets the job.


He also may be a plug for me in the future

and you gonna be my plug

 

[ViShawn]

and you gonna be my plug

Yessir

I ended up hanging with an old college buddy. She is now working for this company called Tech Stars, which attempts to get funding for tech startups.

Since SXSW is going on here I'll do some networking with some of her colleagues and try to get into some events.

 

[Spin]

Passed the Security + . Now have that plus the CCNA and A+.

Learning some programming now which is progressing pretty well. Advice I can give to new guys is once you get your first cert, just keep going. If you can keep up the study habits, everything just gets easier.

 

[King45]

Passed the Security + . Now have that plus the CCNA and A+.

Learning some programming now which is progressing pretty well. Advice I can give to new guys is once you get your first cert, just keep going. If you can keep up the study habits, everything just gets easier.

How hard was the security+?

 

[Spin]

How hard was the security+?

If you have some networking knowledge, it's not too bad. If you don't, I would start with the networking + or the CCENT(which you can turn into a CCNA by taking the second part). Some of the questions are tricky so having a solid understanding is key.

Taking a break from these certs now to learn programming/scripting and AWS.

 

[camer999]

Hey guys so I'm new to even the idea of IT as a career path. I've seen a previous thread where some of the guys are seeing contracting jobs from 90-150/hr. Could you guys tell me the most concise/direct path to go from 0-100? The time frame and what I should specialize in basically step A-Z. I live in Florida so I guess it would be specific to that market but I'd also want to know what would make my value highest overall.

 

[JT-Money]

Hey guys so I'm new to even the idea of IT as a career path. I've seen a previous thread where some of the guys are seeing contracting jobs from 90-150/hr. Could you guys tell me the most concise/direct path to go from 0-100? The time frame and what I should specialize in basically step A-Z. I live in Florida so I guess it would be specific to that market but I'd also want to know what would make my value highest overall.

That's damn near impossible especially in a state like Florida which isn't known for technology jobs. You could possibly have done this in the Washington DC area with a security clearance years ago but not now. With companies moving tons of applications to the cloud and bringing in foreign workers on H1b visa I see contracting salaries stagnating. I got out of IT contracting 4 years ago when I noticed the salary increases stagnating and got a permanent job instead. Better job security even if I make a little less money at only 80K a year.

 

[poppastoppa]

The good thing about scripting is that it is easy enough for a perso n who doesn't know about programming to write something up. But its also one of the worse things. I think the only scripting that people with limited development knowledge should do are sql queries/extracts.

This? No sir.

 

[se1f_made]

This? No sir.

And let the less experienced play around with the database??

 

[Pineal Gland]

Started this week at a help desk job.

Took a paycut for it

DC traffic + parking costs or metro

When they give me my clearance I'm out this bytch

Been here 7 months and I'm still not fully cleared

I got to shadow one of the security team during lunch, she told me "I know you think the help desk is bad, but you're gonna hate management here."
My program manager said the same thing about their management before he left a couple of weeks ago

 

[JT-Money]

Been here 7 months and I'm still not fully cleared

I got to shadow one of the security team during lunch, she told me "I know you think the help desk is bad, but you're gonna hate management here."
My program manager said the same thing about their management before he left a couple of weeks ago

It took 9 months for my clearance to go final. Two weeks later I found a better Federal contracting job and left.

 

[poppastoppa]

And let the less experienced play around with the database??

That's what I'm saying

 

[ViShawn]

SXSW is going on in town and I talked to some startups here. Pretty cool.

The start up culture is so much fun. Something about it is magical compared to the corporate world

 

[se1f_made]

SXSW is going on in town and I talked to some startups here. Pretty cool.

The start up culture is so much fun. Something about it is magical compared to the corporate world

Who all did you talk to? That startup life does seem dope as hell (as it did way before the Silicon Valley series).

 

[ViShawn]

Who all did you talk to? That startup life does seem dope as hell (as it did way before the Silicon Valley series).

WP Engine (I have friends there), Duo Mobile (two factor authentication app), Indeed, and some people who had start up ideas. Got a few cards.

Yeah start up seems cool. Just fukking write an idea on a napkin and try and make it happen lol.