Changing Course: Making the Move from Banking to Start an IT Career

Ed Tittel considers the plight of a 30-something banking professional who’d really rather be working in IT. He’s got a CCNA, lots of off-the-job experience, interesting skills and knowledge, and plenty of drive. Ed explains how he might parlay that into a new career in IT, with some additional effort and elbow grease.

Ed,

I have been reading your articles for over a year now, and I really love your willingness to help people starting out in the IT field as well as those who have experience further their careers. I'm writing to you now as a newly certified CCNA graduate. I passed the CCNA in early July on my first attempt. I have started the process of looking for jobs, but I am a bit overwhelmed with the variety of jobs that are out there where the CCNA would be advantageous to have.

The problem I am encountering is that I have no other IT experience outside of the CCNA curriculum, basic SOHO setup, and PC building and maintenance on a personal level. I've filled out your questionnaire, and I hope you can help me narrow down what types of positions I should be looking at. I know having a CCNA is highly valued, but without the other relevant experience like active directory, virtualization, and Microsoft Windows server, I am finding it difficult to see what I am qualified to apply for.

Greg

See next page for Greg and Ed's back and forth regarding the former's answers to Tom's IT Pro's Making It in IT career questionnaire.

Ed Tittel is a 30-year-plus veteran of the computing industry, who’s worked as a programmer, a technical manager, a classroom instructor, a network consultant and a technical evangelist for companies that include Burroughs, Schlumberger, Novell, IBM/Tivoli and NetQoS. He has written and blogged for numerous publications, including Tom's Hardware, and is the author of over 140 computing books with a special emphasis on information security, Web markup languages and development tools, and Windows operating systems.

E-mail Ed at etittel@tomsitpro.com with your request for IT certification or career info, or your ideas for future blogs. If your e-mail leads him to a blog topic, he’ll have the Tom’s staff send you your very own Tom’s IT Pro t-shirt! Be the envy of your friends and colleagues, and help him help you with your IT career! If you do have a request for Ed, please read his How to Help Me Help You blog posting, and answer as many of the questions this post contains as are applicable to your situation and inquiry. Thanks in advance for helping make his job easier that way!

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(Shutterstock image credits: Skills and Career Ladder)