Outside Learning and Experience Can Illuminate Your IT Career

A former law enforcement professional turns to IT, but learns he can use what he knows from his first college degree in criminal justice to boost his budding IT career. He also gets some advice from Ed Tittel on various IT-related certifications worth pursuing.

Hello Ed,

My name is Jaro and I decided to write to you and ask for some help. I am currently in a process of obtaining my BS in Computer Science. I still have a couple of years before I am done, but I want to start getting some more experience and obtaining certifications. I am looking for an entry level job where I could apply my existing skills and knowledge and where I could learn more. However I do have a problem making sense of the confusing world of certificates. 

I have some experience with Windows Server, SQL, Active Directory, VoIP and networking in general. I also have experience with project management and software development (except actual coding. I do not enjoy coding). I know that I need to learn a lot more, but I am unsure where to start. When I do research online, there is so much information that it is not helpful. 

My career in IT is still very fluid in terms of specific applications or goals. I am in California, and there are plenty of IT jobs here, but I don't want to focus on something that is popular right now, but will not be very helpful in the future.

Could you please advise me on how I should proceed? Are there some first steps or certificates that every IT worker should have: something that would provide a solid foundation?

I am at the beginning of my career and it is very exciting, but also kind of confusing because there is so much to learn. Any advice, links, books or articles geared towards a beginner you could recommend would be highly appreciated.

Please let me know if you need more information. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you soon. 

Jaro

Dear Jaro:

Thanks very much for writing to me. I’m a little slow in my reply, and I apologize for that. I must plead a heavier-than-normal workload of late, plus lots of family activities outside of work as well. I hope I have neither disappointed nor inconvenienced you too much because of that delay.

It’s nice to read that you are working on a bachelor’s in Computer Science. Generally, when readers write to me to ask for advice, I prefer to have them read and fill out the questionnaire that makes up a blog post I wrote right here on January 13, 2012. It’s entitled “How to Help Me Help You,” and I include it here in case we should have some follow-up dialog, and recommend that you read it through and answer as many of its questions as you can (and that are relevant to your particular needs and situation). You mention that you have experiences with Windows Server, SQL Server, AD, VoIP, and general networking, as well as project management and software development (probably in a project management or test role, since you say “I do not enjoy coding”).

Given your background and interests, I would definitely prefer more information from you before making any prescriptions, either for certification or perhaps even upper-division undergraduate classes you might take. In addition to the questions in the Help Me Help You item to which I provide a link in the previous paragraph, please answer these additional questions as well:

1.  What Computer Science classes have you already taken? Which ones did you enjoy most? Do you have any strong or obvious technical interests that represent areas you’d like to work in someday?

2.  Which versions of Windows Server and AD do you know best? Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, and/or Windows Server 2008 R2?

3.  How much do you know about AD, and what have you done with AD by way of install, design, configure, maintain activities?

4.  How much do you know about VoiP in general? What kind of VoIP systems have your worked with, and what have you done with them?

5.  Ditto for networking: wired, wireless, devices worked with, network speeds, level of interaction and understanding, please.

6.  Finally, please tell me where you’re going to school.

Being in California, you are in a very good place to find great work upon graduation. If you can help me understand your goals and interests better, I am sure I can provide some good input and advice for you to consider.

Thanks for writing. I look forward to your next reply.

Ed

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!

See here for all of Ed's Tom's IT Pro articles.

(Shutterstock cover image credit: Skills)