/cct/ Career and Cert Thread

>>58496330
Fucking construction, wanna get into networking, not sure where to begin.

>>58496343
By getting your CCNA and learning

>>58496330
I've been a NEET for a whole year (2016) and am determined to finally find a job.
I graduated in networking systems 2 years ago. (2015)
What do I put in my CV for 2016? Would it make sense to "lie" and say I was self-employed doing computer repair work?

Are MTA certs worth it? Or rather are they difficult?

>>58496343
Construction is goat desu
I'm sick of office work bullshit

>>58496382
They can't check that, so its better than saying you were doing nothing

>Job title: Web Programmer
>Exp: 0.5y, ocasionally do networking stuff
>Degree: Aux. Technician in IT (best translation I could come up with)
>How: Internet
>Pay: 10k
>Location: Southamerica
>Age: 23

I'm trying to get a real IT job (2nd interview on tuesday, wish me luck, same pay) and this year I'm starting a 2 year career in networking and telecommunications (I would get a technician's degree on the tertiary level)

Any advice? I think it would be better to take the certs later as I need them, but idk.

>>58496364

even with a ccna, where would you even find a job.. there are none

>>58496330
I make amazon affilate websites and you americans are buying them up like fucking crazy...

For vastly inflated prices but still like 50% cheaper then the competition.

>>58496951
Where do you live?

There are plenty but most require qualifications and/or experience, but if you have nothing to offer they will not hire you.

Get a cert or a degree, then you'll get something (in a week or a year, there is nothing guaranteed but there entry level are jobs in most places)

>Sysadmin
>15 years in general IT
>lots of MCSAs, Sec+, Net+, A+, CCNA, CISSP, etc.
>90k

Working on my OSCP currently. Security is more fun than just administrating shit.

>>58498326

How did you work your way up to sysadmin?

What certs and degrees did you have when you started your IT career?

Do you think I'd be able to find an entry level position through just my A+ Cert and 6+ months experience?

>>58496539
They're easy, an A+ covers a bit more and is more recognized by HR

>>Job Title
Tech at an MSP

>>Years of Experience
Around 1 in a proffesional setting, more like 3 counting outside work.

>>Degrees/Certs
Have an AA for shits n giggles (was paid for in full w scholarship, in fact i made moneys doing it). Junior standing working towards my BA in IT w a minor in Business. No certs.

>>How did you find/get job
Was recommended by the owners friend

>>Pay
35k

>>Location
Flyover state

>>58496846
Yeah, I figured leaving that gap would be stupid.
I guess that's the best option I have to get out of this situation right?

>Junior Admin
>8 months
>MCSA Windows Server 2012
>Saw opening online
>$31k/year (they're paying for my uni/certs)
>Houston, TX. About 15 minute drive from my apartment.

>>58498604
Not him but an A+ and that much experience can land you a junior admin position or even a position to work your way up.

>>58496930
Good luck anon. Be sure to include any job-relevant experience you have (i.e. I work with an ER MSP so I would discuss HIPAA-compliant AD GPOs etc) during the interview and do your research on the company beforehand.

>>58496930
You would make more being a cyber translator

>>58496382
On your CV, say the Networking thing lasted into 2016. Don't be any more specific. They will assume it lasted until late 2016 and offer you the job. When they find out it was actually 2015, they'll be frustrated for a bit but will soon see that you are a competent and trustworthy employee and it won't matter.

t. someone who did literally this

>>58499277
>tfw I had an awesome job I was not qualified for (CompTIA A+, first IT job but I'd worked in other places; they put me with the 3rd line guys) which was training me up to have a Server 2012 R2 MCSA, but then the new CEO decided we had too many IT guys and fired a bunch of us, including me

Can you bullshit an ITIL Foundation certification? I've found videos that explain it online, and they all say it's a piece of piss that anyone can do, so if I just read the Wikipedia page for ITIL before each job interview, can I claim to know it?

>>58499321
>Good luck anon

Thanks, I did some research on the stuff they do, they have many clients (apparently one was Audi), so it is a good prospect, experience in networking I have very little but it is an entry level position, I passed the first test so I guess I'm not so bad so far

>>58499460

It is entry level and it is a 6 hour job, but yeah this is how it is in the third world, not even engineers can dream of making 90k here, for that kind of money you have to leave the country.

Anyway, the money is no big deal for me at the moment, my real interest is to get the job and make my way up, staying here you can eventually make 20 or 30k (and live well), but one step at a time.

Minimum salary is around 5k, so in relation is not that bad, the only unaffordable thing here without a loan are houses and apartments.

I have a bachelor's degree in information technology, but I'm currently NEET and have never held an IT job since I've failed every job interview so far. how can I get a comfy IT/sysadmin job here in Yurop?

>>58500799
Do technical support first, a couple of years perhaps, then look for sysadmin or something that requires more responsibilities, those positions require proven experience.

I have the opportunity to learn sec+ for free and I currently hold a security clearance. I push carts for a living. How can I find an okay job with all that?

>>58500820
you mean help desk and phone support? I don't think I could deal with all the clueless end users, since I hate it when I have to try to tell people how to do basic tasks.

>>58496364
CCNA is (mostly) for learning proprietary Cisco IOS.

In the near future software defined networking is gonna take over, and Cisco will be creating APIs for e.g. Python. Config deployment will be automated. The days of entering 1 command at a time into the IOS terminal will be over, finally.

Learning networking and programming for automation is more important than learning Cisco.

(I have a CCNA btw)

>Job Title
Systems Engineer
>Years of Experience
3
>Degrees/Certs
No degree, but I have my RHCE.
>How did you find/get job
LinkedIn/recruiter
>Pay
~80k/yr (hourly)
>Location
Detroit, MI

>>58500876
Pretty much, it sucks but is the best way to get a first experience in IT

With your degree you have decent chances of getting something better, but if you say that so far it wasn't enough... perhaps it would be better to do support in the meantime before you get too old and with no kind of experience.

>>58500956
well, I've made it to several interviews so far, but I'm very uncharismatic and I think that has been the biggest problem so far.

>>58500995
Fake it

>>58500995
Trust me, I have/had the same problem for a long time

I went to dozens of interviews before I could finally get a job (for about 3 years), in the meantime I did computer repair at home, I would always fuck up somehow and probably I just got lucky (I did get better though, I try to learn from my mistakes)

>>58501001
More or less, be yourself but not too much, do research on likely things they will ask you (specially if you get a first interview with human resources, it sadly is a filter and they can be hell), try to say what they want to hear without making it too obvious, try to prove legitimate interest about the job weather you have it or not, this silly little things add extra points and can make the difference.

Do research before hand in what they do, it is a common question and if you try to improvise they CAN tell that you didn't bother.

When I started taking care of more details I had some more success, even in jobs I didn't get I would get past various instances of the selection process, and I can tell you that after 3 years of looking without success I ended up with 2 offers at the same time, coincidence? Perhaps, perhaps not.

Sure why not

>Job Title
Desktop Support Specialist
>Years of Experience
3 years
>Degrees/Certs
B.S. IT, about 3 years out of school. No certs
>How did you find/get job
Applied on the university website, previous experience is two help desk call center jobs and a It related job in college, including internship.
>Pay
46k
>Location
Midwest

Hypothetically, what's the highest job you could get as a first job, just through cert-whoring? If I studied for, say, the highest Cisco certification, but had never worked with any actual Cisco hardware, would I still be able to get a job that requires all the knowledge I had accrued? Or would I still have to start off answering phones and resetting passwords to prove myself?

>>58500635
I'm not sure how that would work out.
Once I take my certificates with me for a job interview, there will be a clear 2015 printed on it.

You did take your certificates with you for the job interview right?

>>58501531
Not for my job; they did not give a shit. Your job might be different, though; my job only wanted to see my university degree (in Psychology; awarded in 2008).

>>58496330
>Senior Network Administrator at <tier 1 SP>
>17 years
>Autodidact, got CCIE, CCIE Data Center, CCIE Routing & Switching, CCIE Security, CCIE Service Provider through current and previous employers.
>First job started with interning at a local ISP, since then: Through network
>+$130k/year
>Europe

>>58501438
You won't get anywhere without actual accredited certification with lab experience.

>Age
20
>Job Title
Healthcare PC Specialist
>Years of Experience
1
>Degrees/Certs
Senior in Information Systems. Going for RHCSA this summer.
>How did you find/get job
It was an internship but they hired me part time.
>Pay
$16/hour
>Location
Mobile, Alabama

Once I graduate I'm getting the hell out of healthcare and going for Linux admin at anywhere really.

>>58501617
It is like they want to cheat their way through

They do not have a technical/university degree, they don't have work experience of any kind, but want to get into a comfortable (and probable well paid) job right away with just a cert.

Certs are meant to be a plus, a specialization of sorts on certain technologies, you can't use it as if it was a degree...

>>58501145
>nice blog faggot
Seriously, tho, good read that gives other anons hope when they already have abandoned hope.

>>58501663
I'm >>58501607, and I have to say I've found the opposite to be true; university graduates have lots of theoretical experience, but are useless in the field because they first have to google a solution, don't have any idea how to troubleshoot, and generally tend to think they're better than they actually are (based on what salary they expect with 0 work experience).

Certifications with lab excercises are a way to prove that which you claim to know - certifications without lab experience aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

>>58501711
My CompTIA A+ really doesn't make me feel as capable as experience would. It might prove to employers that I have skills, but I still feel like I don't.

>>58501711
On that I agree, in university quite often don't have enough labs and that sucks, but then again engineers to say something generally don't do the same kind of job than a technician, they get to take advantage of they superior theoretical knowledge and the "dirty" work is done by technicians or technologists that have experience in the field.

I myself am interested in a more technical approach and field work that a lot of theory and design work, that's why I dropped engineering and I'm going doing a technical career where I have plenty of labs, on top of that if needed I will get some kind of cert, but right now with no work experience I don't see the point of a cert.

>>58501883
Nothing replaces experience.

>>58501906
An entry-level certification proves you are serious about the career, though. People apply for IT jobs all the time because >I can fix le computer! and if you don't have any experience, you need something to set yourself apart from them. Then, put that knowledge into practice before getting any other certifications, because, as you said, nothing beats experience.

>Job Title
Network Consultant
>Years of Experience
8
>Degrees/Certs
A lot
>How did you find/get job
Company's hiring manager reached out to me on Linkedin
>Pay
$120k
>Location
Boston

100% agreed with the anon that said SDN is the future, but you still need to learn how networking works. Which shit like the CCNA/P are pretty good for if you don't focus too much on the Cisco specific stuff.

>>58501965
It makes sense, though I do have plenty of labs on my career (not university) that would probably be similar to those in the cert (I get to play with routers, switches, patch-panels, configure networks, cables and then I get my hand on all stuff related to telecommunications), quite often companies come to look for students here for internships or even other positions because it has certain recognition, is not that I just know how to repair PCs.

Among the people I know most took certs after working for a while and generally because they don't have any degree, so they get some certs.

I will consider an entry-level cert though at some point, perhaps I will be offered one at work even, that would be great.

>>58502090
>SDN
It's not the future, it's now. I know what I'm talking about, I'm >>58501607.

CCN* is a good foundation, especially if you somehow manage to get a teacher that knows Cisco isn't the be-all and end-all and will also make sure to mention the open standards that Cisco-exclusive features have spawned.

>>58498604
Started as a soldier, working on Solaris systems in the Army. I got to be pretty good at doing what I did. After a few years, I realized I liked staying technical, and had an opportunity to be a contractor that helps troubleshoot and fix the mission command systems. DoD had a mandate that came out that said if you want elevated privileges, you have to have at least a Sec+ certification, so I went and got that. We had opportunities to attend other computer training, so I would do a two week course on Cisco stuff, then knock out my CCNA on the last day of the class (place where I was taught the course also was a test center). I then switched to studying things myself, because the instructors kinda sucked for teaching Microsoft stuff.

After I got all sorts of certifications, which did help me do my job better, I realized I wasnt really fully using my skills, so I began looking elsewhere to work. One of my coworkers had left to go to a new place, and told me that they were hiring for a sysadmin. She passed along my resume with a good word, and I got hired on the spot. I worked my ass off and made my boss look good, and he's been rewarding me for making him and our program look good. Once I get my OSCP, he plans on moving me over to a cybersecurity position, as I already do a lot of that, but it'll be great actually having the title, so I can claim it on my resume.

>>58500732
ITIL is a concept thats actually used in multiple areas. Its just that people call it different things. In DoD, the exact same flowchart is used for their program acquisitions crap, and Microsoft calls it their Microsoft Operations Framework. Its just a life cycle concept, the ITIL foundation certification is only $99 to take, and isn't tough.

>>58499321
>an A+ and that much experience can land you a junior admin position
I just did a job search for where I live, and used the words "junior administrator" in the job title field, and it just offered me hundreds of secretary jobs and "human resources assistant" and things. Meanwhile, there are zero results for "junior systems administrator" or "junior network administrator". Do these jobs have any other terms that they are described by?

I'm not the guy you were replying to, but I, too, have CompTIA A+ and about six months of experience.

>>58502692
Look up Systems administrator level I. Its just part of the nature of the beast that word filters tend to lock on to the admin part of it.

On that note, submitting your resume nowadays sucks, since robots will go through your resume before humans even get a chance to look at it. If you don't have the right key word in your resume, itll never get seen. One tip that worked for my buddy is he took the job description of whatever he was applying it for, and put it at the bottom of his resume, made the font size super small, and changed the font color to white.

>>58502768
Thanks. I know about the robot CV crawlers, but the job description trick sounds like a brilliant idea.

>>58502159
>It's not the future, it's now
It's the now for service providers, DCs, and larger enterprises. It will probably be 3-5 years before we seeing it in every enterprise and more tech-savvy SMBs.

>>58502904
Fair point. Tier1s kinda have to be on the forefront.

>>58502090
man does it suck living in europe
you guys have amazing wages. Granted the cost of living in the US might be higher (?)

>>58500876
>>58500799
>>58500995

Anon, literally ask the companies you didn't get jobs at why they didn't hire you. Tell them you're trying to improve yourself as much as possible and any feedback they can give you on why they decided your interview wasn't strong enough.

>>58503823
>Granted the cost of living in the US might be higher
Cost of living in Boston is pretty high. Nothing compared to NYC or California though.

>>58503845
>ask the companies you didn't get jobs at why they didn't hire you
No company will ever answer you if you ask them this. It opens them up to so many potential bias/discrimination lawsuits.

>>58503823
Not that anon, but cost of living in the U.S. varies greatly. If you want to live in the midwestern or southern part of the U.S., things are generally cheaper overall - but most people would say the quality of life isn't as high since those regions are poorer and frequently face slow economic times. The U.S. coasts are more expensive, and Boston is definitely not a cheap city. His $120k is still damn good anywhere in the U.S. (national average is something like $50k, Boston is $72k), but his salary would go a lot farther, at least in terms of real estate and cost of living, in other parts of the U.S. The tradeoff in quality of living is subjective of course; I don't like living in large cities and areas with high population densities, so given the option I would take a somewhat lower salary in an area with a low population density for dat outdoor life. Plus you're forgetting things like healthcare, which is extremely expensive in the U.S. In Europe it's paid for through taxes, so it's almost like you never see that money in your paycheck anyway. Plus if you don't mind the lack of freedom of movement compared to the U.S., Western Europe has great public transportation as well. In the U.S., owning a car is basically a requirement to do anything, so that's another money pit since we drive our vehicles A LOT. Fuel is heavily subsidized through taxes though, plus cheaper than Europe on top of that.

I have a question, is it reasonable for someone coming military service to find and enter a job/career with what they learned?

>Job Title
Infrastructure Engineer (I'm more of a systems engineer though)
>Years of Experience
4
>Degrees/Certs
Minor in Comp Sci
>How did you find/get job
Luck and sheer nihilism
>Pay
~$80k
>Location
Silicon Valley, so that 80k means nothing

I really should get my RHCSA, but through the videos I'm watching it's either shit I know really well or shit I've never heard of before/will never need. I'm not that good at studying anyway; I really need a hands-on way to learn

>>58504181
*from military service

>>58503823
It is far better than southamerica, you are still mostly first world countries or at least with higher levels of development.

Sure, I get free healthcare, university/tech schools are free (not everywhere though, in Chile you have to pay for uni). Transportation is pretty expensive, and salaries are ridiculously low compared to Europe.

>>58504181
Depends on your MOS, but yes. Just keep in mind that the cookie cutter, homogeneous shit you were used to doesn't really exist in the regular world.

A few tips: Nobody gives a fuck about military-specific mission command systems (unless you are applying for a job that still supports the military and those systems), so translate them into shit other people can understand. If you were supporting a brigade or division sized element, put down numbers of client systems, end users, etc. so people can wrap their mind around how large your network you supported was. If you were a NCO, then you also managed and mentored folks, and thats also good resume material.

>>58504439
Thanks anon.

Any advice for a young buck who is majoring in CIS at cal poly pomona?

>>58496330
Systems Engineer
4 years experience
Have Network+
Started at entry level, proved myself and worked my way up. Got current job through recruitment agency contact I made on Linkedin.
Pay - $67,000pa
Location - Auckland, NZ
now working towards CCNA R&S, should have it end of Feb.

>>58504181
>>58504955
That's the ideal thing to do anon. If you learned a useful and applicable skill in the military, you're set. Like someone else mentioned, the most important thing is to translate your military job experience into civilian job experience without sounding like an autist an using 100+ acronyms that no one knows.

>LinkedIn for military
https://www.rallypoint.com/
Also be sure to have a regular LinkedIn

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>>58496343
this anon is like me

I make great money but I hate manual labor

Just want to work from home even if it means a pay cut -- staying in my union until I get vested so I have another 4 years

Currently learning JS, going to make some shitty extensions and games as practice and then research c / lua.

End game is computer programs and basic game development

>>58505709
forgot to add any advice would be great anons ty

>>58505709

This is networking buddy, go here >>58504863

>>58506187
thank you anon

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A potential employer wants me to take a Java assessment test from IKM.

I read online that the tests are about tiny details and nuances of Java and not actually assessing your ability to code.

Has anyone here taken a test like that? Any tips for it? I don't want to fuck up and look like a dumbass despite having experience.

>>58496330
>>IT Support Engineer - Amazon.com
>>Going on 11 years
>>Dropped out of community college
>>Graduated from vo-tech with a specialization in InfoSec
>>I applied for it.
>>$21/hr, 0-12 hours of OT a week, 3k in Amazon stock yearly, 300-500 in bonuses a month.
>>Milwaukee Area

> job: full stack Dev
>Exp: 5 years
>Degree: Bach in computer graphics
>Pay: like 30k (third world)
>Loc: México

Its been getting better i just got another client and hired my gf SO far so good

>>58506536
>working for amazon

You know you're supposed to quit after 2 years and go elsewhere right?

Are they just giving away A+ certs now? I'm in charge of an IT wholesale team and I interviewed some guys with A+ certs who struggled installing hard drives in desktops, SFF and USFF systems. Some couldn't even distinguish a regular mechanical drive from a SSD.

I plan on moving up, but I hope hiring managers look at job experience rather than cert hoarding because I'm not paying for something I've already proven.

>>58506883
You forget what you've learnt if you don't put it into practice. I struggle with basic command-line commands; I don't think I've ever known what netstat actually does.

And are you sure they weren't lying about having the certification? People do lie about those things, every day.

>>58506883
Most certs are useless. I used to be in charge of a small staff where two had their CCNAs, and one of those two had two CCNPs.

I gave the one with the CCNPs a simple task of updating IOS on a bunch of switches we were setting up. The first thing he asked me was "How do I download putty?" The next thing he asked was "Where do I plug in the console cable?"

He's still working there, if I've heard correctly. That was two years ago.

>>58506883
Many people that have certs cheated to get them. The concept behind certs are great-it shows you have mastery in a concept or area of technology. But many places make having a cert mandatory to having a job, so people just study the answers and cheat to check the box in the steps it takes to get a job.

Scenario-based tests and certifications are definitely a move in the right direction, which is why I think it's funny that so many people seem to be failing security+ now.

>>58507097

That bothers me. It's one thing to have great intuition and being able to problem solve as-you-go, but it's another thing to stand there in front of your peers -who make your wage- and ask those questions.

I guarantee you if he struggles downloading putty, he won't understand how baud rates work and why some switches have different ratings.

>>58496330
>Front end clerk (Retail industry)
>3
>Linux Essentials
>Applied online
>10.50/hr
>Southern California

I host my own blog using Digital Ocean, I know how to get around in the command line pretty comfortably. I'm looking at the shitload of webhosting companies and data centers in my area and I'm going to start applying for entry level jobs. Do you guys have any tips? I want to make my way to sysadmin.


>>58496988
I have a blog with amazon affiliate links, what do you mean by "making" them? Do you just pick a topic and then churn them out?

>>58507097
>>58507308
What about something like RHCSA?

>>58498604
if you cant land a steady job you can absolutely get contract gigs with A+ and some experience

>>58507951
RHCSA is one of the few certs that I've found actually correlates to skill. I don't have one myself, and don't think it's necessary, but the test itself requires a good amount of general knowledge to complete. If you want to be a systems administrator, RHCSA is definitely the way to go.

>>58506883
>having PC technicians installing hard drives in desktops

thats not what A+ is about let me guess youre buying broken stuff from auctions and reselling then getting mad at some minimum wage kid when your ponzi scheme falls apart?

>>58496330
I'm skinnning WordPress sites and making custom boxes people type stuff into, put it in the database, and spit it back out as needed. 55k per year. I'm bored af. Looking to just make better money doing the same stuff to help make life more bearable.

>>58508035
If you have ever done that thing that some websites have now where there's a pop-up that only appears when you try to close the tab, then literally kill yourself. Those are cancer and I don't know who else to blame.

>>58508113
No, not me. You can try using the feedback button on Google's serp page and let them know the site is malicious.

I'm 26 and i never worked in IT. I studied for A+ and Network+ but i could never find any job here (i live in Europe, in a small city). I've been working as a cook for 4 years now and i still can't find anyone who's willing to take me but that's just natural.

My biggest problem is the lack of experience and i have no idea how to fill this gigantic hole. Where am i supposed to ask for something like this? I don't care if they give me €300/month, i just want experience and lots of it. What do i do? I also forgot most of the stuff i studied.

>>58508214
Forgot to add that i have no degree and i'm a highschool dropout.

>Hardware Service Technician & Network "Architect"
>~2 years work experience, been fiddling with this shit since like fourth grade tho.
>A+, Net+, Canada in Routing and Switching, MTA for networking
>Based Craigslist
>32k Salary + Bonuses
>Chicago Suburbs

>>58508214
If your country has apprenticeships, look into one of those. In England, you can do an apprenticeship at any age, but you get paid much less than minimum wage. You will get cucked hard, but it sounds like you don't mind that, so look for something like that.

You could also write down the phone numbers of every IT company in your city on a piece of paper, and then just phone them all one day. "Hi, this is Yuroanon, I want to work in IT for any money, pls halp". If they say no, hang up and ring the next one. I did that for advertising, when I wanted to work in advertising, and it worked on the fourth or fifth company I called.

Pajeet and Paco general

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>>58496330

Just got picture related recently, currently in the interview process with a few companies.

The OSCP was the only cert I actually wanted for personal reasons as opposed to 'well I guess it will help get passed HR/get my resume higher up in the pile'.

I am eyeing to apply for a Desktop Support Specialists position at a nearby, major university. Been very hesitant so far to finally apply. Since I am entirely self-learned about computers and realize there is much I have to learn and to do. Any words of encouragement?

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>Job Title
Security Admin Intern
>Years of Experience
roughly 3~
>Degrees/Certs
6 months until bach degree in non tech, A+, and Network+
>How did you find/get job
Referred from helpdesk internship
>Pay
16$ an hour
>Location
Boston

Currently trying to figure out where to apply to and what i want to do after i graduate.

>>58508449
Congrats, anon. I'm taking it right now as well, but following the course materials for the buffer overflow shit is putting me off. I get how it works, but I'm not tracking all that debugger shit. How much of it do I have to know, or is just generating some payloads in metasploit and telling it to not use some of the common characters well enough?

>>58503892

Boston San Fransisco and Sand Diego are the most expensive places to live. So it's very justified.

>>58508930
Generally they are looking for people who have some certifications or a Masters degree. Be advised, they like staffing those positions with students who worked in their IT department after they graduate.

You will have to learn enterprise support which has its own intricacies but at an entry level position it isn't very hard

>>58504226

Marine here, computer tech. I used my security clearance to snag an easy job for a few months before moving on so yeah it's easy

>>58508967

Thanks man. And yes you definitly have to know how buffer overflows work and you have to know the very least the methods they teach in the material for Linux and Windows. You should know more then that though because you have to be able to adapt to various situations as they come.

Trying not to spoil/break NDA agreement, but long story short is absolutely yes you must be able to attach a binary to a debugger and develop an exploit.

>>58508982
Oddly, this position is lighter on the description then the Help Desk positions (under another department). No mention of wanting certificates. At worst, under Preferred Qualifications they ask for more than two years of experience supporting desktop computers running Windows, Mac OS or both in a network environment and a bachelor's degree in information technology, information management, or a related field.

I am guessing this job handles tech issues with University bought and provided computers; so computer labs and library-public access machines

>>58509084
generally its with supported assets that are bought by the university, you don't fix random students problems (unless they have a service like that). You generally should have some knowledge of the following

>Configuring Exchange on hosts
>Troubleshooting Office issues on Windows/OSX
>Networking issues on hosts and identifying when there is a greater issue with the infrastructure
>Some simple Active Directory administration
>Imaging Windows/OSX

However you may have other systems you may need to support (ERP system, research systems, other applications)

Good luck regardless

>>58509060
Cool, that's exactly what I was looking for. Guess I need to just focus and put in the extra effort to know this topic more. Thank you!

>>58509269

Once you get the hang of it but need more diverse practice a good thing to do is go on exploit-db and filter out exploits that have links to download the application they are written for.

This should be a link to exploit-db with the exploits sorted so that ones with applications included are at the top:

https://www.exploit-db.com/browse/?order_by=application&order=desc&pg=1


Download the linked vulnerable app and then save the exploit code and sort of don't pay attention to it while you delete the parts you should develop on our (return codes, sell code, nop sleds, etc.). Sounds weird but it's possible, haha, just sort of zone out and only slightly pay attention to the code as you delete it.

From there just develop the exploit again on your own with the comfort of knowing that the thing you are trying to exploit is 100% exploitable for sure because you got it via this method.

Of course it's important to develop the persistent mindset where this comfort doesn't matter but obviously this is just a way to develop the technical skills step by step.

>>58509269

Also speaking of this (and I know haters are gonna hate) I'm getting a very small 0x41414141 tattoo, haha.

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>Job Title
Software Engineer
>Years of Experience
1 (and a half if you include """contract work""")
>Degrees/Certs
Highschool diploma
>How did you find/get job
Promoted after an internship (which I was recommended for by someone I met at a hackathon)
>Pay
70k
>Location
Durham, NC

A year and a half ago, I was desperately applying for minimum wage food service jobs to keep myself from getting kicked out of my shitty apartment.

Installing gentoo was the turning point of my life and career. I got the internship because my hackathon teammate noticed my linux ricing skills (on my thinkpad T420), and suggested me to his boss for an internship.

Meme magic is real everyone. I owe my life to this board.

>>58509889
Faggot.

>Technical Support Specialist
>2 yrs
>AA Network Admin; 3 MCP certs.
>Fed up with ISP help desk, looked for local city/county jobs.
>$16.05/hr
>Washington

I'd like to actually find a job once I finish my BAS degree in something that's actual admin work, but I keep falling for that "must have that 5+ yrs of experience" meme.

Anyone have any experience with being employed overseas?
Was it financially difficult, language barrier if any?

>/endblog

>>58508991
My luck, planning on joining the Marines, thanks for the advice.

>>58496330
>>Job Title
Information Systems Analyst
>>Years of Experience
6
>>Degrees/Certs
BS information systems
>>How did you find/get job
Applied to it
>>Pay
92k
>>Location
silicon valley

>>58498604
Everyone's trajectory:

Desktop support > Other more advanced fields

>>58500799
Start in desktop support. No one gets to be an admin first.

Desktop support is where you weed out all the know nothings from the legit technical people.

No one will hire you into a more advanced technical position with no experience.

>>58501663
Yeah certs are just things proving your experience on the resume isn't just you fucking around with tech you don't understand.

>>58501711
In IT:

Experience > Certs > Education

Education is only important for check boxes to get through the HR goons.

My BS in information systems is literally 1 single line at the bottom of my resume.

>>58502692
Junior sys admins make about the same as a desktop support tech, there are not a lot of jr admin positions because you can accidentally fuck up a lot of stuff.

My springboard into systems administration:

Desktop support tech (purely desktop support role) > IT specialist (primary person for desktop support, worked with senior sysadmin who taught me linux, exchange, backup, storage, basically networking & phone, best practices, windows server, etc) > system administrator (dedicated sysadmin

>>58504223
Anon you need to start applying to jobs like crazy, you are severely underpaid for that title (assuming you do what it says).

fellow SV anon here.

>>58508977
San Diego costs less than half of san francisco.

Friendly reminder that IT admin is for pajeets and you deserve better

>>58496330
In a local community college cybersecurity & forensics program with Linux and networking electives. Seems really interesting so far. The Linux and networking courses tie directly in to certs (their respective finals ARE the CompTIA or Cisco cert exam). Degree also has a transfer option to a 4 year.

I'm catching on pretty quickly with the material. Going into the program I was about a 6 out of 10 with technology. Before I went back to school I was in hospitality for a corporation, including 3 years of management experience. I know how to communicate with senior management especially when it comes to translating technical terms to non-technical people.

At what point should I ditch my current pizza delivery job and search for entry IT jobs? Some sort of infosec job after I graduate sounds nice but I need experience in networking before I can jump in that field, what should I be looking for?

>>58506730
why?

>>58510029
It's not a guarantee your MOS will get security clearance so make sure it does. It's really the only thing you need out of it.

>>58511472
They work you like a dog.

>>58510539
How to get experience without certs?

Im still on my second semester for my CCNA but im thinking about getting CCENT first then applying for ATT or something and fixing peoples internet problems for experience.

>>58515145
>How to get experience without certs
Its easier than you think. Just do IT-related shit. Are you a nerd who bought some old servers and built up some shit at your house? Taught yourself some stuff and apply that knowledge occasionally? That's experience. How about training you've done or attended that didn't give you a certificate? Also counts.

Also, CCNA doesn't take a whole college semester. Less than two weeks of studying, and you could go knock out your CCENT, study for the second test and grab your CCNA.

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>>58509889
too many memes in one post.

>Security Tester
>2
>CISSP and OSCP
>company website
>$50,000/yr
>Europe

>>58515736
And if you have a shitty job, maybe ask the IT people at your company how they got there. They'll probably be able to offer advice for working at that company, and if they ever need to hire a new person, they might just come and ask you to save on the effort of interviewing and recruiting people.

>>58496330
These certifications are a waste of time. Just learn your shit, create some personal projects, and show them off.

>>58517364
Depends on the cert.

RHCSA/RHCE or Cisco shit is useful.

>>58515954
I think you're getting played anon. Research the average salary and go take it.

>Job Title
IT Administrator

>Years of Experience
2 years as a programmer, 8 years in IT

>Degrees/Certs
Bachelor's in Info. Systems from DeVry (toppest lel); no certs

>How did you find/get job
First two jobs, I knew a guy who worked there. This one, I was the 2nd choice until they discovered the 1st choice fabricated his resume.

>Pay
~$50k (topkek)

>Location
Small city, NE state, USA

Pay is complete shit considering I'm on call 24/7 and running everything for 9 locations (2 offices and 7 small satellite locations) by myself, but I'm also a huge spaz who has a six month long panic attack when starting a new job, and I have a wide latitude to do things my own way here. I get to do help desk, networking, servers, installs, in-house development.. a bit of everything, which is very nice.

>>58496951
Internships while kissing ass and making connections. When someone higher than you (person you kiss the ass of and try to impress) jumps ship to another company they may recommend to have you brought along. Then since your name is already on their minds in a good way you apply for full time.

No joke, I see this work all the time.

>>58510803
Any feedback for this?

Also worth noting I'm in a small town so the prospects are limited. However my technical advisor at the college and I have a good working relationship and can likely get a nice letter of recommendation when the time comes.

Related, how do the TestOut certs hold up compared to others in the industry?

>>58505709
Are you aware your image contains Desu Desu Talk text?

>>58517922

When should you quit pizza delivery and try to get an IT job? I dunno; whenever you're ready.

Incidentally my cousin went to school specifically for IT security. He graduated a year or two ago and he's working as a regular ass IT guy. He's living in a small city. So I wouldn't hold out for infosec only jobs if you're not in a major metro area.

>>58517974
I am yes

>>58518307
I feel like I'm close to ready but what I mean is there a sort of cert out there for an entry level IT job that is on the career path toward a sysadmin or infosec? Obviously an A+ but what after that, Network+ and Linux+?

Yeah I don't expect any sort of infosec job in our town but after our daughter is a little bit older we expected to move anyway. We're in this little town because we have our daughter on the way in March and all of our families live here.

I could live with being a "normal IT guy" with whatever that entails while I get the experience to move on. Sounds comfy desu.

Which CCNA cert would have the best job prospects? I'm thinking of cloud since I would like to telecommute but which one would look best to a larger company?

>>58508214
Internship, even unpaid. But even then you need to show some competence and interest (a few personal project). Once you have a tiny smidge of experience, you can apply for super entry level jobs, and hope to get lucky. After that its just climbing the ladder so to speak.

>>58510515

While i did have a summer internship doing IT helpdesk at a hospital, one way you can try to skip this step is to apply for small local MSPs (if theyll take you). I work for a small MSP now and you basically get to be a sys admin for all your clients and get all the experience you would in help desk (because its essentially both).

>>58515007
I'm a millennial and this shit makes me cringe.

>>58506730
Once you hit L4 you get over 100k in stock after 4 years. Why the fuck would you give up on that?

>>58521870
that guy is right. amazon is know for shitty to work for. that's why you work for them and then put it on your resume and go wherever

>>58496772
This. Don't fall for the fat fuck in an office meme.

>>58521885

The fact that people complain that a company company works you too hard is cringeworthy. Put in work, you get paid. That's how it works.

>3rd Party Risk Mgmt Analyst
>5
>Sec+ CISSP
>Applied
>$95k
>Nebraska

>>58510569
I don't, really. My experience with scripting and networking is pretty bad, and I feel like I'm really behind a lot of my peers in knowledge, even though I'm in reality ahead of a lot of them. My only real applicable skills is that I'm willing to work whenever, wherever, I work hard as shit, and not afraid to get my hands dirty; other than that, my computer knowledge can be considered about on par with your average RHCSA taker, and maybe CCNA level networking knowledge.

If I was back working NOC, like I used to, I'd be making at least $100k. But I gave that up in an attempt to be more social and less of a recluse, and I think that was a good idea.

>>58519986
You want to start with R&S, especially if you don't have any experience with IOS. The trajectory looks like this CCENT>CCNA R&S>CCNA Sec (or Voice depending if your boss tells you to get it)>CCNP R&S>CCNP SEC>CCIE>100k+ job

>>58522640
Not him but Powershell is fairly easy to learn, and is incredibly useful right now. Don Jones' powershell series on CBT Nuggets is great to get a good overview of all its functions. After that the O'Reily cookbook is good for seeing some of the really odd things it can do.

My advice is pay special attention to the powershell remoting capabilities, how to write scripts with parameters and bundled in modules instead of just grabbing input with Read-Host, and Powershell Desired State Configuration or dsc. Also being able to query WMI and CIM is vital.

If you are more into linux I would focus learning bash scripting. Python can be fairly common, but Bash is basically a given on most linux servers. Also seeing some scripts to interact with Apache will serve you very well.

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Can this be a resume critique thread as well?

>>58523055
I know Python and Bash pretty well as it is. Trust me when I say that I'm ahead of most people in terms of sysadmin knowledge, I just hang around people who know much better than I do about things so I feel like an idiot all day.

>>58523243
That's very nice and shits over my Swiss-cheese employment history, but it doesn't contain popular keywords like TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS, and basic shit like that. Maybe you don't want those jobs, but they're in every job advert I see, up to and beyond your own qualifications, so if you're missing out on jobs, that will be why.

>>58522069
t. college freshman

One day you'll start working and realize it's good to have a balanced work environment.

>Job Title:
Level 2 tech support
I support IP CCTV systems and build servers. Little to no field work.
>Years of Experience
2
>Degrees/Certs
A+ net+
>How did you find/get job
Craigslist
>Pay
17 hr + free insurance. On site counts as OT Pay (25/hr)
>Location
2 hours west of Chicago

>Job Title
Systems Engineer

>Years of Experience
Almost 4 years

>Degrees/Certs
BS in MIS and currently working on my MS.

A+, Net+, Sec+, CCNA R/S, CCNA Sec

I take the CISSP exam this weekend. I'm open to suggestions on what my next move should be.

>How did you find/get job
Started as an intern and I've rapidly grown since then.

>Pay
75k + bonuses

I'm currently interviewing for a sales engineer position. I doubt I'll get it, but it's pretty awesome I'm interviewing for SE gigs at this point in my career.

>Location
Midwest

>>58496330
>Job Title: Director of Technology
>Years of Experience: 5
>Degrees/Certs: Associates of IT Neworking/A+
>How did you find/get job: Did after hours work for company by word of mouth hired me full time
>Pay: 62k
>Location: Milwaukee WI

I started as a consultant with internship out of school, moved to industrial computer assembly and then a IT call center for Hospice facilities

This job is going to dry up eventually when I get all 3 companies I am controlling running better hope to open my own PC shop do small business consulting

>>58506536

You ever work at a call center doing healthcare stuff?

>>58501607

130k in Europe seems like a lot. You must be living like a king? Euro pay has always looked very deflated to me even though 130k in the US might be "upper mid" pay

>Job Title
Security Analyst
>Years of Experience
1
>Degrees/Certs
nothing, no hs diploma
>How did you find/get job
applied for a different role, switched over after a year
>Pay
$100k flat before taxes
>Location
Gay wonder land, big shitty, San Francisco

>analyst
>0
>BS 4 year 1yr grad school (dropped out)
>applied online
>50K
>southeast

I feel like anyone with like 5-10 years experience getting paid under what I'm making is getting hilariously underpaid

>>58523926
age: 18 as well

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>>58523926
>>58523946
What purpose does it serve to lie? It's not even a funny lie.

What certs do I need for a job in information security or data forensics?

I assume anything from SANS?