How many of you guys work in IT without certifications or a computer

I have a diploma and can't find a job. Everyone wants X years experience and a wide array of frameworks I've never even heard of. How did you get a job?

>>60896983
Literally found my boss advertising on Craigslist. But I've been working professionally for large companies on my own for four years, and was supporting home and small businesses since I was about 15. So I've got MANY years of hard experience. I've been with my current company for two years. All things considered, I probably make another 5 grand per year from customers on my own time.

>>60896973
I've got no more IT qualies than I got when I was 15yo, and I'm a lot older than you. Done programming and admin no probs. But I found your problem:
>my boss
Gotta be your own boss, homeboy

>make 20$/hour
>can't afford shit anymore
what?

>>60897026
Yeah. I am starting to agree. Dude has so many contacts in this city but I kinda feel like he's more of a used car salesman when it comes to computers. I want to operate on a more professional level, but I couldn't just go off on my own and have enough traction to do well.

>>60897043
how can't you live from 20$/hour?

>>60897027
Rent, insurance, food, gasoline, taxes, student loan debt.

>>60897062
youre making like 40-45k a year. obviously you need to cut back

>>60897058
I put a couple hundred into savings every month but if you think that's safe living then you're a tard. Shit happens in life and you have to save for retirement and be a big boy. If you think twenty bucks per hour before taxes is good money then you're fucking nuts.

>>60897062
>ask boss for more money
>research how much people get in your position
>he is probably lucky to find anyone who can do the job
>>60897026
>Gotta be your own boss, homeboy
retards think it's easy

>>60896973
i'm getting ready to start studying Computer Network Engineering at University, my course has a placement year and I hope to get a CCNA and Microsoft certification. Is my plan sound? Please tell me everything will work out.

>>60897027

im only at 20 an hour too. I'm on the edge

15-20 years ago 20 an hour was good, now its just shit. I think the average hourly income in the states is around 25 an hour

>>60897101
Let's say I live in a shit state where IT guys on average are paid pretty poorly. I'd say here 15-18$ hourly is typical. The faggots at Best Buy and Staples here don't even make 13$ per hour. Problem is that we charge our customers 75-90$ per hour.

>search for a better job
>bullshit boss you found a job that pays more so that he will give you more money

>>60897102
It's a sound plan but that doesn't mean shit. Do yourself a big favor and actively seek an internship or other experience in the field.

>>60896973
How things work in my town:

If you fix someone's computer, and they are satisfied, that person will spread the word. After a few computers, you will become much more well-known. From there you will have to market yourself.

>>60897140
You see, that's the problem with third party IT.

>>60897193
And I think that's essentially how it works everywhere. The trick is meeting the right people. All it takes is one ignorant asshole to spread shit online, but all it takes is a single great customer to spread the news far and wide.

>>60896973
I've never set foot in college, and have no degree. I've been working $34-45k jobs for the past 10 years, and k recently started at a new place making $70k per year as a help desk/project lead/analyst.

No degree under my belt, just a lot of customer service experience, and pretty good IT knowledge

>>60896973
I have no degree and make more than you.
You need to be improving you're skills after work. Set up a home lab and learn the things you want to.
Cloud computing AWS / Azure is pretty good but to stand out you will have to learn how to code so you can automate tasks.
Doing things manually will not be rewarding you in any way.

>>60896973
Computer science.

Currently work as an IT-consultant (basically cloud-consultant since that is what I do all day). Most of the day is spent managing Azure, Intune, SCCM and generating/maintaining PowerShell scripts. Occasionally advice companies on which software/infrastructure they need in order to meet their wishes/requirements and then setting that up for them.

What got me the job was not my "education" but rather my bachelors (which was about cloud shit). Education didn't really do shit for me except learn me how to do basic programming and force me to go through a bunch of "filler" classes (such as 'morals of a programmer', 'economics', 'philosophy' and shit like that. Fucking useless shit they force on you just to milk you).

I make around $80k a year before overtime. Been here for 3 years.

>be consultant
>company hires you out for 100$ an hour
>you make 30$ an hour

Kill me. How do I start up solo?

>>60896973
I don't "work in IT. "

I'm an autodidact polyglot software developer.

>>60897477
>get the names of your clients
>"hey i'll do it for $80"
>make $80 instead of $30
>leave your "current employer" after you've established a small client base
not hard

>>60897497
But my contract states I can't try to steal their customers for a 12 month period after I leave my job.

>>60897477
Make a name for yourself.
Speak at conferences, start a blog, get the word out that you are hot shit.
It will take time but once you do you'll be pulling in money, but the work won't stop so make sure that is what you want.

>>60897497
>>60897506
That's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

>>60897506
Why the fuck didn't you edit the contract and sign that. They don't read what they think is their own paperwork, and will 're-sign' it when it comes back.

>>60896973 (OP)

No degree, No certs and I make a little over 59 dollars an hour. I've been doing this for about 20 years now and the only real trick that I know of is to keep learning tech. Mix it up.. learn something old like Osehra VistA or Mumps (it should be specific to whatever IT specialty you want to work in... like IT healthcare, Defense etc... ) and pair that up with newer devops tech like Docker, Chef, Puppet...

>>60897557
>he's never actually worked a real job before

>>60897519
yet its extremely common place in any service job

>>60897573
I've never sign a contract in order to commence work.
But I have edited contracts for other things in my favor. It's perfectly legal.
>hurr durr they ask you to sign it on the spot
You're entitled to take said contract to legal consult.

>>60897506
>I can't try to steal their customers for a 12 month period after I leave my job.
What's stopping you from moonlighting them?
As in steal business while you're still working with them.

>>60896973

More or less same as you OP, physicis degree but work my ass off in enterprise app development (assumably for less than market price :( )

Work for firm in London with offices around UK
Full access to basically everything

Did some worthless courses while I was in college but no education of any real value

Physics majors with some programming experience are in high demand these days.
Seriously. Learn C/C++ and people will throw money at you because they need systems engineers for autonomous vehicles.

>>60897102
what uni

>>60897106
I make 9 an hour

Lol think how I feel.

>>60897847
C is shit, learn C++ thats all you need.

>>60896983
start working for non-profits for free. the weirdest kinds of people need it work, but they cannot pay much or at all. It's a start if they do.

>>60896973
I've got no degree, no certs but a worthless CCENT I got for free and make 35k€ which is not bad for a beginner here, plus I was able to skip the helpdesk and land a job in networking directly

Thing is: I did an apprenticeship for three years where I had school for two days a week and work for three days a week and spent the last year of my apprenticeship at an ISP where I worked basically for free and proved my worth.

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>>60897711
Watch out for the minivans and housefires though.

IT support for a charity.
20 hours a week
No qualifications or experience other than: I've taught people how to use computers. I had to maintain those computers, both hardware and software (which was a blatant lie - I've only ever build my own PC and never done other hardware).
They gave me a two week trial and were happy enough to keep me on for good.

So it's very possible.
I get €12 euro an hour which is fucking terrible for IT but it's around the same as help desk monkey. But for no actual experience, education or certs, it being a charity (pays less) and I don't even do much work there (most of the time unless there's actual IT related stuff, I'll give a hand to some of the maintenance staff just because it's more stuff to learn)

>>60896983
Ah,the classic Catch 22
>Don't get hired cause you lack expirience
>can't get expirience cause noone will hire you

>>60897396
Pretty much this.
I don't know how to code though. I can google existing code and modify it to my needs, though.

I have no certs, no degree, but I made my own home lab, configured a domain, dhcp, dns, ad, etc, and that gave me a lot of knowledge to push out to my job in a medium sized business.

My business was bought out by a huge company and I got absorbed into it. I went from making 45k at the medium sized business to 60k at the large business.

Put more effort into learning on your own time and you shouldn't have trouble pushing forward.

However, if you're looking for a job and don't have degrees/certs, it's harder to get your foot in the door if there's someone of equal experience that does. It's all a networking game in the end though. Make connections and move up.

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>tfw 22 years old make at least $2000/w/k and didnt go to college so no student debt

I don't work in IT though

>>60897106
>I think the average hourly income in the states is around 25 an hour
No.
25/hr = 48k year. Most households COMBINED income is 50k, which means man + wife working.

>>60897062
rent is like $900
insurance on car varies, but I doubt its more than $150 per month
food is $200 month
gas is $50 month
taxes is $70
student loan debt is $100 month, though it can be adjusted.


$1470 taken out monthly.
25/hr x 40 hours week x 1 month = 4000

you have 2,530 left for spending money.

what are you doing?

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>>60899481

>>60896973
>How many of you guys work in IT without certifications or a computer science degree?

No degree or certifications, bit of tech college
>What do you guys have in terms of education, what is your job, and how much do you make?

None, System Admin (Servers, network, PCs, printers, phones...), $64k
I did start out as kind of a paid intern almost making like $12 an hour at a different job. Pretty happy now, 37, 2 houses, just hang in there I guess.

>>60899521
>rent is like $900
We live in very different places.
Rent is about 1.9k where I'm at.

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>>60897847
>Learn C/C++ and people will throw money at you because they need systems engineers for autonomous vehicles.
Tons of physics guys in finance as well.

>>60897106
Jesus, I was making like half that 15-20 years ago, still had all the shit on your expense list. (And had money for beer and video cards...)

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>>60899553
Wrong. US has huge gaps in cost of living.

>>60899553
That's prob a true average (meaning including the people who make billions, people who live in overpriced California, shit like that)

>>60899572
The only areas in US that has rent that high is California and New York.

There isn't a single place here where rent is 2k a month.

Hell, I could live in a nice 2-story, 6 bedroom house for 2k a month.

>>60899572
Not him, but even with his math, that still leaves $1500ish, so get out of I'm guessing california or new york? In which $20 is like minimum wage, but we never really got what your job is, if you are just cleaning malware at a pc shop, then you aren't IT...

>>60899521
Rent here is 1000$, insurance (including car, renter's, life, health, dental, etc) is about 400$ per month, gas is 250$ per month (mobile IT support), student loan is taking 200$ per month...

>>60899572
Where you live, people make more than 45$/yr

Where do you live? $20/hour is nothing. Hell, where I love $30/hour is nothing.

>>60899784
>60k/yr is 'nothing'

Glad I don't live wherever the fuck you live.

>>60899691
>in which $20 is like min wage
nigger what the fuck are you smoking

i work min wage in california ($10.50)

Where the fuck do you people live where you pay 1.9k a month for rent?

>>60896973
money is not technology. plus 90% of this board is unemployed or working at mcdonalds

>>>/biz/

>>60899894
I got a 2 bedroom in Seattle for 1.9k/month.

>>60899816
I definitely miss the low prices of idaho/montana, but the jobs over there are shit compared to the jobs here. Who the hell wants to work in PHP in 2017.

You're shooting you career in the foot by staying in those areas.

>>60899839
How do you live? Is the box at least corrugated?

>>60900116
i live with two roommates in a 3bdr 3bath, for 1k a month in a ghetto neighborhood in the outskirts of a metropolitan city. our place is actually pretty comfy but this state is shit tier.

>>60896983
I'm in the same boat, pls help /g/

I have an MBA and no IT certs and I managed a few IT departments before. At the places I worked, IT was looked down upon and I was hired to "reign them in"

>>60896973
Actually just graduated high school. I'm wanting to take network security in college for an associates but Ill honestly be satisfied with any tech job I can take right now. Not many jobs in a country town for IT. Girlfriend doesn't want to move but I think we're gonna have to for me to get anywhere. Both of us work at McDonald's atm and between that and teaching myself as much as I can. It's hard.

I am a level 2 help desk for a small MSP. I make $26 an hour and I have no college degrees but I do have A+,N+, and Sec +. I get my ccna this month which will give me a pay bump.

I also have full coverage health and dental. Our company is small and efficient enough that every gets pretty good pay and benefits.

>>60896973
Bruh I make $30/hr and expect to make more soon with benefits, and unlimited PTO.

I have no degrees and am 22.

Network, and maybe move, if you can.

>>60897062
>student loan debt

Found your problem - you fell victim to the cartel.

>>60899894
I live in Irvine, CA. My 3 bedroom apartment is $2,456 a month and there is only one community in the area that is cheaper.

>>60896973
Almost every pajeet has the same story

>>60897181
This man knows what he is talking about. Internship is essential.