Welcome To aBlackWeb

Register

IT Careers and Opportunities Thread

What would you like to see in IT Careers and Opportunities Thread

  • Total voters
    3
  • Poll closed .
Traestar

Traestar

New Member
This thread is community focused, helping people connect with people in the overall Information Technology field.

brain-food-itcareerfinder-1200x550b.jpg


So getting started for those who are looking to get into the field, here is a list of career paths to research on:

IT Career Paths

These are just examples, but are good references to start with.



For those who have not gone through the college route, you could get certified through approved organizations ( Be careful of training institutes, they are looking to be scams)

comptia_logo_white.png



Check out COMPTIA which has a variety of different paths to choose from:

COMPTIA

You could also download their career road map

Any particular field you are looking to get into, search for the leading provider of the school or technology and you could certify directly from them. I believe this does improve your chances of getting hired.


And lastly, create a networking plan to even better your chances. Unfortunately due to competition out there, getting your foot in the door means you have to network your way in somehow. Here's some insight from careerkey.org: CareerKey

Make a Networking Plan
You will be more successful if you make a networking plan. It will also help you keep track of what you've accomplished.

  1. Set goals for networking. Are you preparing for a future job search in the same career field? Do you want to make a career change? Are you looking for mentors? Want to meet other self-employed people? Deciding who to contact will largely depend on what your goals are.

  2. Identify your networking needs and interests by doing recommended activities in Learn About Yourself, Learn More About the Jobs that Interest Me, Learn about Occupations, and Identify Your Motivated Skills.

  3. Learn about formal and informal networks. Decide how they will fit into your network plan. To build an effective network, you need both formal and informal networks in place.

    Formal networks are the type your actually join, usually with dues and regular meetings. These could include a professional association, a group like the Lion's Club, or an association of school graduates.

    Informal networks may include friends you run into an annual holiday party, friends from a former job, people from your church, mosque, or synagogue, or people you met while white-water rafting. A good network contains both types and has a health mix of business and social conditions.

  4. Become familiar with networking resources. LinkedIn is a popular, essential online choice but will not be enough. College career centers, unemployment offices, and professional career counselors can help. Doing information interviews (see next section) will also help you find the best networking resources for your industry or a career field you want to get into.

That's it for now, any contributions to the thread are welcome and you could also share your stories of your current situation as well.


Traestar
 
Last edited:
5 it certifications to get your foot in the door

http://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/technology/blog/5-it-certifications-to-get-your-foot-in-the-door/

#2 & 3 are your best bet if you are generally handy with computers. You can study for and pass either of the two in less than 3 months of 2 hour a day studying and flashcards.

- With either of the two, you can get Tier 1 or 2 IT help desk work. The first job you get will likely be hourly but with some initiative, you can be at a 40k+/year salary by the end of the year. In the New York and Washington DC metro area the average person with those two certs and 5 years of experience make $50-60k. For higher amounts, it helps if your background is clean enough to get a security clearance.
 
Last edited:
Right now I've been going through my down times. I've focused my career towards Web/Software Development, however unable to breakthrough the field I've resorted to Help Desk right now until I build my portfolio. I'm focused on SaaS Research for start-up companies.
 
word... respect bruh.. do ya thing..

Im mainly on my web development shit.. mostly HTML, PHP, Javascript, SASS mySQL etc.. focussing on trying to get my drupal certification at the moment but I also do some videography and editing on the side as well
 
I’m gonna start with getting my a+ cert and do help desk for the time being to get some experience
 
Networking and Sys Admin is my shit

Re-certifying my CompTIA Sec+ the new version is SY501...shit is kinda hard...lots of new material they added

And Im halfway to my CCNA
 
Inori said:
Bet that.. preciate the info fam.. since A+ is so broad.. what are field are yall looking to get into with that cert?
Click to expand...

With a A+ you can get a job as a:
  • IT Support Specialist:
  • Help Desk Technician
  • Desktop Support Technician
  • PC and Hardware Repair
Real talk if you dont already have a background in IT. I would say just get a Network+ (will take a month of studying) while appling for any IT help desk job you can fine. That will get your foot in the door as a help desk technician or a jr help desk tech. Focus on learning that job for first 2-3 months then start studying for your CCNA certification in month 4. Around the 8 month- 1 year mark take & pass your CCNA exam, then see if you can work with your Network Engineer to take on more tasks. If you can you will be in a be in a position that you will be a credible candidate for a 60k+ job 18 months after the day you got your Network+ cert.

you may find this video useful:
 
Is Udemy a legit site to get a certification? I’ve been on their site and they do look legit and they have a lot of material too
 
TheBoyRo said:
Is Udemy a legit site to get a certification? I’ve been on their site and they do look legit and they have a lot of material too
Click to expand...

I'm going to get into MOOCs soon, but to answer your question Udemy is a legit site for training and learning, it's not for official certifications. You get a cert of completion of the course, but that's not the same as for instance a Cisco certification. Industry approved certifications are typically acquired on the official company's web site. Most provide Classroom or On Demand training courses, which are expensive but worth it based on your career path.
 
Another thing, MOOCs like Coursera and Udemy do provide training for industry certifications like Hadoop, Cisco, Salesforce, etc. However they do not provide the Voucher for the exam, so you still have to go to the main company or an approved exam provider to acquire vouchers and setup a time and date to take your tests.
 
Traestar said:
Right now I've been going through my down times. I've focused my career towards Web/Software Development, however unable to breakthrough the field I've resorted to Help Desk right now until I build my portfolio. I'm focused on SaaS Research for start-up companies.
Click to expand...


Maaaaan look... I done told y'all over on that other site to get up on Upwork. If you just starting out and got even a small portfolio just make a profile and bid on a few small projects you can do in your spare time. Don't try to make a whole lot of money from it at that level, though, 'cause the competition is heavy there for web devs so be prepared to lowball to get work. Just use it to build a better portfolio while making weed/liquor/hoe money and when your shit is tight use the experience to get a decent paying job.
 
Dont know if you all know about it but Google has the IT course work on Coursera. It is 5 courses that take about a month each to complete. You can literally finish in a month if you are just at home doing nothing. You can get scholarships from Coursera or other sites.

Also if you are under 25. there company initiatives out right now that can get you into training programs. My wife just said her company is paying $70,000 starting off for Computer Science degrees.

Cheap ways to get a at home Cert in college courses is Edx and Cousera. Also https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/deep-learning-ai/education/
Deep learning is the new data collection courses going around. Check out the link.
Dice.com is a job search site that I frequent.

Happy hunting
 
konceptjones said:
Maaaaan look... I done told y'all over on that other site to get up on Upwork. If you just starting out and got even a small portfolio just make a profile and bid on a few small projects you can do in your spare time. Don't try to make a whole lot of money from it at that level, though, 'cause the competition is heavy there for web devs so be prepared to lowball to get work. Just use it to build a better portfolio while making weed/liquor/hoe money and when your shit is tight use the experience to get a decent paying job.
Click to expand...

I recently worked for a week for trial as a co-founder/front end developer, had to end the project with them because I felt I was a little rushed. I've had an Upwork account for a while now and I've really haven't had luck with it yet. But now that I'm getting more comfortable with ReactJS, I'll give it another try, I think this project with the startup really got me motivated to do more.

Thing is if it's not remote work, there's really nothing out where I am. And basically my focus is to land a full time job so that I could relocate...need to get out of here.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top