IT bros

[Samkellers_69]

What's been your career path and how did you get to where you are?

I'm new-ish in IT, was in the construction field (family gig) about 3 years ago decided fuck that, went to Metro got the CCNA career cert and then got CCNA certified took a year for me after that to land a help desk/service desk job was there for about 3 months, then got a field service engineer role/technical consultant ( hardly a consultant I would say) role at Philips Healthcare, I decided to leave that role after 2 years because of the constant travel and some family issues that I'd need to be in town for, finally landed a Network Engineer role with a MSP, have been here a couple months, and I have found out I absolutely hate MSP work or may be I just don't like networking as much as I thought.

Just curious what other roles could be out there. The IT solutions engineer/consultant role have peaked my interest lately.

 

[Sous Chef]

What's been your career path and how did you get to where you are?

I'm new-ish in IT, was in the construction field (family gig) about 3 years ago decided fuck that, went to Metro got the CCNA career cert and then got CCNA certified took a year for me after that to land a help desk/service desk job was there for about 3 months, then got a field service engineer role/technical consultant ( hardly a consultant I would say) role at Philips Healthcare, I decided to leave that role after 2 years because of the constant travel and some family issues that I'd need to be in town for, finally landed a Network Engineer role with a MSP, have been here a couple months, and I have found out I absolutely hate MSP work or may be I just don't like networking as much as I thought.

Just curious what other roles could be out there. The IT solutions engineer/consultant role have peaked my interest lately.

I'm not an IT specialist but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

 

[ChocaEgg]

What's been your career path and how did you get to where you are?

I'm new-ish in IT, was in the construction field (family gig) about 3 years ago decided fuck that, went to Metro got the CCNA career cert and then got CCNA certified took a year for me after that to land a help desk/service desk job was there for about 3 months, then got a field service engineer role/technical consultant ( hardly a consultant I would say) role at Philips Healthcare, I decided to leave that role after 2 years because of the constant travel and some family issues that I'd need to be in town for, finally landed a Network Engineer role with a MSP, have been here a couple months, and I have found out I absolutely hate MSP work or may be I just don't like networking as much as I thought.

Just curious what other roles could be out there. The IT solutions engineer/consultant role have peaked my interest lately.

What do you like doing? Do you want to stick with networking? Lots of good cloud engineer jobs out there, look into AWS and Azure entry-level certs.

 

[Samkellers_69]

What do you like doing? Do you want to stick with networking? Lots of good cloud engineer jobs out there, look into AWS and Azure entry-level certs.

That's my issue idk if I want to stick to networking, I currently just started AWS cloud practitioner, but current job wants me to stop that and do azure as that is what they use, but idk how long I want to stay at this current company.

I do enjoy talking to customers about solutions we have that could help them with pain points they have within their company and if we have any solutions that could help them with that and then getting the correct people together to help solve an issue. At least that is what I liked about my past job the most even if I did that very little.

 

[God is a Husker]

Construction sounds like a better career path tbh.

 

[ChocaEgg]

That's my issue idk if I want to stick to networking, I currently just started AWS cloud practitioner, but current job wants me to stop that and do azure as that is what they use, but idk how long I want to stay at this current company.

I do enjoy talking to customers about solutions we have that could help them with pain points they have within their company and if we have any solutions that could help them with that and then getting the correct people together to help solve an issue. At least that is what I liked about my past job the most even if I did that very little.

If they'll pay for the certs and courses then get into Azure. Once you get comfortable with one of the cloud providers it will make learning the others much easier.

Security ppl are always in demand too. Sec+ is a good entry level security cert to pick up if you don't have it already.

 

[Samkellers_69]

Construction sounds like a better career path tbh.

Fuckkk that especially with family. Pay was absolute shit.

 

[NeAz]

Construction needs a ton of help in the IT field. I’d dig a bit deeper in that if you can. Many companies are paying out the arse for software solutions that don’t fit what they want to do. Ideally, they could design and build a solution that fits their processes.

 

[Samkellers_69]

Construction needs a ton of help in the IT field. I’d dig a bit deeper in that if you can. Many companies are paying out the arse for software solutions that don’t fit what they want to do. Ideally, they could design and build a solution that fits their processes.

I have thought about this and really enjoy this idea. I just don't understand shit like python or java and shit like that to build something it makes my head spin...

 

[huskermack]

I started with a CCNA and then happened to fall into a Clinical Interface Analyst job.
Stuck with that for a while and sort of morphed into what I am now - Data Engineer.

I would consider looking at hospital IT.
Tons of options including networking, and you could always find yourself doing something else.

I’d aim for a medium to smallish sized hospital and would stay away from any of the national healthcare providers.

Just my two cents.

 

[raghib]

What's been your career path and how did you get to where you are?

I'm new-ish in IT, was in the construction field (family gig) about 3 years ago decided fuck that, went to Metro got the CCNA career cert and then got CCNA certified took a year for me after that to land a help desk/service desk job was there for about 3 months, then got a field service engineer role/technical consultant ( hardly a consultant I would say) role at Philips Healthcare, I decided to leave that role after 2 years because of the constant travel and some family issues that I'd need to be in town for, finally landed a Network Engineer role with a MSP, have been here a couple months, and I have found out I absolutely hate MSP work or may be I just don't like networking as much as I thought.

Just curious what other roles could be out there. The IT solutions engineer/consultant role have peaked my interest lately.

I just retired last week after 30+ years in IT, the last 20 as CIO. As you already know, there are many paths. If you'd like to knock around ideas, shoot me a message and I'd be happy to give you some of my biased opinions.

 

[HuskerGarrett]

I just retired last week after 30+ years in IT, the last 20 as CIO. As you already know, there are many paths. If you'd like to knock around ideas, shoot me a message and I'd be happy to give you some of my biased opinions.

Congratulations on your retirement 🍻

 

[Juro]

Wanted to focus in IT, but couldn't land a gig as an analyst somewhere (wanted to be a data or business analyst getting out of college), so after a little bit, I got a job on the IT service Desk. From there, I ran that service desk as a supervisor (more people oriented, but I could IT troubleshoot like a MFer when all of those tickets got escalated from my desk).

I wanted to do my own thing and ran a small business for awhile, including web development for the website. Didn't work out, but through a close connection, landed a Plant IT Systems Engineer role where I was pretty a sys admin and some at a plant that made a million a day in their products. My big break was when I got offered a Infrastructure Engineer role for those same type of systems at plants across the midwest, which is where I am at currently.

One of my small business offerings was career advice for mainly veterans. With a CCNA in hand and networking/troubleshooting experience in hand, look into cybersecurity roles. Cybersecurity is something that is always going to be needed and companies will always need more experience in it. Best part about it is, if you initially got everything setup for monitoring for your networks, then you will have the easiest job around. You'll do about 2 hours of work a day and slack off the most. Then you'll have some periods for audits and phishing testing throughout users using your network that will take up more of your time.

 

[NeAz]

I have thought about this and really enjoy this idea. I just don't understand shit like python or java and shit like that to build something it makes my head spin...

I feel ya there. I’m trying to teach myself python. I understand the language and concepts, but have no idea where to start.

 

[huskermack]

I feel ya there. I’m trying to teach myself python. I understand the language and concepts, but have no idea where to start.

I use python everyday.
I had to learn on-the-fly at work - and they did provide a sub to Data Camp, but I really only used it to supplement what I had to learn on the fly.

An easy-ish way to get started is to install Anaconda to your local machine and play around with Notebooks.
Almost everything you will ever do in python will include utilizing packages - there are tons of them, but you want to become familiar with pandas and numpy. Those two contain a ton of functions for data manipulation.

Once you have Anaconda installed, do some google searches for Anaconda for beginners or similar.

Hope that helps.

EDIT - here's a good source of info:
Towards Data Science - Getting Started - Anaconda

 

[LoudHogRider]

I use python everyday.
I had to learn on-the-fly at work - and they did provide a sub to Data Camp, but I really only used it to supplement what I had to learn on the fly.

An easy-ish way to get started is to install Anaconda to your local machine and play around with Notebooks.
Almost everything you will ever do in python will include utilizing packages - there are tons of them, but you want to become familiar with pandas and numpy. Those two contain a ton of functions for data manipulation.

Once you have Anaconda installed, do some google searches for Anaconda for beginners or similar.

Hope that helps.

I installed an Anaconda in my wife last night. Package delivery went well, though panda and numpy were not needed for "manipulation porpoises". More user acceptance testing is expected this evening.


Also, I ran an IT Consulting Services company for a while. Our focus was mostly on application development, database administration, and software package installation(s). We were lucky to grow to the point where a lot of our senior guys eventually were incented to deliver cross training in various languages and tools, and it helped many of our consultants grow to the point where their skillsets grew beyond the original technical expertise for which they were hired. There may be opportunities with companies in the IT Consulting Services industry that can help you reach your interim career goals as well. Something to consider ...

 

[greybeardedchild]

installed an Anaconda in my wife last night. Package delivery went well, though panda and numpy were not needed for "manipulation porpoises". More user acceptance testing is expected this evening.

Here's to hoping you did not forget the documentation

 

[Herbie]

I call IT all the time. What do you need help with, I give them a call.