New to It looking for help!!
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@WrCombs said in New to It looking for help!!:
@DustinB3403 thats what i was thinking and have been told before too. Question is, where do i start an internship? What steps do i take on the path of finding my nichè in it? Where did you start?
I (foolishly) went to college, and fumbled around learning things (while paying to be there) rather than being paid to be there and learn.
If I met the criteria I'd be applying for the internship that @Minion-Queen is offering.
College, for me at least wasn't so worthwhile, as I was learning things I was already doing (at my day job, desktop support /jun. sys admin for a car dealership).
At least with an internship, you are being given projects for educational purposes (that you aren't paying to learn). Which real world learning is almost always better than classroom based learning. At least when it comes to "IT".
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It's very helpful to know how you learn best. From your description you are a visual and conceptual/kinesthetic learner. The next thing you need to figure out is what you want to specialize in. Network+ is a great cert for beginners that is brand neutral. Then you can decide if you want to learn Linux, Unix or Windows. If you're looking for knowledge, the Microsoft Certification books are a good path to learning--although I'm not telling you to actually get the certs. Keep in mind there are positives and negatives to specializing. I'm paraphrasing, but someone here said that at a certain point for every person a computer becomes a magic black box that just works. That actually helped me figure out what I needed to work on. I attempted to break down everything and then when I reached a point where the computer became a magic black box, I studied. This isn't to say that I don't need work because I absolutely 100% do but your lack of knowledge can sometimes point you in the right direction.
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@wirestyle22 thanks! ill keep that in mind!
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@DustinB3403 Ive heard sys. admin before, but what job duties does that include? I took a programming class in middle school HTMI, wasnt very fond of writing programs. I also took IT essentials, which was based on Cisco networking learning about pretty much the very bare essentials for IT; all hardware, some software, trouble shooting. With that course i was required to take a mock up of the exam, which i passed with flying colors, which is where i found my interest in IT
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@WrCombs said in New to It looking for help!!:
@DustinB3403 Ive heard sys. admin before, but what job duties does that include? I took a programming class in middle school HTMI, wasnt very fond of writing programs. I also took IT essentials, which was based on Cisco networking learning about pretty much the very bare essentials for IT; all hardware, some software, trouble shooting. With that course i was required to take a mock up of the exam, which i passed with flying colors, which is where i found my interest in IT
Systems Administrators manage backend systems and servers. They manage the platform and application layer generally, in some places they also manage the infrastructure but that is in smaller shops I think. Rarely (never) does a Sys Admin touch a desktop or a network switch.
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@coliver thanks!
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@WrCombs said in New to It looking for help!!:
@DustinB3403 Ive heard sys. admin before, but what job duties does that include? I took a programming class in middle school HTMI, wasnt very fond of writing programs. I also took IT essentials, which was based on Cisco networking learning about pretty much the very bare essentials for IT; all hardware, some software, trouble shooting. With that course i was required to take a mock up of the exam, which i passed with flying colors, which is where i found my interest in IT
If you liked the Cisco path then you'd be looking at a network administration focus.
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@coliver again, sounds familiar.. not sure what exactly they do, i have minimal experience, if you would count it at all. what do the network admins do?
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@WrCombs said in New to It looking for help!!:
@coliver again, sounds familiar.. not sure what exactly they do, i have minimal experience, if you would count it at all. what do the network admins do?
Administer the network, which can include the firewalls, network switches, and everything in between. Excluding desktop support, and server administration.
The focus of a Network admin is the things that make the network run. vLANs, firewalls, routers etc.
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@DustinB3403 Any suggestions on books, programs i should work on?
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@WrCombs said in New to It looking for help!!:
@DustinB3403 Any suggestions on books, programs i should work on?
That is entirely subjective, most of the material in books are going to be dated by at least 2 years. This doesn't mean it's not relevant, just that you're learning "old hat things".
Getting a job as desktop one, or jun. net admin or jun. sys admin would be better routes IMO.
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@DustinB3403 awesome! Thanks!
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https://mangolassi.it/topic/9942/looking-for-highshool-it-intern/
See if NTG, they do support for this forum, would be a good fit. They have a lot of very knowledgeable people who can help you grow in IT.
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This community has a heavy hardware focus and you will learn a ton just hanging around. I lurk a ton and read every post I can. If someone brings up a technology, I research it, and understand it. You should also balance that with a little software side of the computer coin. Go to Codeacadamy.com and learn the basics of a couple languages. Then setup a little home lab, with a computer, a server (could be as cheap as a raspberry pi), and network them together. Doing all this will give you the ground level for everything that get's thrown under the name IT. You will know pretty quick what you like and what to focus on, or you will end up like me and holding jobs in development, networking, and system admin within the last few years.
Lastly, keep this in mind. While you do all this, pay attention to your mood. You should feel like a kid in a candy store trying to learn this stuff. If you feel like this sucks but it will pay off if you get through the hard part of learning the basics, then reevaluate what you want to do, because it doesn't get much different, the problems just get more complicated. I have seen too many people who wouldn't setup their own home project to learn, or learn a single language on their own go and pay for college in CIS. They were all miserable and non of them finished their degree. So make sure you are ok with life long learning, or you may want to look into an auxiliary IT field, like sales if you are good with talking to people, but not as involved in the technical side.
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@nadnerB said in New to It looking for help!!:
What are you looking at doing?
There's an up to date Linux Systems Admin learnings section https://mangolassi.it/topic/7825/sam-learning-linux-system-administration
Starting work on a Windows Admin book as well, but that will take more time and doesn't have a table of contents page, yet.
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@WrCombs said in New to It looking for help!!:
@DustinB3403 See ive alway found that i can read something, then tinker with it and do the hands on side of working. And as of right now, i have no idea what part of It I want to do..
That's tough, one of the most important things is knowing, at least in a general sense, what kind of IT career you are wanting. The field is so big that it is really easy to get stuck or lost in one part and never discover the parts that you would be most interested in or nor never manage to move over to them.
What is your IT work background and history, and what IT work are you doing right now? What areas of IT are currently of the most interest to you, and which parts are the least (of those that you know?)
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@WrCombs said in New to It looking for help!!:
@DustinB3403 thats what i was thinking and have been told before too. Question is, where do i start an internship?
https://mangolassi.it/topic/9942/looking-for-highshool-it-intern/
They are looking for highschool, but not exclusively so. NTG is world renowned and nothing but IT.
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@DustinB3403 said in New to It looking for help!!:
@WrCombs said in New to It looking for help!!:
@DustinB3403 Any suggestions on books, programs i should work on?
That is entirely subjective, most of the material in books are going to be dated by at least 2 years. This doesn't mean it's not relevant, just that you're learning "old hat things".
Getting a job as desktop one, or jun. net admin or jun. sys admin would be better routes IMO.
I'm a big proponent of books. Books should teach theory, concepts and ideas. Very little of that changes in IT even over decades. The stuff that I was learning from books in the 1990s is still 99% relevant today and most of the stuff that I consult on most is just 1990's knowledge combined with a modern knowledge of what is available on the market. The foundational knowledge is nearly all identical.
Now, picking out good books is a challenge because you still need books based around the things that you want to learn.
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@scottalanmiller My It work background is very minimal. I did take a year long class in middle school as i said, it was also almost 6 years ago to date, outside of that mostly what ive done is work with computers that had virus' or needed reprogrammed which i just watched mostly. Now im not doing any real IT work, im trying to learn however so that one day i could get back into the career that emerged while i was taking the classes.
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@coliver said in New to It looking for help!!:
@WrCombs said in New to It looking for help!!:
@DustinB3403 Ive heard sys. admin before, but what job duties does that include? I took a programming class in middle school HTMI, wasnt very fond of writing programs. I also took IT essentials, which was based on Cisco networking learning about pretty much the very bare essentials for IT; all hardware, some software, trouble shooting. With that course i was required to take a mock up of the exam, which i passed with flying colors, which is where i found my interest in IT
Systems Administrators manage backend systems and servers. They manage the platform and application layer generally, in some places they also manage the infrastructure but that is in smaller shops I think. Rarely (never) does a Sys Admin touch a desktop or a network switch.
A "true" System Admin never touches anything but operating systems. They don't manage platforms (hardware or virtualization) nor do they manage applications. It's a grey area, but sometimes they will manage system inclusive application platforms like Apache, NGinx, MariaDB, etc. and in some even that is not something that they manage and those are handed off to Application Administrators. Technically if nothing but desktop OSes were being managed, you could say that that is a System Admin as well, but almost no one including huge shops have that position, desktop people almost always support apps and end users as well.
