The neat thing about life is that you never really know where it’s going to take you. At the age of 32 I’m jumping back into the tech field after running down a non-related career path for the past 8 years or so. So what does it take to reboot yourself to another path? Hard to say, and it probably greatly depends on what your career history is/was to begin with.
For me the first objective was going back to college for training. I’m currently fast approaching my second year in a 2 year program that focuses more on the network aspects of the IT world. It can be a harsh job market, especially starting out, so a good strategy is to go searching for jobs in your area and looking at what they’re asking for. It might seem like a Comptia A+ is a waste of time depending on your planned path but it might be another HR checkbox you need just to get to the interview process and show your stuff.
In my particular case I have ironed out the basic direction I want to take things:
1: Finish college
That may seem like an obvious goal, but many will fail to complete their program.
2: Obtain Certifications
Early on in an IT career certifications can really give you an edge when chasing after entry level positions. My personal goal is to obtain the so called Comptia trifecta (A+/N+/S+) in addition to the CCNA R&S before the end of my college program.
Let the journey begin….
~Ian
Important Links
https://certification.comptia.org/certifications/which-certification
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/training-events/training-certifications/certifications/associate/ccna-routing-switching.html