slight career guidance required.

[Kraeoss]

hi guys,
i'm currently 23 yrs old and am a library assistant. lol now this was not exactly the field i wanted to be in but opportunity presents itself in many ways. well this library has books on IT fields that i want to pursue but what i wanna ask is which field is more suited for a beginner ? should i pursue networking or web engineering or microsoft quals ? it's all so baffling i just wanna know where the market's generally going like 2-3 yrs ahead so i can prepare my self accordingly. a friend of mine was encouraging me to get ccna is this a good move ? BTW i live in a 2nd world country that's trying to reach 1st world status (Trinidad. Caribbean)

thanks
K

 

[mcmilljb]

I met an awesome graduate student from Trinidad. I actually want to visit sometime (for the Carnival of course!).

It depends on what it on what you want to do. Pick some books and read about them. You won't know what you like(or want to do) until you do some research. Read as many as you can, so you can find what interests you the most. Then focus on the topics which interest you.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: mcmilljb
I met an awesome graduate student from Trinidad. I actually want to visit sometime (for the Carnival of course!).

It depends on what it on what you want to do. Pick some books and read about them. You won't know what you like(or want to do) until you do some research. Read as many as you can, so you can find what interests you the most. Then focus on the topics which interest you.

good call.

and since youre here, read around the various tech sub-forums and see what sounds interesting to you. i always wanted to do something with computers in one way or another, but wasnt sure what i wanted to do until i got a job doing something. short of doing that, fiddle around with things

 

[cmetz]

Kraeoss, study a CS or Computer Engineering curriculum. If you have no money, look online, several US universities are putting lectures and course materials online for free, that's a good place to start. Eventually you need a degree from a real college, but let's start with getting the knowledge and bootstrap to the piece of paper later.

CS et al. give you the theoretical/fundamental underpinnings of it all. If you don't understand how it really works, you can't really do it well. Also, while particulars of implementations and products evolve over time, Computer Science and engineering fundamentals are much more stable, that is, that theoretical knowledge is timeless.

Practical knowledge is important, too. You get that by doing. No course or certification really gets you that.

I don't recommend vendor certifications.

 

[razor2025]

Do a small and easy project in different things. I'm pretty sure some of the IT books you'll read have many different exercises and mini-projects that you can follow. You can try out some coding problems to see if you're into doing programming, or you can try out fixing computers and messing with hardware through volunteering at local school. Do something besides reading, just to engage in the actual practice of what you're reading. The idea is to find out whether this is something you can enjoy and focus on.

 

[robphelan]

yeah, it really depends on what you like.. do you like programming? hardware? networking? find something you think you might be interested in and go for it.

I imagine in a 2nd world country, there'd be good opportunities for growth.

 

[The Bakery]

The most important thing is deciding what you like to do most, and pursuing that.

Also, consider where you want to live, and the environment you want to work in. Check out job statistics online and read up on
working conditions and typical responsibilities. Programming might sound cool until you find out that the working conditions and
hours leave you with little time to enjoy your life, etc.

The Bureau of labor statistics has info on salaries, job conditions, etc (in the USA)
http://www.bls.gov/

Most large companies are looking for demonstratable experience and certifications like CCNA, MCSE first, and education is further
down the list. If you can get a job with a company that will give you experience that would be good, and if you can get them to pay
for a certification exam, that will be even better.

There are companies that offer full training and job placement (In the USA) which guarantee your certifications and job placement,
but programs can run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

I'd say read up, tinker around with software/hardware, and look for a job that will allow you to learn HANDS ON experience. The hands
on experience will likely be the most irreplaceable for your career goals, although any certifications that you can get will certainly get your
foot in the door.

Many places here anyway will not accept an application without at least an A+ certification and many prefer MCSE. However, the job
market here is likely very different from Trinidad.

Good luck!

 

[Kraeoss]

Well all i can say is that in my country it's a who know you kinda place. like take for example if you are familliar with Fujitsu, down here there are a lot of complacent (and stupid) techs working in those companies with just A+ not even a com. sci. degree. :disgust: so it leads one to wonder how to plan for the field.

but all in all if you come really good like a friend of mine who just got a promotion in said company and works in Jamaica company supports and pays him well (10k+ us) for all his hard work. poor dude is almost bald tho due to his study methods lol.

so i will do some reading around and sorta feel the waters. prolly do some private jobs in pc repairs and networking for some hands on exp.