I'm new to the IT world and was wondering what are some areas or key concepts a novice, such as myself, should consider learning along side the fundamentals of IT?
I am currently enrolled in a software development certification course in Java programming at my local community college. My ambition for learning to code comes from my interest in mobile application development, as such I've been practicing a bit using Android Studio and have created a couple simple practice apps such as a dice roll app, and a quiz game app.
Along with taking classes, In may I enrolled in Google's IT Support Specialist certification course on Coursera. I just completed the first course, IT Fundamentals, out of five. I also began to dabble in VirtualBox to learn Linux because I wanted to learn to use the command terminal, and just generally familiarize myself with the operating system through day-to-day use.
My question to you all is, what other areas or concepts of IT should I look into in regards to, not just furthering my own knowledge, but also when applying for entry-level positions? I'm curious about help desk roles or systems/network administration roles but I'm still not entirely sure what area of IT I want to focus and seek employment in. What other job roles are available for entry-level? I don't have any IT work experience, so I'm thinking of taking the A+ certification early next year once I'm finished with college, and Google's IT course. Any beginner IT project ideas that can help get my foot in the door?
I used to specialize in career placement & will give you a different perspective. Let me ask you two questions first:
1. How much money do you want to make? This is still a bit of a taboo question in our country, so let's talk about it for a minute to explain why that question is actually important. Money
itself is not important, but rather, the lifestyle you want to live requires financial support. Things like being able to live in a safe neighborhood, drive a reliable car, eat well, have good health insurance, etc. are all dependent on your income. Fortunately, these days, payscales are readily available for virtually any type of job out there, thanks to sites like Glassdoor & Indeed. You can see the starting salary, the average, and the top-end expert amounts these days. There are clear paths to getting trained up & certified for most jobs. There are over 14,000 unique types of jobs available & we current have a strong need for good workers - there are more than 5 million job openings as of today. If you're willing to hustle, the world is your oyster. The reason I ask the financial question is because if you want to achieve your goal, then you need to set a goal, and part of that goal includes a price target.
2. Where do you want to get your fulfillment from? There are four options: first, you get your fulfillment from work & really love your job. Second, you get your fulfillment outside of work, and your job is used as a tool to pay for your outside fulfillment, such as a hobby. Third, you get your fulfillment from both work & outside of work. Fourth, you're not driven by fulfillment. These options were not clear to me when I first got into the career-decision field, because I thought that everyone would naturally want to get fulfillment from their job, but for some people, a job is just a job, and that's okay! Everyone is different. I have a friend who became a dentist in order to pay for motor toys to use outside of work - quads, jet-skis, etc. He spends tens of thousands of dollars on off-road & water toys & absolutely LOVES it! For me, I can't stand not liking my work. I've worked at jobs I've hated & it just drove me bananas!
So the fulfillment question is something you'll have to think about in-depth for a bit to figure out where you stand. When you couple that with a salary range target, you can start to piece together a pretty good path forward. I'd also suggest looking at things from 3 perspectives:
1. Bucket list
2. 5-year plan
3. Short-term needs
Not to get morbid about it, but you're going to die someday. I always tell people to plan on living until they're 100 years old, as that's a nice round number. Between now & then, how do you want to add meaning to your life? A large part of this has to do with where you get your fulfillment from, because maybe you need a good job that you love, maybe you need good hobbies, maybe you need both, maybe you don't need either. The easiest thing in the world is to live a reactive life where you just coast through without making any real decisions for yourself & just kind of end up with mediocre results. When surveyed, 84% of Americans said they didn't just dislike their jobs, but actually
hated their jobs. The good news is, this is a free country with endless opportunity, so you're 100% free to live as proactive of a life as you decide you care to. This can be kind of a big pill to swallow, however, which is why I'm writing this post to try to help clarify things!
So, between now & when your life lease on earth comes up, what's on your bucket list? This doesn't have to be anything fancy, but just write down a list of things you'd like to do before you kick the bucket. Do you want an amazing job? Do you want to save the world? Do you just want enough money to not stress about life too much? Write out a few ideas & chip away on this list over time & kind of build it up to create a clear picture of things you wish you could do. After that, do the same thing for a 5-year plan. Having a 5-year plan is one of the most effective ways of actually getting "big picture" stuff done long-term, because it gives you a clear direction to follow. Without this, it's easy to feel pressured into taking whatever comes your way, instead of being selective about what you do in order to meet your goals. Last is your short-term needs, like where to get a job right now, how to get your foot in the door, what programs & classes & certifications to take, and so on.
For most people, it can be difficult to separate the short-term anxiety from the confidence of having a solid, long-term plan, because we feel pressured to act. But I can tell you that people who make things like bucket lists, 5-year plans, and so on generally live happier & better-paid lives. The statistics say that simply getting a college degree will earn you over one million dollars more in your lifetime than not having a college degree. This isn't the case for every single person in every single scenario, but the statistics exist because they're based on facts as applied to the majority of people. The majority of people aren't going to become the next Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or Elon Musk, mostly because if we all had that kind of endless, big-picture drive, we'd all be doing it already!
One thing that's really important to keep in mind is that most jobs just require a warm body. That means that companies need people in specific jobs to fulfill certain roles so that the work gets done. For me, that helped take out some of the fear of getting a job, because it not only reduces the mental pressure, but also made me realize that there's no perfect dream job out there for you, but rather a job that is a good fit, coupled with a good attitude that you bring to the table. I've seen people making millions who are absolutely miserable, and I've seen people at poverty level who are happier than anyone doing what they do. This is why it's so important to be proactive about your future in terms of deciding how much money you want to make & where you get your fulfillment from, because it's easier than anything to simply drift into a job & stay there for the rest of your life & not be super motivated about anything at all, which is totally fine IF that's what you want.
I felt a lot of pressure to just get a job when I was in school & didn't really have any kind of plan beyond that. I've made a couple major career changes in my life as I started thinking more about what I wanted, and when I started realizing that it wasn't a big, scary task, but rather just me making some proactive decisions about what I wanted long-term & then putting a simple plan into place to make it happen. The reality is, you really only need 3 things to get the job you want:
1. Be willing to work
2. Be willing to learn
3. Be willing to relocate
If you don't have a work ethic, if you aren't willing to study & do continuous education, and if you aren't willing to move, then your options are going to be
extremely limited in the job market. If you simply decide that you'll do what it takes to do the work at a job, if you're willing to go to school or take online classes & stay engaged on the cutting-edge of your field so that you always stay relevant, and if you're willing to move to get a job (or a better job), then the world really is your oyster! Again, this can feel pretty weighty at first, like you don't have much choice in the matter, but surprisingly, going from an interest & ability in something like coding to actually doing it for a job is not as big of a leap as you'd think! Being able to look at things more objectively is largely dependent on whether or not you've put a few minutes into thinking about what you want to do for work, how much you want to make, where you want to live, what you want to do all day, etc. Tech is a huge, multi-segmented field these days & you can get a job doing so many different things, so it really helps to set up some targets to help guide you into where you want to go!
If you'd like to dive deeper, feel free to ask more questions! Once you craft a clear picture of what you want for your future, then the rest is just making a simple plan to fill in the gaps between where you want to be & where you are today, which really helps bypass the weight of anxiety in terms of feeling unsure about things & feeling forced to make decisions that don't help you on your path forward. Once you look at life & your job as nuts & bolts, it really helps clarify things & give you the confidence to move forward towards living a personally-fulfilling live where you not only survive, but thrive!
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