What are some good entry level IT jobs?

[wasssup]

I don't want to program, and I know there's Help Desk...what else is there? I hate my job and need th get the fvck out...

 

[flexy]

help desk...shiver....

my fav. IT position would be administrator, or some inhouse helpdesk/support position. (NOT on the phone).
Or something on the h/w side - like building and configuring PCs. You can also do some service like cleaning people's comps of viri/spyware etc and charge them an arm and a leg for it

 

[cchen]

There's no $$ in a support role

 

[EKKC]

Originally posted by: cchen
There's no $$ in a support role

do IT-business consulting or project management. Core IT support and development jobs will only be outsourced more and more as we progress further down the road.

 

[cchen]

Project management is being outsourced as well....

 

[rgreen83]

Go into networking, they cant plug stuff in from overseas yet so you should be safe (for now).

 

[spherrod]

help desk can be a good starting position, prove your worth and move up into networking or server management

 

[Cheetah8799]

Originally posted by: wasssup
I don't want to program, and I know there's Help Desk...what else is there? I hate my job and need th get the fvck out...

Desktop Technician

 

[d3n]

You could always go a couple stints in the military, count on deployments. For technical go Navy or Air Force. Get your clearance and and a decent living is not hard to come by. Count on 65k-100+k out of service if you have applied yourself, which includes picking up a degree. You have to limit yourself to certain areas of the country to use that clearnce though.

 

[Anghang]

IMHO the best way to always be in demand is to not just do networking, but security also...by doing both you'll always be in demand...

 

[FoBoT]

ALL entry level IT jobs suck @ss , that is the way it works

if you can survive 1-3 years of hell, then you can become part of the brotherhood

 

[Patt]

Entry level blows ... but if you stick with it, you'll be fine. Try to get something on the hardware side of things though IMO. I'm software based, and I'm a little tired of all the same application upgrading processes.

 

[HumblePie]

You could fill out "ID ten T" requisitions for technical supplies for a living.

 

[alkemyst]

The key is to not be so focused you are locked into a task and not so diverse you aren't an expert at anything.

Also knowing the market you are going into is a big plus.

I have about 15 years of mortgage experience. Did operations/secondary for a long time. Always doing computers as well. Banking was my part-time job so to speak while in college, became a career though and in the early 90's I was able to buy nice home in an great neighborhood pretty comfortably, but it wasn't my job of choice.

I went back to college, for my Comp Sci (4 year degree+ is important is looking at management) and started applying to large businesses.

I do support here on our Loan software, custom coding, reports, handle the hardware (desktop, server, tele/video conferencing) etc. I have proven I can do a lot of things extremely well and without much intervention since I know both sides of it.

Some support roles can never be outsourced. It depends how high up the chain you are supporting though. Desktop troubleshooting over the phone, sure. Custom code changes within an hour....not so possible. Being able to get a server up within 5 mins...nope.

Some companies can afford to wait though, we are not one of them...any down time for us brings down the whole Enterprise of 5000 associates, we have not been down ever...even during the 2 hurricanes that had about 75% of our staff without power for 1-2 weeks.

 

[irwincur]

Sorry but if you are just starting your options are limited to help desk. Most people work two to three years at the bottom before they would ever be considered for a more important IT job. To do consulting, you will need at least five really good years or ten normal years of experience. By really good, I mean working at places with a wide variety of hardware and platforms - as well as being good at what you do.

Once you get started, you will be surprised where it can take you. I can guarantee that in two to three years you will be working on stuff that you never knew existed.

 

Originally posted by: d3n
You could always go a couple stints in the military, count on deployments. For technical go Navy or Air Force. Get your clearance and and a decent living is not hard to come by. Count on 65k-100+k out of service if you have applied yourself, which includes picking up a degree. You have to limit yourself to certain areas of the country to use that clearnce though.

Yep, a buddy in DC did just that and is making over 100k, without a degree too.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: buck

Originally posted by: d3n
You could always go a couple stints in the military, count on deployments. For technical go Navy or Air Force. Get your clearance and and a decent living is not hard to come by. Count on 65k-100+k out of service if you have applied yourself, which includes picking up a degree. You have to limit yourself to certain areas of the country to use that clearnce though.

Yep, a buddy in DC did just that and is making over 100k, without a degree too.

MCSE and half a brain gets one 50-60k here.

 

[Koenigsegg]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: buck

Originally posted by: d3n
You could always go a couple stints in the military, count on deployments. For technical go Navy or Air Force. Get your clearance and and a decent living is not hard to come by. Count on 65k-100+k out of service if you have applied yourself, which includes picking up a degree. You have to limit yourself to certain areas of the country to use that clearnce though.

Yep, a buddy in DC did just that and is making over 100k, without a degree too.

MCSE and half a brain gets one 50-60k here.

Only if they're hired first.

There's too many half brained people with MCSEs out there.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Koenigsegg
Only if they're hired first.

There's too many half brained people with MCSEs out there.

my half brain qualifier = they can be smart on the lower level.

Most MCSE's that come through are really clueless to the big picture. I had one hired 10 years ago for $50k that was fired the day we had him replace memory and hard drives and told us we had to outsource it because the machines must require special tools to open them.