I want to be a Computer Technician...

twolves90

twolves90

New Member
and I have a few questions...

Lemme start with some background

I'm 20. I'm about to finish a Computer Information Systems Associates degree from my local community college...

I'm starting to realize that I haven't learned very much from my community college experience, and feel that it may be weighing me down.

I want to get very serious about my goals, but im not sure where to begin

I've built 4 computers.... I've dabbled with Linux... I've coded basic web pages...

but I want to get down to the nitty gritty so I can be good at what I do

Where should I start?
Not so much, just reading, but actually hands-on work with what a computer tech may be involved with

I'm plan to go to a tech school not far from where I live but I also want to feel like im ready for it before I enter

Can anyone give me some strong suggestions for me to reach my goals?

Thank you very much
 
It sounds like you ran into the same thing at that community college I did years back where they seemed behind and outdated on everything with no "hands on" training typical in the academic environments. When going for MicroComputer Specialist at a local college here there wasn't much gained from 95 courses in 98SE days! Watch a video at http://youtube.com/watch?v=tKTt29h4fwA and then browse the list of options seen at http://www.scitraining.com/Courses.htm?CD=8

How about seeing 1005 accuracy on exams there by receiving materials(study-written exams) by way of mail for a lower tution fee? When my former electronics instructer a 30yr. man with IBM heard I was taking courses there when he was conducting an A Plus course he was well familiar with that school. The courses there will give you a good foundation to start with.
 
Once you learn the trade and feel confident, you can get certified, which many employers look for in serious technicians for large companies (we're not talking geek squad here). A+ is almost a requirement, as it covers a very large amount of knowledge. It forms the basis for a more specific certification, in whatever area you wish to work in.

As for getting ready for your tech college, grab an A+, MCP, Novell, Cisco, Oracle, or any other certification book and read through it. My A+ book (6th edition I believe, Meyers) was well over 1000 pages. Not an easy read by any means, but some of the information is a bit outdated. I'm pretty sure there is a 7th edition in the works and I'll definitely grab that. Its a great desk reference.
 
We are stuck in the same mud! I got a lot of instruction but a little hands on experience. If you study up and get your A+ and Network+ you can get an entry level tech job where you will gain a lot of hand on experience.
 
My advice is don't major in IT or go to a tech college. A lot of those credits from tech schools don't transfer over to any other accredited college. I would say major in business or journalism, or communications, and then minor in technology. This is because no one really requires a technology degree (the jobs that do require degrees, just require some sort of degree) and you can pile on certifications on top of your degree to show your technical prowess.

This also lets you have fall back options, or makes you look better for management type positions.

Out of our whole IT department I would say less than 5% of them actually have IT degrees. Experience is key though, and don't be afraid you put in your time. One big problem I see with people these days is no one wants to put in entry level time. They think they should get a job right out of college. Well, in the IT industry, you almost always start out at entry level no matter where you go. Some places only higher at entry level and promote from with in.

I would say start to get a part time tech job somewhere and start building experience. heck, work part time help desk, that actually looks good on a resume. Then go get your education then go where ever you want from there. If you want to stay in IT you can get certs to back your degree, and you can also have a business or communications or journalism degree (if you wanted to be a technical writer) and that makes you more valuable then the average IT person on paper with equivalent experience.
 
I'm going to agree with tlarkin on this one majoring in IT never is good. I did it trust me i learned more on my own from playing and my internship then i ever did at work. I'm now working full time in IT for a bank here in town and learning more each day on my own. Best thing to do is get some older computers to play with set up your own server stuf like that. THE BEST THING I DID was go to a large corporation here in town which is world wide and apply for an internship. They hired me and i worked there almost a year. In that time i learned so much valuable information it was insanely obvious what i wanted to do after that. They taught me stuff i would have never ever thought of using in my life. If you are serious get a degree but try to work as an intern hands on as long as you can.
 
"Internship" is the key word there. That "gets a foot in the door" as the expression goes for actual hands on experience. Anyone can become bookwise out of school. But potential employers look at what they think you can offer them for their needs. That's the real world there.
 
PC eye said:
"Internship" is the key word there. That "gets a foot in the door" as the expression goes for actual hands on experience. Anyone can become bookwise out of school. But potential employers look at what they think you can offer them for their needs. That's the real world there.
Click to expand...


bingo pc_eye has once again got it perfectly phrased!
 
You will easily find that applies in other career fields as well. When appyling for a position you want to be a little on the plus side without being over qualified at the same time. Practical hands on experience in addition to the formal education serves well there.
 
CAFFER said:
don't be lured into helpdesks if you can help it. sometimes they turn into career traps. There is nothing more potent in the IT industry than certs with HANDS ON experience to back it up.

trust me, i worked at dell for 5 yrs, started as L1 support, put 2 yrs under my belt as a technical mgr w/multimillion $$$ accounts to manage, and I interviewed literally 100's of techs for Dell.

too bad ubermod thought i was being c0cky...systekisdead???NEVER, I currently charge $100/hr for my services as a consultant in entry level tech heavy houston, I used to get $150/hr in west texas where the best computer techs are geeksquad...i know, funny but not a joke.
Click to expand...

I disagree with some of what you said Systek.

systek (you) claimed to be a Network admin, now you claim to be a consultant charging $100 an hour, you also claimed you found this forum while being bored in your cube?
http://www.computerforum.com/95260-im-scared.html#post745901
http://www.computerforum.com/95267-dell-precision-workstation-220-a.html#post745957

Anyways you can not say that the best techs in west Texas are geeksquad because im from west Texas born and raised.

Hands on and certs are the way to go, first off get your A+ and NET+ Mike Myers books are the best ones out. then get on with a temp agency such as
tek systems, tak worldwide or S3 that do contract job all over and get some hands on.
I work for a World wide Credit card company and Bank and we hire from these temp agency.

Certain Helpdesk are good jobs to start because of the experience and a chance to get a foot in the door. not the ones that support the general public.

Most entry-level jobs are :

Helpdesk: First contact of resolution, remote support and trouble shooting, most issue can be resolved here.
most helpdesk are not techs at all but are customer service people that follow outlined steps to resolve issues, some are real techs these are the ones that will move up in the IT field.
most helpdesks techs have more rights/access then other techs and will get a boarder range of experience from the job.
The cheapest method of support and issues resolution.

FSE Field Service Engineers: (Desk side support) deskside trouble shooting and resolution of issues, most of the time these guys are just reimage robots.

NOC Network Operations Center: not much going on there.

Network Facilities: setup switches and routers and a lot of the time run cable and fiber, not a bad job.

Most of these jobs will pay for you to get other Certs
 
Last edited:
here is the catch 22 with certifications and smart managers know this to be true. Certification tests will often have questions or scenerios that have nothing to do with actually using what you know and applying it. Let me give you a Microsoft example of a question that is on one of the MCSE test questions.

You are a network administrator and have several different subnets connected to each other over your WAN. You want to secure traffic from each subnet with different firewall rules and different security measures, how should you accomplish this?

Now, the answer is to implement an ISA server into your network, however, anyone with half a brain knows that you can buy a good router for a fraction of the cost of building a whole ISA server that can pretty much do the same thing. So, yes certifications have merit but they don't mean you know what you are doing.

I think helpdesk is a great place to start with no experience. I have worked with many people in my jobs who have started out as helpdesk techs. Sure its not the greatest, but at least it is a job. The problem is, you have to accept change and actually make an effort to get out of that and into a different sector of IT, otherwise you may just work help desk your whole life. At my work, we don't have permanent help desk, everyone has a shift on it. Though, we all do wish someone would just hire a permanent help desk person haha.

There is a problem though with certifications. They want to write them so you can study them and pass them with little or no hands on experience, so they design them that way. However, some employers may require certs, but if you have no experience then how can you get certified? So, really they have to design them with the consideration of people not having experience but the knowledge.

I once got into a debate with an IT worker that told me college is more important in technology because you need to understand the theories of technology. I asked him to give me an example and he chose configuring a RAID. He says that knowing the proper theory behind a RAID would allow you to design it better. I agreed with him on some terms, but ultimately in my view theory and knowledge really have little to do with it. Application is key. How you apply the technology is most important. With out looking at how things apply to each other you won't get a view of the big picture. Overall, its always good to know theory, and have knowledge and have the ability to apply all of it together.

too bad ubermod thought i was being c0cky...systekisdead???NEVER, I currently charge $100/hr for my services as a consultant in entry level tech heavy houston, I used to get $150/hr in west texas where the best computer techs are geeksquad...i know, funny but not a joke.
Click to expand...

My rates start at minimum $70/hour and go up to $200/hour. I do everything from consulting to data recovery. It depends on the job, and if its legacy systems I charge more.
 
agreed, also exam crams are killing the Certs so Hands on critical. Some IT manager will test you with their own tests

I use run a custom built computer store in West Texas and do consulting In West Texas then here in the New Orleans I charged from 100 - 150 per hour most jobs had a 2 hour minimun but got real burnt with it.
now I sit at my desk and be lazy, I have the power to resolve issues or have others resolve them for me :)
 
Last edited:
Wow! Thanks for all the replies! Ive read them all and im going to take all of it into consideration! I think I may start looking for a helpdesk to begin my path
 
twolves90 said:
Wow! Thanks for all the replies! Ive read them all and im going to take all of it into consideration! I think I may start looking for a helpdesk to begin my path
Click to expand...

One Think to keep in mind as a Level 1 Helpdesk you will only have a short time to resolve a issue and if you cant resolve in that time frame you have to send to Level 2.
Level 2 have no time limit on a call so this is what you want to work hard to
be. If a Lvl 2 cant resolve the issue they send it to lvl 3. lvl 2 can send to other groups such as the Field service engineers or who ever needs to look into what caused the issue.
Lvl 3 will send the issue to other groups such as the Field service engineers or who ever needs to look into what caused the issue.

We have 18 lvl 1s and 3 lvl 2s and 1 lvl 3, we take 1000 to 1500 calls in a 8 hour day.

lvl 1s have 6 min to resolve a issue and get off the phone. some Lvl 1 only do password resets while the rest only resolve hardware and software issue.

lvl 2s dont answer the phone and have no time limit while on a call and have to resolve a issue in 24 hours, 3 days at the most for certian issues.

lvl 3 dont answer the phone and has no time limit unless the issue is affecting multiple users and in that case they have to resolve it now.


Lvl 2 and 3 have VPN access so they can be called on if needed.

I work as lvl 2 and its easy money, I could work in other groups such as FSE
or sever and workstaion engineering but i kinda like my job i dont ever have to leave my desk and i have all the tools i need to do what ever i want.
This will very depending on the company setup but it will be close to the same.
 
I agree with the general sentiment of experience and internships..

I consider my enlistment in the navy as such. I am communications electronics technician and I mainly play with circuits and comms involving IP and other protocols. Monitoring a room of computers and establishing communications is an interesting experience and hopefully is appealing to future employers.

Good Luck regardless.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top