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You have to pick something, eg: Web Programming, Application Programming, Systems Administrator, Network Administrator, etc.. and learn that one sub-category of IT.
You'll never learn everything. My focus is Sys Admin. You'll need to learn:
Desktops (mostly software and diagnostics)
Servers (Windows - Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, DFS, Print, WSUS, etc)
Security - Group Policy, Endpoint Protection
Backup - Full, Incremental, Offsite
Even at that, large corporations have dedicated staff just for DNS. So do you want to be a broad Sys Admin or focus on one thing?
Start by buying a book on A+ and get your certification. It means nothing, but its a start.
Fixing motherboards is a thing of the past. You just replace them.
Edit: Find a computer, not too old, but not modern that you have laying around. Sign up for Microsoft Technet. It's like $100 a year or something like that, can't remember since my company pays for it, and gives you evaluation copies to test operating systems for desktop and servers. They also have training materials on it. Worth every penny.
If you can't afford it, borrow money or work for it to get it. If you don't want to do that, cross off being a System Admin from your career choice.
Btw, what about social media, SEO, and digital marketing/ads? I'm pretty well versed in that for business usage and alot of marketing job ask for someone specialized in that.
Any specific I.T. or coding skills related to that worth learning/needed? I can't tell if those jobs want a coder/database builder, hardcore web traffic statistician, or just asking in a fancy way: can you update our Facebook page?
I personally don't think there's much money in SEO and Social Media from a internet marketer prospective when updating a company's own page (probably a 35k/yr job). If you want to make it your own business to manage multiple sites, facebook pages, etc then yes. You can be in the 6 figure salary range.
The biggest things I see right now is Virtualization and Cloud computing. Obviously with that, data management is big too. I would look into these things now and learn it quick before it becomes a me-too job, if it hasn't already. Data security is always needed as well.
I personally don't think there's much money in SEO and Social Media from a internet marketer prospective when updating a company's own page (probably a 35k/yr job). If you want to make it your own business to manage multiple sites, facebook pages, etc then yes. You can be in the 6 figure salary range.
The biggest things I see right now is Virtualization and Cloud computing. Obviously with that, data management is big too. I would look into these things now and learn it quick before it becomes a me-too job, if it hasn't already. Data security is always needed as well.
All true, especially about SEO stuff, which is like an extension of web authoring. You simply modify code some in HTML. These are relatively easy to learn. I don't think these types of jobs pay as well and don't have as much growth. Almost anyone now who has some computer literacy, can create webpages and such with easy-to-use software online.
If you want hot skills in IT, anything cloud computing (webservers) is it, and that is managing webservers either as a email administrator, SQL, systems administrator (Linux or Windows). You should know some serverside coding languages like PHP, ASP.NET or Perl. You have to know some things about hardware as well and backing up files (storage). Your best bet is to work at an ISP or some company that needs webserver administrators to learn some of this stuff, unless you have the time and effort to learn on your own. The hard part is transfering/building your current skills to obtain such specific jobs, but it is possible.
Last edited by berkeleylake; 01-14-2013 at 02:45 PM..
All true, especially about SEO stuff, which is like an extension of web authoring. You simply modify code some in HTML. These are relatively easy to learn. I don't think these types of jobs pay as well and don't have as much growth. Almost anyone now who has some computer literacy, can create webpages and such with easy-to-use software online.
If you want hot skills in IT, anything cloud computing (webservers) is it, and that is managing webservers either as a email administrator, SQL, systems administrator (Linux or Windows). You should know some serverside coding languages like PHP, ASP.NET or Perl. You have to know some things about hardware as well and backing up files (storage). Your best bet is to work at an ISP or some company that needs webserver administrators to learn some of this stuff, unless you have the time and effort to learn on your own. The hard part is transferring/building your current skills to obtain such specific jobs, but it is possible.
I was thinking the same about SEO. Seems like entry level 4 ever job hence why I'm avoiding marketing despite having a background in it.
I have the time....if I say....bulldozed perl or PHP for 3 months straight and studied cloud computing....Is it possible combined with the other 4-5 professional backgrounds I have experience in?
Part of my motivation is that I feel like a dunce cap not knowing programing so the passion is there.
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