Advice for studying/IT careers

[RickQ]

I have decided that it is time to start studying to make myself more marketable. I work in IT, currently on a help desk but I want to advance my career either within this company or somewhere else. Ideally I want to get in to desktop support.

I am trying to study for my A+ as that seems to be almost a requirement for all the jobs I have looked at. I also want to get my MCDST certification an I think that studying and learning what is involved will help me be a better technician.

I need some tips to help motivate me, help me remember the stuff I am learning come test time and beyond. I started out by taking lots of notes from the books that I have, but that is very time consuming and I am not sure it helped the information stick any better then just reading it a couple of times.

I am thinking of setting myself a deadline and making a study guide to set out a timetable for when I study and how much I need to get done by certain dates etc.

Does anyone have any tips on how to study? What has helped you become more efficient at studying or what has helped you stay motivated?

Also, does anyone have any advice on how to get ahead in this industry? If anyone can think of any other courses they would help, that advice would be great too.

[Quartz]

Don't bother with MCDST. Go straight for MCSA, then MCSE or the parts thereof that are of use (e.g. Exchange or SQL). I recently found to my cost that the Sybex books are woefully out of date.

[RickQ]

Thanks for advice Quartz but I already have the MCDST book. I agree about the Sybex books though. That was my first A+ book.

Does anyone else have any thoughts?

[black rabbit]

I don't know what the market's like where you're at, but you may want to try a different approach.

First, register for night classes at your local university or community college.

Then, go hunting for general sysadmin jobs at small IT-oriented employers in your area. Programming shops, web hosts, graphic design firms, ASPs. I'm talking less than fifty employees - ideally, less than two dozen. Just hand in resumes and cover letters, explaining your experience, interests, and current motivations. Network.

It is entirely likely that a handful of those small shops are looking for somebody in an IT operations position, but they're far too pressed for time and/or lack the dedicated HR department to perform the typical head hunt.

They're also far more likely to value motivation, flexibility, and a desire to learn on the job than a paper certs.

The downside is that the pay usually isn't all that hot to start out with, and the benefits are kinda expensive. On the other hand, they have the leeway to do things like just put your tuition on the Amex and give you 25% raises every once and awhile.

I had less formal experience in IT than you do when I started out a couple of years ago, and now I'm making nearly double my starting salary, gaining a helluva lot of experience, have my tuition paid for, and'll probably pick up an LPI, AIX, and CCN-something within the next three years or so. For free.

[black rabbit]

Oh, you'll also be able to put things on your future resumes like...


Designed and implemented business continuity an recovery strategy, including systems and facilities outfitting at a remote warm site.
Implemented network security analysis and overhaul, including vendor evaluation, purchasing, and systems integration.


...and have that stuff be 100% true, because you will likely be the sole person responsible for making those decisions and getting shit done.

Plus, I get to wear shorts and flip-flops to work. And the sales guys bring me beer for fixing their fscking Blackberries.