Not sure where to start to get your foot in the door with a IT career? Don’t fret, see what I believe are the top three skills you need to get going no matter what path you choose inside Information Technology.
I have worked in IT for over 20 years and had the pleasure of working with some of the best IT talents around. I’ve heard their stories, combined with my own experience, would like to share with you the three ingredients for success. Check out my video format on YouTube below or continue reading.
Want to read? Let’s not waste time!
- NETWORKING
Basic networking is going to be the foundation for everything that IT runs on. Without a network for computer and servers to talk, there would be no such thing as the internet. Every job from Helpdesk to System Engineer is going to require a different level of understanding of network concepts. When you are getting started you just need to know the basics, but continue to increase that knowledge as you move into different positions.
First and foremost, a natural starting place for most is to look into obtaining a certificate. The golden standard stack of certs to start with is going to be CompTIA Network+, A+, and IT Foundations. The order of learning these certificates is not so important. Nor do you need to worry so much about obtain the certs before putting yourself out there. More importantly is soaking up the material and putting it into practice so you retain it for future reference. Once you truly understand the concepts, you will ace the tests no problem.
Find all their certifications here: https://www.comptia.org/certifications
Another foundational tool to recognize that will be introduced in these program is the OSI Model.
This model is going to be how you use your newfound knowledge in the next skill. You will notice that Layer 3 is Network. Meaning the two layers below are also linked to other requirements such as power and hardware that comprise the network as a whole.
2. TROUBLESHOOTING
I know this is a vague term, but let’s think about a scenario where you land a job at an IT helpdesk. You have a user call in and they state “I can’t login to my program and I can’t seem to search anything on the internet.” We can utilize the OSI model and your networking skills to start to troubleshoot the situation. Let’s start with layer 1 – Physical. You may ask the user if any came unplugged. Can they ensure all the cables on the PC or laptop are firmly connected. In my years in IT, 90% of issues are self inflicted by someone kicking a cord loose or not realizing the unplugged something to charge their phone. If everything checks out physically you can move up to layer 2 – Data Link.
The Data Link layer means the physical hardware is able to create a “layer 2” connection. Your PC has a MAC address that identifies your network card and it can reach the network switch to negotiate a speed to talk at. In simple terms, the link light on the network card is lit and active. Great! The user has verified both of these things, now you can move onto using your newfound knowledge of basic networking.
Moving up to layer 3 – Networking, you now can run a few tests with the user. Have them open a cmd prompt, perform an IPCONFIG on a windows machine. Make sure they have obtained an IP address, Gateway, and DNS settings. Still looks good? Now utilize the PING command to try and reach the IP address of the Gateway. Ah!!!!! The gateway cannot be reached? Now you know there has to be something wrong down the line. Escalate to the network team and pull in the resources you need to get the problem fixed.
Troubleshooting in it’s essence is understanding how the network, servers, and workstations work as a whole system. If you understand all the pieces that make the users application run, you can rule out the obvious physical, network, and even users issues. You can then use the OSI model to guide you to the root cause. You may get to the top layer of the model which is the application itself. The issue could be that the app isn’t simply pointing to the correct server to login. Or they are utilizing an old shortcut to an older version. Always start with the simple foundational pieces and narrow down your focus.
Once you understand the day in and day out duties of your job and what issues you consistently run into, you can look can utilize the third skill to show your true worth.
3. SCRIPTING
Naturally the best IT working is a “lazy” IT worker. You will hear me say it again and again if you stick around with me. What I mean by that is utilizing tools to automate as much of your work. There are a ton of tools out there that can help you automate processes and functions to troubleshoot. However at their core they all consist of some sort of scripting language. Typically when you start in something like a helpdesk position you are going to be working on most Windows machines… maybe some Macs, but nonetheless the de facto tool to utilize is Microsoft PowerShell.
Now don’t get daunted by learning PowerShell. You can utilize resources like Microsoft Learn to understand the basic concepts of how to utilize the scripting language. Most of the time you can find a script on the web that someone has created that does 90% of what you need. You can copy that script and tailor it to your environment. Save it in your toolkit and pull it out anytime you need to run it. Once you try a few examples you quickly understand the modular design of PowerShell allowing you to import modules, create functions, run as a task, etc. Almost anything you can do in the Windows GUI, you can accomplish in PowerShell and typically faster.
PowerShell is not the only scripting language I would recommend. Python has become a heavy contender in automation and data handling. In positions such as a Data Analyst or Engineer or GIS Analyst, Python is going to be very prominent. You can utilize Python to do a variety of different task on various operating systems. You could then translate that basic understanding of Python over to the Big Data scope as you move to the Data Engineering department. Data is the foundation of everything that AI is being built upon and Python is playing a large role.
Below I’ll provide links where you can get started learning. As always find me on social media and ask me any questions. Always happy to meet new people in the space be your guide.
Resources:
Microsoft Learn – https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/
Google Grow – https://grow.google/certificates/
CompTia Network+ – https://www.comptia.org/certifications/network
CompTia IT Fundamentals – https://www.comptia.org/certifications/it-fundamentals
IBM Skills Build for Troubleshooting – https://skillsbuild.org/students/course-catalog/it-support
Intro to PowerShell – https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/introduction-to-powershell/
Python – https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-python-3
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