Attention IT people! Need some help please

Depends on what exactly she's wanting to get in to. Right now I do datacenter technical support and I'm switching over to server provisioning and network administration. I've only had a high school education with pretty weak math background. For anything to do with programming, good math skills and post secondary is going to be required. Some certifications may help on the resume (A+, MSCE, CCNA) but a degree and good work experience will get you places.

I do like my job as I've always figured I'd have this type of career, but to be honest I don't see myself doing this for more than 5 years or so. From what I've seen, getting into IT can be somewhat difficult considering the number of qualified people out there so expect to start at the bottom as you most likely won't land the dream job right off the bat.

 

Pete-

Does she want to get into IT or into technology? To me, being in IT means working in a datacenter, running infrastructure, etc. Being in "technology" means that she wants to be an engineer/developer, marketer, salesperson, etc. in a technology company.

I can speak about the latter as I was a senior vice president for a $4B technology company (software) for the past 9 years (before starting my own business). Depending on what she wants to do, I can add more color. Let us know some more specifics.

Steve

 

So often IT is confused with internet gigs or otherwise.

Some of us made killings in the dotcom 1.0 era, and watching the market be reshaped, I'd say higher level skills are important. Cisco certifications are always good when aiming for stability and corporate gigs. If IT as in information technology (desktop support, infrastructure) goes, an MCSE is pretty valuable to a recruiter though to this day, the skills required for IT are often misunderstood by HR staff.

The downside:
Usually a boring gig.
Payscale is not terrific unless you are an IT director at a large corporation.
When growth occurs, it can be an intense period supporting large numbers of new users.
Users are always idiots.

The upside:
Stable at larger companies.
Lucrative for a savvy freelancer.

Skills:
Yes math would be very important, advanced algebra for one to calculate megabytes vs megabits, ip scales, etc...
Be a practical problem solver that can make something work for now until you can resolve the issue permamnently. (analytical thought processes help when talking heads in suits need it NOW!!!)
Experience with Linux and Mac as well as Windows systems +++


Things I would suggest she learns:
Cisco even at a basic level
Windows registry tweaking
Router/wifi configurations
Exchange server admin
Some SQL/Oracle/Excel/MS Project (know enough to get started basically)

 

She's 13?

Ok -- figure with a college education and such she'll be 23 when she hits the workforce. Little of today's specific technologies will still be in place (think for a moment about the computing world in 1996), especially at cutting edge workplaces.

I've been doing this (corporate IT) for over a decade now. It's not like accounting or law or marketing. IT requires constant retraining, usually on your own time and dime, just to keep up. There's always someone younger and cheaper gunning for your spot. It gets harder to find jobs as you get older, because most places don't recognize the value of experience and won't pay for it. If you do a great job, nobody will notice because nothing's breaking.

If she's still interested in this in a few years, tell her to take business classes. The people that are really valuable in this field are the ones that can apply technology to business problems. Sure, there will be someone else who knows more about every detail of the shiny technology -- but she'll be telling them what to do.

 

Well, if it helps, I was an independent IT consultant to small business for 5 years (buying, building, setting up and troubleshooting information systems).

1) How you like your job
For the most part very enjoyable, getting to play with state-of-art systems and meet some interesting and diverse people and businesses.

The most important skill in this sector is the ability to communicate to the user what the systems do, how they work and why they go wrong. The ability to explain complex problems using simple analogies was my most valuable tool.


2) The level of math needed (if any)...Not her best subject!
None really; wouldn’t worry about it for a second. Besides, math is quite easy once you can relate the numbers to a situation. I have a degree in computer science and math only played a basic part in that too. Nothing that couldn’t be picked up in a few hours.

3) How long the average training is to get a decent job
Difficult one for me to answer. I was pulled into the business by the owners of private companies who were less than satisfied with their current contractors and knew me beforehand on a personal level, word spread fast from then on. If you do good work people will find you.

4) Boring parts of the job
Working with end users who have no interest in how the systems run or how to maintain them: i.e. maintain up-to-date anti virus software, make back-ups, you know the obvious stuff, then when they fail blame you. I also found many business owners who, when I first visited them, resented IT consultants, often saying; “every time they visit they cost me money” or felt you held the "magic key" to all their data. It’s very important to establish good relations with these people and develop trust so they know that when you are recommending something that costs money, it’s for a very good reason.

5) Any other tidbits you can throw in
Study the industry, read the IT forums, read the IT news sites, keep abreast of developments and try to build as many contacts within the industry as possible. A sound knowledge of the technology and good people skills are what counts in the area I worked.

Do this in about 4 years, in the mean time, enjoy being a kid

Regards

Martin

 

All said. She should practice quantum neuro-technologies, and atom switching.

 

I've been an IT consultant for over 15 years, working quite a bit in larger corporate environments. I currently manage a large corporage e-mail system.

1) How you like your job

I like my job very much. Very little of it has not been rewarding, exept maybe early in my career when I was running Ethernet cables in ceilings.

2) The level of math needed (if any)...Not her best subject!

The math needed is more practical math. Advanced math was not my best subject, either. I'd say you'll run much more into "business" math than anything else.

3) How long the average training is to get a decent job

I think Tillman said it before - in IT, you're constantly training, because there's always something new coming out. Some corporate jobs have training programs, or you can do internships in college that usually lead to a job in that department.

4) Boring parts of the job

Documentation. Management reports. Paperwork. It winds up being up to 80% of your work, at least in larger corporate IT shops.

5) Any other tidbits you can throw in

You won't get rich in IT anymore unless you're a top independent, but you can make a pretty comfortable living. If she likes it and is interested in it, I'd recommend encouraging her. The hardest part of breaking in to the industry is getting the experience that will get you to one of the higher-level jobs. One of the side effects of the dot-com crash is that training can be more difficult to get, it depends on the shop. Once out of college, she may want to try working for a consulting company for a while. That can be a good way to get experience and build up your resume.

The ability to communicate with clients and the business side of the house is important, too. She needs to make sure she takes some business courses in college, especially if she wants to move up the ladder somewhere.

 

Hi Peter - we definitely need more women in IT. and it's encouraging to see the awareness for CCNA certs (I did my CCIE in '96, #1967 and still active, with 3 other CCIE's in my company, more details on the website).

It can be a very rewarding journey, but at the same time there's lots of dead-ends to be aware of. Most women I come across either end-up in Project Management or on the business side. Both of which will need substantially more warm and breathing bodies (like your daughter).

1) How you like your job
It's not really a job anymore as much as a lifestyle - I'd definitely do it again. But being addicted to technology, I'm not sure I ever had a choice, really.

2) The level of math needed (if any)...Not her best subject! I also went through a Computer Science B.Sc. degree - where math played a big role. Algebra in High School is nowhere near related to Differential Equations! Those math types are in a whole different non-parallel universe, which I could never understand. But the logic behind math is critical to succeeding in IT. If your daughter can't link logic patterns, then maybe working "in Technology" is a better destination?

3) How long the average training is to get a decent job. Really depends - I've taken kids right out of college and had them be very successful in 2-3 years, where they could buy their own house if they wanted to (and our RE is stupid $'s right now). Others take 5+ years.

4) Boring parts of the job. There's lots of dead-end jobs in IT. Working in a small company pushing tapes for backups every day, loading AV updates, loading print-drivers, doesn't get you anywhere. but I'd bet she's got a little bit of your entrepreneurial restlessness, and will likely find some niche. There's millions of niche's in IT to make a lot of money.

5) Any other tidbits you can throw in. At 13 - heck, keep her options open, explore all sorts of experiences, have FUN, learn business basics, learn sales basics (critical! - it's all about selling ideas), learn IT/computer basics, learn project management basics, and of course learn networking basics.

IT changes so completely every 12-18 months it's tough to "study" now, so to speak. Learn the basics and go from there. Today it's Networking, security, databases, Windows Vista, e-commerce: some flavour of these will still exist in 5-10 years.

Which side of the country are you on? I'm in San Jose quite often, and will be driving down in the summer for more meetings if some first-hand stories would help.

 

Don't skimp on the real degrees.

I have a masters in IS/CS and do technology managment. Otherwise you're staring at obselesence after what you know goes out of style.

If you want a JOB in IT doing interesting work, not code monkey crap get a finance degree and a minor in IS.

IT nerds who don't understand business and its needs are doomed. Finance degree shows she can add and EVEN do a cost benefit if she is from a top 50 school.

 

The problem with most IT departments is that they're built like a pyramid with the point down. Thousands of mis-managers (or MIS...), one or two people getting things done.

In a corporate environment, business students realized that most technology departments get you to department head, then you hit the VP wasteland -- out at a remote site somewhere. But one "department head" is called the CIO, and gets to hang out in mahogany row. So all the ladder climbers headed for IT.

So most IT technical staff work for someone who can't spell "IP".

Heck, many companies now have "IT departments" that have no technical staff at all: just contract workers.

More and more, technical careers get mired in button sorting passing for the latest "process" plan fad. (As though billions of random data points can be meant to mean something if you sort them enough.)

Promoting leaders out of the technical staff hasn't worked all that well in fields like IT, because they still want to play in the technology ... without having the time to keep up. Business leaders who know nothing of the technology don't understand the issues, and tend to resort to arbitrary schedules and budgets: "Paint by Numerology" managment. (Ask any software engineer about schedules based on "number of lines of code per programmer".)

Standard "management plans" don't tend to work for technical fields. I had a manager try to explain his wiz-bang project spreadsheet: how hours worked versus hours scheduled add up so you can tell when the project is complete. I tried to explain that it's done when it works.

Many resumes look good. One or two of the people actually have some of the experience they claim. HR and managers can't tell the difference. So in IT you're in a group of people of hugely varying competence -- and the competent ones have to pick up the slack.

But "competence is elitist": it's politically incorrect to suggest that skilled workers are more valuable than anyone else. And no manager is going to acknowledge that the technical staff is more important to the department than the manager is.

Being a nerd just isn't as much fun as it used to be.

With java and structured code and windoze based applications barfing all over the bandwidth, IT also gets the blame when code developed on a gigabit local network doesn't work when running halfway across the world on leased T1 lines. Take a look at the web pages being cranked out on the internet. (Use "view source" sometime.) Bloated overstuffed garbage over the links is the legacy of windoze: efficient doesn't matter; just hit it with a bigger club.

Code that just barely runs in the development environment tends to crash when put in the "real world", and IT is the messenger with a standard NRA target painted on them.

The difference between the Space Program era and today is the "can do" attitude. "Failure is not an option". Today, failure is the *first* thing managers plan for.

At this rate, by the time a 13 year old gets out of college, the "high tech" will be banging rocks together.