New to It looking for help!!
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@WrCombs said in New to It looking for help!!:
@DustinB3403 thats for anything though, i was doing heating and cooling installs for a while. and the job description was polar opposite of what i was actually doing...
Sure there are a lot of jobs where you end up doing all sorts of things, like plumbing when you're IT 1. Or some other random crap. Good businesses though won't ask you to do something to "fill a gap" if it's a business need, then the business (good ones) will hire someone to perform that job function.
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@DustinB3403 yeah, i agree.
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@tiagom said in New to It looking for help!!:
@scottalanmiller Any particular books that you would recommend offhand?
Not really, although for general IT, that's a lot of what we work on with http://smbitjournal.com/ and it is effectively a book-like format.
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@wirestyle22 said in New to It looking for help!!:
@WrCombs As much as everyone here wants you to research, don't try to look up job descriptions to get a sense of what a network admin or server admin's responsibilities are (or any title really). You will learn quickly that virtually no company does that well.
In fact, it will lead you far, far away from reality. You'll begin to think that SMBs actually hire system admins (they do not) and that networking engineering is the most common job in IT (it's very rare) and that security is a real career option (it is not, jobs exist but only one for everyone one thousand kids going to college for it) or that degrees will get you a job (they'll just take you out of the job market for four years while your peers gain experience.)
The average job posting is fake (literally, not even a real job at the end of it) and written by someone that doesn't know what the job would entail even if it were real and just makes crap up.
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@WrCombs said in New to It looking for help!!:
@scottalanmiller to continue with the above; im mostly interested in server admin, network admin, anything that has to do with working with networks my least favorite would be webdesign
Web Design is a design discipline, not actually part of IT
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@scottalanmiller said in New to It looking for help!!:
@WrCombs said in New to It looking for help!!:
@scottalanmiller to continue with the above; im mostly interested in server admin, network admin, anything that has to do with working with networks my least favorite would be webdesign
Web Design is a design discipline, not actually part of IT
However @WrCombs , managing the servers for a web hosting company would be--as an example.
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@scottalanmiller Excellent, thank you.
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@wirestyle22 ahh my mistake
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@WrCombs as @scottalanmiller reminds me constantly, being 100% accurate with your terminology is extremely important. You will see us all correct each other a lot and it's meant to be helpful
I'm one of the worst when it comes to articulating what I actually want/need. I'm trying though. -
@wirestyle22 best way to learn, surround yourself with those more intelligent
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@wirestyle22 said in New to It looking for help!!:
@scottalanmiller said in New to It looking for help!!:
@WrCombs said in New to It looking for help!!:
@scottalanmiller to continue with the above; im mostly interested in server admin, network admin, anything that has to do with working with networks my least favorite would be webdesign
Web Design is a design discipline, not actually part of IT
However @WrCombs , managing the servers for a web hosting company would be--as an example.
Correct, IT runs the servers, installs the OS, installs the web server, installs the contend management system, gets the web site copied over in most cases, runs the database, handles outages, checks performance, etc. But they don't pick the colours and make the logo.
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@scottalanmiller said in New to It looking for help!!:
@wirestyle22 said in New to It looking for help!!:
@scottalanmiller said in New to It looking for help!!:
@WrCombs said in New to It looking for help!!:
@scottalanmiller to continue with the above; im mostly interested in server admin, network admin, anything that has to do with working with networks my least favorite would be webdesign
Web Design is a design discipline, not actually part of IT
However @WrCombs , managing the servers for a web hosting company would be--as an example.
Correct, IT runs the servers, installs the OS, installs the web server, installs the contend management system, gets the web site copied over in most cases, runs the database, handles outages, checks performance, etc. But they don't pick the colours and make the logo.
Those last two, to me, are much more difficult then the other items.
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@WrCombs Remember that you aren't unintelligent because you lack experience. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. The best you can do is magnify your strengths and reduce your weaknesses as much as you can. You can't compare yourself to people like @scottalanmiller and @JaredBusch. They have been doing this for a long time and have a completely different skill set than you or I. You're only ever competing against yourself. If you know something today that you didn't yesterday, you are a success.
One man's humble opinion.
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@wirestyle22 i second that!
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@coliver said in New to It looking for help!!:
@scottalanmiller said in New to It looking for help!!:
@wirestyle22 said in New to It looking for help!!:
@scottalanmiller said in New to It looking for help!!:
@WrCombs said in New to It looking for help!!:
@scottalanmiller to continue with the above; im mostly interested in server admin, network admin, anything that has to do with working with networks my least favorite would be webdesign
Web Design is a design discipline, not actually part of IT
However @WrCombs , managing the servers for a web hosting company would be--as an example.
Correct, IT runs the servers, installs the OS, installs the web server, installs the contend management system, gets the web site copied over in most cases, runs the database, handles outages, checks performance, etc. But they don't pick the colours and make the logo.
Those last two, to me, are much more difficult then the other items.
Me too! But I'm colourblind, as well.
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@scottalanmiller said in New to It looking for help!!:
@coliver said in New to It looking for help!!:
@scottalanmiller said in New to It looking for help!!:
@wirestyle22 said in New to It looking for help!!:
@scottalanmiller said in New to It looking for help!!:
@WrCombs said in New to It looking for help!!:
@scottalanmiller to continue with the above; im mostly interested in server admin, network admin, anything that has to do with working with networks my least favorite would be webdesign
Web Design is a design discipline, not actually part of IT
However @WrCombs , managing the servers for a web hosting company would be--as an example.
Correct, IT runs the servers, installs the OS, installs the web server, installs the contend management system, gets the web site copied over in most cases, runs the database, handles outages, checks performance, etc. But they don't pick the colours and make the logo.
Those last two, to me, are much more difficult then the other items.
Me too! But I'm colourblind, as well.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) I don't have that excuse
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One of the best pieces of advice I can give you is this:
- Don't limit yourself by taking a path that you think you should take when your heart is leaning towards something else. Here's an example: Someone just starts tinkering with Linux and they're immediately excited about it. But instead of diving in and taking advantage of that natural spark, they miss an opportunity to start a fire and gain a lot of great experience because they instead choose to do something they're less interested in (Perhaps because someone convinced them to go down a different path because it "might pay more" or something of that nature).
(Which leads me to #2)
2. Follow your passion! I'm so glad I've never been in a situation like the example I gave in #1. If you continue to spend time pursuing the things that excite you, it's a lot easier to be happy and feel fulfilled. This, at least for me, also requires having an open mind and sometimes making sacrifices to "dabble" and try new things to keep the journey fresh and exciting. -
It's true, your passion will almost always take you much further than the technologies that other people tell you will be important.
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Also, remember that IT is a business, not a technology, discipline. Feeling trapped or tied to any specific technology curtails your options significantly.
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I say discovering and being exposed to multiple facets of the industry is the best place to start. If I we're just starting out right now and looking for some courses/certs, I would lean toward Certified Ethical Hacker or Linux Administration.
