HOW TO START A CAREER IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY - Education and Career in Information Technology

Table of Contents

Introduction

A Career in Information Technology can be the most rewarding and interesting experience there is – at least, those were my experiences when I ventured into this world several years ago. If you are considering a career in this field and aren’t sure how to get started, this blog post is for you. It will shed some light on this career niche.

What kind of Education do you need, and how do you access it, do you need a college degree? What are the opportunities, and what career path should I choose? I will share my experiences on some of these and help make the process a bit simpler for you.

I will split it into three practical steps to make it easier for you to implement. The steps will highlight specific challenges and how you can overcome them.

1. Define What Your Interests and Choose an IT niche

The career options in IT are numerous and vary widely. These roles fit with different skill sets, backgrounds, goals, education, and very importantly – personality. If you want to start a career in Information Technology, you must consider these factors and clearly define what your interests are.

You should ask yourself some specific questions such as the following

What are my interests?
What Kind of Jobs do I like?
What are my background skills or Education?
How much commitment am I willing to devote to this career?

You should choose an IT career that aligns with your interests, personality, and goals. The goal of defining your interest is to ultimately help you choose a niche in IT. It is important to do this as it will save time and resources and seek the best education and training.

If you are not sure of what niche to choose from, here are some broad pointers on some of the broad categories of IT Jobs. (these are just a few examples)

Data-Related Career IT Career

These are IT careers where you will be working with Data, where you analyze them and use the results to help companies make better decisions. Under these categories are jobs such as Data Analysts, Data Scientists, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence. (Data Science, Machine Learning, and AI are the more advanced roles.)

Networking IT Career

Networking covers IT careers where you will work to ensure that devices (computers, mobile devices, routers, switches, all communication devices) can send messages to each other. It is the foundation upon which many other IT careers are built.

Here you help businesses to stay online or communicate effectively internally. Typical jobs here are Network Administrators, Network Engineers, and IT Support.

Cybersecurity

The job primarily here is to organizations protect their IT infrastructure and data from malicious intent. It also covers compliance and regulatory functions. Cybersecurity is broad and includes both technical and non-technical jobs.

Some of the typical jobs in this area include Security Auditors, Risk and Compliance officers, Cybersecurity analysts, Cybersecurity Engineers, Ethical Hackers, Pentesters, etc.

Cloud Careers

The big tech giants like Google, AWS, and Microsoft Azure have cloud infrastructure that almost all businesses rent nowadays to run their operations. Working in the Cloud means you understand these technologies and help manage, deploy, secure, and maintain these cloud resources.

Some of the jobs here are Cloud Engineers, Cloud Architects, Cloud Security Engineers, etc.

Programming and Software Development

These are the guys that build and maintain applications that power business and our daily lives. The scope is very large and they traverse across various fields. This is where you have Applications Developers, Programmers, Automation Engineers, DevOps Engineers etc.

One of the best ways to get information about any IT Career you admire is simply to ask someone in that field. From experience, most persons I know will be willing to sit down with you to discuss the career if you ask politely.

2. Get the Right Education and Training

Careers in IT are skill-oriented. You will need to obtain the relevant technical skills to do well on the job. There are a variety of ways for you to do this. You may want to opt for some of the options below:

A. University or College Degree

This is a good choice if you have the funds and time to pursue a degree in a tech-related discipline. It is kind of a long path to get into IT. It requires a huge investment on your path. Typical will require 3-5 years of training. The upside is that some companies are very specific about a degree. It will help you get through to the hiring manager in some cases. Many Hiring managers may argue that someone who has made a significant investment in getting a degree will show better commitment to the job.

The downside is that it is very expensive and takes a hell of a time

You can’t get a degree under your current circumstance, move on, it is not an absolute necessity, There are easier ways for you to get the training.

B. Vendor-Based Training and Certifications

There is an endless number of professional courses by vendors that will help you start a career in IT. You can take one or more of these that are specific to your desired goal. It is relatively cheap, especially when compared to traditional education. You can also do a self-study by using good study resources. There are lots of free video courses on YouTube that you use or relatively cheap courses on Udemy.

Make sure you really go through simulated practicals that normally go with such a course. Get busy studying, it will amaze you how much technical skills you can learn in as little as 30 days.

There are also a lot of boot camps offering training and mentorship for a fee. Check the reviews before joining any- some are overpriced and don’t offer anything better than the free ones you will get on YouTube. (I made a list of free Courses for the CCNA 200-301, you may want to check it out https://itcareerbits.com/5-best-free-courses-resources-for-the-ccna-200-301-in-2023/ )

The exam fee for many of these certifications starts from $50 to about $300 in most cases. Get a few of them, they can help you get across to a hiring manager and ultimately get employed.

I made a list of some common certifications that may be worth considering

C. Sponsored Internship Programs

You may explore some of the limited sponsored Internships. Training is often free and placements are immediate upon completion. A good example of such is the Google for Africa Initiative (with about $ 1 billion for the next 5 years). Be on the lookout for similar programs within your locale. Some are government-sponsored.

3. Get Employed And Learn More With On-the-Job Training Experience

Ok, you have gone through the pieces of training, You certainly should seek out employers to pay you for your skills. Hiring managers will need you to have some sort of practical skills. Here they will look beyond your degree and/or certifications. Things you should get at this stage are

1. Your Resume

2. Some Sort of Project related to the training you have done. For example, if you did the AWS Certification, it may be worthwhile to show some of the Apps or Solutions you have deployed on the cloud

3. Get Busy on Tech related platforms, Have your Github account set up

4. Reach out to hiring managers in person, if possible, You should be out from the crowd to get noticed.

5. Network, trust me, it doesn’t take too long to get your first break if you have the skills and you reach out.

6. Volunteer: This is one of the easiest ways to get noticed. Offer to help people and organizations with your skills. Put your skills into use. It is an important aspect of your evaluation

7. Be ready to be mentored. Attach yourself to someone who can guide you at this stage. Be the guy that holds the cable for your mentor while he is fixing things

8. Horn your soft skills. You need more than technical skills to succeed in IT

Starting With Zero Experience And Experience

Sometimes, you can get an entry opportunity to start a career in Information Technology with zero technical skills or experience. Some companies offer entry-level jobs to people with no technical skills and do in-house training on specific job roles. Usually, such training is for a very specific role within the company.

You learn on the job and can later get more training to upgrade to more senior roles. If such opportunities are available in your locale, you may want to consider them for the training opportunity they provide rather than for majorly the cash incentives.

In summary,

Find what you have passion for in the industry
Get some training (University, College, Vendor-based Certifications, Self-Study, Sponsored Internships)
Start a Career in Information Technology, Get a job, and continuously learn.