INGO IT professionals please check in

[DoggyDaddy]

One thing I will note, I am not a programmer, I don't excel at it, I don't enjoy it. However in the Network/Systems realm you will end up doing some coding. It will be refered to as scripting, but it will more or less be coding. Writing a config for a router is a type of coding. Windows Administration, you will end up getting into Powershell scripting to make your life easier. Linux/Unix you will do shell scripting.

Most of the programming Network/Systems do, we often refer to it as scripting. It ins't full blown applications, but it is there to make our lives easier. When I went to being a full time Linux Admin I have written in the past year more scripts than I did in the previous 20 years of my career. Why, I am lazy, and if I have to something more than twice it is easier to script it, and kick off the script.

When I was a network engineer I had a basic config for routers, switches, firewalls that I would modify to meet the needs of that device/network. Why? Because it was easier than building a config from scratch.

It's pretty much the same with coding (programs). It's a rare thing these days when a program is written totally from scratch. Usually one can be found that is close, or at least has the basic structures in it that one can clone and modify rather than re-inventing the wheel. (Speaking from a background in COBOL programming.)

 

[Ruffnek]

I'm sure I'll definitely be asking a lot of questions and possibly looking for career advise once the course is complete. I just hope I'm computer literate enough not to get lost on day one.

 

[PistolBob]

Nano? Nano? Where is the emacs guy when you need him....

Who needs all that fancy schmancy editing....real IT people just copy con

 

[Jordan_J]

Congrats on the move to IT. I am 31 and I have had an interest in IT since the early 90's. I loved going to my uncle's and watching him fix computers (as a hobby for friends and family). He would fix them, build them, clean them, upgrade, etc and just enjoyed doing it and I learned a lot from him. I took some computer courses in high school that we offered and eventually joined the Air Force but my job there didn't involve computers much but I kind of wish it had.

Fast forward to 2009 (after I got out of the AF) and I went to Ivy Tech for a short time and transferred to Ball State and graduated with a Computer Technology degree having taken courses in Cisco networking, business information systems, SQL/databases, programming, hardware, IT security, digital forensics, and more. While at BSU I got hired in a student computer job until I graduated and found full-time work. Originally I was interested in Networking but anymore my ultimate goal is to try and get into IT Security one day but until then I am just learning and adapting as I go. Security is very important and the more IT knowledge you know the more successful you'd be in IT Sec. I saw a lot of the careers I listed below mentioned in some other posts but I haven't seen some of them so I figured I could add all of the fields I've seen/run into. There's probably more and my list may not be perfect but it's close enough.

• Networking
  • You could do the network configuration for a company.​
  • You may be a guy who runs wires/cables during construction or as a contractor running line for a bigger company (or work for a big company such as AT&T or someone maintaining their fiber or something).
  • You could do a mix of both in a smaller scale company.
• Desktop Support
  • Hardware - Some places have a separate hardware person for computers/printers/electronics.
  • Support - From Windows/computer help to company specific software (helpdesk/Geek Squad/Blackboard support/etc).
  • Point-of-Sale - This is a mix of the above two. I did it for a while. You might maintain a POS database or fix POS hardware but it really depends on what company you work for.
• Security
  • PEN Tester - Hack into networks/hardware and get paid.
  • Security Manager - Determine the best course of action for the company and manage security people internally or contractors.
  • Security Analyst - Depends but ultimately you may just watch logs and find threats.
  • Security Engineer - Manage hardware settings for fun stuff like hardware firewalls, physical security, and configurations.
  • Digital Forensics - This could be anything from working with police on investigations to reverse engineering a virus to see how it works.
• System Administration
  • Windows Server Admin - Manage servers and configurations for them
  • Linux/Unix Server Admin - Needed due to growth and limited number of skilled individuals right now. I think Linux is fun and easier than Windows admin.
  • Database Admin - Manage a database using SQL or something else, manage a server that is running SQL or some other database software/application on it. SQL is kind of like programming but easier I think.
  • Cloud - You will manage virtual servers/systems using cloud software but it's basically just a Linux/Windows admin.
• Programmer/Software Engineer
  • ​You'll code stuff ranging from applications, phone apps, games, and or websites. It can be boring but some people like it. I thought it was fun but not enough to do it daily as a job.
• Business Information Systems
  • This area is trickier sometimes these jobs are one of the other IT areas just called Information Systems but typically it is business oriented. You'll tend to view/create business reports that show financial information or impact on the business. You will be more business savvy than IT savvy but you still have to have IT skills in many aspects. SQL and database skills including Microsoft Access are useful here. You might present or discuss information with managers in the company so they can get the information they need to move forward. You might also be a link between non-technical people and the IT teams to help the business understand the IT impact.

• Jack-of-All-Trade - You might literally do anything and everything else here.
• Management
  • ​This is with any job. If you do it long enough you can manage others in this area.

If you really want to get into IT you will have the easiest time getting into a desktop support role and going from there. Some people may be lucky and get into bigger and better jobs but it ultimately comes down to who you know. You should network with people and try to get hired on to some big companies but keep an eye out for the little companies too since you may get a better position with one of those or at least gain some great experience. Just remember, if you hire into a company that makes software as a support person you may be limiting yourself in only supporting their software and thus not being able to apply that skill to any other company but getting your foot in a door is a good first step to switching jobs at that big company.

 

[JollyMon]

So I am a software developer for an fortune 80 company and have been doing it for 10 years. I used to be a firm believer that anyone can code..... I now believe that to be false (for certain steps our company has taken)... but I still believe most people can.

I wouldnt worry too much about the types of courses you take. At least from what I have seen, the entry level jobs, companies expect to provide training. As long as you can critically think, and can prove that, I think thats the most important.

But at the end of the day, IT is a job. If you are passionate about it, it can be a fun job. I enjoy coding at work. I do it from 8-4 and I choose not to do it outside of work. I like getting away from the computer. however, the nerds I work with just eat and breathe that ****.

 

[fullmetaljesus]

Jordan. Killed it with his list. Amazing post

 

[Jordan_J]

Jordan. Killed it with his list. Amazing post

Thanks, I've been in IT for like 6 years or so now I think? When I was a student employee at BSU we had to work with all of the various teams depending on an issue we found. I eventually moved to a jack-of-all-trades job but it primarily focused on Point-of-Sale but I did other stuff like some desktop support for a few people, supported the security cameras, managed a website, and some other stuff. I am always looking at new jobs to see what is in demand and just in case something comes up so earlier this year I decided I was of bored with my old job and applied for a few new jobs. One was a business oriented job and I was one of their final candidates but accepted another offer before they gave me one and told them before they made a decision. Another job was a security analyst but they hired someone with more security experience (I had none I just knew some stuff and wanted to get my foot in the door and the guys interviewing me knew that), and the job I accepted is strange since it is definitely a niche career. I install database software and configure them for the clients of the company. It's not bad and there's a lot to learn plus I get to work with Unix/Linux and some other rare operating systems like AIX and get that under my belt. I think my next logical step may be trying to get into Linux administration and then going from that to IT Sec.

 

[BiscuitsandGravy]

It also depends on the organization, type of business, size, etc.

 

[Baditude]

For free training in all kinds of IT and security look at Cybrary, udacity, codeacademy. You will cap out without a degree, certs will get you very far though. Most larger employers have tuition assistance / reimbursement.

The hot area is cyber-security, I have been in IT 30+ years and made the switch. 0% unemployment, extremely diverse from governance, ethical hacking and everything in between.

 

[wtburnette]

One thing I'll expand upon that Jordan said is about Security Analyst / Engineer. There are LOTS of different jobs that could fall in those categories, like cyber security, identity and access management, certificate management, vulnerability management, third party/vendor risk, internal audit, governance and much more. InfoSec encompasses a lot of different things, especially working for a large company. As an Analyst/Engineer, you could work in a lot of different areas.

 

[bigretic]

fullmetaljesus is right on.
Full disclosure: that was the only reply I read, after that - I was exhausted... (oh, and he is, as stated, Linux biased... ) It still agree with him all the way on knowing Linux even if you are in an MS shop.
I'm an IT geek since 1993 professionally. Good luck and as he said, find something and get passionate about it. For me it was coding, db stuff mostly and systems integration stuff that people would say "can't be done." I made a career out of doing stuff in house IT departments were either unable or unwilling to do.

 

[Hop]

My IBM Domino server / Lotus Notes Certs kept me very busy with a very fun (to me at least) database and email support role. I was one of only a handful of field guys certified to have access to the mail servers. We migrated to Outlook on the cloud. I'm still in field support but most of the corporate messaging team is gone. Do not put all your eggs in one basket.

 

[fullmetaljesus]

I haven't read all of this just yet but it may be handy once you get rolling.

Expert Ethical Hacking Tutorial & Tools - Kali Linux Expert

 

[Ruffnek]

I haven't read all of this just yet but it may be handy once you get rolling.

Expert Ethical Hacking Tutorial & Tools - Kali Linux Expert

Thanks! That looks like a good foundation. I'm still waiting to hear back from Ivy Tech but I'm brushing up on the basics that I've forgotten since high school.

 

[Ruffnek]

I haven't read all of this just yet but it may be handy once you get rolling.

Expert Ethical Hacking Tutorial & Tools - Kali Linux Expert

Thanks! That looks like a good foundation. I'm still waiting to hear back from Ivy Tech but I'm brushing up on the basics that I've forgotten since high school.

 

[jamil]

I'm sure I'll definitely be asking a lot of questions and possibly looking for career advise once the course is complete. I just hope I'm computer literate enough not to get lost on day one.

If the course is designed to teach the subject without requiring students have already learned foundational principles, you'll be fine. However, if you find yourself not understanding things, you may have to spend more time studying the things you don't understand.

Oh. And Expat is right. Who uses Nano? Everyone knows vi. But. Here's a dirty little secret. Command line text editors suck. They all suck. Some suck slightly less than others. Nano and vi both suck fairly similarly. It's just that most people know the vi suck. However, joe is probably one of the least sucky command line editors. Mind you, still only slightly less sucky than the others. But still less sucky. It's less suckiness, alas, is far overcome by it's lack of availability. It doesn't come on most linux distros and the network engineers at companies are snooty bastards, and won't just let you just install anything you want on their hardware. Especially something they've never heard of. Just about everyone I tell about joe just says, "who's joe?" Whatever. So vi. It's what they know.

 

[Ruffnek]

Oh. And Expat is right. Who uses Nano? Everyone knows vi. But. Here's a dirty little secret. Command line text editors suck. They all suck. Some suck slightly less than others. Nano and vi both suck fairly similarly. It's just that most people know the vi suck. However, joe is probably one of the least sucky command line editors. Mind you, still only slightly less sucky than the others. But still less sucky. It's less suckiness, alas, is far overcome by it's lack of availability. It doesn't come on most linux distros and the network engineers at companies are snooty bastards, and won't just let you just install anything you want on their hardware. Especially something they've never heard of. Just about everyone I tell about joe just says, "who's joe?" Whatever. So vi. It's what they know.

One day I aspire to understand this statement.

 

[Expat]

And if you are going to be doing text editing on other people’s server, you have to know how to use a text editor that is going to be on every computer you visit. Knowing vi ups your odds. Just like you have to know bash and the c shell might be useful. When you are in a Unix/Linux environment, check out the man pages. Some of them are very helpful, informative and well written. Some aren’t.

 

[fullmetaljesus]

One day I aspire to understand this statement.

There was a fair amount of rambling going on in that post, but it boils down to:

Think of a command line text editor like notepad on your computer just with out all the graphical interface. No mouse no menus to click on. You get a basically blank screen and a curser to type.

Now much like in Windows there are lots if text editors.
Notepad
Notepad++
Word
Word pad
Etc

In Linux the most well known are

Vi
Vim
Nano
Emacs

Typically this turns into a "Glock vs 1911" style debate. Lots of chest beating

"Rawr Vi I'd best!!"
"No! You fool! Nano is best!"
"Hurry Durr I hate myself so I use emacs. Yay me"

Jamil also spoke about another text editor called "joe" from the early 90s initially designed for UNIX systems.

Unix is basically very similar to Linux. It's a command line driven multiuser operating system.

Fun fact. The Mac OS(operating system) is also based on Unix. Making Linux and Mac(OS) cousins. (Kinda)


Personally, I prefer 1911's over Glock and nano over vi.

I would suggest any linux using person to use vi for 2 weeks and then nano for 2 weeks and then make your decision.

 

[Cameramonkey]

I'm actually fond of Pico. Probably because I started using Pine for email and learned it forward and back. So switching to Pico was natural for me. (pico is the editing subsystem of the pine mail program)

Granted I dont do much linux, so I do tend to have to struggle through vi from time to time. Damn that is NOT a user friendly tool. Especially if you are a casual user who opens it twice a year. (or less)