Preparation is key : Career Planning Part 1

It had been 6 years after leaving IT in college before I finally made the leap back into it.  In the mean time I did nothing IT related.  I worked for a small business working in their office.  My IT experience in those years was mostly restricted to fixing a jammed printer or removing the occasional virus.  I am not sure what finally flipped the switch and pushed me back into IT, but I have some ideas:

• A desire to learn something new
• Wanting more money (Part time doesn't exactly pay a lot)
• Wanting a greater challenge
• Wanting to be around technology

Regardless of the actual reason, I began looking at different paths to get back into IT.  I was fortunate, in that there was a local computer recycler called Free Geek near me.  They have multiple offerings in the way of volunteering, everything from their receiving dock to interning at their Help Desk (i'll write more about my experience there in another post).

Through some miracle (seriously, I had had NO IT experience in the past few years) I landed a position as an unpaid intern at their Help Desk.  I worked 8 hours a weeks, in two four hours shifts.  All the training was hands on and on the fly.  I learned everything from some Linux command line to how to field a call to how to build a computer from nothing.  True, I had some of these skills before, but getting the opportunity to work with other nerds was a huge boost.  In addition to this internship I also volunteered building computers, which gave me a solid base for my certifications.

After a month or two of volunteering I began looking for a paying IT gig.  I submitted dozens of resumes to Craigslist ads, and several directly to companies (Nike and the like).  The only reply to any of them was a phone interview which turned into a part time job working at an IT consulting company.  It was tiny, a handful of employees, but it paid!  During this time I had begun to study for my Network+ (a friend had a copy of the book so I started here instead of A+, where most folks start.  Also, Professor Messer was, and still is, a godsend!), which I obtained in November of that year.

This job, like my previous one in an office, was also part time.  This was nice since it allowed me a lot of time to study and pursue other pursuits, but it still wasn't enough.  The company I was with still wasn't offering me enough, it was simply too small.  I began looking for ways to expand; I was still volunteering, not interning anymore build working in their Build program, and finally found an IT recruiter who helped me out...

Stay tuned for Part 2!