IT certificates and AWS
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Anonymous
| I have no experience in IT. Is it a stupid idea to start getting various certifications and/or take AWS courses? Will I stand a chance to get a job or should I just go to school and get a masters degree? (I have bachelor in science, but haven’t worked in the field). Majority of my experience is subbing and childcare… thanks for honest opinions and advise. I don’t really know what I want to do, but would like to eventually work from home and be flexible |
Anonymous
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Some of the Microsoft Fundamentals certificates are pretty good, like the one for Azure or for Security, Compliance, and Identity. They are not too difficult or expensive to obtain. They look good on the LinkedIn profile.
But they will in no way be a stepping stone to an IT career. They'd be good for moving into a F/T office job. As far as a graduate degree goes, my advice these days is to only consider it if it is absolutely required. 2 years out of the workforce for a full-time master's program, $50,000+ in student loans, the opportunity cost of not working all weigh against it. Also, many people start but do not finish, which would make it completely useless...and you'd still need to pay the loans. |
Anonymous
| With courses, you might be able to get an entry level job, degree is better. |
Anonymous
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Some of these certifications are not easy. AWS Cloud Practitioner is the most basic and not easy.
Look at junior QA or technical writing positions. They require good writing skills and do not necessarily require you to be technical. Look for project analyst where you are admin type to learn more about IT projects. |
Anonymous
| OP how old are you? |
Anonymous
I’m in my mid 30’s. I was home for a while, raising family. I still have an option to stay home and get my degree/certificates… I just want to find a job with the possibility of growth. Most of the jobs available to someone like me (out of workforce) are dead end jobs with low pay. Not worth it, as I still have to work around my kids’ schedule. |
Anonymous
Thank you. So what would be a stepping stone to IT career? |
Anonymous
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I have worked in IT for 30+ years and hold no certifications. Honestly, no one has ever asked about them in interviews. I am pretty general, however, and have mostly worked in smaller organizations. I do networking, Unix admin, automation, etc. I think that most of these certifications are pretty useless without the experience (or at least education) to go along with them.
OP: do you have any interest in IT at all? If not, just stop right now. If so, are you interested in programming, networking, databases, web development, etc.? These are all very different career paths, and the work will be very different at a large company or a small one. People in this OP's position (who have no experience with and know nothing about information technology, but "want to work in IT") generally end up as project managers or agile scrum masters (or whatever the buzzword of the day is), in my experience. A few of them are actually good, but most are just an impediment to progress. I think that the "technical writer" suggestion above is good--if OP has writing skills, that might be something to pursue. Sales might be another option, since most IT people (myself included) are not especially personable. If OP is interested in more technical work, it might be a good idea to get a job (any job) at a smaller company and express an interest in learning about and moving into the area of interest. That would give OP a chance to learn about the work and try it and see if it might actually be interesting. Note that there is a fair amount of age-ism in IT. Rightly or wrongly, no one is going to hire a 60-year-old AWS architect. A 60-year-old COBOL programmer or mainframe expert has a good chance, but only with decades of experience. |
Anonymous
| OP could also look into data science. I don't know too much about that field but it seems that people even into their 40s are finding jobs in that area. |
Anonymous
| These aren't something that on their own are going to get you a job. There are some Google career certifications that are cheaper and more geared at people making career transitions. |
Anonymous
There are 800,000 cheap h1xbs and 400,000 opxts taking entry level jobs. Forget it Call your political reps and ask them to repeal the job outsourcing visas |
Anonymous
This is why you have no chance. Millions of h1xbs waiting for green cards Courtesy of your own gov https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/lawmakers-in-us-address-green-card-backlog-h-1b-issues-at-immigration-summit-101710237628161.html?utm_source=ht_site_copyURL&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ht_site |
Anonymous
This is why you have so many 401k millionaires. But I don't know how long our model will hold though. We have been so good at finding cheaper labour via both outsourcing and insourcing. |