Newbie in Egypt Looking to Break Into IT Professionally

Barakat

@Minion-Queen i have Dell Laptop , core i7 , 8Gb Ram , i am running Windows and Linux ,

scottalanmiller

i love linux , and Networking , but as i said am unclear where to start

Well, you are likely to always do best at what you enjoy. So Linux and Networking are good places to start. Networking I am not the expert, but the basic starting point is the CompTIA Network+ certification and most everyone agrees that after that the Cisco CCNA is a very good follow up certification.

Linux is easier. The Network+ is still very good to have, I actually recommend that as an entry level cert to anyone looking at an IT career. It's the base certification for the industry and covers stuff that everyone in IT and really, any computer power user, should know. So always good to have.

Linux you can install at home and start using in an home lab. I'm writing a book on Linux System Administration that would be a good starting point too since it is free and it is here in the community so that you can ask questions and follow along as other people work through it too.

Minion Queen

Do you have a good internet connection from home to work in a lab situation?

scottalanmiller

Here is my book: "SAM on Linux Systems Administration"

Barakat

@Minion-Queen said:

Do you have a good internet connection from home to work in a lab situation?

reply

yes i can handle that

Barakat

@scottalanmiller You are Really a Great Man

Barakat

what about Security field ?!

scottalanmiller

@Barakat said:

what about Security field ?!

It's a myth.

scottalanmiller

http://mangolassi.it/topic/5314/are-security-careers-real

http://mangolassi.it/topic/5953/so-there-is-no-shortage-of-security-experts-after-all

Barakat

@scottalanmiller
Thank you too much , i will read about both Networking and Security
, then decide which one to dive into

and if i has any question i know the way

scottalanmiller

Doing projects at home will be huge for you. Take your Linux systems and just build one thing after another. Web servers, databases, monitoring, logging, virtualization, etc.

Barakat

@scottalanmiller said:

Doing projects at home will be huge for you. Take your Linux systems and just build one thing after another. Web servers, databases, monitoring, logging, virtualization, etc.

reply

Ok , i can start with Fedora workstation or what ?!

scottalanmiller

Start with CentOS 7 Minimal Install, no desktop.

Barakat

@scottalanmiller said:

CentOS 7 Minimal Install

Virtual Machine ?!

Dashrender

if you're looking at IT, I'd stick with traditional server style OSs - CentOS for example. Fedora is more for the desktop as I understand it.

Barakat

@Dashrender what about networking ?

scottalanmiller

@Dashrender said:

Fedora is more for the desktop as I understand it.

Desktop or research. Well used by CentOS people to test features ahead of release. But mostly for engineers, not admins.

dafyre

@Dashrender said:

if you're looking at IT, I'd stick with traditional server style OSs - CentOS for example. Fedora is more for the desktop as I understand it.

The latest releases of Fedora include a Server-only install. However, I'd still recommend sticking with CentOS.

Dashrender

@Barakat said:

@Dashrender what about networking ?

what about it?

You want to learn it?

I'm not sure what you have access to as far as something like eBay - but you can find all kinds of used switches online that would be a good place to start.

Also, you could just build virtual switches inside a hypervisor.

scottalanmiller

Networking is definitely much harder to break in to less formally than systems fields, also much lower demand for it.