How did you get started in IT?
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Pinging on this as it is a good topic and it would be great to see new stories coming out of it.
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I've always been into electronics and how things work. My first real summer job in HS (apart from yardwork / babysitting etc) was a student position setting up a CAP (Community Access Program) site, basically a gov't sponsored location where people could get online or get general computer and internet exposure. From there it was a long and winding road through an attempt at university (2 yrs) and a 7 year run doing customer service and tech support in a couple of different call centers. Due to "restructuring" I was able to return to school with gov't assistance and did a 2 yr college program in Networking and Security..... Got into Linux because I got fed up with having to fight with windows and overpriced software, cut my teeth on Slackware back in 2004 or so.
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@Bill-Kindle said in How did you get started in IT?:
handed me a CD and that boot floppy said good luck and to make sure I brought back his CD.
But did you give back the CD or not? Five years is far too long to leave us hanging.
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My story: I studied nuclear science, I loved my classes... yes that's a song but it's actually true so I said it that way. What's funny is during that time I was doing some computer stuff for people, learning to program for fun on my own time, and then because people stopped making nuclear weapons I ended up getting a job programming for one of the world's largest ISPs (more like an internet gateway at the time) working on their new fangled Instant Messaging system, then I did some other IT work after I was downsized because management was absolutely stupid in every possible way. I realised I could make more money doing it myself than working for someone else and it went from there. It came easier to me than it does a lot of people and I'm not sure why. The only certifications I ever got were because an employer wanted me to or because in some cases vendors required one for some dumbass reason.
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@tonyshowoff said in How did you get started in IT?:
world's largest ISPs (more like an internet gateway at the time)
Was it AOL?
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@coliver said in How did you get started in IT?:
@tonyshowoff said in How did you get started in IT?:
world's largest ISPs (more like an internet gateway at the time)
Was it AOL?
Ssh, it's a secret
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@coliver said in How did you get started in IT?:
@tonyshowoff said in How did you get started in IT?:
world's largest ISPs (more like an internet gateway at the time)
Was it AOL?
It's like SOL, but one step worse.
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@Katie said in How did you get started in IT?:
How did you get started in IT? Was that always a career goal?
At professional events I meet a interesting mix of people who have either always gone in for IT or related fields such as computer science, and then there is the more intriguing set of folks who never intended to do IT to begin with. Personally IT was never a career goal for me, but something I fell into during college.What's your story?
I started here at this website Mangolassit
before that I did a few A+classes in Middle School/highschool.
from there I went to ML and have been learning ever since.I got started in the Job im in now because i have "Superb Customer service" according the my boss- who was a regular at the gas station i worked at.
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@WrCombs best place to start!
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@scottalanmiller said in How did you get started in IT?:
@WrCombs best place to start!
Definitely, I had to use my body to get to the top of IT.
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@tonyshowoff said in How did you get started in IT?:
@scottalanmiller said in How did you get started in IT?:
@WrCombs best place to start!
Definitely, I had to use my body to get to the top of IT.
Never even thought about doing that
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@scottalanmiller said in How did you get started in IT?:
@WrCombs best place to start!
Where was mangolassi in 1997 when I needed you?
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My Journey:
I remember I was in primary school, not many friends as was quite a shy kid, moved around a lot and didn't get on well with school really, education was quite impacted at that time. I didn't have many interests at that age either.
I started going to after school computer club, I started learning basic MS-Dos commands and I was eventually given admin privileges to access dos and windows games that other class mates couldn't access. I was really into a program called Superbase 4 for windows at the time, I found quite an interest in creating tables and forms for some strange reason, I think I created a movie database and music database at the time lol. The network was the old BNC type connection, that if you pulled one cable from a machine the other machines would lose network access, students used to pull that trick all the time and had to go around all machines to see which one was disconnected, I remember we still had some monitors that had green screens, it was windows 3.0 that we were using.
My uncle worked in IT in London for a company called Dudley in the 90's, he managed to get me my first computer which was an 8086 with the 5.25 disks, it was a big old thing and distinctively remember the big orange flip switch power button on the side, I was about 8 or 9 at that time. I then was given another machine at about 12-13 which was a 386sx. My machine after that was rented from a company called radio rentals in the UK, I was about 14 and was a grey Olivetti 486DX2 66 and had a turbo button lol, I remember it originally had windows 3.11 and I managed to get a windows 95 CD
I did a work based training IT course when I left school for about a year, but left due to personal issues at that age, moved into a hostel when I was 16 and lost some interest in using computers, due to issues at the time.
I got back into computers a few years later in my early twenties and took over a local computer shop, called "Computer Bits"
started building gaming machines, fixing laptop screens, all the usual break and fix type stuff, most machines were still running windows 98SE at that time. I also started learning html and started creating basic websites for customers. I did this for quite a few years but obviously this industry started to get quieter with the release of smartphones and tablets. I Could see things starting to change and started focusing more on the business/networking side of things and started learning AD etc.I'm now approaching 37 and wondering where the time has gone lol, although I still have my love for computers and have recently in the last few years started to take quite acceptance to Linux, I think its a bit of a nostalgic reason as well from using the CLI in the old days. I think witnessing pretty much every windows release, it started going wrong after windows 7. I still love learning new things, and I believe no one in IT knows everything...there is always something new to learn which Is why I've always found an interest with computers.
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I was 26 and working in a warehouse (been in different warehouse jobs since I was 18). My work computer's OS was corrupted and bogged down (XP) and I had to ship it to corp to get it reloaded. I was fascinated how it was completely restored. I spoke to the IT guy on the phone about what he did to fix it. I told him I wanted to learn how to do that. He gave me the fundamentals on what to study. I checked ITT tech out and gladly ditched them due to the cost. Took courses at a local community college (Paid by my company), started doing computer repair on the side, including anything my manager had me do internally. Our company was outsourcing our work to Germany and was soon to close down, and our IT guy said I should apply for an IT job. I said I can't, because I don't have experience. He said what you've been doing is experience, put it on your resume. I did, and got a help desk position in a fortune 500 company. I've been in my company for 3 years and have advanced my tech and communication skills tremendously. So glad I didn't go to ITT tech!
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Great to hear so many stories.
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First computer was a Gateway running Windows ME, I didn't have a choice...
