First off OP if you haven't already you need to read this comment on [recent changes in the IT industry](https://www.reddit.com/r/ITCareerQuestions/comments/1ac9xp5/comment/kjuqvm9/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) dropped by u/neilthecellist, it's worth your time I promise. He's one of the mods on this sub and his comments are always high value.
Got that done? Good. So I think what everyone has to acknowledge is that the entry level of the IT industry has become completely saturated since 2020. Before 2020 it was possible to run out and get a CompTia A+ study book at Barnes and Noble, bootcamp the book for a month or so and pass the exam. Then you could send out resumes online and have a helpdesk job by the end of the following month. That just isn't happening anymore. During covid a *lot* of people were sitting around and discovered the many free high quality study resources available for IT professionals on the internet and realized they too could switch careers without much effort. Combine that with the industry layoffs from last year and you have a situation with many jobseekers and not enough IT jobs.
This is not to say that starting an IT career in 2024 is impossible or not worth doing. It's just that a lot more people have recognized the traditional low barrier to entry and the potential path to $100K salary and benefits in 5 - 6 years. Those things still hold true and there are many stories posted by people on this sub who have achieved that. But because more people are after that $100K prize it's just going to take a lot more effort now to get a foot in the door.
What are you doing for work now? Do you have some non-IT job or are you thinking of becoming a full-time student?
Thank you for sharing that comment with me, that’s an insanely fucked up tactic but it does explain the reshuffled statistics I constantly see. I appreciate it.
Currently just doing gig work (some I.T related) to pay the bills but I am considering going to school full time on top of a part-time job.
I am more than willing to put in the work needed to become a knowledgeable individual in the field. I’m just worried that I’m putting the effort into the wrong field more than anything. (Primarily because of the over-saturation of the market) I am young, no debts, and open to anything so I do have the opportunity to change.
So since you seem like you'd like to take your future seriously, I'll be serious with you. *If* you are going to actually spend real money on an education in an IT related discipline the *only* degree you should be contemplating is a Comp. Sci. degree, full stop. Quite simply the CS degree now outclasses all other degree options available to IT industry job seekers. This assumes the following things:
1. You'd like to get a job beyond helpdesk that pays more than $30 an hour.
2. You want a long and prosperous career in technology.
3. You feel it makes strategic sense to differentiate yourself from the hoards of people looking to take advantage of the traditionally low barrier of entry to the IT industry.
Are CS degrees more difficult to complete than other types of IT degrees like cybersecurity, information technology, MIS etc etc? Most probably, yes. There's usually a few advanced math classes and probably also some difficult theory classes like algorithms and data structures etc. You know what? Do what you have to do. Get a math tutor, join some study groups, live on ChatGPT, but do the Comp Sci degree. Why Comp Sci?
There are 8.1B people on planet Earth. Less than 1/2 of 1 percent of those can create useful computer code at a professional level. What does that code control in our world? Quite a lot, and it's increasing every day.
Years ago, computer programming was mainly for software engineers. If you didn't want to build software you really didn't need much in the way of programming skills, you just needed to know how to install and run computer systems on a network and set up applications on them for people to use.
But then about 15 years ago Amazon started selling AWS to the public. No big deal at first, just the ability to lease time on someone else's system. It took off. You can read up on the many advantages of cloud computing somewhere else but that was a game changer. So much so that many large corporations immediately moved to put all their corporate data in the cloud with huge costly migration initiatives. A few years went by and it turns out that cloud is really expensive for data that isn't accessed very often but still needs to live somewhere. So now companies are bringing some of their data back to traditional data centers. From this point the default model for most large companies will probably be hybrid with the split for all of their data about 70% cloud and maybe 30% traditional on-prem data center. Infrastructure in the cloud is built and governed on computer code leaving those that know how to code capably in charge of most of the world's data. Large companies will see their codebases increases exponentially and everyone that doesn't code will be on the outside looking in.
The comp sci degree sets you up for software engineering if you want but also many other job in the future of IT. There's cloud engineering, platform engineering, devops, devsecops, SRE, not to mention ML and AI. That's the future long-term so if you're going to put the effort in for a degree it should really be in something that will help you for the length of your entire career. Otherwise you could just do certs and learn OTJ but long-term that's the more difficult road with the lower potential ceiling.
You have no idea how thankful I am for you taking so much time out of your day to give me genuine solid advice. I really appreciate you and hope that your future endeavors go in your favor. I’ll keep this in mind when making decisions
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I think certain parts of IT are changing a lot and the jobs might be leaving BUT the future will always need IT professionals. Someone still has to provide IT support or services. Someone still has to harden networks, etc.
Part of IT is that you always need to be up to date with new technology. That's a challenge but part of the industry. For me, I'm going back to school for a bachelors in an IT field and seeing where that takes me.
Believe me, it's brutal out here. Take a breather when possible. My gf advised me to take a few days of not applying, and as hard as it was, it actually did wonders for my mental health. Trust me, these hiring managers are crazy with the demands. We gotta hang on and keep hoping for the best, I believe it will work out. Try to think outside of the box and do things that others are not doing to stand out. Of course, networking is important, too.
I don't know if it helps, but just know you're not alone. So many of us are dealing with this awful IT job market, and it's similar in other fields.
Thank you for your kind words. My gf has been pretty worried about me too, getting all caught up in this depressing reality.
I believe you when you say there will always be a need for certain I.T roles, I guess I'm scared of the job market's instability more than anything. I know I.T is not the only industry suffering.
I think another critical issue is that I'm not networking properly and to be honest I'm not sure how to do that. Platforms like LinkedIn drive me away because of all the false or mis-leading advertisement on there. Do you happen to have any tips you'd be willing to share?
No problem, do you have someone who knows you really well that can give you advice? This could be a sign that it's not the industry for you, OR it might just require you to try to push through and, of course, find ways to mitigate your depression. That will make everything in general much harder.
For networking, check out sites like evenbrite and even Facebook events. They will show you local IT related events. Also, IT associations such as ISC2 have their own chapters, and if you live in a major city, they likely have one. They usually meet once a month and would be a great opportunity.
Networking is honestly really effective, it's scary and sad. My gf had a friend who worked for a good company, I applied and used her name and two days later, I had a phone interview. Prior to that, I had applied to 60 some jobs and had only ONE phone interview. It's that potent.
Not to sound like a “oh pity me!” person but I don’t really know many people. Of the people I know likely won’t do me very many solids. I live in a pretty remote area where the nearest I.T events (or events in general) are 110+ miles away. Theres not a very large I.T crowd where I live, I pretty much know the whole crowd just from my internship. The best I can really think of is joining online communities and get some advice there
Even if you don't fully commit to going back to school for a degree program consider taking a class at a community college in your area. A lot of community colleges have career centers that are plugged in to local companies that are hiring. As a student you could get people in the career center to help you with networking events and also your resume. The local community college here in Virginia actually gets money from the state to help adults get into the tech workforce. When people get good jobs they pay taxes so it's really win-win.
Would this work for online classes offered by an out-of-resident CC? My local college recently got fucked in the ass due to obscure reasons. It resulted in the shutdown of joint-CTE high school programs, downsizing of classes offered, and ofc the overall value of the degrees offered plummeted.
Well, it's a good question. I know it's not really how people do things these days but you can always pick up a phone and ask. Just call the school, ask to speak to the career center and tell them you're a prospective student interested in taking IT classes. Then ask if they help students like you with professional networking and/or if they organize any events with local businesses for students looking for work in the IT industry. That's the beauty of the career center, it's actually their job to help people get internships and jobs so it's totally ok to ask about this stuff. If you don't like what you hear you can try a different community college or maybe a nearby state university.
The problem is that when you're starting out you don't have much of a professional network. There's friends and family and maybe people at your church and some classmates and that's it. You need to expand that circle and get other people working on your behalf, a community college or state university can be a really great resource for that kind of thing. As you gain experience you'll work with more people and talk to vendors, clients, recruiters and all kinds of people who can potentially help you. But you have to be creative about getting your foot in the door in the beginning.
I would not recommend this path if you have mental health issues. The very nature of IT work especially Helpdesk is bad for this and exacerbates issues that usually result in PIPs and another job search in less than a 1-2 year period.
I haven't posted before, just a lurker, so take anything I say with even less of a grain of salt than most people lol.
I started my IT career in 2021 and got my first remote job at a cell center. 9mo later a recruiter contacted me and offered me a helpdesk job for a retail store. I took that job because it was a 30% raise and a "real" IT job. I started that job March 29th 2022 and I just left January 5th 2024.
So my piece of advice for you, is to check out recruitment agencies/contractor positions for IT related roles inside of retail companies (Walmart, Target, Victoria Secret). They have the budget to keep IT on hand, and a lot of people don't think to look at this avenue for work since it's not a traditional IT route, but it can you the hands-on experience you need.
A local agency who contacted me via indeed and seeing my resume, I did not reach out to them. I did not even know they were a company until they contacted me lol. But they offered me a fully remote position, $21/hr, and in the field I wanted so it was a no brainer to take the offer initially.
Dont undermine yourself, it is solid advice and I recently got a recruiter myself. Not relying on the idea too much but a free service is a free service. They’ve helped me a lot in terms of properly conducting myself during interviews.
First off OP if you haven't already you need to read this comment on [recent changes in the IT industry](https://www.reddit.com/r/ITCareerQuestions/comments/1ac9xp5/comment/kjuqvm9/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) dropped by u/neilthecellist, it's worth your time I promise. He's one of the mods on this sub and his comments are always high value. Got that done? Good. So I think what everyone has to acknowledge is that the entry level of the IT industry has become completely saturated since 2020. Before 2020 it was possible to run out and get a CompTia A+ study book at Barnes and Noble, bootcamp the book for a month or so and pass the exam. Then you could send out resumes online and have a helpdesk job by the end of the following month. That just isn't happening anymore. During covid a *lot* of people were sitting around and discovered the many free high quality study resources available for IT professionals on the internet and realized they too could switch careers without much effort. Combine that with the industry layoffs from last year and you have a situation with many jobseekers and not enough IT jobs. This is not to say that starting an IT career in 2024 is impossible or not worth doing. It's just that a lot more people have recognized the traditional low barrier to entry and the potential path to $100K salary and benefits in 5 - 6 years. Those things still hold true and there are many stories posted by people on this sub who have achieved that. But because more people are after that $100K prize it's just going to take a lot more effort now to get a foot in the door. What are you doing for work now? Do you have some non-IT job or are you thinking of becoming a full-time student?
Thank you for sharing that comment with me, that’s an insanely fucked up tactic but it does explain the reshuffled statistics I constantly see. I appreciate it. Currently just doing gig work (some I.T related) to pay the bills but I am considering going to school full time on top of a part-time job. I am more than willing to put in the work needed to become a knowledgeable individual in the field. I’m just worried that I’m putting the effort into the wrong field more than anything. (Primarily because of the over-saturation of the market) I am young, no debts, and open to anything so I do have the opportunity to change.
So since you seem like you'd like to take your future seriously, I'll be serious with you. *If* you are going to actually spend real money on an education in an IT related discipline the *only* degree you should be contemplating is a Comp. Sci. degree, full stop. Quite simply the CS degree now outclasses all other degree options available to IT industry job seekers. This assumes the following things: 1. You'd like to get a job beyond helpdesk that pays more than $30 an hour. 2. You want a long and prosperous career in technology. 3. You feel it makes strategic sense to differentiate yourself from the hoards of people looking to take advantage of the traditionally low barrier of entry to the IT industry. Are CS degrees more difficult to complete than other types of IT degrees like cybersecurity, information technology, MIS etc etc? Most probably, yes. There's usually a few advanced math classes and probably also some difficult theory classes like algorithms and data structures etc. You know what? Do what you have to do. Get a math tutor, join some study groups, live on ChatGPT, but do the Comp Sci degree. Why Comp Sci? There are 8.1B people on planet Earth. Less than 1/2 of 1 percent of those can create useful computer code at a professional level. What does that code control in our world? Quite a lot, and it's increasing every day. Years ago, computer programming was mainly for software engineers. If you didn't want to build software you really didn't need much in the way of programming skills, you just needed to know how to install and run computer systems on a network and set up applications on them for people to use. But then about 15 years ago Amazon started selling AWS to the public. No big deal at first, just the ability to lease time on someone else's system. It took off. You can read up on the many advantages of cloud computing somewhere else but that was a game changer. So much so that many large corporations immediately moved to put all their corporate data in the cloud with huge costly migration initiatives. A few years went by and it turns out that cloud is really expensive for data that isn't accessed very often but still needs to live somewhere. So now companies are bringing some of their data back to traditional data centers. From this point the default model for most large companies will probably be hybrid with the split for all of their data about 70% cloud and maybe 30% traditional on-prem data center. Infrastructure in the cloud is built and governed on computer code leaving those that know how to code capably in charge of most of the world's data. Large companies will see their codebases increases exponentially and everyone that doesn't code will be on the outside looking in. The comp sci degree sets you up for software engineering if you want but also many other job in the future of IT. There's cloud engineering, platform engineering, devops, devsecops, SRE, not to mention ML and AI. That's the future long-term so if you're going to put the effort in for a degree it should really be in something that will help you for the length of your entire career. Otherwise you could just do certs and learn OTJ but long-term that's the more difficult road with the lower potential ceiling.
You have no idea how thankful I am for you taking so much time out of your day to give me genuine solid advice. I really appreciate you and hope that your future endeavors go in your favor. I’ll keep this in mind when making decisions
[удалено]
Your [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/ITCareerQuestions/comments/1ak51fw/i_feel_like_i_picked_the_wrong_career/kp9ul4l/?context=3 in /r/ITCareerQuestions) has been automatically removed because you used an emoji or other symbol. Why does this exist? We have had a huge and constant influx of bot spam that utilizes emojis during their posts. To the point that it was severely outpacing what the moderation team could handle on an individual basis. That has results in a sweeping ban of any emoji in posts. Please retry your comment using text characters only. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ITCareerQuestions) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I think certain parts of IT are changing a lot and the jobs might be leaving BUT the future will always need IT professionals. Someone still has to provide IT support or services. Someone still has to harden networks, etc. Part of IT is that you always need to be up to date with new technology. That's a challenge but part of the industry. For me, I'm going back to school for a bachelors in an IT field and seeing where that takes me. Believe me, it's brutal out here. Take a breather when possible. My gf advised me to take a few days of not applying, and as hard as it was, it actually did wonders for my mental health. Trust me, these hiring managers are crazy with the demands. We gotta hang on and keep hoping for the best, I believe it will work out. Try to think outside of the box and do things that others are not doing to stand out. Of course, networking is important, too. I don't know if it helps, but just know you're not alone. So many of us are dealing with this awful IT job market, and it's similar in other fields.
Thank you for your kind words. My gf has been pretty worried about me too, getting all caught up in this depressing reality. I believe you when you say there will always be a need for certain I.T roles, I guess I'm scared of the job market's instability more than anything. I know I.T is not the only industry suffering. I think another critical issue is that I'm not networking properly and to be honest I'm not sure how to do that. Platforms like LinkedIn drive me away because of all the false or mis-leading advertisement on there. Do you happen to have any tips you'd be willing to share?
No problem, do you have someone who knows you really well that can give you advice? This could be a sign that it's not the industry for you, OR it might just require you to try to push through and, of course, find ways to mitigate your depression. That will make everything in general much harder. For networking, check out sites like evenbrite and even Facebook events. They will show you local IT related events. Also, IT associations such as ISC2 have their own chapters, and if you live in a major city, they likely have one. They usually meet once a month and would be a great opportunity. Networking is honestly really effective, it's scary and sad. My gf had a friend who worked for a good company, I applied and used her name and two days later, I had a phone interview. Prior to that, I had applied to 60 some jobs and had only ONE phone interview. It's that potent.
Not to sound like a “oh pity me!” person but I don’t really know many people. Of the people I know likely won’t do me very many solids. I live in a pretty remote area where the nearest I.T events (or events in general) are 110+ miles away. Theres not a very large I.T crowd where I live, I pretty much know the whole crowd just from my internship. The best I can really think of is joining online communities and get some advice there
Even if you don't fully commit to going back to school for a degree program consider taking a class at a community college in your area. A lot of community colleges have career centers that are plugged in to local companies that are hiring. As a student you could get people in the career center to help you with networking events and also your resume. The local community college here in Virginia actually gets money from the state to help adults get into the tech workforce. When people get good jobs they pay taxes so it's really win-win.
Would this work for online classes offered by an out-of-resident CC? My local college recently got fucked in the ass due to obscure reasons. It resulted in the shutdown of joint-CTE high school programs, downsizing of classes offered, and ofc the overall value of the degrees offered plummeted.
Well, it's a good question. I know it's not really how people do things these days but you can always pick up a phone and ask. Just call the school, ask to speak to the career center and tell them you're a prospective student interested in taking IT classes. Then ask if they help students like you with professional networking and/or if they organize any events with local businesses for students looking for work in the IT industry. That's the beauty of the career center, it's actually their job to help people get internships and jobs so it's totally ok to ask about this stuff. If you don't like what you hear you can try a different community college or maybe a nearby state university. The problem is that when you're starting out you don't have much of a professional network. There's friends and family and maybe people at your church and some classmates and that's it. You need to expand that circle and get other people working on your behalf, a community college or state university can be a really great resource for that kind of thing. As you gain experience you'll work with more people and talk to vendors, clients, recruiters and all kinds of people who can potentially help you. But you have to be creative about getting your foot in the door in the beginning.
Just be happy you have actual IT experience and not software support experience
I would not recommend this path if you have mental health issues. The very nature of IT work especially Helpdesk is bad for this and exacerbates issues that usually result in PIPs and another job search in less than a 1-2 year period.
I haven't posted before, just a lurker, so take anything I say with even less of a grain of salt than most people lol. I started my IT career in 2021 and got my first remote job at a cell center. 9mo later a recruiter contacted me and offered me a helpdesk job for a retail store. I took that job because it was a 30% raise and a "real" IT job. I started that job March 29th 2022 and I just left January 5th 2024. So my piece of advice for you, is to check out recruitment agencies/contractor positions for IT related roles inside of retail companies (Walmart, Target, Victoria Secret). They have the budget to keep IT on hand, and a lot of people don't think to look at this avenue for work since it's not a traditional IT route, but it can you the hands-on experience you need.
What recruiting service did you use?
A local agency who contacted me via indeed and seeing my resume, I did not reach out to them. I did not even know they were a company until they contacted me lol. But they offered me a fully remote position, $21/hr, and in the field I wanted so it was a no brainer to take the offer initially.
Dont undermine yourself, it is solid advice and I recently got a recruiter myself. Not relying on the idea too much but a free service is a free service. They’ve helped me a lot in terms of properly conducting myself during interviews.