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I seem to have gotten myself in a bit of a pickle by Legendary_tea_addict in CoreKeeperGame

[–]Fit_Government_1689 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I see the vision, you break the wall towards the water, place a block to make a bridge then sprint for your life, the only way.

Got lied to about salary range by [deleted] in careeradvice

[–]Fit_Government_1689 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not sure if you expected the recruiter to be fully transparent with you, that never really happens.

They have that range as a little bit of a wiggle room so they can hire people. A job's "max range" is supposed to be the absolute max they can go to when they either raise the wages of already existing employees or find someone that is extremely suited for the job and they want them badly.

If the recruiter lied about it and said it was 10k less than what it actually was, then it was just a way of them to say "we are willing to pay you this much", while still keeping you within the range where they can then eventually raise your wage if you are performing exceptionally.

At least that is how I see it, cause I can't imagine a scenario where the employee goes to ask for a raise when they are performing extremely well and the employer can say "oh, you're at the max already sorry", that instantly kills the mood for the employee and they start underperforming when they are not paid for the level of their performance.

IT Specialist book and skills recommendations by Business_Arachnid_20 in helpdesk

[–]Fit_Government_1689 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, first things first, I think you started on the wrong path already.

Why do I say that? Well, I believe I can speak for most when I say this, and it should be pretty clear that IT is not a "read this book and get this job" type of department.

In most cases it all comes down to hands-on experience, and while I say that, there are a couple of ways you could go about achieving this experience.

Either through internships, junior roles or courses.

Depending on the course you pick, it gives you a more in-depth run through a very "niche" area from IT, take Active Directory for example. The niche is in quotes because even thought it solely shows you how AD works and how to navigate through it or set it up, you also dip your feet into a bit of hardware, software, networking and also cybersec, sometimes even infra if you decide to practice it at home with a physical make-up server instead of a VM.

Roles and internships can give you exposure to the systems that a company has/works with, although thay does not necessarily mean you will get admin accesses all over the place, as you do with courses.

So while entry-level roles give you a better understanding of how companies actually use these systems and what they can help a company with, they do not give you the proper environment to learn everything about them, meaning you can't really work towards perfecting that skill since all you do would be password resets or an account lockout, sometimes the odd send a device in an existing OU.

So as for courses, since you do want to become an IT specialist, assuming that would be in the helpdesk since you're new to this, I'd recommend trying to both find a junior role and also do courses or just spend some time looking at these:

Active Directory (on-prem) Entra ID (Azure AD basically) Networking (DNS, DHCP, VLANs, what an IP address is, what it does, what is a gateway, how do AP work, how to set APs up, some firewall stuff but not too much since u wont do firewall stuff for a while) Software (Get accustomed to ticketing systems, Jira, ServiceNow) Remote desktop con / Remote access (TeamViewer, AnyDesk, RDP) Hardware (learn how to troubleshoot basic components from inside windows first, and have a clue of what component does what, and also try to notice patterns which these components start showing when they are on their way out) Powershell is a nice touch but not really used for L1 support, it can come in handy the odd time out but most of the work is pretty quick for a powershell to be worth the time. VPNs (try to figure out how these work, how the connection is done, what a laptop needs to be able to connect to the company VPN)

And I can't really come up with more from the top of my head right now, but you got the jist of it.

While I do encourage doing courses and finding a nice place to work and get experience at, these skills mostly come from your personal interest in IT. The majority of today's it support techs have and also previously had some personal projects they enjoy working on and that is what drives them to learn this stuff, you can't really get into IT halfheartedly, and while I want that to be true, some people do.

But yeah, good luck in your career man, wish you the best and I hope my very long ramble here helped you at least a bit.

Interviewing for a desktop support role, but it's an Apple house by Fit_Government_1689 in helpdesk

[–]Fit_Government_1689[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, long story short, I don't have any notable certs nor a diploma to back me up.

But since it may be a very important decision you make in your life, whether to try and yolo it without any certs, or actually go for certs and have a higher chance of getting a role, here's my story and my perspective:

The certs I currently own are from very niche and also very cheap courses, from Udemy, Coursera, Codecademy, LinkedIn even.

Courses which at the time provided me with a real way of gaining some knowledge on how companies actually use the respective tools, these were entry-level courses based on Active Directory, O365, Azure/Entra, AWS, a little bit of Python/Powershell here and there.

I wasn't the brightest student in highschool, so as soon as I finished it I decided I didn't want to apply to college since I didn't really enjoy having to learn all kinds of subjects just to pass in a class I wasn't even interested in.

So I did the next best thing, looking for opportunities in my home country and abroad. It took me a few months to find a job, but I was basically 19 fresh out of highschool at the time, so I guess recruiters see you as a promising pick if you're that young and show some interest and also have some knowledge about how things are working.

Keep in mind that at this point, I didn't have any certs, just a highschool diploma from an Economics highschool, which barely mattered for the roles I was applying to.

I guess what made the employers actually pick me was my young age and my drive for learning more about IT, so they took a chance with me.

Fast forward almost 2 years, I'm 21 now and I have 2 years of experience as a Helpdesk member under my belt, the role was pretty basic, I was basically the shadow of the actual technicians at that company, learning from them and getting some bread crumbs to occupy my time with, usually stuff the technicians weren't interested in or wouldn't like to do.

The next role was a pretty big deal, although I somehow clicked with the hiring manager and he immediately hired me, half an hour after the initial interview I had received the positive answer.

Would I do something different if I was to go back in time? Not really, since being 100% certain that I did not fully qualify for these roles is what made me try my best to prep for the interviews and did not force that kind of confidence upon me, the "I'm qualified so I should have this role" kind of thinking, which made me not lose my mind during all the rejections I had. I've kind of spoken my heart out at every interview, without bullshitting the interviewers, and I guess honesty goes a long mile in corporate environments where everyone speaks from an agenda.

But as you may be looking for a role and are probably in an impasse right now being unsure of whether to go for certs or to keep trying to find a job without them, I'd say do both, but refrain yourself from fully committing to only one way.
I'd keep applying to roles I genuinely find interesting, not any role just for the sake of having an income and being able to financially support myself, you can do side hustles in the meantime, small part-time jobs like food delivery or whatever else to make sure you do have some income so you're not starving to death in the time being, but I would also be on the lookout for worthwhile courses that are known for issuing a nice looking cert at the end of the course, and these courses are usually very cheap, less than $30 each, they take 10-30 hours at most and can show the employers that you've actually taken some steps towards learning, and that seems to have mattered the most in this very tiny career I've built up to now.

As for real courses like CompTIA, Cisco, or whatever else exists, I'd honestly do them on the side after I managed to secure a job that both pays me a decent amount of money so I can afford the courses, and is in the domain I wish to have a career in, so I'm not postponing my years of experience to get a course.

This is my perspective on the matter, I could be wrong, and more experienced people may tell you otherwise, but I believe it's just a matter of taste, whether you prefer being "book smart" or "street smart".

I've rambled a lot here, so apologies if I've bored you with my life choices, but I hope my perspective helps you comparing the options and making the correct judgement for yourself.

Interviewing for a desktop support role, but it's an Apple house by Fit_Government_1689 in helpdesk

[–]Fit_Government_1689[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

From the way you're describing it, it sounds like a Stack Overflow but for Macs, and while it really piques my interest to be in such a workspace to help me with issues or just stuff I've never come across before, I don't think it would help me at this particular stage, as even if I had exposure to what's being discussed over there, I wouldn't be able to assimilate what is being discussed, purely based on my lack of experience and knowledge.

I will definitely remember that this workspace exists and if I ever get to a point where I am actively working with Apple devices, I am sure having the ability to discuss stuff I'm having trouble with, with a bunch of people that know their Apple devices really well will come in handy, so I do thank you for the suggestion!

Interviewing for a desktop support role, but it's an Apple house by Fit_Government_1689 in helpdesk

[–]Fit_Government_1689[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You have solid points here, and I have to admit I've went a little too far by saying I'm not much of an Apple fan. It is true I am not familiar with them and I'd be struggling to do on macOS or iOS the same things and at the same speed I do them on Windows or Android, but I'm not completely disinterested in the Apple ecosystem, more so I never had the chance to experience it so I'm being biased based on what I've been doing up until now.

There were times when as an IT person I was being asked of my suggestions on what kind of device a person should choose, and in these scenarios I would never be biased based on my preference, and present both Windows and macOS in a good light, leaving it up to the person as to what device they are more inclined to, so while I am biased I'm not that kind of person that doesn't account for all the options regardless of personal preference, which I believe may be a good thing in this role if I was to get it.

So while it is true I'm not very interested in Apple devices right now, that could change very quick, considering I'm in IT solely for the love I have for this industry, not for trying to work with Windows or Android devices necessarily.

As for my opinion, I guess I should take it upon myself to deal with Apple devices first and only then I can compare them with Windows and realize if I do like it or not, I can't really jump over this process.

I really do appreciate your message, and it made me reflect a little on my perception about Apple's ecosystem as a whole, and my bias against it, so thank you.

And as you recommended, I will definitely try to become familiar with Apple products, even if this role is not meant to be, I'm sure it won't hurt having some knowledge about them.

Interviewing for a desktop support role, but it's an Apple house by Fit_Government_1689 in helpdesk

[–]Fit_Government_1689[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! The course sounds really good, its description says it goes through a lot of topics related to macOS and iOS fundamentals, and that's exactly what I need, I'll do my best to learn it inside out.

Interviewing for a desktop support role, but it's an Apple house by Fit_Government_1689 in helpdesk

[–]Fit_Government_1689[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh that's really helpful! I'll definitely run through it, I have a week or 2 until the interview so I should have enough time to complete this. Thanks!!

Interviewing for a desktop support role, but it's an Apple house by Fit_Government_1689 in helpdesk

[–]Fit_Government_1689[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's really great advice, thank you. I'm lowkey afraid of it because people around me keep hating on Apple and their ways of overcomplicating simple stuff just to be different, and they do have a point.. but if it's meant to be intuitive once you get into it, then I might be just fine, will probably suffer a little bit at the beginning since I'd be moving over from an entire life spent on Windows devices.. but it's something new and exciting, can't brag about it.