New to IT I’ve always been interested in IT

I’ve always been interested in IT but never really took off with it. When I was younger, I didn’t have the “toys” to play around with and learn in my own time. And I remember, back when the newspaper was the main way of seeking employment, seeing an ad for an A+ course. Didn’t know the significance of a the A+ certification back then, only that it was supposed to be my entry into the IT field according to the ad. Called the number, signed up for the “info session” only to find out the class was like $1295.00 or something like that if i recall correctly. How so very disappointing that was. At the time I was an unemployed with no savings whatsoever and looking for work. How was I supposed to pay $1300 cash upfront to take a class to pass an exam and maybe get a job?! For me, that was a lot of money. Money I didn’t have. So there was just no way. And so the IT dream drifted away.

I had a kid to feed and needed work asap, so I applied to a temp agency. And ever since then (past 12 years) I’ve been working clerical/office admin type jobs. Currently, I am a billing specialist at a university hospital in a city I am desperately trying to get out of. The income is not enough to live comfortably for my family and the job itself is just not satisfying as a whole. It’s also a dead end. There are no career advancements past my position in my field without a degree no matter how many years experience you have (at least with my employer).

However, having to work daily with various desktop applications and the hospital software, I’ve been able to “play” a little during down time. In the past couple years I’ve become sort of the go-to person for technical issues. Nothing big….. Printers not working, how do I do this in excel, can you convert this file to word, my ipads’ not connecting to wifi, how do I do such and such in outlook, can you change this setting in my iphone, I can’t open this dropbox file, etc. It’s always little stuff like that. Any kind of technical issue in the office, they would usually seek me out before calling the IT department. Most things I’m able to easily take care and if I don’t know something Google becomes my best friend because I’ve found that I really like being able to solve problems and I always really want to give them a solution. It’s not my job to do that for them as we have an IT department to handle these things, but I like that they come to me first. And it’s very empowering when I’m able to figure something out that I didn’t know before. And so my IT interests were renewed.

I checked out a video on youtube about entry level IT jobs and discovered I have a lot a learn. There was a suggestion in one of the video’s that if you worked for a company big enough to have a large IT department, then it would be best for you to try to switch to that department before seeking employment outside your company. I really don’t want to stay in my current location but if I can get switched over to my hospitals’ IT department then I will take that opportunity to gain some experience and run with it.

After loads of research on possible careers, I’ve decided that eventually I’d like to become a systems admin, but I want to get my feet wet in desktop support/help desk first. And so here I am. Came across Jobskillshare.org from a YouTube video about entry level help desk and fell in love with this site. I’m just so thankful that I can get the training I need to enter the field without having to go to college first (although I do plan to finish my degree at some point). It’s just a relief knowing I can get started now without having to pay an arm and a leg for training courses and be job-ready in just a couple of months.

Thank you so much Mr. Khan for everything you are doing with this platform. I’ve already watched many of your videos on youtube and I appreciate your approach to education in IT. You’re amazing! I can’t wait to get started.