Advise wanted – career change to web developer

[sedated]

I’m sick of working in a boring industry full of conservative old men and 1950’s business philosophies. So I’m thinking about studying to be a web developer at JCCC. Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions that would be helpful?

I know virtually nothing about computers (I can change the RAM and delete my browser history, that’s pretty much it), but I've always wanted to get better and I’m a pretty quick learner. This type of job appeals to me because I can do it anywhere, somewhat pick the types of companies I want to work with long-term, and it’s a field that has virtually no chance of losing demand in my lifetime.

[Dr. Gigglepants]

Almost done with the 2nd of 4 classes, will take 3 and 4 this Fall. I wish I could keep going through the summer.
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[QuikSsurfer]

Originally Posted by Dr. Gigglepants

Almost done with the 2nd of 4 classes, will take 3 and 4 this Fall. I wish I could keep going through the summer.
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They still give you the option to take part of the exam between 2nd and 3rd classes and then the final after the 4th? Cisco allowed this back when I was in school.

[Dr. Gigglepants]

Not that I know of. Now Cisco is offering to pay for half of the cert exam fee, and if you pass the first time, MCC will pick up the other half. So that is cool, I do wish you could take half the test between 2 and 3 though, by December I might be a little fuzzy on the OSI model, but I could see the OSI model being very lightly tested on the cert exam.
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[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by Dr. Gigglepants

I'm in a similar spot, career change, hoping to get into IT, only I am doing the CCNA course at MCC. By then end of this year I will have my CCNA and by May 2013 I will have an AAS in CSIS (security). Most job postings that I've looked at want a CCNA and 3-5 or 5-7 years experience. I'm guessing with no IT experience I'm going to have to get on at a place that has a large IT dept where they take green people. My current employer pretty much said there's no room here for someone like me, they only want guys who can do a little of everything, unless I want to do desktop support, which I don't really think I can, nor do I want to. I want to jump right in to networking if possible. I'm worried that at the end of this process it will he difficult to get hired on somewhere, what are my chances of actually getting a job with just those credentials and no work experience?
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You're screwed.

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by QuikSsurfer

Not at all. I worked as a help desk tech a few years back but I honestly wore so many different hats. You need to have some understanding of networking when you have to remote into a customer's server/workstation and add DNS records, edit HOSTS files, no? You're thinking about it the wrong way. Help Desk varies from company to company but it usually consists of much more than changing users desktop wallpaper.
How far into your CCNA classes are you?

Who the hell uses hosts files anymore?

[Detoxing]

I wouldn't do it. It'll be hard to get a lot of the smaller jobs, because sites like Weebley.com are making web designers obsolete for small business owners. It's just too simple to make a nice, functional website these days. Don't need to pay someone a lot of money when you could probably get your 14 yr old nephew to do it for you for pennies.

[scorpio]

The other people I know who are successful in IT fields were doing it for fun long before it was their career. If you just want in for a better paycheck or because you're bored selling insurance or whatever, and don't actually find it interesting, you're gonna have a bad time.

Whatever you do, don't take a phone support job or you'll find it very difficult to get out of the pigeon hole.

[QuikSsurfer]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

Who the hell uses hosts files anymore?

Huh?

[QuikSsurfer]

Originally Posted by Dr. Gigglepants

Not that I know of. Now Cisco is offering to pay for half of the cert exam fee, and if you pass the first time, MCC will pick up the other half. So that is cool, I do wish you could take half the test between 2 and 3 though, by December I might be a little fuzzy on the OSI model, but I could see the OSI model being very lightly tested on the cert exam.
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If you're struggling with understanding the OSI model, you're in the wrong field. I still ring off my "Please do not throw sausage pizza away" from time to time

[Dr. Gigglepants]

Originally Posted by QuikSsurfer

If you're struggling with understanding the OSI model, you're in the wrong field. I still ring off my "Please do not throw sausage pizza away" from time to time

Nah, I'm not really struggling with it, big picture wise, but there are a ton of details they could use to pull a cruel question from if they wanted. All we have done this section is learn about routing, haven't touched any of those finer OSI details in a while.
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[Predarat]

IT jobs are tough to get and keep unless you live overseas.

[scorpio]

Originally Posted by QuikSsurfer

If you're struggling with understanding the OSI model, you're in the wrong field. I still ring off my "Please do not throw sausage pizza away" from time to time

All People Seem To Need Data Processing

[Dr. Gigglepants]

Sorry to bump this but I was thinking about trying for my A+ certification this summer, while I will have a little more time, before CCNA 3 starts this Fall. Is the A+ certification a pretty widely held cert? I.E. if I don't have this, are people likely to overlook me for job consideration? Would the A+ go well with CCNA?
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[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by Dr. Gigglepants

Sorry to bump this but I was thinking about trying for my A+ certification this summer, while I will have a little more time, before CCNA 3 starts this Fall. Is the A+ certification a pretty widely held cert? I.E. if I don't have this, are people likely to overlook me for job consideration? Would the A+ go well with CCNA?
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A+ is pretty standard. I tend to be wary of desktop techs that don't have it. It means they are either not intelligent enough to get it (rarely the case), or they are too lazy to get it (usually the case).

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by QuikSsurfer

Huh?

You use host files on machines? LMHOSTS?