Hi everyone! I need some help. I’m in my mid-thirties, and I had a growing career that, since covid, has gotten so flaky I can’t properly provide for my family anymore. I have always been interested in tech, and would like to start a career but I’m not sure how to.

Can anyone in the field give me some advice? I don’t have much college experience, only did 1 year 17/18 years ago. Looks like I need some sort of college degree, which I’m fine with.

I also saw some online “bootcamp” things… are they good? I would like to do something where I was helping companies be protected from hackers and work from home as much as possible. White hat hacker type of thing… if that’s real!

Thank you everyone!

  • netburnr@lemmy.worldEnglish
    15·
    1 year ago

    Hiring manager here, the best thing you can do is work on certifications. Microsoft Learn has a ton of info and the certs are reasonably cheap. There is also a ton of stuff on YouTube, for example Professor Messer’s Security+. There is also a great demand for VMware admins.

    If you can setup some computers at home and make yourself a lab, build VMs on hypervisors of your choice and talk about that during your interviews that’s big bonus points too.

    • Jayb151@lemmy.world
      10·
      1 year ago

      I also want to push Microsoft learn. I’m a 30 something year old who is 2 years into an IT career. It’s been awesome so far. I think the Microsoft route is best bang for your buck. Basically self guided learning and you pay for the test. At my job specifically, certs are what’s really going to make you stand out.

      • hystericallymad@lemmy.ml
        3·
        1 year ago

        And to add to this conversation, I have 10+ years solo IT for a company. Microsoft Learn will help you with whatever task you can think of within the 365 and Azure environments. Whether you use the platform for a certificate or not, you’ll benefit from the step by step instructions for just about everything Microsoft.

    • AFallingAnvil@lemmy.ca
      2·
      1 year ago

      Hi there, I’m a recent college grad with about a year and a half working as an admin in a VMware environment. I’ve actually been struggling to find other places to use this knowledge, could I ask where is my skillset so in demand? Might make finding my next job a lot easier!