this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2024
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I worked in retail too! In March of 2020, I got laid off, took a couple weeks to have my first vacation in years, then after some introspection about how id been working for a decade and was still making minimum wage I realized ten years had been worthless. It was rough but I went back to college and now have a cushy cybersecurity job in government.
I don't miss retail one bit. Hope you're doing better and building an exit plan
As someone in classes now ( at 44, hope it isnt a mistake after so many years of customer service) hoping for a cushy cybersecurity job in the future... can you give some advice on other key terms that might be used on the job searches, or closely related fields? I'm still pretty early on in my learning but trying to look around at what my best niche may be in the future.
It's not. Simple reality is your going to end up in help desk (you might end up in a SNOC or related but ultimately I'd advise help desk just so you learn some real world ops). Security, like it's engineering counterparts is not something you can do with zero experience in the industry. The two hardest job interviews you will ever have in the general it industry are getting into help desk, and getting out of help desk.
It's never too late! I started at 24, I'm 28 now. Your not much older than one of my peer-turned-dear-friends. Truth is that as long as you nail the learning the rest will just be a matter of time. It took me almost a year of job hunting to get this gig, but it's municipal government work in a union in Canada.
I'll warn you however that cybersecurity isn't entry level stuff. I'd been working as a whatever-they-want-me-to-do solo IT guy for two years for a college before I made the transition. For what it's worth I was also customer service and you can definitely leverage that when looking at the (very crowded) entry level IT market of helpdesk roles. Helpdesk sucks, but unlike retail the suck doesn't last forever. Do a year, study certs while you do, then get out. Never. Stop. Applying.
I recommend looking into the compTIA certifications like A+, Networking+, and naturally Security+. Those are good fundamentals to have down, and combined with classes you shouldn't have too hard a time.
Hope this helps a bit.
(Genuine question) Why recommend A+? I've heard its more or less "i can identify physical ports, put together a computer, and install an OS"; useful if you've never done anything with computers, but otherwise redundant and unimpressive in the IT field (Edit: and exam vouchers ain't cheap if you're just getting into IT!)
I jumped straight into Sec+ myself, and I really ought to do Net+ just for core knowledge.
No hate, that's a fair question.
In this specific case, it's advice geared to what I know about the person soliciting my advice. Because I don't know what they know, it's a case where it's just good to start at the ground floor. Some of my classmates were international students from India with only the slightest idea what the difference between a tower and a montior were so having this knowledge never hurts. Also at 44 there may be some stigma that they encounter if they use older terminology or don't know the cutting edge in an interview.
If a cert is useless to you then by all means skip it after doing a practice exam. Talking about your cert goals in an interview is a good way to bring up what you know/are learning on your own.
Certs are there to serve you, not the other way around, so ideally study them until you land a job, then get the job to pay for them if you can.
That is definitely a fair point; for a beginner it's very worth studying for; i still think the exam is a bit much to spend for very little benefit on a resume compared to the other two tests at its "tier" (net+ or sec+).
That said my experience is solely in a fueld of government that sec+ is a baseline to even get a job so I am biased for that 😅
Yes! Thank you for all that advice! Where I am at now shows internal jobs available, maybe I should look more at the help desk listings when they come up to start sidleing over. At least then it will be colleague c.s. instead of cold customers.
Special thank you for certs info! Don't think my classes would be getting to that kind of info for quite a while yet (just coming out of all the 101 classes).
Much appreciated!!
Of course, please feel free to reach out further if you want more insights relevant to your position. I can't promise anything but I'm happy to help and be a sounding board.