Getting into IT ?

Digitaljunkie

Hi folks

I am looking a getting into IT but as I am older (late thirties) I wonder if it is a good career move for me. I am interested in IT Security and Digital Forensics as a possible end goal. I left school at inter cert level so my proficiency in mathematics is lacking. I'm aware that I will need to brush up on this as it is very involved with programming etc, I just wonder if their is anyone out their who got into IT with a simular level of experience or lack of ? its the maths and programming question that worries me the most. Also where or what courses are a good place to start ? Finance is not a problem but having said that i'd rather not waste money either.

Thanks mil folks..................Dj

kippy

Digitaljunkie wrote: »

Hi folks

I am looking a getting into IT but as I am older (late thirties) I wonder if it is a good career move for me. I am interested in IT Security and Digital Forensics as a possible end goal. I left school at inter cert level so my proficiency in mathematics is lacking. I'm aware that I will need to brush up on this as it is very involved with programming etc, I just wonder if their is anyone out their who got into IT with a simular level of experience or lack of ? its the maths and programming question that worries me the most. Also where or what courses are a good place to start ? Finance is not a problem but having said that i'd rather not waste money either.

Thanks mil folks..................Dj

Have you any IT experience at all?
Getting into that level would require (generally) a relevant college qualification, a number of professional qualifications and generally a fair bit of experience in IT in general - which can take a number of years and a lot of work to get.

There is a masters course here:
http://www.dcu.ie/prospective/deginfo.php?classname=MSSF

But you would require a degree to get into that.
Looking at a degree in IT - well it depends on what you want to do.

I know of a few people who got into IT Support in their early thirties via a degree course such as this:
http://www.gmit.ie/castlebar/technology/cert-it-support.html
And the follow on degree course,
You then need to work for a while, gaining some further certification if you wish to get into the forensics side of it.


If I were you I would probably try get into the support area then move up through the ranks - into the different areas.

The security and forensics jobs are pretty limited I would think and thin on the ground outside of Dublin.

NullZer0

EDIT - KIPPY Beat me to it!

Hey there,

Firstly - If you are looking to get into IT security, mathematics won't be an issue.
IT security is a broad field so it really depends on what part of the security field you would like to be in.

Network security seems to be hot in recent years (and things are only getting better in my opinion), so it may be something you want to look at.

Depending on your level of experience/knowledge and willingness to learn, a course could be a waste of time.

In my experience (although not funded by me), some of the "best" training companies in Ireland offer very poort and dated training.

If you want to stand out, you will have to become very skilled at something that not many people are good at.

Rather than post suggestions, I will wait for your feedback because I can be slightly bias towards networking :-D

Digitaljunkie

Thanks folks I'll try and give you some more info,

Re-guarding my experience well I don't have much I think! No IT qualifications anyway. Well I have three laptops one running XP one VISTA and a Mac on Safari. Microsoft programs are no problem to me, built a couple of web projects in the past dreamweaver CS2 etc. Used various presentation software's at conferences. I just seem to have a flair for computers so the tech area interests me greatly.

Really appreciate the advice folks......Dj.

kippy

Digitaljunkie wrote: »

Thanks folks I'll try and give you some more info,

Re-guarding my experience well I don't have much I think! No IT qualifications anyway. Well I have three laptops one running XP one VISTA and a Mac on Safari. Microsoft programs are no problem to me, built a couple of web projects in the past dreamweaver CS2 etc. Used various presentation software's at conferences. I just seem to have a flair for computers so the tech area interests me greatly.

Really appreciate the advice folks......Dj.

Have you heard or do you know anything of the OSI Reference model?
TCP/IP?
DNS/DHCP/SSL/Active Directory?

You are really starting from scratch and starting from scratch wont get you into security/forensics in less than six years (I would guess).

I would recommend a certificate programme in somewhere like the GMIT, see how you get on after that.

Digitaljunkie

kippy wrote: »

Have you heard or do you know anything of the OSI Reference model?
TCP/IP?
DNS/DHCP/SSL/Active Directory?

You are really starting from scratch and starting from scratch wont get you into security/forensics in less than six years (I would guess).

I would recommend a certificate programme in somewhere like the GMIT, see how you get on after that.

Thanks for that,

Yes of coarse I am aware of and commited to 4-5 years training in an area. I am just looking at putting a plan togeather with a possible end goal thats all.
Just doing the research. Regarding your above question my knowledge is basic on internet protocol servers etc. so have no problem starting at the bottom infact i'd prefer to.

What type of certificate programme would suggest to start off ?

Thx Dj.

kippy

Digitaljunkie wrote: »

Thanks for that,

Yes of coarse I am aware of and commited to 4-5 years training in an area. I am just looking at putting a plan togeather with a possible end goal thats all.
Just doing the research. Regarding your above question my knowledge is basic on internet protocol servers etc. so have no problem starting at the bottom infact i'd prefer to.

What type of certificate programme would suggest to start off ?

Thx Dj.

Something like the one I linked to in the earlier post in the GMIT.
I know similiar courses are offered in other IT's

NullZer0

I suggest having a look on job websites and find the type of jobs you "think" you want. Then research these in more detail before going any further.

There is no "golden ticket" but I can tell you that if you can get a solid grasp on TCP/IP and some of the offerings from the big players in the security industry - this will earn you more than any college course.

I am not discounting what Kippy is saying above. No doubt you can learn alot from such a course but it comes down to many things - for me courses moved too slow, this caused me so much frustration.

On the other hand, I was happy to spend 10 hours per day reading RFC's.

kippy

iRock wrote: »

I suggest having a look on job websites and find the type of jobs you "think" you want. Then research these in more detail before going any further.

There is no "golden ticket" but I can tell you that if you can get a solid grasp on TCP/IP and some of the offerings from the big players in the security industry - this will earn you more than any college course.

I am not discounting what Kippy is saying above. No doubt you can learn alot from such a course but it comes down to many things - for me courses moved too slow, this caused me so much frustration.

On the other hand, I was happy to spend 10 hours per day reading RFC's.

Id agree with you in general on the college side of things iRock, but essentially the OP is coming at this from not having worked in IT, no experience and no certs.
It is very difficult to break into into nowadays without some level of third level certification (no matter how non real world it is)

As such, that particular college course I linked to is one of the best I have seen for anyone to break into the support (and starting point of many other) areas.
Its 6 months college (CCNA part of this) then 6 months work experience (which is critically important) then another 6 months in college, CERTIFICATE in hand, then you decide if you want to carry on to Diploma/Degree level or get a job.
I did the course myself to cert level, albeit a number of years ago at this stage. There are generally a lot of more mature people on the course and the material isnt too difficult (I found)

Again, I'd agree in general on your take but maybe not for this particular instance.

NullZer0

Based on your description of the course (I didn't read the link), I would say to the OP - Go for it! :-)

Digitaljunkie

Nice one kippy & iRock thanks for your time and advice.....Dj.

ten10twenty

You probably could get a helpdesk type job but the money wouldn't be great but it would give you a bit of exposure to a few different things (probably a fair bit of active directory stuff).

Security though would be a good place to aim for - companies would be very reluctant to send these jobs off-shore as auditors like to check out the security team.

Forensics is really niche and even if you had the qualifications I don't think there's many jobs in it - after 15 years in IT i haven't meet anyone that does this as their job (or even as a part of it), and I'd guess unless you're working for the guards or someone like that, it could just be recovering files on failed hard drives. File recovery doesn't really need any qualifications - just knowledge and experience on the tools, which you could teach yourself by buying a load of disk drives off ebay and messing about with the software.

Best of luck, you'll have a couple of tough years ahead of you but if you know what you're after it'll make it easier to get through!!!

10-10-20

Digitaljunkie

Sorry to open up a thread that is a few months old but would like your opinion on this course as it is closer to me,

http://www.ncirl.ie/Programmes_Courses/Full-time-Courses/Higher-Certificate-in-Computing-Applications-and-Support-HCCNCI1

Had a passing glance through their modules their seems to be a lot of time wasting stuff like the history of computers and operating systems include Windows NT Architecture, is their not rust on this os by now?


Thanks............

Stheno

Digitaljunkie wrote: »

Sorry to open up a thread that is a few months old but would like your opinion on this course as it is closer to me,

http://www.ncirl.ie/Programmes_Courses/Full-time-Courses/Higher-Certificate-in-Computing-Applications-and-Support-HCCNCI1

Had a passing glance through their modules their seems to be a lot of time wasting stuff like the history of computers and operating systems include Windows NT Architecture, is their not rust on this os by now?


Thanks............

I would say it's not rust as essentially systems, and operating systems today have evolved from previous versions/generations, so understanding how things started puts todays systems into perspective.

ahun

Hi, just wondering did you start any course, did you find your starting point, I am thinking of stepping in the same boot myself? Starting from nothing, with a big attitude
Did you mean this course: http://www.ncirl.ie/Programmes_Courses/Part-time-Courses/Higher-Certificate-in-Science-in-Computing-in-ApplicationsSupport-HCCENCI1?

Thanks.