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[gotbamb00zled]

how I got into IT with "zero" experience

Someone in one of my discords was wondering why people say things like "here's how I become a web developer with no experience." I wanted to rant about it, but Discord did not like how verbose I got. This is my story of how I was surprised to get into IT with having (almost no professional) experience. in my case, I wallowing in covid depression, but I got a CompTIA A+ cert because I wanted to get into cybersecurity. I studied for maybe 1-2 months but could have done it faster. Getting the cert was easy for me but I've been using Windows since the early 90s.

I was taking some online courses from TCM (Cyber Mentor Academy). Great resource for affordable education. Anyway, I saw listings for IT support jobs. One was a company where you give over the phone support to repairmen for those filtered water dispensers you see in offices…one was IT support for healthcare providers…

The dispenser support interview was first. I didn't perform well at the interview, but they seemed desperate to hire someone so they offered me the job despite my clear lack of enthusiasm for what they do. Then, after a phone interview with the healthcare place, I got offered that job. The water job was horrible pay and not full time. The healthcare job was I think $16/hr. Sounded stressful.

I was shocked when I got home and saw a contractor for Sandia Labs IT support wanted to Zoom call interview me. We did the interview maybe the next day. I didn't feel like I was doing that well in the interview but they seemed interested and we got along well. Toward the end, they paused for a bit and seemed to be chatting to each other via DMs. They sounded like they were gonna say "Well…we still have more people to interview" but instead they said "Well…I think you'd be a good fit."

The pay was triple what I made at my last job, plus extra for a health savings account. Had benefits, dental, vision, $300/year you could spend on any type of fitness gear or gym memberships and it would be reimbursed. Other benefits on top of that. Every supervisor there was supportive and working to get us promoted to a position working directly inside Sandia rather than being stuck as a contractor. We were all in the process of getting security clearances which opens tons of doors especially for cybersecurity.

Long story but I ended up quitting that job for various reasons. But I'm still amazed they gave me a chance…amazed that just studying for a month or so and getting one cert led to them giving me a 2nd chance after 2-3 years with no jobs on my resume.

I realize I'm a white seemingly cisgender male and because of that, I have an easier time of navigating the chaos life than most do. Sure, bipolar still throws me off quite a bit, but I was convinced they would never hire me for that Sandia job. Convinced I'd have to go work at some call center or grocery store again making $9 an hour and having constant back and shoulder pain from all the phsyical labor.

Seek out free or affordable education. Not sure if this is still true, but TechHire used to cover tuition for the Deep Dive Coding bootcamps that CNM offers. And there's Cultivate Coders still…? Not 100% sure if they're still around. But the resources are out there on YouTube or sites like gamedev.tv or GameDevHQ or Udemy.

Pursue what stimulates you intellectually. That might be music for one person and UI coding for another. Don't let your parents or your game dev idols convince you you're not going down a viable path. Do you think people thought Tim Schafer taking a risk and founding Double Fine was "viable"? Was John Carmack and George Romero quitting their lucrative day jobs to make Doom "a smart move"? No. But Carmack and Romero knew they could achieve their goals and they took that risk.

Sometimes, those risks in game dev don't pay off. Maybe funding falls through or a publisher backs out on a deal. Maybe the cost of living increase to move to another city and work at that studio makes it unrealistic. But covid changed how we think about work-life balance. My brother went from having to drive 1 hour to work and 1 hour back every day in LA before and during covid to mostly working from home.

Again, I'm not trying to sound like I'm humble bragging.

I'm 34…I live with my parents…I'm on disability…let's just say I have to pull up my bank app and double check I have enough money to cover a purchase more than I'd like.

But so what? I'm going to orientation to volunteer at a local nonrprofit helping the homeless find housing and jobs tomorrow. Sure, there will be no pay. But I'll wake up ready to help people find stability in their life and take the bus home glad I was able to help.