Certification Magazine - January 2008 - (Page 20)

In examining this subject, let us examine the obstacles to entering IT, less from the perspective of strategies specific to the industry you are coming from as a professional, and more as a set of points, the balance of which is key to every new IT professional. Knowledge of Industry In today’s market, it’s not enough to know how to support operating systems and change hardware. Employers want the people in their IT departments to know about their industry. For example, an international company may require their IT staff to be multilingual; financial companies want people to have some accounting or bookkeeping knowledge; educational establishments desire people who already have worked in education; and the list goes on. You could take part-time or distance learning courses to validate your skills; however, it may not be necessary if your previous work experience relates well to information technology. Also important to consider when deciding to make the move to information technology is how much your current job interacts with IT. Are you working with software to perform word processing, make presentations and create spreadsheets? Are you in a position now where you have some technical elements to your job? It will be far easier to sell yourself in an interview and to prepare for an IT career move if you are a telephony engineer rather than a veterinary technician, for example. There are a number of business-related experiences that an individual may be able to leverage in order to get an IT job. Professionals with team leadership or project management experience may be able to focus on those specific traits in cases where their technical knowledge may be weaker. This is particularly true if you happen to have consulting experience, regardless of the industry that your former consulting work focused on. Many firms with functional consultants also run information technology or hybrid projects, and an understanding of business workflows and frameworks can be a boon in obtaining that first position. IT Experience For those entering the information technology industry, getting that first position can seem like a Catch-22 situation. Simply put: No IT job, no experience; no experience, no IT job. To break out of this circle, the key is to target a little lower with your job applications, even though this may not be consistent with your longterm IT career goals. The reality is that your first IT job will likely be Level 1 support, working on a help desk or as a trainee IT technician to get past the experience requirement. Employers looking for entry-level positions will not expect a huge volume of experience, and the first position will be limited in scope. Work With Transcender practice tests you’ll be prepared to ace that certification exam. No other software product prepares you better. In fact, we back it up with an industry-best, 100% guarantee. Give us a try. We’ll teach you everything we know. Visit www.transcender.com or call 1-866-639-8765. © 2007 Kaplan IT, Inc. All rights reserved. TRANSCENDER ® Kaplan IT, Inc. All rights reserved. http://www.transcender.com http://www.transcender.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Certification Magazine - January 2008

Certification - January 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Data Stream Tech Careers Academic Connection Dear Techie Virtual Village Making the IT Leap: How to Move Into the Industry Inside Certification Phoning It In: Telecommuting Systems and Networks Engineer Interface Band of Brothers: Why You Should Join an IT Association Ad Index Endtag

Certification Magazine - January 2008

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