Changing careers from aviation to IT. Looking for advice


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I've been an airline pilot for 9 years now.  Due to the instability or the career, being away from home a lot during the week, and the current low pay, I am looking at getting out of flying, and finding a career in IT.  I have a BS degree in Aviation Science.  I am looking at working on my Major in something business or IT related to add to my resume.

 
My computer background, well, not much to show on a resume or paper, as most is freelance work.  Building PC's for people, setting up and maintaining their systems and software.  I have beginner knowledge with networking.  So my question is, how do I get started in this business?  My wife can get me a pretty good deal on a cisco certification through her work.  So that is a start, and something to have on a resume.  I know that where ever I find a job (in Chicago) it will probably be entry level with possibilities to move on up given my lack of "real world" experience.  
 
Any tips, readings, websites, or real world advice would greatly be appreciated.  Thanks.
 
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@BoDEAN
Can I ask you a aviation related question?
What kind of planes do you fly during your aviation careers? Any big ones? 737, 747, A320 etc?

Back on topic

I know its not a really helpful tip but... I'll give a go anyways.

Do you have any close friends/family member that works in the IT field?

Since its the simplest path to take. Knowing someone in the said job is better than not knowing anyone at all.

Thats how my IT career started.... after getting my BS :)

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I second Snuffy's question, do you have an area of IT that you would like to get into?

 

Cisco certs are great to have against you, however doing a CCNA for example won't get you too far into a job that is involved supporting generic domain services like Exchange, Active Directory or Lync etc.

 

Microsoft Virtual Academy is a brilliant online and free resource for getting your teeth into some of the more technical side however if you have a lack of experience, expect a low wage to start with but with plenty potential for moving up if you have the right drive. 

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Thanks for the link Skiver. Ill check it out.  I was looking at the hardware side of IT.  Maybe even IT Security, virtualization, or cloud.

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I've done or do a bit of most things apart from security, Visualization is by far the most interesting stuff I've done. The way everything is going now I suspect its going to be a big part of all companies for a long time to come too. Good luck in whatever you get into.

 

Can't imagine not wanting to be a pilot though, that was one of those dream jobs I had as a kid but lacked the motivation to do anything about it.

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Thanks for the link Skiver. Ill check it out.  I was looking at the hardware side of IT.  Maybe even IT Security, virtualization, or cloud.

 

 

Virtualization and Cloud may be the path you want to take... Security is good as too...

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Virtualization and Cloud may be the path you want to take... Security is good as too...

 

IMO, cloud may not be a good shout. There are still mixed views from what I hear from people when it comes to the cloud, I've even heard of some of the early adopters actually reversing and going back to on premise.

 

The big concern I hear about is when it comes to data and security, we all know and have seen issues with security in every day life, do you want to trust your corporate data to similar structures? A little off topic but given it may affect BoDEAN's decision, I thought it worth mentioning.

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While it is for another discussion, the cloud is not something that I would rest my most prized and private possessions in.

I would study virtualization, security, and networking. Leave the cloud for the dreamers.

Building pc's isn't much of an accomplishment, it certainly isn't anything a 20+ user environment is going to appreciate. Imaging, installation, and troubleshooting are what you should be more concerned with. While you can build a computer, I can deploy 100 before you are done building 1 and get it fully setup for a user to be able to use to do anything.

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