I’m writing this as an expansion of JWR’s article posted on December 8, 2022. As he noted, many office jobs can now be done from home.
This article is about how I got started in my career in Infomation Technology (IT). While bumpy at times, IT has really paid off for me financially. I hope that my article will inspire some readers to follow a similar path, which may allow them to escape the dysfunctional cities. For those who are already living in rural America, read on to find out about another way to earn income.
I got started in IT four years ago when I was working in a non-sworn capacity for a large municipal law enforcement agency in California. After I decided that I didn’t have the desire or the right personality to become sworn, I started looking for another path.
One of my cousins, who is now the president of a managed-services provider on the East Coast, suggested that I obtain the CompTIA A+ certificate. The Computer Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) A+ is the gateway certificate to many other IT career paths, such as networking and security. The certificate I just passed is CompTIA Data+. If you want to start at the very beginning — if you know absolutely nothing about computers, or you’re not sure if a career in IT is right for you – then get the CompTIA IT Fundamentals certificate.
I took a leave of absence from the agency to study for the exam. I passed on the first try. It took a few months to get my first IT job. My first IT job, which paid about the same as my job with that law enforcement agency, consisted mainly of imaging computers. Imaging is when a suite of programs is put together on an operating system (usually Windows 10 or 11) in a custom manner for a company and then installed on computers to be used by that company. The image was put on the warehouse server and we imaged about 30-50 computers at a time. We also put asset tags on the computers – these are stickers which say “Property of…” and a serial number.
Some months later, that company was bought out. Things were looking squirrely; I was worried that I might be laid off. Then a recruiter called me to ask if I wanted a job that paid more at another company which was a little farther from home. I grumbled about the extra driving, so he quickly added an extra $3 per hour to my wage. My base wage at this company, the one I work for now, was equal to the overtime wage at the previous job and at the law enforcement agency. That’s when CompTIA A+ paid off for me!! I started by helping users in person at the company office.
A few months after I started with my current company, the Covid crisis broke out. Those…