Do you do IT as a profession?

amother

Blue

Mon, Dec 04 2023, 7:30 am

Yes. I took a government sponsored course and got a job at a local frum IT and MSP company. The book knowledge is important but most of it I didn't really use. I started with answering phones and creating tickets for users who were having problems, then started troubleshooting, eventually became a technician then a manager. Answering phones and TSing was great for me as an Adhder. The sense of urgency and solving a problem was great.

AMA

Last edited by amother on Mon, Dec 04 2023, 7:31 am; edited 1 time in total

amother

Teal

Mon, Dec 04 2023, 7:32 am

amother Blue wrote:

DH has ADHD, I always wonder if coding would be good for him.
IT might be good for him he loves to problem solve, is so creative and is so calm with people.
What’s the growth at this job?

amother

Copper

Mon, Dec 04 2023, 8:22 am

IT can be a good field to go into, but most of the people I know in IT shifted to cyber. There's more room for career growth and higher pay.

There are free training programs available to get people into IT and cyber, especially for women.

amother

Mon, Dec 04 2023, 8:28 am

amother Copper wrote:

When you say cyber, you mean cyber security?
Any idea how I can find out about these programs?

amother

Blue

Mon, Dec 04 2023, 8:40 am

amother Teal wrote:

DH has ADHD, I always wonder if coding would be good for him.
IT might be good for him he loves to problem solve, is so creative and is so calm with people.
What’s the growth at this job?

I had many opportunities for growth in my co. I went from I went from entry level to manager (with previous manager experience) in 2.5 years

amother

Teal

Mon, Dec 04 2023, 10:32 am

amother Blue wrote:

I had many opportunities for growth in my co. I went from I went from entry level to manager (with previous manager experience) in 2.5 years

Are the manager skills compatible with the ADHD(inattentive)?
Also did you consider switching into cybersecurity?

amother

Nemesia

Mon, Dec 04 2023, 10:38 am

I work in both programming and cyber. Definitely tons of room for growth in the field (women are considered a minority in IT so there are a lot of opportunities esp for women). Not sure about the ADHD aspect - if it's a job that they can work on their own time when they have a burst of creativity then it might be good for coding, but a lot of coding work is tedious, debugging can take hours, if they're on a team project and have to meet certain deadlines, then I could see that being difficult.
The agudah has a program for training (I think its called PCS but not totally sure) and I've heard of different programs that gives grants for women to get certs for cybersecurity but don't know many details about that.

amother

Copper

Mon, Dec 04 2023, 10:50 am

amother OP wrote:

When you say cyber, you mean cyber security?
Any idea how I can find out about these programs?

Yes, I meant cybersecurity. My friend knows a lot about the free IT and cyber training programs. I can ask her.

amother

Blue

Mon, Dec 04 2023, 11:03 am

amother Teal wrote:

Are the manager skills compatible with the ADHD(inattentive)?
Also did you consider switching into cybersecurity?

In my case yes, the ADHD part was helpful when I was assigning work as it came in and there was constant/intermittent stimulation that way. My people skills managing the people was not related to ADHD

amother

Copper

Mon, Dec 04 2023, 11:22 am

Op (or anyone else interested)

You can email my friend to find out about free IT and cybersecurity training at:
switch2cyber@gmail.com

Most programs are location specific, but she knows about programs in a few cities and is happy to help anyone interested in changing careers/starting a career it IT or cyber.

:)iknowit

Mon, Dec 04 2023, 11:30 am

I’ve been in IT for over 10 years now. Started with basic tier 1 tickets and now I am the EMR implementation specialist.
As an introvert and a mother this is amazing for me. I work from home 100% of the time and just join meetings virtually.

amother

Copper

Mon, Dec 04 2023, 2:08 pm

amother Strawberry wrote:

I'm wondering home what's the income for IT or cyber work. What is the potential? And when one becomes a manager, what's the potential?

I spoke to my friend and she said it's possible to make 75k-120k+ after 2-3 years in cyber. It's a wide range but depends on a lot of factors. More senior positions can make 170k-190k, possibly more. I don't have all the details, but my friend is happy to talk to anyone who wants to know more. She's very passionate about helping others who are interested in a career in cyber or IT, as a chessed. She got started through free training programs and successfully made a career change to cybersecurity. I shared an email address for her above.

amother

Raspberry

Mon, Dec 04 2023, 3:35 pm

I started in IT at entry level with an unrelated degree and no experience. I work now as a mid level manager for a government agency working with databases and data architecture. It's a boring but versatile field and there are many things you can do. It's not just coding or cybersecurity.

Understanding the business needs and being able to incorporate them into a technical solution is waaaaay more important than learning a coding language and that comes from experience in a company rather than a specific course.

There is also an IT analyst track where you learn how to write technical documentation, business requirements, technical requirements and using the data to fulfill business needs. Then you can be a validator where you test use cases and find application issues. You can also do IT resource planning. Then there is hardware stuff you can do which is a whole different ballgame.

amother

Raspberry

Mon, Dec 04 2023, 3:36 pm

amother Raspberry wrote:

Just to add to this, I'm extremely underpaid but I am ok with it because government jobs come with their own form of benefits which outweigh money in my life stage.

amother

Teal

Mon, Dec 04 2023, 3:38 pm

amother Raspberry wrote:

Any part of your work that can be for a creative person? Problem-solving?