During these uncertain times, some of us are lucky enough and have the option to work from home, others, unfortunately had to temporary discontinue their work activities. Regardless of the situation, we should not stop learning. Even more, if you are in the situation where you had to stop your activity due to the COVID pandemic, maybe this is a good time to start a learning path in IT.
I cannot forget one of my old friends who some years ago, reached out to me and asked for guidance to start a career in IT. I recommended some courses and was glad to see that sometime after, he landed a job in this field.
Some years past by and our friend accumulated some experience in this field so we connected again to see how he can grow further. I can still remember the Skype for Business topologies we drew on pieces of paper and long story short, today he is handling as a senior engineer, one of the most complex Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams technical cases.
The Conclusion is: Yes, it can be done. Nope, it’s never too late to start learning and change your career.
COVID or not, always make time to learn new skills and invest in yourself.
For anyone willing to follow this path but not being sure where to start, I recommend:
- Start with Networking. This is the foundation of IT and it gives you a good understanding on how devices communicate across networks. Below is a short selection of trainings worth having a look:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/network-fundamentals/ -> Great overview on networking
https://alison.com/topic/learn/71285/introduction-to-local-area-networks -> You will need to setup an account which is quite easy to do and I love that it has stored one of the Microsoft Virtual Academy courses.
EDX.org Here, after you sign-up, you can enroll for free
upcoming courses, or enjoy the ones already delivered. For example:
https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:Microsoft+CLD260x+3T2019/courseware/cebe2e55-7cb8-7289-5281-6f7811bf751e/2a5b59ae-2794-9321-c6fe-e85067462015/
Another great resource is YouTube. Here you can find free
videos as well, explaining specific technologies, as well as step-by-step
instructions on how to deploy those (in the eventuality where you build your
own lab, which I highly recommend)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNwEVYkx2Kk
- User management. Next to networking, understanding Active Directory is one of the IT classics that each newcomer should master.
https://www.edx.org/course/windows-server-2016-directory-services
https://www.edx.org/course/managing-identity-2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfqsFtmJQg0
- Deepdiving in Windows Server. An essential part
in becoming a successful IT professional is having the ability to build your
own lab by creating a virtual machines and deploying Windows Server.
CEH IT Trainer has a nice pool of videos, guiding you from creating a virtual machine, to deploying a server and configuring roles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrtYDS5WKR0&list=PLYogJ_kxL1wTesq-vNxEc8tjDOHvszeWf&index=1