Step by step guide into an entry level IT job? :clueless: I just got the Comptia A+ certification

First I'm sorry if this isn't appropriate for the hole :marseyshy4: Second I'm not Indian :kovid: Third I'm not a codecel and I notice that's what rDrama seems to lean towards. I was thinking something like helpdesk or even physical repair shop before looking at cybersecurity or network infrastructure.

How do people feel about comptia certifications anyway? I've heard conflicting opinions including on this very site. :marseynotes:

I don't have any IT work experience, just my wagie jobs. I've heard projects are a good substitute but what would be a good project for a non-codecel? Should I set up switches and routers or something? Also what kind of tests should I expect in the actual interview? :marseyhelp:

Also I've never messed with LinkedIn before. Do I have to go do that? :marseyclueless:

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Similar to retail, two big questions an employer has when hiring a low level IT wagie are is this person crazy and will they actually show up to the job. So really try give off an aura that answers no and yes to those questions.

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Important third question with helpdesk is "Are you going to be tolerable to work with?" since nobody wants to deal with a junior who needs to be shown how to change a password in AD for the 100th time or does so with no verification as to who's calling. Make a point about how you find value in note taking not just for studying but for practical experience like when your dad was teaching you how to change a tyre or some shit like that in the interview to assure them that you figure out how to perform stuff after one explanation. But at the same time show some awareness that you know when is appropriate to ask for help so you don't cause a bigger problem.

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This is one of those weird things, it's pretty important to bring to the table, but the exact right words can randomly get you the job or the exact wrong words can give the interviewer the ick - and you could give the exact same interview to 3 different managers and get different results because one just fired a guy for trying to build his own sketchy pentesting environment on company systems instead of just confirming with his coworker that he should just forward a suspicious email to security, one is absolutely sick of the last "good notetaker" he hired who has endless questions, and the other is looking for a bullshit excuse to not hire you because they already picked someone else so he flips a mental coin of writing "seems arrogant and risky" or "not independent enough."

Still gotta bring it to the table either way, but, it can be a crapshoot. One of those times to really suppress autism and lean into social queues.

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Definitely agree that it's a hard balance to strike.

one is absolutely sick of the last "good notetaker" he hired who has endless questions

Others are unfortunate but this one seems like a management skill issue. Either fire him during probation or if you see potential get him to work on maintaining an internal wiki under the guise of having documented procedures for other new hires. Worst case he's shit at that too (and you have a stick to beat him with at performance review), best case he stops bothering you since you can say "didn't you document this in the wiki?" and you also actually do end up with a wiki for new hires.

Adds some workload for you since you need to review the pages but less annoying than getting bothered about the same shit at random times.

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Yeah, I didn't have him fire the notetaker in the scenario because it's more manageable than the r-slur who's already fricked up confident in his cyber security expertise.

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