Even as the economy ebbs and flows, anymore, layoffs seem to be a part of our everyday lives. When facing a layoff, one of your first thoughts may be, “I need a new job.” But where do you begin? Should you continue in the industry and field you’ve been working in or try something new? If you haven’t thought about IT before, now might be the time. With above-average job growth, a wide range of opportunities and relatively quick and inexpensive ways to get a foot in the door, IT may be a great option for you.
Switching Careers into IT: The Basics
Compared to many other fields, IT has a relatively low barrier to entry. You may not even need a college degree to get started – a couple of classes and a certification could help you get an entry-level job as a support technician. That said, here are some steps you can take to show employers you’re the right person for the job, even if it’s your first IT job.
- Identify Your Transferrable Skills: You may be surprised to learn that you may already have some of the most in-demand IT skills. Hiring managers need people who can communicate well, problem solve, stay organized and work on a team. If you already have these skills, you’re well on your way to switching careers into IT.
- Choose the Right IT Job: Research IT careers online and talk to people who work in IT. Learn more about the various career paths and diverse opportunities – ranging from help desk technicians to cybersecurity to project management. Think about your skills and what you want out of a career, and pick the one that suits you best.
- Get the Technical Skills You Need: If you’re brand new to IT, you’ll likely need to take a few classes, attend a boot camp, get an IT certification or at the very least, learn from books, articles and videos. Gain hands-on experience by tinkering with old equipment, building your own website or helping friends and family connect printers or set up routers.
- Tailor Your Resume to IT: Hiring managers may not see the connection between what you’ve done and what you want to do, so you have to point it out. Instead of copying and pasting the summaries you’ve always used to get jobs in your field, tweak them to highlight your transferrable skills and make them applicable to IT. Use keywords from the job description to make it clear that you have what it takes to succeed.
Switching Careers into IT: The Details
You may be wondering how to switch careers into IT from your field. If you worked in manufacturing, retail, administrative roles or as a field technician, we’ve identified some IT careers that may be a good fit for you.
Career Switch for Manufacturing Workers
If you’re accustomed to working on machinery or on an assembly line, a career in infrastructure may be right for you. Infrastructure is the hardware, the network architecture, that keeps technology working. The experience you have putting things together and your attention to detail in making sure things are done right make you a great fit for an infrastructure career. Start with CompTIA IT Fundamentals or CompTIA A+ to get the technical skills you need.
Career Switch for Administrative Professionals
In your administrative role, you may be accustomed to providing support and putting out fires. IT has more to do with helping people and less to do with typing code all day. An entry-level job as an IT support technician, or help desk technician, could be just what you need to launch your IT career. From there, you can continue in the network architecture field, move into cybersecurity or even become a project manager. Start with CompTIA IT Fundamentals or CompTIA A+ to get the technical skills you need.
Career Switch for Field Technicians
If you’ve been laid off as a cable or telephone field technician, you may be used to working independently and problem solving. If you have seen some tangled messes out in the field, cables and connections may not scare you. In fact, you may even view this as a challenge! Working on IT hardware can be very similar to what you’ve already been doing – just different equipment and new connections to learn. Check out CompTIA A+ to nail down the basics of computers and servers to start your IT career.
Career Switch for Retail Workers
In retail, you’ve likely had a few experiences where you had to keep cool under pressure – perhaps with an unhappy customer or on a busy day, like Black Friday. The communication and problem-solving skills you used will come in handy in any number of IT roles, including support technician and project management. If you work in loss prevention, cybersecurity will give you similar opportunities to protect your organization and catch criminals in their paths. Creative types, like those who work in merchandising, can also find a home in IT in web design and development and content creation. The IT world is your oyster. Check out CompTIA IT Fundamentals or CompTIA A+ to get the technical skills you need.
Wondering if IT is right for you? Take our quiz to find out.
