Hi, I've learned a lot from these forums and wanted to get your advice on changing careers, going into IT. Here are the basics of my situation which I will follow with a question:

--I worked 2 1/2 years in telecom in the early 2000's troubleshooting wireless installations/upgrades/breakages from a test center via remote UNIX central office login, but since then have been away from IT except as a hobby.
--I have a bachelor of general studies and an MA in clinical counseling, am a licensed professional counselor. I love my work but the pay-rate, and severely negative impact of the economy on my future job prospects all add up to a very bleak outlook for the mental health field. I need to firm up my backup plan
--I've read 'Running Linux' cover to cover, took a graduate-level course on Linux System Adminsitration (focused on CentOS 6, got a B+) and several other undergrad and graduate-level computer courses within the last couple years incl. Data Structures and Algorithms, Discrete Math, Operating Systems. I've maintained an apache mirror for a year at http://www.picotopia.org, all from a home server vm (CentOS 6.4)
--I am applying to online MSCS programs for this coming spring '14


Question: I am currently studying for LPIC-1 and had planned to pick up RHCSA after that, while applying for the following types of entry-level positions: 'help desk, pc technician, break/fix technician, help desk analyst, desktop support analyst.' I am near enough to Chicago to be able to commute there. Is this a good course of action or am I aiming too high out of the gate with LPIC-1 and RHCSA considering most listings for Linux Sys Admins require 2-3 years desktop/IT experience and/or Associates/BS in CS?

I saw the listings at http://www.linuxcareer.com/it-skills-watch and have alumni access to CCNA net academy courses, but would that be an over-shoot for someone without a CS degree trying to switch careers after 10+ years away?

Some say certifications don't matter.

What matters most in getting my foot in the door?

How do I land interviews given my circumstances?

Very few responses so far but it's been barely a week since the first volley of applications went out.

My goal is to get into Linux system administration, also enjoy security and networking, physical builds, love troubleshooting. I have been advised I am not qualified for this type of work and been told to seek help desk positions.

An alternate to LPIC-1, then RHCSA would be A+, then Network+, perhaps then CCNA, because I see the CompTIA's more on job postings in Chicago right now, plus what I mentioned before. What do you think?

I'd say thank them kindly for their ace advice and move on.


Enthusiasm. Eagerness. A willingness to learn On the Fly, work harder for less, give it two hundred per cent. Not making demands. Long term view. Openness. Honesty. Think about what you would really want* Talk about what you can do and about what you want to learn about. No success without failure. *BTW, what have you accomplished wrt knowledge / practice between then and now? Just curious.


That depends on the opportunity and on your MO. Use multiple channels: friends, family, co-workers from previous jobs, social media (deities, how I loathe the phrase), the 'net, news papers, trade shows, maybe the Psychotherapy Association, maybe a psychotherapy research facility that has an IT department, your local LUG. Do research: find companies local to you that sound interesting. Be efficient in how you spend your time targeting companies. Be aware opportunities may present themselves in different ways: sometimes just asking questions over the phone or during an informal meeting may get you a lead. Show genuine interest in both company, person and job.

Fair enough.

Makes sense, and this is the part I'll have little trouble with, notwithstanding the sort of bad days we all have from time to time.

I've learned about finding all sorts of things in log files like boot info, server traffic, etc., set up logwatch, monit (still needs tweaking), finally solved an ongoing problem with the apache mirror (bad hdd, learned from reading logs and then testing hdd with CLI utils, after learnig how to troubleshoot PSU with a multimeter), reading up on mod_security for apache and web applications for python/mysql (found a great book on ebay.) Set up a better backup system for both the server and my windows box (former with an external USB that's easy to unplug, latter with cloned drive), upgraded Virtualbox outside of yum without causing problems for CentOS (updating VB doesn't work unless it's a major upgrade like 4.x to 5), wrote some basic scripts for extracting information from server logs using VIM in BASH, learned VIM inside and out, teaching myself iptables, learning how to give exceptions in selinux rather than set it to permissive mode, finished reading 'Running Linux' cover to cover, filling in the gaps in my CLI Linux knowledge while studying LPIC-1 book (taking lots of notes), starting to learn about server optimization, switched to a new domain (picotopia.org) and freedns for dynamic dns (saves me $30 a year, using crontab.) ... that's off the top of my head without looking at my notes. My server gets about 15,000 unique IP hits per month, about 250,000 DNS queries in August alone. I stay busy with all of this in addition to a full-time, busy, busy job as a counselor/coordinator! Just need to better learn to sell myself perhaps. This paragraph was a good exercise for that I think.

Makes perfect sense. It seems like I should put LPIC-1 on the back burner even though I'm learning a lot from studying it, and picking up A+ and/or Network+ if I'm to take up any certs at all. My thought right now is to take a layered approach-- learn to sell myself, network if at all possible in this atechnical town, add at least one cert to make HR departments happy, don't give up, keep learning on my own, keep my eyes and ears open.

Here's something else to consider . . .

Your core-strength from recent employment history is that you are "a licensed, professional counselor." Seeing a decline of prospects in that particular field, you're now seeking to broaden your appeal.

"Very well then, that makes sense, yeah that happens to lots of folks, but..." now, leverage your past! Don't just toss it aside as though it has no relevance.

A "professional counselor," to my way of thinking, is "a truly(!) qualified consultant." In order to succeed at your (original?) profession, you had to be very good at talking to people, identifying the problems that faced them, and helping them to arrive at a solution. "That's consulting," in the truest and therefore least-encountered definition of the term. That's something you've got ... and with a license to prove it ... which none of your competition has got.

You'd be entirely wrong(!) to treat your licensed professional(!!) career-past as "nothing of importance in the computer world."

"A garden-variety Linux geek" generally has no social skills whatsoever, because, in his/her view of "what matters," it's all about the computer. But, in the real world of business, that's emphatically not the case. Businesses frankly crave the presence of solid social skills ... and specifically the skills of a counselor ... in the context of their Information Technology initiatives.

"Geeks," if you will, are tradesmen. You absolutely cannot build a stone wall without the services of a truly-qualified stonemason (and his cadre of apprentices and journeymen). But you'll never, ever make a living in the stone-wall-construction business without the help of someone who can talk to the customer. There is where you have a "leg-up" that, I daresay, no one else in this entire forum can match. Including me.

... even if the market isn't 100%-the-same as before!

I really appreciate your encouraging words. What a radical idea, to value ourselves and not let others dictate which of our traits/skills contain value!

I have a phone interview this afternoon and will try my best to convince the interviewer of my value, though I wish he'd talk to you as well.