I started young and turned down family paid school for a chance to get a kick start on my “career”, I just got stuck in the first ditch along the way…
I have been with the same company in the same job for about 8 years now with zero chance of lateral movement. I focus on desktop and internal user support but with 3 admin’s and 600+ users at 10+ sites I wear many.. many hats. All 3 of us share a similar story with lack of formal education, starting here young and just “making it work”. I have collected a very varied skill-set but with zero certification or official training I’m starting to feel very stuck and entrenched in my job.
I have a meeting with corporate next week and I’m planning on showing where I think the company’s IT needs are heading and how I plan on positioning myself educationally to meet those future demands. The company has a history of investing in individual education and I plan on showing the value in my case.
The problem is I don’t really know where to start looking at what classes/certifications would be beneficial. Most our user’s applications are moving to web based systems, we are having less hardware problems and demands but malware and internet security issues are really showing our dated policy’s and systems inefficiencies. I would also like to get some education on IT management and policy. Is this stuff I can just call up a local community college and talk to a advisor? I’m just not sure where to start and its all kind of scary since it’s been almost a decade since any training or school.
Thanks for reading and any ideas about where I can learn more about educating myself would be very appreciated!