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What's an IT profession that is realistically possible to self-study for and become proficient enough in to get employed within a year? (lemm.ee)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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By employed I mean get a job in the industry either offline or online. Ideally something that would highly likely remain in-demand in the near future.

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[–] xmunk 86 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Honestly? Pretty much anything. Not a senior level position unless you're willing to really fudge your resume but entry or mid level - sure. If you put your nose to the grindstone you can learn to do pretty much anything in a year... that's a long fucking time.

What kind of IT were you looking at? System administration? IT Support/Help Desk? Development? Networking? Ops?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I went in with a 4 year degree, the other grad next to me went in with a 6 month kinda masters. You can pull it off if you try hard enough and know your shit, wish I'd known that before I wasted so long at uni.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

6 month kinda masters

What's that, diploma mill?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

I assumed they misunderstood how a 4 1/2 year master's program works, since the masters part is technically only half a year on paper. But I don't think that necessarily makes sense in context...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Thanks for responding! Honestly, I'm looking for a profession that is most likely to remain in-demand for the foreseeable future. Secondly, well, the income potential, of course. What would you recommend?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

I'm self-taught as well, and I'd say look through the current job market and offerings, but don't worry all that much - teaching yourself IT usually nets you a considerable amount of transferable skills that you build upon if things don't work out in one field; you also learn to learn and get much more comfortable with switching branches.

The less volatile your branch is, the less likely it is to turn out to be a fad that you'll have to drop several years down the line at best. Crypto and blockchain, for example, were probably often recommended when the thing was on the rise, but that's nowhere near as popular and safe now; I believe the current AI hype to follow the same fate. Basically, look at the news and trends and be careful with whatever big and stupid corporations push for, praise, or massively invest in: that's usually nothing but good marketing successfully baiting the suits.

Web develoment is probably going to stay simultaneously volatile and relevant for decades more, so that's a good option. Embedded development shouldn't be going anywhere either, although that's more low-level and intimidating, but it can be fun and stable and pay relatively well. I hate the smartphones industry and can't really say much about Android or iOS development, but I doubt it's doomed or anything.

So far, it seems like not following whatever Elon Musk or other billionaires tell you is the future is a good bet.

[–] xmunk 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You really can't go wrong landing an IT help desk position at a moderate sized non-tech company. You'll be an essential employee and get a lot of recognition for your work.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Hmmmm....

Nothing wrong here.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Sr level would easily get weeded out during the interview process.

[–] xmunk 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You'd think so. You'd definitely think so.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Sounds like experience.

In that case the employee was just a good at selling their mediocre skillset. Knowing (and gaming) the rules is probably half the game.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

What do you think of cloud computing in general? Cloud dev, cloud admin, or cloud architect? Good idea to invest all my free time into?

[–] xmunk 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yea, I don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Any specific place you'd recommend to start with? Perhaps a specific course?