Are there any IT jobs that could be had with a quick 5-month online course that would result in some sort of certification that would allow me to enter the IT job market? It doesn't have to be a 60 plus grand a year career, but something the industry is calling for that doesn't require a full-fledged BA degree (for cryin' out loud). I'm sure I'm not the only computer-lover looking for a "quick-career" but I would appreciate if any of you techies might have any good suggestions... THANKS!

There is no such thing as overnight career. But I can only suggest this : surf and rigidly study what you are aiming for. If you are inclined to be a webmaster or a programmer / designer, the internet is the solution. There are vast tutorials here that are free and very easy to understand. You need-not shell out your hard earned money doing this way. All you need are -> perseverance and patience.

Skitzo,
Yes, you can become a junior level programmer, web designer, data analyst or even a junior level business analyst within six months. However, the only way for you to actually achieve that goal would be to commit yourself full-time to learning your craft. Here's my advice:

1. Decide what you would like to be in the IT industry. Read about the different roles and pick one.

2. Set aside 4 - 6 uninterrupted hours a day to study and practice your craft.

3. Buy one or two hands-on books on the tools you want learn. Your chosen IT career will determine the tools you need to learn. For instance, a programmer needs to learn at least one programming language, a data analyst needs to learn SQL queries and a Business analyst would need to learn UML amongs other things.

4. Study and Practice, practice, practice. When this part starts to get hard, you may need to consider signing up for a training class.

5. Create volunteer projects for your church or other charity.

6. Start your job search.

Good Luck!

Hi there ITCareerCoach,

I need your advice, relating to this thread. I am also in the same boat as Skitzo, however, am studying towards a degree, and boy is it long and hard work, along with working on a daily basis.

I am wanting to be junior developer, but one definitely needs a qualification, at least that what I see in most of the career sites.

The question I have is I would like to offer my services as a web designer, aside from knowing HTML, CSS and Javascript, what graphic designer packages would I require, I know flash is one of them, what else if you have any ideas?

Ronica

Hi Ronica,

It sounds like you already have a pretty good idea of what to learn to be a web designer. Do you already know html, css and javascript?

Have you created any websites yet? The real expertise in web design comes from learning by doing. Also prospective clients and employers will want to see a portfolio of your work as proof that you can do the job.

My advice is go ahead and start building websites with any of the tools you've named, all of them are in demand in the market, build your portfolio and expertise and then go out and get a job!

Would mastering Macromedia's Dreamweaver qualify for web design?

You can try freelancing , getting an it job with 5 month training may not be possible in this recession time.

You can do it in well-under 5 months

CompTIA A+ certification
most sufficiently smart individuals can pass this cert after approximately 2 months [The Dummies series of books has a decent 9 in 1 "All-In-One Desk Reference" for the A+ cert]

CompTIA Network+ cert
can probably be passed after 3-4 months of study for most [much quicker for some who play with routers and IP regularly]

Once you are in the door somewhere you are sometimes able to take on extra work such as webserver configuration ...testing/verification and then shifting to webdev if that's your desire.

Various CISCO & DB certs/exams are a bit more involved and you need to have some experience in those areas for the material to really click and pull up out of memory when taking those exams.

There are some other certs out there if you want to explore do some searches ...but the CompTIAs are the easiest to obtain and actually do count for at least as much as the MSCE. The problem has been some people study and memorize tons of questions for the MSCE ... and then cannot do squat in an actual work environment. They regurgitate "facts" but CANNOT FUNCTION. Some of them are still out there in IT doing ...very little and/or screwing things up lol

C++ya,
xkey

A+ seems too easy. I took a practice test and got 52 out of 80...it would take just a few hours to study and get all of them right!

Yes It is a good idea.