[quote]Pinyony wrote:
If i were you this is what i would do:
Learn coding…which you’re doing. Here’s another website that I found helpful: www.w3schools.com/…
It has javascript, CSS and some other stuff that you might be interested in. I started off on Python as a hobby FYI. It’s a good language to get started with overall if you don’t have any prior knowledge in the field, but being a M.E., I would assume (probably not right with this one) that you have some programming skills.
Get some mini-projects done that you can show to your prospective employers. Then, I would e-mail all the companies you want to work for (and some that you don’t want to) and tell them that you’ll work for free for a little bit and if they like what you do you can arrange for a more “formal arrangement”.
Then, you show em your stuff. They allow you to work on any project for free, and if they like your work, then they will employ you. EASY! [/quote]
To start, no you do not need a certification, but it does help to weed through the piles of resumes. I have done the hiring here at my company for helpdesk support, the lowest IT level, and while I do not particularly care that they have one specific certification, it does help you to stand out if you have some experience/certification/other demonstrable skill level in what the job entails.
As far as which certification, it is completely up to you. The position I have hired for needs database/SQL knowledge, Java, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, XML, FreeMarker, and some PHP. But that is what it eventually needs, and no one comes in with all that knowledge as it is expected you learn some/most of it on the job, so the single most important skill I look for is a desire to learn/better yourself, which is partly where the certifications come into play because if you did it on your own, it is pretty clear you are serious and have the ability, if not the drive, to learn. We have hired people with only CS degrees, people with CompTIA degrees, and even people who only took a course or two in undergrad in some computer-related field.
Personally, I graduated college with no IT background as my degree was a major in Communication and a minor in Sociology with a focus on criminology. However, I decided to pursue IT and applied to grad school which certainly helped to show I was serious. I also knew what I was talking about, which helped tremendously. You wouldn’t believe the number of applicants I interviewed who said they knew something like HTML on their resume and then couldn’t answer a simple question. So definitely make sure you know what you say you know as those candidates were immediately put into the “No” pile.
Sounds like you are off to a good start and have several options for advanced learning, if you choose to pursue that. For me personally, if you want to move to a developing/consulting role, the absolute best position is helpdesk as you learn not only how to troubleshoot and solve problems, but you gain real world experience in how people actually use software, which helps tremendously down the road even if you don’t use the position to leverage a promotion within the company.
I do want to point out how bad of a resource w3schools is though: http://www.w3fools.com Plenty of good resources and tutorials on the web, such as stackoverflow, which is great for answering questions as well as linking to other resources as well. Good luck to you and let me know if you want any more information.