Build your skills, slowly and deliberately

I graduated from college with an IT degree back in 2004 and was lucky enough to secure a 1st level support job not long after that. Over the last 11 years I have worked my way up and along the IT industry but I now how the job title of "Technical Consultant", by no means does this mean I know everything but I have a certain wealth of self-taught and mentored learning under my belt. I'm proud of my achievements and strive daily to learn and expand my skillset, however recently I've seen a lot of younger guys come in and expect to be doing Senior IT roles within 6 months of graduating from college. My advice to them always it to take your time building up your skills slowly and deliberately.

Just because you've used a product for a week does not mean you know it, you need to get a couple of years of managing that product in a production environment under load before you can truly know a product.  You need to combine your knowledge with experience otherwise it's useless in my eyes.  Unfortunately there is no quick way of gaining experience you need to be patience and slog it out, and no amount of training can compensate for the lack of experience.

A common mistake among the junior staff is that they are doing the same job as the senior technicians in their teams. This ultimately isn't true, junior staff receive a lot more support than they release and if they were thrown into the deep end they would unfortunately flounder.  Be confident but don't be over cocky.

I always say that IT is no different to any other job, if you were learning a trade such as plumbing you'd spend your first few years being an apprentice, learning the basics, soaking up knowledge from your mentor before gradually moving onto doing jobs yourself.  The same is true for IT.  Don't try and skip the 1st level support jobs because you deem them boring, take that job, learn from it, build yourself a good foundation of knowledge and customer service.  Then progress to the next level. Take your time.

Learn from the jobs you can get, please don't try and run before you walk you will get there.  You will get that much coveted Senior position when you are ready.  You have 30-40 years ahead of you, don't rush it.  Build your skills, slowly and deliberately.

Investing in your own career

As we all know IT is a rapidly progressing market and for us IT professionals that means we're constantly trying to learn and update our core skills to keep up with the changes. And as we're all aware it's not always possible for our employers to provide the necessary time or money to help keep up these skills leaving us in the dilemma to having to invest our own time and money into staying current.

I've spent my own money on a home lab and given up nights and weekends studying and learning new products. And for me self study and self investment is worth it. The achievement you feel when you pass an exam and gain that qualification is a buzz. There is even more of a buzz when you the skills you have self taught become useful in your day to day job.

There are lot of resources out there to help you along the way when trying to learn at home. I invested in an HP Microserver a few years ago and it didn't break the bank, and it provides a very nice wee home lab that I've built, broke, re-designed and re-build many a time. The capacity of it provides enough grunt that I can emulate a small Microsoft lab similar to what you would use while on a Microsoft training course in a classroom.

Home Labs or Virtual Labs
HP regularly run cashback offers on their Microservers, the current cashback deal runs until the 30th June 2015. I've found the cheapeast deals to be had over at ServersPlus.com - http://www.serversplus.com/microserver_cashback

You can find free evaluation copies of Microsoft's software here https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/evalcenter The trial licenses last 180 days which should be adequate enough to have a good understanding of the software.

Microsoft also offer a large selection of free Virtual Labs. Many are targetted towards learning a certain skill within their products so you don't have the free rein you do with your own home lab however they can be useful and I have used in them while at work when I need to understand something or have been travelling and don't have access to my home lab. You can find them over at https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/virtuallabs/bb467605.aspx


Training resources
Microsoft have a free Virtual Academy open to all that. It can help you plan what certification track you wish to persue, and offers you training materials that can help you achieve those certifications. I've not seen anyone use this resources solely as a method of passing a Microsoft exam however it is a useful resource.

http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/

Videos from previous MS Ignite and TechEd Europe events are available online at Channel9 which can be helpful in getting an overview on certain products or learning some hints and tips from the field. There are also a lot of videos from behind the scenes. The videos can also be downloaded as MP4s so you an store them on your device of choice and watch while
commutting etc.

https://channel9.msdn.com/

There are a lot of other useful resources out there than can help you invest in your career when your employer can't help. Learning in your own time can can hinder your family/social life however if you show willing to invest in yourself and your career it could lead to great things!