9/12/2001 -- I recently received the following e-mail from a reader:

"I am a newbie to the ever growing IT field. How does one break into the field without any experience? I went to school and got a degree and now in my off time I am obtaining my certifications. It seems nothing I do works. I am about certified-out and want to know where to turn next"

And he's not alone. For some strange reason that escapes me, lots of people out there actually want to get on the IT rollercoaster. You'd think that with the continued reports of major layoffs (Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, Dell, Gateway, Nortel, Cisco, Intel -- just to name a few!), people would be looking to other career paths. But, alas, the lure of IT is powerful; thus, I continue to get e-mails just like the one above.

For all you brave souls out there who want to add yourselves to the ranks of gainfully employed IT professionals, I offer the following suggestions.

Aim Low
I was talking to a student in one of those MCSE boot camp training sessions. He had already taken the "Core Four" classes and passed all four exams as well. Before entering the training program, he was working as a stock clerk. He showed me one of his exam printouts, indicating his very high passing score. "When I finish this training program I'm going to get a senior administrator position," he proclaimed proudly.

He'd be lucky to get a junior administrator position. I quietly suggested that he look for a true entry-level position, perhaps a junior helpdesk technician. Not wanting to even entertain such a thing, he decided I no longer had anything of value to offer him and walked away.

I wish he would have swallowed a little pride and listened to what I was saying. Having the certifications, even having a college degree, doesn't guarantee you much of anything in the IT arena these days -- not without experience to go along with it.

Work for a Small Company
I know, I know, you want to work with big networks, spanning multiple subnets, which include hundreds of servers and thousands of users. And, of course, you want all the Internet stuff in there as well: Web servers, firewalls, routers, e-commerce and the like.

Yes, a 20-person office with only one server doesn't offer the glamour, prestige or challenge of an enterprise-class organization -- nor does it offer the same money. But there are hundreds of thousands of these tiny companies, all around the country, needing help in IT. And they'll hire you.

Volunteer
I hear this suggestion from a lot of different sources, yet I rarely see anyone actually volunteering. In the early days of my consulting career, I volunteered my services to my high school alma mater, a small parochial school with precious few funds. I set up its entire computer lab, migrated a Novell server to Windows NT, configured the student management software, and even worked on the accounting system.

I gained a ton of experience; but more importantly, I gained a valuable reference -- one that later helped me land a systems administrator position with a 5,000-user organization.

What Not To Do
Unless you truly have the real-world knowledge and experience as well as the ability to sell as well as the required business skills, DON'T become a consultant!

If a corporation won't hire you for a full-time IT position because you lack IT experience, what makes you think they'll pay you as a consultant? Resist the urge! Don't do it!

Another big no-no: Misrepresenting your skills. Another MCSE student showed me his resume. In the technical skills section he listed several bullet points, including "Complex Networks" and "Multi-Domain Active Directory Design." I asked him where he picked up these two high-level skill sets. "We set up a routed network in class," was his confident response. He wouldn't last 10 minutes in an interview.

About a year ago I was interviewing candidates for a network admin position. One of them said he had Cisco BGP experience. I asked him where he got this experience, and he talked about some companies he'd worked for in the past that, according to him, used BGP. I asked him a few more questions and by his responses knew he wasn't being truthful. Needless to say, I didn't hire him.

There Is Hope!
I said earlier that I don't know why so many people want to get into the IT arena. And my general advice to these folks, including the author of the e-mail I quoted from, is first to make absolutely sure this is what you really want to do. If so, follow my suggestions and you just may make it in the tumultuous world of IT. And if an IT position still manages to elude you? Perhaps you can sign up to teach at one of those MCSE boot camps!

What advice do you have for IT newbies? Post your comments below!