First, stop saying this. Say it to yourself, if you must. But never, ever say it out loud again.
Everyone who doesn’t know IT thinks they’re a natural. I’m in the process of hiring several IT Techs now and I’m going through hundreds of resumes and phone interviews. The vast majority of these applicants say something similar to what you’ve said.
I don’t have any experience, but I know all about computers because I help my friends and family.
You say in your resume that you’re experienced with “all” Microsoft operating systems. What versions of server have you used.
None. I mean desktop operating systems.
Which ones.
All of them. Windows 8 AND Windows 10.
You say here you have extensive networking experience What does that mean?
I’ve set up networks including wireless.
Can you be specific?
I set a password on my aunt Mable’s wifi and helped her connect her Kindle. And I plugged in a 5-port switch.
What was the last technical article you read, either printed or online?
I’ve never read a technical article in my life. I just play with stuff until it works.
No one knows IT naturally. It’s something you have to learn. Learning is investing in yourself. I wouldn’t hire a lifeguard or a retail clerk. Who would I hire? A lifeguard who could have a conversation like this:
Tell me about your experience.
I don’t have any corporate experience with it, but I have worked extensively with it in my home lab. I downloaded the 180 trial version and installed it on a PC. I set up Hyper-V and created several virtual machines. Working from the documentation and guides online, I created a domain and set up sites, users, and group policies. I set up DNS and worked with it to create forwarders. I also made the DC the NTP master for the domain. I implemented a backup plan to copy my VMs to an external drive and practiced restoring them to simulate a disaster drill. I worked these tasks with both the GUI and with PowerShell and made a notebook of procedures on what worked and what didn’t. Although I don’t have the hardware to support it, I’ve read extensively on server setup, and RAID types. I was able to buy some used Cisco switches and practice CLI switch management including vlans, routing, ACLs, and saves/restores. I’ve run Wireshark to study network traffic and look for problems such as failed DHCP.
Nearly everything I’ve mentioned is free. You supply a $250 PC (i7, 8GB, hard disk, NIC) and a switch ($50 on ebay). Everything else can be downloaded for free.
All you have to do is the work. And that’s where nearly all the applicants I talk to drop the ball. They don’t want to work. They don’t think they need to because they’re naturals. And when they can’t just guess their way through a fail-over or server setup, they get frustrated and give up.
Up to this point in your life, you’ve been spoon-fed, told where to go and when, and given clear assignments with well-known answers. Going to college for IT will just perpetuate that. I’m all for college, but it’s time to break out of that model and begin the work of taking responsibility for your own learning. That will lead to success.
