The IT industry is booming since it’s on par with the consistent growth of technology and the integration of technology into our everyday lives. Everything is becoming digitized and automated, so there will be no shortages in tech jobs for the foreseeable future.
There are many young adults who want to get involved in the tech industry, and some want to break into the industry without past experience or a degree. We’re here to tell you that it’s completely possible.
On that note, if you’re looking for an expert writer to help you with school obligations since you want to find a job, EssayPro provides a plethora of writing services for every college student out there. Moving along, here’s what you can do to get into IT with zero experience:
Table of Contents
1. Reapply Past Transferable Experience
For those who want to get into IT without experience, it might seem that your past work experience won’t be relevant or useful for you to get a new job in the field, but you’re wrong.
You can simply reframe what you’ve done in the past on your resume because it can be useful and relevant contrary to what you might think.
The important thing here is that you know how to reframe them in your resume. When it comes to finding a new job, how you sell yourself is easily one of the most important factors.
There are two types of skills you normally put in a resume:
Soft Skills
Usually not quantifiable. A soft skill can be a trait someone possesses. In employment, soft skills such as: being communicative, independent, fast learner, and team-oriented can be valuable.
Hard Skills
Learned skills. A hard skill can be something like knowing how to operate a certain software or knowing how to code in a specific coding language (Python, etc.). It’s tangible and measurable.
Rephrasing Skills
At the end of the day, there will always be transferable work experience, no matter how different the career fields have been. Let’s take a look at an example. If you’ve worked as a bartender but want to get into IT, you already have a few transferable soft skills.
Communication
Emphasize that you dealt with customers and customer service. Get into details about how many customers you’d serve per day. This type of skill can help you get an internship.
Attention-to-detail
In customer service and bartending, attention to detail is needed in order to operate smoothly, this can be a transferable skill that can be mentioned in your resume.
It helps to tailor your resume and cover letter to every job opening you apply for in order to get more chances of success, so do so. This applies to internships as well. Modify your resume, being meticulous to details every time you send an application.
You won’t need to start from scratch every time, just change details where you can. A trick to doing this properly is to read the job post carefully, copy the text somewhere, and modify your resume so that you fit what they’re looking for.
Of course, don’t lie, apply it to where you can. At the end of the day, many skills/requirements can be very broad in job postings, so take advantage of that. Be confident.
2. Get Industry Certificates
Going through the learning curve and obtaining an industry certificate might be the fastest and most practical way to break into IT. There are many certificates you can try to obtain, and some of them can be completed in the span of weeks.
Certification can be the faster and cheaper alternative to getting a college degree, which is evidently becoming obsolete in the workforce. There are just more opportunities to join the workforce other than completing a degree. Sheer will, motivation, consistency, strategy, and adapting to learn a new field of work are all elements you’ll need to succeed.
Long story short, for applicants who want a job ASAP but have no work experience, certification can be the best way to break into the IT field. So, what are your options?
CompTIA A+
An essential entry-level certification for IT costs $464. This can give you the knowledge base needed to have in order to get an entry-level position. You’ll learn how to network, and you’ll learn about hardware, mobile devices, and the cloud. You’ll also learn how to troubleshoot accordingly.
Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
An associate-level certificate costs $300. It covers the basics and essentials of IT issues in networking. It tests you exclusively on Cisco products, but it’s popular because of Cisco’s dominance in the networking field. You need to pass one exam to get the certificate.
Microsoft Fundamentals
Certificates that test core technology skills for entry-level positions, which costs $99 per exam. Particularly a good choice for applicants who want to work with Microsoft products.
Applicants can choose to take any exam in a number of specialized areas. These fall under security, AI, data, Azure (cloud solution), Dynamics, and Microsoft 365.
3. Do it Your Way
Many careers and fields that exist nowadays urge applicants to be independent and self-initiating. This means there are ways and it is possible to break into the industry on your own.
How do you initiate this path? Just be creative and proactive, of course. Like most things in life, there really isn’t the right moment to start.
Start your own projects – it will show your skills and determination to break into particular industries. Promote yourself by creating a portfolio and strengthening your profiles on LinkedIn or Indeed or on freelancer sites like Upwork and Fiverr.
To create a portfolio, you need to make a website, and there are many free website building services like Wix and Webflow that exist online. WordPress is a great option too. There are many useful guides and articles as well in order to refine and fine-tune job portal profiles like LinkedIn.
And one thing to remember is not to be discouraged too easily. Do not throw the towel in so easily. No one career path is the same. And it’s not as linear as people think it is.
But if you’re doing your best to be proactive, promoting yourself (especially online), sending in applications to relevant jobs, making sure your resume and cover letters are strong and relevant, and learning to acquire more skills in the field that you desire to work in, there will come the right time for you.
You will land a position if you don’t give up, and you might need to start from zero but build from there.
Final Thought
For our readers struggling to get a position out there, it might be time to do things differently and perhaps examine what you have in your disposition. If you have no work experience, apply to get a certification. If you do have some experience, perhaps it’s time to review and redo your resume.
If you want to work for a certain company, learn about their company culture and opportunities for entry-level roles. Many companies offer some sort of learning program to initially let you into their workforce. We wish you the best of luck out there.
