Jobwithoutexperience

What All Network Administrators Know

Can I get a job as a network administrator without experience?

No one is born with experience, except for maybe the Frenchand also civil servants. But besides those two groups, no one else is born with working job experience. Can I get a networking job without experience? is the next question that I receive. Yes you can get a networking job without real experience. I realize that this might be a contradiction from the previous paragraph but I did say that it was unlikely, not impossible. Every network administrator was first hired without previously being a network administrator. Most did however come from other computer related backgrounds; helpdesk, computer tech, network analyst, etc. But there are also some people that were smart or lucky enough to go right to it. How? They had enough product knowledge that lack of experience could be overlooked. Product knowledge can be described as knowing how to configure a server, monitor traffic and install equipment. Product knowledge is when you know enough about a program that you can carryout any task asked or assigned to you. (or fake it well enough to accomplish the job)

Knowledge can be gained by experience or from self-experience. Self-experience sounds a lot like what lonely people do, but in this context, self-experience is setting up networks and servers from your home or a lab. Self-experience simply put, is when you teach yourself, either from a school or from home product knowledge. When real experience isnt available, you just have to do the next best thing.

Experience accounts for a lot, but if you know a program well enough, lack of experience can easily be ignored. Product knowledge is the most important tool you can have when looking for a job, whether you are a seasoned professional or just starting out. A degree in computer science is a nice adornment on a resume, but it does little to help you get a job without first having some software knowledge.

Every time that you install a network operating system, create a user account, or set up a DNS, DHCP, WINS, or Print Server, you add that knowledge to be drawn from at a later time. A lot of people tell me that they cant learn out of a book, they can only learn from doing. Its true that it is difficult to retain computer knowledge when you read it from a book. I even have a difficult time unless Im applying the knowledge to a specific task, Even though you dont think you remember, it will suddenly come to you one day when you need it. What doesnt seem to make much sense in a book will one day suddenly make a lot of sense the first time you have to apply it. Reading a book about computers or computer programs is an acquired skill. Its readers have compared the experience to watching senior citizens play golf. Computer books are dry, uninteresting and often require the reader to keep a festering open wound so that he or she may continually jab at it to stay awake. Many people never make it past the first 50 pages of a computer book, (also known as the wall), Because of this they never pursued a career in computers.  Its my theory that these first 50 pages are specifically designed to prevent an over population in the field of computers. These pages are filled with a review of the history and creation of the subject matter; give credit to all of the principle parties that have in some way contributed to the program or protocol in question. Also included is the description on how to use this book and who should be reading it, what types of papers where used to create the book and how many stitches are in the binding. And very last, on the fiftieth page is a section dedicated to conventions that are used in understanding the book that are almost immediately forgotten the moment they are read. Those that are computer professionals today had the instinct to flip past the first 50 pages and therefore were never subjected to the mind numbing characterless beginnings that plague every computer book. If you are wondering, I eliminated those first 50 pages.

I know that I wandered away a bit from the question, but Im trying to sneak in the answers to other questions that are typically associated to this one. So, yes you can get a job without experience, but it doesnt mean you can get away without learning how to do the job.