Looking To Enter I T Field And Need Advice

Hey Guys,

I've been gone for a long time, made quite a few mistakes in the past ended up going to prison. I'm trying to get my life back in order and I'm currently working with a re-entry program that will help me get certified with a Comptia certification of my choice or any other nationally recognized certification. I have a B.S. in Organizational Leadership but here's my question for you guys. Does anyone know what the chances of a felon getting hired in the IT industry is? If so, what type of certification would you guys suggest to be the best? I'm willing to do the research myself if anyone can suggest some websites to look, I haven't had much luck myself yet just searching on google, although the day is young.

Thank you all for your help.

 

Nobody can answer that question.
The IT industry has countless opportunities. Decide what your interests are and take it from there.

 

Currently I am an IT Admin and also a qualified Electronics Engineer plus I am also a fully licenced (unrestricted) "A Grade" Electrician special class. Gaining all of these qualifications started when I was 17 and finished when I turned 32 although I have done many update courses over the years. I can't really advise on relevant courses in your area (unless it is Australia) but I can generalise and I will do it in point form. I will talk about IT not so much software development

1. Most IT jobs within companies require honesty and integrity as the people in IT generally know all of the company's business as well as confidential internal workings and companies don't like this information being divulged or made public. Being a felon will probably go against you here but sometimes people are like me, and employ people based on merit and ability to do the job. Good luck on this front.
2. Decide what area of of IT you want to pursue and do any relevant course to gain accreditation for your area. Over here a two year course up to Certificate IV in Network Engineering is the minimum grade I would accept for doing network maintenance and repairs or installation. This course is a part time course so it can be done in conjunction while working but if you do the course as a full time student I think it can be done in about one year.
3. If you choose to be a database programmer then qualifications in Software development would come in handy. More important having a good knowledge of warehousing system models, inventory control and different logistics schemes in conjunction to having lots of study in the most common business systems and applications are required. Some "big company" systems like SAP take years of experience to gain a high proficiency.
4. If you choose to be a hardware sort of guy then network qualifications and also some type of Electronics course would be needed although generally this would be the most secure area within a company (especially a national or international company) so your record may go against you here.
5. Companies have websites and website development is a big growth area. The national company I work for outsources all of our website development as it is more cost effective. To be an up to date website developer you need to be very knowledgeable about different programming languages as well as their compatibility with all types of browsers and mobile devices. If the company is like ours and has a large inventory then integrating database management into the website backend is necessary so db skills are also needed.
6. If you will be "designing" websites then you also need to be very good at graphic design, have good photoshop skills, be good at SEO (search engine optimization) as well as have a good sense of current fashion and have an ability to manage company branding (often requires working with a marketing psychologist). If the website is also a sales outlet then you will need to know about several different cart plugins and managing security for customer's personal details and also methods to minimise hacking of the website by scammers. Also good knowledge of hosting and knowing which hosting sites have the fastest access times and lowest overhead is important so your customer's website loads quickly thus giving a him/her a better customer experience and more likely that they will be a return customer. For all these reasons we outsource website design because to employ someone with all of these skills would be very expensive indeed.
7. Another area of IT relates to production programming for CNC (computer numerical control) machines and also robots. This is a special area and people usually come from an electrical background although some mechanical engineers also are qualified to do this work. Personally I started out in this field as an "A Grade" electrician special class and used to program and fault find production robots for both GM and Ford before I became an electronics engineer and moved to Research and Development of new products. To gain qualifications in this area requires years of study. In my case I started studying for my "A Grade" at 17 and was qualified at 21 and then did another 2 years study at University to gain my "Electronics Technician Special Class Certificate" and I started working on robots when I was 24. During all my years of study I worked as an electronic technician for one of the major lift companies servicing high speed computer controlled lifts (americans say elevators lol) and it was this computer control that got me interested in robotics. I then went back to university to study electronic engineering while working in the field of robotics as I wanted to get out of the high pressure everything is urgent situation of a production environment.
8. Still in the production area there are many jobs that require some IT skills and require you to run CNC machines that have already been programmed but require data entry for custom individual jobs. Some examples might be if you work for a sign printing company, they need someone to load the printing machine with the different data for each customer and to do the setups prior to printing or maybe it is a company that makes 3D models of engineering prototypes and you enter all the dimension parameters into the CNC machine centre to in order for it to make the model. These types of jobs usually need on the job training relating to the production machine you will be operating.

Probably my best advice would be to choose some area in website development as your criminal record won't go against you quite so much. If you have trouble finding work then do lots of courses and while doing these courses build up a large portfolio of different types of fully working test websites that you have designed and keep them on a memory stick always ready to show prospective employers your skill level at website design.
If working for someone else becomes all too difficult then you could maybe start up a business offering to design websites for small businesses that are just starting out. Small businesses will be driven by getting the best website at the cheapest price so until you become established with a regular clientele your income may be quite low as small businesses don't spend a lot of money. Once you have a good number of websites on your books then the real money comes with offering maintenance and update packages to your existing clients or offering to send out monthly marketing newsletters in order to improve the customer's sales and client base. There is more money in the marketing side of the website as there is optimism about spending money to earn even more money so there is a willingness to spend if they think there will be a return.

Good luck with your endeavours and I congratulate you on trying to reinvent your self

 

Joffa got it right, I will add that you need to be mobile in IT. In most places you need to change jobs to get a meaningful promotion. This often means moving.

 

DOA this is so true and another tip is that often pay rises only mean a change to your benefits package rather than you actually getting extra cash so be a bit careful how you negotiate your pay. In my case I get a new company mobile phone every year but this means they can call me 24/7. I also get an ipad and several pcs for home so I can continue working while staying at home in my home office.