Hello there!
Thank you for visiting Your IT Career. I’m so excited about this blog because I know the potential it brings to every reader that is interested in an Information Technology career path.
Here are some thoughts you might currently have as you are visiting this blog.
- I deserve a career that pays very well.
- I want the opportunity to work remotely while earning a high salary.
- I want a side-gig in tech to supplement my current salary.
I have personally enjoyed many of these rewarding benefits in my IT career. The ability to work remotely for several years has been priceless in giving more time with my young family, and I would not trade that flexibility easily.
My name is Peju, and I am the creator of Your IT Career.
I have worked in the IT field for well over 18 years.
This is the only career path I know because I started my career in IT after getting degrees in the technology space.
However, one thing I have learned over those 18 years is that many successful people in IT did not start with technology degrees as I did.
Actually, most of my direct bosses started in other career fields before moving to IT. Not only that, but the vast majority of those bosses were also very knowledgeable about IT and you wouldn’t know they started in non-technical career paths.
Passion for Education
Let me take a step back and tell you how I got here.
My true passion is for education. I vividly remember wanting to become a teacher in my middle school years. I simply loved teaching classmates any topic they had problems with and felt a high sense of satisfaction when they ‘got it’.
I also loved the role guidance counselors played in helping students figure out how to navigate school towards their chosen career. You could say I simply loved helping people become better versions of themselves through education and learning.
Not only do I love teaching people, I also love learning new things myself. I take any opportunity to educate myself and that is how I now have three degrees (who’s counting?).
Even as I say that, please do not think a lot of traditional education is needed for you to have a successful career in IT. I only say that to be transparent about my background.
Remember my bosses? Few of them had IT degrees and they were still my bosses (and most were great at their jobs!).
Journey to Technology
So, how did I end up in IT when I was so passionate about becoming a teacher? Well, the truth is the math didn’t add up.
In addition to loving education, I knew it was necessary to have a well-paying career when I grew up. Some grown-ups were talking close by one day (yes, I was eavesdropping), and they mentioned how teachers were paid poorly. They went on to talk about how Computer Science was a rapidly growing field that had high salaries.
Then, one of my friends in school mentioned that her dad worked in IT and it looked like he had a successful career.
So, my young mind added both conversations together and decided Computer Science was the way to go. Simple decision making by a middle schooler, right?
I went ahead and completed my Bachelor’s in Computer Science and a Master’s in Management Information Systems without a break in between. I started working for a great consulting firm after my Master’s and had a blast working with them for over 10 years.
I also got my MBA while working as well as several IT certifications. I’m not going to talk about the certifications here as I plan to have other posts on IT certifications later.
The main gist is I got trained in various IT disciplines both in college and at work.
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The Best of Both Worlds: Education and Technology
One thing that never left me was my passion for education. Even as I pursued a career in technology, the love of education stayed with me.
I was a teaching assistant and tutor when pursuing my undergraduate degree because I loved teaching people. I was also a graduate student teacher during my Masters for a course that taught freshmen how to succeed in college. To date, I think that was one of my most fulfilling teaching experiences because of the change I saw with many of the students and their attitude to college.
At all of my jobs, I have been involved in teaching various courses to help new and existing employees learn different concepts in IT. This included designing courses and instructing those courses as well.
As I did all this, I realized that the work I did was not rocket science and I did not need all my degrees to do the work.
I often wondered why the companies did not increase their talent pipeline outside the traditional field. What I found out is that the companies actually looked for talent outside of colleges, but the pipeline was very limited and they could hardly find talent elsewhere on a consistent basis.
So, I teamed up with some friends that were already teaching people with little to zero IT background how they could start careers in various IT fields. The results were amazing as people came back with success stories.
This proved to me that training was the key to helping others start IT careers as a way to achieve their personal career goals.
My passion for education finally made sense and I knew I would use it to help those looking for a career in IT.
That is the reason I started this blog. The goal of this blog is to educate people interested in a career in IT about how they can start, develop, and sustain a rewarding career in IT.
You do not need a college degree to start a career in IT (if you already have one, no problem). You just need the willingness to learn new things and the drive to work towards achieving your goal
What’s In It For You?
So, where do you come in?
You are probably interested in finding out how you can get into the IT field, right? Well, you have come to the right place!
On this blog, I will share posts about different information technology career paths. I will also share practical tips on steps to take to begin, develop, and sustain your career. My goal is to bring you the most practical content possible and where needed, bring in the experts to ‘talk’ to you.
At the end of the day, the goal is to make sure you are well equipped with information that you can use to ‘go forth and conquer’ whatever hurdle is standing in your way of a successful IT career.
I hope you enjoy the posts and please visit often. Your comments and feedback will always be welcome as we go on this journey together.