How to Avoid My Newbie Mistake & Quickly Get the IT Job You Want (3 Easy Steps)

We’ve all been there…

Years ago, I can remember how awful I felt when I was passed up for a systems administrator job.

I’d been working at the Northrop Grumman help desk for a couple of years and felt I was ready for the next step in my IT career.

So when a junior helpdesk guy who worked on my team was selected over me, I was devastated.

What did this guy have that I didn’t?

Then I found out he’d been to a couple of training courses on Windows Server that I hadn’t gone to because I was too busy doing other things.

To be honest, I still was crushed…

At that moment I realized I had a problem.

And if I didn’t start getting training on the new versions of Windows and Linux, I was always going to be passed up by anybody who had a skill or skills I was missing.

Being passed up sucks…

It’s not a good feeling when you feel you’ve earned a promotion, only to see the position go to someone else with less time on the job than you.

I needed to get training fast.

But not just any training.

The right training that could help me to do the job and get me noticed by a hiring manager looking to fill a position that I wanted.

I needed something on my resume that would stand out, so I wasn’t passed up again.

Stop waiting around.

After that day I decided to stop waiting around.

I dug in and started taking advantage of every training opportunity I could get.

A lot of the time I paid for my own training because I never wanted to feel that pain again.

I bought hundreds of dollars worth of VMware, Windows and Linux Server admin books.

Now, I have a bookshelf full of books…

Then, I scoured the Internet for free training.

I’ve watched 100s of hours of YouTube videos about VMware, DevOps, Windows and Linux Server, Citrix, AWS, Azure, Project Management and anything else that I felt I needed to learn.

I also signed up for CBT Nuggets before learning about Udemy (100% Subscription FREE).

Never again was I going to feel like I wasn’t qualified for a job I applied for.

Are you dealing with the same disappointment problem I had?

You’re applying for jobs but never getting any calls?

Or you’re getting passed up for promotions?

Maybe you do get called for the interview, but you blow it because you can’t answer the technical interview questions?

It’s because you don’t have enough experience…

Listen, I’ve made it my mission on vbeginners.com to help young IT Professionals get started.

But I’ll be honest with you.

There is no shortcut to developing skills.

It takes time, effort, and a lot of dedication.

I can give you the plan, but it won’t do you any good if you don’t practice.

Whether your goal is to be a vSphere Engineer, Windows or Linux Admin, or some other technical role – you need to practice to get good.

Just being smart or having a degree doesn’t guarantee you the job you want because most hiring managers need people who can do the work.

They’re looking for admins and engineers who can be assigned work and feel the task will get done right the first try.

Look, managers don’t have a lot of time to hold your hand.

You need to hit the ground running and be able to successfully start and finish tasks without your manager having to fix or redo your work.

Get the Job You Want

Here’s the plan:

I’m going to give you a plan that will help you to succeed…

#1. Set Up a Lab – First, you’ll need to build a lab for setting up your projects.

The easy way to do this is to use Oracle VirtualBox for spinning up VMs for different operating systems or environments. You can download VirtualBox here.

You can also set up a low-cost VPS for your lab. Or you can invest in low-cost white box servers and build bare metal hosts.

#2. Focus Your Time and Efforts – Next, if you don’t already know what you want to do with yourself, you need to decide.

On vbeginners.com there are many suggestions for where you can start depending on what you like doing.

You can check out these career guides if you need ideas.

#3. Choose the Right Training – Third, I’ve used and tested every training method there is over the years. Nowadays, my preferred training is YouTube and Udemy.

I’ll usually search YouTube first, but then when I want more in-depth training without commercial interruptions, I go straight to Udemy for the best online training.

I like Udemy because you pay once per course and there’s no subscription required so you can learn at your own pace.

My recommendation is that you don’t waste time or money on training or books that aren’t needed.

Go straight to the training that will get you the skills and experience you need to get noticed.

That’s right, avoid wasting your energy and time on the cool stuff that managers don’t care about.

You can always circle back later after you have a good job and learn what you want.

For now, stay focused on the plan…

Are you ready to start?

Now do it…

Download VirtualBox and figure it out.

Watch the video I’ve included in the guide.

Set up a few test VMs.

Then, if you already know what you want to do, skip step 2 and go straight to YouTube or Udemy and search for training that you can follow step by step until you can do it without any more help.

Like I said, managers, don’t have time to hold your hand so you need to be good enough so they can see you can work independently.

Look, the best chance you have of getting the job the next time you’re interviewed is to look and sound like you can do the job.

If you can’t do the job you will fail the interview and someone else will get the job or promotion.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but it’s true.

I know the feeling all too well.

Someone else got the job I wanted, and it was all my fault for not being ready.

You can avoid failure with training, skills, and confidence that you’ll develop through this 3 step plan.

Imagine ROCKING Your Next Interview

Now, imagine yourself a few weeks or months from now with all these new skills.

• The know-how to set up and configure vSphere.
• The skills to administer Windows Server in Azure’s Cloud.
• And the experience to automate Linux deployments in AWS or Google Cloud.

But that’s only the start…

You can learn anything you want to and apply for the job of your dreams with the right skills.

It all comes down to you taking the time to learn the technology.

With this easy plan, you can succeed and get the job you want.

I sure wish IT training was this easy to get when I started my career…

Here’s another guide for you: Get The Simplicity of Amazon Prime with Udemy IT Courses Online for Beginners