The internet is full of knowledge, tutorials, blog posts, courses. Complete some and start some own (pet) projects. Contribute to an open source product. Be an intern and have that time show on your resume. Snapping up certificates will make your CV look like Michael Scott's wall from The Office. Honestly, at interviews I don't even look at college degree, let alone random certificates. All that matters is on-field experience and work that you did.
- Go to a site like Hibid.com and find auctions to buy used working (9/10 times) equipment. You can get 5 year old Dell servers for <$200. Buy a couple of laptops (Mac and Windows) for <$300. I’ve bought equipment through there and have a nice home lab for learning for less than <$1k.
- Buy or reuse commodity hardware and build an Opnsense firewall for your home network. I did this during the start of pandemic and used it as an opportunity to learn and sharpen network skills I didn’t have in 2020.
- If you do acquire server hardware, you can run VMware ESXi and teach yourself that component of virtualization. When you have that server built you can spin up virtual servers to learn Windows Server or *nix server setups.
I personally feel if you have time to invest in buying equipment and setting it up, you can build a functional home lab to learn what you want. Start simple but have hardware in front of you to make the commitment.
20 years ago I didn’t have Google. Everything I learned was self taught. But over the years I gradually relied on Google to give me the answers. This is what scares or dissuades new IT folks from taking the plunge. Where do I get resources to become an It person? Personally if you have the home lab it forces you to tinker and research Google on how to grow your lab and automate it. From there you get IT chops.
The other thing I highly recommend is having good people skills. I’ll hire someone with light IT experience and good customer service background over someone with certifications left and right but no customer service background. You can learn the IT stuff on the job (with the right team and company), but people skills are a must because you have to deal with unruly people.
IT is just like going to the doctor. Nobody comes to IT when things are working. The only difference between IT and the doctor is the doctor doesn’t get pissed off patients. Having a way to diffuse and smooth over angry customers is what’s vital to your IT success. The skills come later.