Ask HN: How can an aspiring 20 yr old jumpstart his career?

[smurfy]

Hey guys,

I am a 20 year old who has almost completed a two year general education degree online and am still pursuing it online as I work full time. I'm also currently in the Naval Reserves, and I hold A+, Network+, Server+, and MCP-XP certifications. I've been working in IT supports for the last couple of years and have some good support.

I love reading articles on start ups that are doing new exciting things in the tech world, and would love to get involved in that sphere of the technology world. However, all the job openings I see are for engineers and positions of that nature, which I'm just not qualified or ready to do.

What suggestions do you guys have for me? I'd love to come work for a great company that is doing exciting things and launching a new product. I am extremely motivated and a hard worker, as well as a fast learner. Where can I find a job that will let me grow and be a part of something bigger?

Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks.

[dbogon]

Everywhere you turn, there's an article about hacking, or spying or big-data, or privacy or another data breach. Obama actually called out cyberwars in his state of the union message, and virtually every fortune 500 has open positions on their security teams.

Get into InfoSec ... as a generalist: CISSP, CISM, as a specialist, GIAC, CRISC, etc.

I worked crypto/comms for DOD, and this was a natural for me.

Best of luck,

[smurfy]

I ultimately want to work in the security arena, it has been my favorite topic.

I also hold a TS/SCI security clearance so that is in my favor for such a job. But how do I get started with a job in that field? If a company was willing to take me on because I learn fast, that would be great, but how do I find something like that?

[andrew_wc_brown]

Are you in a large city like Toronto, San Francisco or Barcelona that has accelerators and incubators around? Do you plan on doing all of this remotely?

[smurfy]

I live down in FL, so no. I can relocate for a good opportunity, or work remotely, although I think I would work better in-house in my situation.

[CyberDroiD]

My advice for an an aspiring 20 yr old jumpstart his career?

Work pays the bills, so for now do what you can... but then at night, work on what you enjoy or want to learn (like coding).

Once you have a portfolio of work and code to share, you can apply for jobs and reference your past work.