Funny how often you see this...

Skills and talent certainly help you get the job. I don't mean to belittle getting the skills so much as I was trying to emphasize the opportunity aspect of getting said desired job.

I would just look up A+ and network+ and see what kind of topics are involved. The IT industry doesn't hold them in the highest regard. Some people don't care about those certs but if you look at the subjects they cover, that's what they care about. I'm speaking at just a general entry-type IT work here not anything specialized. Obviously IT is quite broad nowadays. Most people don't even touch on every aspect of those certs either. Usually there are like 3 or 4 chapters in those books that are incredibly important and that might be it.

To follow up with regard to the context of the discussion, I mean having a laid-back job where you have time to browse reddit isn't one anyone should target. But it might happen along the way. It really depends on the company and type of work. I did ISP/server support for a time and might deal with up to 20 calls/chats/emails an average shift. (I once didn't get any work requests all day) That also involved some "remote hands" for server maintenance. Basically you had to know how to take apart and put together a computer and how NOT to break anything. Of course, you get training along the way. Before that I had worked a couple tech jobs that involved fixing computer and home/office network/peripheral problems back to back where there was basically no down-time. But that was required before getting the job that was more laid back. But even the "laid back" job meant I had to spend downtime studying up and learning how to do the job better. That's why we had downtime was so we could better perform at our job when we did need to do it.

People want to brag about lazy jobs but I personally believe we all like to be busy doing something, so long as we enjoy doing it. I'd rather be doing work. It keeps my mind occupied. I like most things IT so the industry accommodates, even if I'm in a low-level position.

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