I'm 33, recently became a parent, and I'm considering a career change into better-paying IT work. I've been researching AWS, Azure, GCP, VMware/Broadcom, and Nutanix, but I'm concerned about the cost of training and certifications. I learn best by doing, and I'd like to earn one or two relevant certifications before applying for jobs. I've completed some introductory Linux Foundation training but don't yet have much networking or storage experience. What should I learn first, and how can I build practical experience without spending a fortune?
4 Answers
A direct jump from no IT experience into virtualization administration is unlikely. A help desk, desktop support, junior technician, or small-company IT role can give you the fundamentals employers expect. While working, study toward a certification that matches the jobs you actually want, then use your work experience and lab projects to move into systems or virtualization roles. Certifications help show commitment, but they won’t replace practical experience.
Don’t try to learn every platform at once, and don’t spend heavily on certifications before choosing a direction. Start with Linux, networking, storage, hardware, and virtualization fundamentals. Build a small lab using whatever equipment you already have and a free or inexpensive hypervisor such as Proxmox, Hyper-V, or VirtualBox. Run a few virtual machines, configure networking, host a service, automate tasks with Bash or Python, and practice troubleshooting. Free trials and hands-on labs can take you a long way.
If cloud is your target, pick one provider rather than dividing your time among AWS, Azure, and GCP. AWS is a reasonable starting point, but the specific choice should follow the jobs available in your area. Build a small project involving a network, virtual machines, identity and access controls, monitoring, security, and infrastructure-as-code such as Terraform. Be prepared to explain what you built, what failed, and how you fixed it; that often matters more than collecting several certificates.
It’s possible to make this transition in your thirties, but expect it to take sustained effort. Entry-level roles may pay less than you want initially, and you’ll be competing with people who already have experience. A small business or nonprofit can sometimes provide broader hands-on exposure than a large organization. Build and document projects as you go, learn the basics thoroughly, and use that experience to move upward rather than relying on certificates alone.
Nonprofits and small organizations can be good starting points despite lower salaries, because you may get to work with many different systems and take on real responsibility sooner.