I’m a 36 year old who made a career change less than a year ago, I like many thought I was too old or didn’t have enough experience compared to other people in my age group.

I was working a dead end job at a pawn shop pay capped , and no desire to move up with them. I’d always liked tinkering with computers and actually did some repairs on computers with the pawn shop in my downtime. I always assumed you needed a degree to get into IT and for whatever reason, never took the initiative to look into it.

Having a casual conversation with our IT field engineer , I decided to ask him, what does someone need to get into IT? Do I need a degree ? He told me he had one , but many of his colleges didn’t, and only had certifications. I asked some more questions and eventually he pointed me in the direction of A .

I stumbled around for the first couple months , but eventually got into a rhythm and found the right resources and got in a role. I passed my A last June and rode that momentum to study for and pass the Network last September.

In November , I landed my first official role in IT as an IT analyst at a zoo. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t have to take a pay cut ,they hired me on at $20/hr.This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind but it sounded better than help desk , gave me a chance to walk around part of the day while still learning a ticketing system and domains , and provided me with a great understanding of how a small IT team operates. I , like many, struggled with “imposter syndrome” thinking I wasnt good enough, didn’t know enough, etc. This is common from what I’ve read.

Last week , I just accepted a role with a small company with a starting salary in the low 50s.

Sorry for the long wall of text , and I know it’s not directly related to CompTIA , but I thought it may motivate someone else who is in a similar position that I was in this time last year.