Hi Chris, So myself, I went the network engineering route. I have worked for several carriers such as Verizon and COVAD as well as some large enterprises. I helped design the worlds largest out of home IPTV network and also built one of the first privately held Sonet rings. If I were you I would steer away from the desktop support jobs. If it interests you then by all means go for it but I find the system administration or network engineering jobs pay much better. One advantage I’ve found to Network Engineering is that most of the routers and switches that are out there are still configured using basic terminal connections or using telnet / ssh. A blind user can completely configure a router independently where there can be some issues with servers depending on the OS and the hardware design etc. I’d go where your interests take you but you might consider the network side of the house as a good option. Enjoy Scott On Jun 5, 2014, at 8:20 AM, chris <xenon_2@fastmail.fm> wrote:
HI guys. I hope this is OK to ask here.
I'm a would-be IT professional who's interests lie particularly in servers and networking. Currently volunteering, gaining experience with Linux, wireless networking, troubleshooting. I use VMs to teach myself some system admin using Linux and Windows Server 2012.
In trying to gain employment in IT I've been applying for first line / help desk type jobs. Now obviously a lot of these are asking for hands on, break and rebuild skills, managing printers, etc. Basically stuff I'm not too good at, you only have so much hardware to practise on, and can't really see me doing as a major function of a role, as a blind person. I've been turned down for such roles in the past basically on H and S considerations. I know, there may be many of you with severe sight impairment who have done this sort of work, if so, feel free to tell me I'm wrong, how it went etc. But what I'm wondering is.
Is it worth me struggling to study desktop support stuff, given the difficulties I see in gaining those hands on roles. Should I devote my efforts to servers, infrastructure, web application support stuff instead, which I find more interesting anyway? Is the only way in through the desktop support positions?
For what it's worth I apply for junior Linux, networking positions and more phone based help desk roles where I see them of course.
Regards
Chris Turner
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