Maximum PC

Alright people, I like so many others desire to work in a computer related field. Presently, I have a BS in elementary education and have about three years experience. Computers, in no short way, is my passion. Teaching has its rewards but the demands of grading papers from 5-12 each night for months on end as well as the bureaucracy involved leave me unfulfilled. I build and repair systems for myself and friends as well maintain systems at work. I also maintain my school's website. Each night I spend my free time trying new operating systems or doing various tasks with computers. So basically, I have a large amount of knowledge in using applications, system set setups, diagnosing hardware problems, and operating system settings. I'm not looking to be rich by any means. I mean, hello I'm a teacher, that's 70k maxed at 30 years experience and over. But I have no real experience in programming. I simply would like to help people with computer problems in a hands on environment. Meaning applications, hardware diagnostics, and training others.

Would I be completely ludicrous in approaching a company for an internship. Because I have my summers free and my salary is stretched over the year I could potentially work with little or no pay in hopes of gaining experience.

What would you suggest as a career path for my scenario?

thanks,
edgesitter

Well, due to your somewhat unique schedule, you might be able to swing a summer internship quite easily.

One other thing you might want to do is talk with the administration about setting up a computer club or something for the school. Maybe something like a Linux User Group, or a study group going towards a practical end (like A+ or Net+ certification).

That kind of stuff can get your foot in the door at a lot of places.

yea A+ would be a great start... i bet if you got the ComTIA A+ Cert you would be able to teach a computer class at your school maby?

Hopefully most school courses teach programming and not computer repair.

If you're a sharp person -- good logic and analytical reasoning skills -- I would suggest taking some courses intro computer science courses at a local university. Just a hunch, but I am guessing that you receive some kind of tuition reimbursement. If that works out, then you can probably teach a computer course at the school while finishing off the CS degree (hopefully you can get some of the work done in class... you'll have a bunch of little helpers, right?).

If you really want to be a sysadmin (and I really can't imagine why!!!), you're going to need quite a bit more than 'I've setup Ubuntu, Debian and Win2k Server on many systems'. You should have some kind of specialization... databases, networks, etc. If you have what it takes to install a database, create an ERD, do normalization, write queries / views and other db admin tasks, then you should make a very nice living.

Good luck.