The fastest way into tech without a degree, and the job most people in tech started in.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Typical
$61,860
First help desk job
$40,980
Senior or systems side
$100,540
The national median is $61,860 a year, and the bottom tenth are near $40,980. The wage survey calls this job Computer User Support Specialists, which covers help desk, desktop support and the person who walks around fixing things. Big employers and big cities pay well above the middle.
About $41,000
What the bottom tenth earn, which is close to a first help desk job
Small companies and call-center style support pay at the bottom. Hospitals, universities, banks and government agencies usually start higher for the same work and come with better benefits.
$100,540 or more
Senior technicians and people who have half moved into systems work
The money in this field is on the way out of it. Support is where you learn, then you move into systems administration, networking, cloud or security, each of which pays more than the ceiling here.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is the two entry level computer support certification exams, which run a few hundred dollars each, plus a cheap secondhand machine to take apart and rebuild. Plenty of people get hired on that alone and let an employer pay for anything after it. The high end is a two year associate degree at an in state community college plus the same certification exams. A bachelor's degree is genuinely optional for this job, so think hard before paying for one up front.
This is one of the cheapest entries to a real career on this site. Plenty of people get hired on a certification alone and let an employer pay for the rest.
Employer paid certifications
Most technology employers pay exam fees and give study time, because your certifications help them win contracts.
Tuition assistance
Universities and hospitals often pay for staff to take degree courses part time.
Shift premiums
Overnight and weekend coverage usually pays extra.
Remote work
A large share of support is now done over remote tools from home.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
The shortest path in tech. Some people are working within six months of high school.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Any computing course, plus being the person who fixes things for family and friends. That is real experience.
Pick a route in
6 months to 4 years
A certification on its own, a two-year associate degree, or a four-year degree if you want the option of management later.
Get the first certification
3 to 6 months of study
CompTIA A+ is two exams, Core 1 on hardware and networking and Core 2 on operating systems and security. It appears in more support job listings than any other credential.
First help desk job
1 to 2 years
Tickets, passwords, printers, laptops. The volume is high and the learning is fast.
Specialize
Ongoing
Networking, systems administration, cloud or security. Each one raises the ceiling above what support pays.
Computing or information technology
Networks, operating systems and hardware, which is most of the job.
English
You write ticket notes other people have to follow, and you explain things to non-technical people all day.
Math
Useful for networking and for any move into scripting later.
Any customer service job
Retail or food service counts. Half of support is handling a frustrated person well.
No state licenses this work. What employers ask for instead is certifications, because they are the one thing on a resume they can verify. CompTIA A+ is the standard starting point, Network+ and Security+ are the usual next steps, and vendor certificates from Microsoft, Cisco and the cloud providers are worth more once you know which direction you are heading. Honest warning: employment in this occupation is projected to decline slightly through 2034, so the certifications are what keep you competitive.
Community college
Two-year information technology programs, often the cheapest formal option and transferable to a university later.
Certification study on your own
Books, practice exams and video courses. Thousands of people take this route every year.
Online support certificates
Several technology companies run beginner support certificates that employers recognize.
A home lab
Old machines, a spare router, a virtual machine. The thing interviewers actually ask about.
Things you don't need, but that help.
CompTIA Network+
How networks actually work. The natural second certificate after A+.
CompTIA Security+
Security fundamentals, and often a hard requirement for government and defense contract work.
Microsoft or Cisco certificates
Windows and identity systems, or routing and switching. Pick the one your employer runs.
A cloud practitioner certificate
An entry-level credential from a major cloud provider, and the door to much better paid work.
Scripting
Basic automation turns an hour of clicking into a script you run once. The clearest signal you are ready for the next job.
Patience in writing
Clear ticket notes make you the technician everybody wants on their team.
A driver's license
Some roles cover several sites and you travel between them.
Comfort saying you do not know yet
Support is mostly problems nobody has seen before.
Nobody should be answering the same password reset ticket five years in. The usual moves are to desktop and field support, then systems administration, networking, cloud engineering or security analysis. Each step needs a certificate or two and, more importantly, evidence that you fixed things nobody assigned you. Treat the first job as a paid apprenticeship with a two-year deadline and it is one of the best deals in the country.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
The queue is waiting when you log in. Password resets, a laptop that will not connect, a printer nobody can reach, someone whose files vanished. Some you fix in two minutes over a remote session, some take an afternoon and a replacement part. Interruptions constantly, because the person standing at your desk always feels more urgent than the ticket. Between them, setting up machines for new starters and patching things that must not break.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
It is one of the largest technology occupations in the country. Even with employment projected to decline slightly through 2034, around 40,800 openings are expected over the decade as people move on to other roles.
CompTIA A+ splits into Core 1, covering hardware and networking, and Core 2, covering operating systems and security. You can take them in either order, and it shows up in more support job listings than any other credential in the industry.
A restart clears memory, drops stuck network connections and reloads software from a clean state. It is not a joke answer. It is the fastest way to rule out half of all possible causes.
Systems administrators, network engineers, cloud engineers and security analysts very often started on a help desk. It is the one technology job that will hire you with no degree and no experience, which is exactly why it is worth taking seriously.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise.