The fastest way into IT (information technology) 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. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $61,860 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $40,980 at the lower end to about $100,540 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
Up to 2 years after high school, on the usual route.
$700 to $9,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no license to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Limited demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$61,860
Bottom tenth
$40,980
Top tenth
$100,540
The national median is $61,860 a year, the bottom tenth earn $40,980 or less and the top tenth $100,540 or more, in the 2025 survey. The wage survey calls this job Computer User Support Specialists, which covers help desk, desktop support and the person who walks around fixing things.
$40,980 to $49,000
The bottom tenth and bottom quarter of computer user support specialists, 2025
A first help desk job usually pays in this part of the range.
$49,000 to $79,040
Half of all workers in the 2025 survey earn between these two figures
Many people use support as the place they learn, then move into systems administration, networking, cloud or security.
Roughly, all in
$700 to $9,000
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 often 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 is the usual starting 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 opens a different set of jobs.
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: O*NET OnLine (the Department of Labor's occupation database) projects employment in this occupation to decline between 2025 and 2035, 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. A common route.
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 a first step toward cloud jobs.
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.
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.
O*NET OnLine (the Department of Labor's occupation database) counts 750,600 computer user support specialists in 2025. Even with employment projected to decline between 2025 and 2035, about 39,700 job openings are expected each year as people move on to other roles.
A restart clears memory, drops stuck network connections and reloads software from a clean state. It is not a joke answer. It is often the quickest first check.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Support and testing first, then the rest of the field. See every career in tech.
Last checked October 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. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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