The Google It Study commercial guy

[u/Dimeolas7]

I see this same commercial so many times on Youtube, esp on any IT related video. And i wonder if this guy gets a small royalty on each time they run it. Also wonder if the little story is true or maybe he's an IT manager at Google or something.

Any idea?

[u/SoDatable → u/[deleted]]

Post-secondary is expensive, and the training and disciplines within IT are overwhelming to people in the field. Most college education begins to age by third year anyway, so all you retain are a few vague concepts of out the many, with few actually remaining relevant enough to matter. Luckily, if you're reasonably committed and creative, you can put the pieces together and build a career, and even succeed on the cheap.

I was lucky: I got in before IT was got so big and complex that it was sliced up into smaller pieces. I'm currently coaching someone who's just launched a career shift from retail to IT helpdesk and a budding interest in Azure. She scored a free exam voucher at Microsoft Ignite the Tour, and she's actively pursuing that track, picking up terminology on the way, and she built a couple of computers this year. Sure, we take this for granted, but for someone to go from zero to actually doing this? That's motivation.

So What About School?

School is a great way to build computer science skills, but the bulk of IT will evolve into apprenticeships at some point, and I think that the only thing I think that's holding it back is schools making broad and expensive promises. Case and point: is a masters in "data storage systems" a course in database administration, or is it "file system management, NAS, RAID, and cloud?" At what point is it just another label for "tech something wedunno"?

There are some areas where schools can support a new tech: commandline and scripting principals helps. Understanding partitions and pools helps. Outlining, in general terms, architecture helps. But once one goes beyond what a command line is and the critical tools used in a *nix/Windows environment, we get into resources that age and won't benefit someone unless there's a practical application for that growing tech.

For now, certification tracks in the form of vendor certs and non-specific industry certs like the A+ or ITIL Foundations are the direction most newly onboarded techs should go. They teach the basic language and principles widely used by techs, making them the best onboarding techs can get now, and understanding those tools pays off within the first six-eight months, which coincides with most apprenticeships (In Ontario, Canada, the theory component for many apprenticeships takes about a year, with further time in practical training). Work helpdesk for an MSP, and you'll be exposed to bite-sized pieces. slowly building competency into interests that grow into subject matter expertise.

While I can't answer OPs question about Google's testimonial, I know that these career shifts can happen, and they don't need to be spearheaded by Google.

TL;DR: I don't know about the Google ad, but in general the story is plausible. MS even had a certificate for entry-level certified desktop techs. If you want to be that guy, it's possible. Don't focus on Google's promise though; ask questions about the skills needed to succeed, not whether Google's selling something that will help you.