18 Entry Level IT Jobs

If you’re thinking about diving into a job in IT, it can be difficult to figure out which path is right for you. After all, there are dozens of roles, and a lot of them have similar-sounding titles! So, if you’re looking to break into IT, here are 18 entry level IT jobs that you can look into.

As a quick disclaimer, when we say entry level here, it’s not the same as zero experience. Some of these roles require degrees and others require portfolios or external certificates that you might have gotten online.

Very few jobs in IT require zero experience and zero higher education, so keep that in mind. I’ve listed the average salary and the requirements for each job so that you can see what you need to do to be eligible for each position.

Okay, with that in mind, let’s dive in and find out more about these 18 entry-level IT jobs. 

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1. Help Desk

Average US Salary: $57,910 

Requirements: Basic troubleshooting knowledge, certifications, foundation degrees, or bachelor’s degrees, depending on the employer.

Pretty much every business in the world right now has an IT help desk. Whether your laptop isn’t turning on, systems are down, or you just need help resetting a password, the first people you call are the IT help desk. 

As the first line of defense against IT headaches, you actually don’t need a ton of experience. You do need a surface knowledge of troubleshooting and computer systems, but in a lot of places, having a degree is not a prerequisite.

A lot of the time, you’ll be learning on the job, and for more extreme issues, you’ll pass the details along to IT techs or the specific experts in that area of the IT department. 

2. IT Technician

Average US Salary: $48,594

Requirements: Basic troubleshooting knowledge, certifications, foundation degrees, or bachelor’s degrees, depending on the employer.

If help desk technicians are the customer-facing, user-friendly part of the IT department, then IT Techs are the back office fixers. Most of the time, they’re working away on the technical issues that are causing issues to multiple users within the business.

You’ll likely be working alongside the help desk, but you won’t have to deal with the users anywhere near as much which can be a big bonus to this role. 

Again, you don’t need a whole lot of experience or degrees for this role, but it does largely depend on the employer. Knowing about computer systems and common technical troubleshooting issues should take you pretty far in this role.

3. Systems Administrator

Average US Salary:  $80,600

Requirements: Computer systems experience, sometimes a degree is required but not always. 

If you love setting up computers and installing various pieces of new software, and updates, and making sure that the hardware is up to standard, then you’re going to love being a systems administrator. Essentially, you’re the one who makes sure that everyone has what they need to do their job well.

It’s also up to you to make sure that updates are being taken care of. In many businesses, administrator access is password protected from the users to stop them from downloading anything stupid or messing with the system. As the systems administrator, you are the keeper of this magical password and control who gets access to what!

4. Database Admin

Average US Salary: $101,000

Requirements: Role-related certifications depending on the programs and CRMs being used. Sometimes degrees are also required. 

Although this sounds like a really straightforward IT job on the surface, it’s actually an essential position for any business dealing with customer data. Database admins are tasked with managing, updating, and keeping track of the business databases. This can include customer data, vendor information, prospective customer information, and more.

You don’t need a ton of experience or degrees for this role unless certain businesses require it, but it does help to know Structured Query Language (SQL) so that you can search and manage databases more efficiently. There are plenty of online courses for Structured Query Language (SQL), so it’s an easy upskill to do if you’re interested in this role. 

5. Systems Analyst

Average US Salary: $99,270

Requirements: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree or appropriate experience. 

Working alongside the systems administrators are the systems analysts. This is one of those roles that sounds similar to another, but in reality, they’re pretty different. That’s because it’s the systems analyst’s job to appraise the existing processes and system capabilities and try and make them more efficient.

So, there’s a lot of problem-solving in this role, which is great for a lot of people as you can really get your teeth into a problem. However, it can be difficult to make systems more efficient and effective if you’re also trying to manage budgetary requirements from the bosses.

It’s definitely an interesting entry level IT job, but it’s not without its challenges. 

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6. Web Developer

Average US Salary: $78,300

Requirements: Programming ability shown through portfolio work or experience. You might need a degree depending on the employer, but many places prefer portfolio work.

So, although many businesses list their jobs as generic web developers, there are actually three separate roles that come under this umbrella: front-end, back-end, and full-stack developers. If you’re developing the part of the site that the user interacts with, you’re a front-end developer.

If you’re sorting out the server and database side of the website, you’re a back-end developer. You’ve guessed it, if you do both, you’re a full-stack developer.

This is one of those roles where experience is a lot more important than degrees for a lot of vacancies. You need to know your developer languages which will vary depending on if you’re front-end, back-end, or full-stack. Make sure you know a couple of different dev languages and have a portfolio that’s ready to share for this role. 

7. Cloud Engineer

Average US Salary: $104,659

Requirements: Knowledge of cloud systems and a degree.

If you want an entry level IT job with relative security, becoming a cloud engineer might be the way to go. With the increase in cloud migration, cloud engineer demand is only rising and continuing to do so. At its core, the role of a cloud engineer is to help migrate applications and processes to the cloud.

Popular cloud-based services include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and the Google Cloud Platform, so it’s worth learning about each of these to give you the best job prospects.  

To become eligible for this position, a degree in computer science is helpful. However, if you don’t have a degree, but have experience working in network or systems admin roles where you get to interact with cloud-based work on a regular basis, you might be able to get into a cloud engineer role in that way. 

8. Software Developer

Average US Salary: $109,020

Requirements: Experience with various developing languages through portfolio work or an appropriate degree. 

One of the most well-known entry-level IT jobs has to be as a software developer. In this role, you’re responsible for building or creating a system or application to work across different devices. You’re normally working collaboratively in a team that’s helmed by a project manager.

There are usually a few devs on each project as well as UX designers, test engineers, and more to ensure that the product ticks all the boxes.

While computer science degrees are helpful if you want to become a software developer, there are plenty of bootcamps and internships all around the world that teach different developer languages and skills. So, you can easily join one of these to gain skills and experience – they’re definitely a lot more practical and hands-on than degrees, and often a whole lot cheaper!  

9. Tech Support 

Average US Salary: $70,519

Requirements: Knowledge of computer operating systems, hardware, and software. A degree may be required

So, if you like to be more hands-on with people, and like solving problems, think about becoming tech support. Essentially, help desk support will give you a ticket to go into the office and fix someone’s hardware or software issue for them if they can’t manage it remotely. 

As such, it’s one of the most popular entry level IT jobs and there are tons of vacancies for this kind of role. Even small companies need tech support nowadays! For instance, I have a friend who is tech support for a charity shop as all their tills are now digitized and can provide issues for the shop floor volunteers who work there!

10. Cloud Research Scientist

Average US Salary: $120,817 

Requirements: An advanced degree (Master’s or PhD) is required, alongside practical experience or published work.

If you’ve worked in research or cloud-based academia for a while and want to put your knowledge to the test, then a job as a cloud research scientist might be for you. This isn’t exactly entry-level as you need a lot of either research-based academic experience, or a lot of in-depth knowledge about cloud systems, the trajectory of cloud systems, and what’s going to be next in the field.

As the job title suggests, this is mostly a research-style position, so you’ll be hypothesizing and trying to work out how to improve cloud services or make them more efficient in the future. It’s a challenging role but if you’re looking to transfer from academic to industry, this is a great mix of the two. 

11. Business Development Officer

Average US Salary: $80,339

Requirements: Business administration or marketing degree, or similar experience. 

If you want to work in IT but don’t fancy the more technical side of the field, you might be interested in becoming a business development officer. This is where you look at marketing, new products, and client relations, and you put it all together in a strategic way.

In having an overarching view, business development officers can see potential opportunities and pain points for the clients and business as a whole and help eliminate those issues or capitalize on the opportunities. It’s half marketing half admin and strategy, so it’s a cool blended role if you want to be involved in a lot of different areas. 

12. UX Researcher

Average US Salary: $86,000

Requirements: Foundation degree or basic qualifications in psychology, design, or marketing. 

UX researchers or user researchers are an integral part of the product design process. It’s UX researchers who test products on focus groups, collate client research, and find out what problems need solving, and whether people actually respond to a new product or feature. 

Despite this being an important role, it’s pretty straightforward to get into. If you have experience in research, even during university, you have a good way into a UX research role. Additional benefits come if you study psychology, design, or marketing, as they all have a pretty big impact on the UX researcher role. 

13. UX Designer

Average US Salary: $91,945

Requirements: Knowledge of Adobe Suite, CSS, HTML, and any other programs the company uses. 

While graphic designers often make products pretty and aesthetically pleasing, UX designers create the more functional and user-friendly aspects of a product or app. They make sure that the user journey makes sense, flows, and doesn’t encounter any issues along the way.

Menus are where you want them, scale is correct for different devices, and forms and buttons all do what you want them to do.

Again, experience and knowledge beat out degrees when it comes to becoming a UX designer on the whole. If you know about Adobe Suites and languages like CSS and HTML, you’ll be in a really good place to get a job as a UX designer. 

14. Test Engineer

Average US Salary:  $93,896

Requirements: Degree or experience in quality assurance.

So this is one of those roles that does exactly what you think. A test engineer tests new products and features to ensure they’re in good shape before hitting the market or going public. They’re also known as quality engineers and it’s up to them to test products and see if they deliver on the promises made and if the functionality can be improved. 

This is a super important part of the IT lifecycle, so you need a degree in computer science or have experience in quality assurance and testing. However, if you love getting beta products, trying things first, and giving feedback to developers, then this is your kind of role.

15. AI Researcher

Average US Salary: $113,102

Requirements: Experience working with algorithms or an advanced degree in machine learning. 

With AI becoming an increasingly integral part of our lives, the demand for AI researchers in IT fields has skyrocketed. Similar to other research scientist roles, it’s the job of an AI researcher to work out what’s next in artificial intelligence and how businesses can either capitalize or prepare for the implications.

It’s a complicated and relatively new role, so it’s constantly changing at the moment. However, you will need an advanced degree or plenty of experience working with algorithms and machine learning to secure an AI researcher role. 

16. Technical Sales Representative

Average US Salary: $89,200 

Requirements: An interest in tech, people skills, or sales experience

Again, this is another super popular entry-level IT job and one that many businesses will offer. Technical sales representatives are the bridge between tech teams and the customers. They’re trying to upsell new products and features to existing clients, and trying to buy repair patches and find solutions if the client has a new problem.

Technical sales reps will also deal with any aftercare packages, warranties, maintenance service packages, and more. This is very much a customer-facing role, so having people skills or sales experience is super important and beneficial for this role. It’s also a great way to get some experience in the IT industry if you’re not sure what you want to do, or don’t have the necessary experience for some of the more specialized roles.

17. Site Reliability Engineer

Average US Salary: $111,146 

Requirements: Experience in site reliability or DevOps or appropriate degree.

If you hate it when your favorite sites have a deadly lag, or if they crash when too many people are on it and think you know how to prevent it from happening, you should become a site reliability engineer. The main part of the site reliability engineer’s role is to ensure that the user experience is up to standard and reliable. That means no crashes, minimal lags, and any emergency faults are handled quickly and efficiently. 

Most site reliability engineer roles require a computer science degree or experience in DevOps before you apply. You can also learn coding languages to help boost your application and show your understanding of both front-end and back-end development. 

18. Information Security Analyst

Average US Salary: $102,600

Requirements: Appropriate certification or degree.

This job is kind of self-explanatory. As an information security analyst, it’s your job to look at the different systems and protocols in place throughout the business and figure out how to make them safer and more secure.

This can vary a lot from day to day which makes the role interesting, but it can also be high pressure if there’s a security breach that you need to fix and rectify quickly.

Many information security analysts have computer science degrees, but you can also upskill by completing a certificate in CompTIA Security+. This will help you stand out from the crowd and show that you’ve chosen to specialize in information security.

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