Shadowing Practice: How to Get Started with I.T. - Information Technology - Learn English Speaking with Video
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How do you start learning IT?
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Where do you get started?
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I get asked this question very often, and that's what we're going to talk about in today's video.
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How are you guys doing?
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My name is Zach, and this is IT Career Questions.
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Here, we try to help you guys answer questions about getting into IT.
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And this question gets asked all the time.
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How do you start learning IT?
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Maybe you are interested in technology.
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Maybe you've built your own computer before.
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Maybe somebody has told you that technology is a great field to work in, or you can make a lot of money working in IT
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which can definitely be true a lot of times maybe you're looking to make
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that career change you're older
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and you're just looking for something different maybe you're a single parent
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and you're trying to figure out how you can support your
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family well IT can be a great resource to provide an
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income for your family it can be a great career change
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for you later on in life it can be a great
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start to a career in your early years as well IT
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offers endless possibilities I've worked in this field for about 17 years
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and I have enjoyed every single minute of it
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so today I just want to help give you guys some guidance on getting started at
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that ground level
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and introducing you to some of the different technologies now you
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don't need to be a mathematician an expert at math
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if you will to work in IT you don't have to
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be a programmer to work in IT unless you are looking to go down
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that development path whether you are young
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or old IT does not discriminate there's no discrimination here for anybody IT is for everyone
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if you are willing to take the time
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and learn the technologies anybody can do it you don't need
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to be an expert in anything technology related to start learning about technology
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that is not a requirement there are many great resources available online in person
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that you can utilize to learn the skills and the tools
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that it takes to become an professional
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and we'll talk about those later on in this video
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but first is IT right for you
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and what I mean by this is is this a career
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that you feel like you can go down now IT obviously isn't for everybody
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or else it would just be overloaded
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and we wouldn't need people working in this field however one area of this field
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that is in desperate need of help is cybersecurity
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and you may have heard of that and there are many areas within IT
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that are also in desperate need of help as well.
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So there's plenty of opportunity to work in this field.
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Now, is it right for you?
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Is it something that you could be interested in?
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Do you like to learn about new tech?
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Do you like to learn new things?
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That's something that technology always offers.
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There's always new technologies coming out and there's always something to learn.
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The possibilities are honestly endless in this field do you enjoy a challenge
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because IT sometimes can be very challenging and I don't mean
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that in an intimidating way there are a lot of careers out there
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that can be very very challenging however IOT has an amazing
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community of people who are always out there open to helping
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you learn more just like I'm doing right here trying to help you learn more about this field
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That's one thing about this field that really separates it from many others.
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The community
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that you get yourself into by far blows every other community
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out of the water as far as I'm concerned in my opinion.
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You get yourself into this community of people who are open to helping you
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and helping you understand the things that you don't know.
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And here's something that you should know.
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You don't need to be an expert about anything technology related to even step foot in this field, to work in this field,
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and to continue working in this field.
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I've worked in this field for 17 years as I said, and I'm no expert.
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There's still things that I don't know about technology.
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I'm still learning on a day-to-day basis.
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I've been very successful within my career, and there's other professionals who have worked in this career much longer than I have,
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who aren't experts at everything.
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Nobody knows everything and we as the IT professionals still rely on Google
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and still rely on our peers for help and guidance and that's okay.
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So please don't feel like you have to know everything to work in IT because you don't.
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It's okay.
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It's a great field to get started in and to learn about and to advance and to have a successful, fulfilling career in.
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So where do you start?
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And this is a great question because there are many different places that you can get started learning about IT.
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You guys can go to college and get degrees
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that are associated with IT and that will teach you a lot of the knowledge
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that you need to learn the skills and the tools to work in IT.
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But college is not even a requirement to work in IT.
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Certifications are a key aspect in my opinion that can really lay the foundational skills that it takes to work in IT.
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And a company called CompTIA, and there's going to be links in the description so you guys can utilize these, is a great resource to get you guys started.
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CompTIA is what is called a vendor neutral certification organization.
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They create IT certifications that really lay the foundational skills to entry-level IT jobs.
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And one of the certifications that we're going to talk about right now is the CompTIA ITF Plus, which is the CompTIA IT Fundamentals Certification.
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And again, there's a link in the description for that.
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That is a great certification to look into and study and make sure you guys understand.
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The IT Fundamentals Certification is not there to intimidate you.
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It's not there to be scary in any way.
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The IT fundamentals certification really gives you that basic understanding of technology.
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It lays down the foundational knowledge of some of the technologies that are required, right?
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It's not there to make you scared.
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It's not there to say that you don't know things.
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It's there to help you.
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It's there to really test at what level you're at and get you prepared for the next level.
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and I strongly encourage you guys if you are just stepping foot into this field
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and you're really trying to get your bearings on where you're looking to go
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and what you need to do that is an amazing certification to look into
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and study and understand if you have that knowledge to take
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that certification now some of you out there are more than capable of taking
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that certification and passing it
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and some of you out there have built your own computers before
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and maybe you guys have helped your friends
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and family with all their technology problems before and that's great amazing
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and I salute you guys for doing
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that you guys might be ready for the next step
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and the next step is another CompTIA certification called the A plus
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and you may have heard of this certification before
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if you're just looking into this field that's been mentioned many
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times the A plus certification is really one of the most requested IT certifications for entry-level jobs in existence
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if you go on indeed.com
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and search for A plus certification you're gonna find thousands of job opportunities
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that are looking for the A-plus certification
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and you don't need any prerequisites to study for the A-plus
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certification you don't have to have a vast knowledge within IT
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to study for the A-plus certification you don't have to be
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like I said to the mathematician you don't need to be a programmer to study for
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that the A-plus certification you can take the time
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and you can really sit down and study this A-plus certification
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and you pass it you can then be qualified
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and prepared to land an entry-level IT job
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that A-plus certification really does lay down the fundamental IT skills
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for entry-level IT jobs it teaches you all the core skills about basic computing, PCs, Windows operating systems, Linux,
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IoT, networking, cybersecurity, scripting, cloud, virtualization.
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These are all terms that you may have never heard before, but once you start studying that A-plus certification, you'll have a good understanding of what these are,
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and when you're stepping foot into the field, you'll understand what people are talking about, and you'll be prepared.
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Now, this is a great place to start.
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I'm going to have the links in the description.
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Now, as I mentioned previously, what are the resources that you guys can use?
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There's plenty of resources out there, as you guys know.
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You guys can go to college which is a great resource to get started
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but again college is not a requirement to start in IT
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if you're looking to self study
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and get certified take one of the CompTIA certifications as I strongly suggest
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that you do there's great resources from CompTIA itself they offer their own study material
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and we're gonna put some of the CompTIA objectives for their
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certifications in the link in the description below they offer their own study material their cert master learn program
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which is a great resource to study from and
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that will prepare you to take these certifications and then really give you that knowledge
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that is required to work in IT there's IT pro TV
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another great resource they have all types of different training materials over there from CompTIA Microsoft Cisco
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and the list goes on there's Cybrary who offer free video training as well
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and you guys can check them out
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because they offer CompTIA training there's a lot of great resources out there for you guys to utilize
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so whether you're looking for online training you're looking for you know
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that paper book training or
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that sometimes in-person training it does exist sometimes there's resources out there
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that will help you guys get prepared nothing about this field is
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that intimidating don't be afraid the community is amazing and we welcome you with open arms and encourage you to come
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and join us working in IT and
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if you guys have any questions about what the next step could be
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or you're maybe a little bit confused about what I said please leave a comment below
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and if I don't have the answer for you I have a network of professionals
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that I can reach out to
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and get the answers for you I hope this video was
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very helpful for you the whole point of this channel is
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is to help you guys with all of your IT career questions and IT questions in general.
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If you have any other comments, questions, or concerns, please feel free to hit me up in the comments below.
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Make sure you guys check out all the links in the description below.
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And that's all I got for you guys in today's video.
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Check out my entire playlist of videos featuring plenty of different certifications,
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interview tips, resume tips, and so much more.
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Thank you guys for watching, and as always, take it easy.
What You'll Practice in This Lesson
In this lesson, you'll practice understanding and imitating conversational English about starting a career in IT. You'll focus on natural speech patterns, including pacing, intonation, and common phrases used to discuss career paths, technology, and learning. This is great for improving your ability to follow real-world discussions and speak confidently about practical topics like career changes and skill development.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- IT (Information Technology): The use of computers, software, and networks to manage information.
- Career change: Switching to a different profession, often after working in another field.
- Cybersecurity: The practice of protecting computer systems and data from theft or damage.
- Endless possibilities: A wide range of potential opportunities or outcomes.
- Ground level: The starting point or basic stage of a process.
- Desperate need: A strong, urgent requirement for something.
Practice Tips for Shadowing
The video uses a friendly, conversational tone with a moderate speed, making it perfect for shadow speak practice. Here's how to use the shadowing technique effectively:
- Play a 5-10 second clip, then pause and repeat it immediately, mimicking the speaker's rhythm and intonation. Focus on matching the stress in words like "cybersecurity" and "opportunity."
- Pay attention to filler phrases like "and that's what we're going to talk about" and "so today I just want to help"—these are common in natural speech and will make your english speaking practice sound more authentic.
- For longer sentences, break them into chunks. For example, practice "IT can be a great resource to provide an income for your family" separately before combining it with the rest of the thought. This helps with fluency and pacing.
- Record yourself shadowing and compare it to the video. Notice differences in volume (e.g., the emphasis on "every single minute") and adjust to match the speaker's energy. This will refine your shadow speech skills.
Consistent practice with this video will help you feel more comfortable with conversational English and prepare you to discuss career and technology topics confidently.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.