IT career - where to begin?

[Powka]

Hey guys! This one is going to be kind of long, so thanks to anyone who has enough patience to read it through and maybe answer a question or two.

I'm 22, living in UK for over 2 years, based in Brighton, UK, foreigner with perfectly fluent English. I've had fun, worked different jobs for the past 3 years, just living life, and now I think it's time to start thinking about the future. I've always been a little interested in IT, but never got to it, and am a definite noob: just basic computer understanding, but I'm a quick learner.

What I'm most interested in is SEO, since I used to work with websites of my own and always had to promote them. Another interesting thing to me is Internet Marketing, of which I know nothing about. These are subjects that I'd love to get involved with in IT industry, but what the hell, I'll do anything else related for a few years for the sake of experience, obviously if I would even get an opportunity.

I've no degree (1 unfinished, totally unrelated to IT), and since I'm a foreigner, I have a different high school (12 year) diploma, so I guess I can't say I took GCSE or A-Levels, even though it's the similar stuff in my country called State Exams (after 12 years of study). I was wondering if anyone in the field (or on the right path) could give me any advice on where to get started? I'm looking through various courses, but not sure which ones to take or which ones are even legit.

- What to start studying first on my own? What book(s) to grab from the library?
- I know apprenticeship is the way to go, but I doubt anyone would take me without ANY experience what so ever, so is there any secret way to this?
- Programming language is necessary I guess, so which one would be the best to start learning first (that could be the base for everything else)?
- I'm kind of alright (for a noob) with understanding basic HTML, webdesign, CSS coding and anything wordpress-related. Do you think there is a niche for this, I mean, a job that might require these particular skills (and maybe even courses to that would help me advance in this area)?
- I've got no degree at the moment, and I don't think I can afford doing it now because I have to support myself. Although, as soon as I secure a full-time job, I think I might try and go for a part-time degree: which one to choose for a high paying career in IT field (something Internet Marketing related)?
- Any other advice for what to look for to get more experience, what kind of jobs to apply, or what else to do (except free IT courses that I'm already trying to apply to)?
- How is ZENOS company? I see they provide FREE training and then apprenticeship. Any opinions on those people?
- And most importantly, what skills should I teach myself at the moment? I mean, I want to grab a few books and start reading/learning. What should it be?

Thanks for any help or tips on any of the questions. I appreciate it.

[CleeIB]

It's great that you've started planning for the long term sooner than later!

Not being an IT expert, I can only offer general advice.

First, I'm not sure if "IT" is exactly the field you seek. "Information technology" involves, well, technology, and while it looks like you want to use it, it doesn't look like you want to build/maintain it. If you did, you'd want to learn programming.

Neither SEO nor Internet marketing require programming skills. Programming skills never hurt, but if your goals are this specific, you may as well focus on what you need first.

Technically SEO is a branch of Internet marketing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_marketing

If you peruse job listings, you'll see what the educational/experience requirements are. Then you can work backwards to figure out what you need to get there.

SEO is a science and thus can be studied. If you're looking at the social media aspect of Internet marketing, that can be a science also, though the field evolves by the day as Facebook and Twitter change how they do things.

I'm not sure what the reference texts for SEO/Internet marketing would be, but some research on the Internet (try Amazon!) would probably lead you to some choices.

Try using your previous experience with websites to get an entry level job/internship at an SEO or Internet marketing company. That won't pay much, of course, but experience and learning is what you seek at this point. Good luck!