I have 7 years as a professional watchmaker, several years as a locksmith and about 15 years as an entrepreneur that specialized in designing small businesses and marketing strategies for client businesses. I have almost always worked on my own andon shoestring budgets. I have worked on computer hardware and applications for about 14 years, and my current gig(s) are doing a little web design and teaching applications at a community college. I got my BA in anthro in 98. I was a late bloomer, education-wise, but I had very high scores in school. (It is amazing how much having some discipline can help in these things)
I have an A+ and have taken a year’s worth of classes based on vendor certs (mostly novell certs, as they were the first ones in the series at the college I was attending) The college closed its doors in March of 2001 and in July I started a masters in IT from Capella U.
My (final) goal is to get into business development and network security consulting, but I have no idea how to proceed to get the consulting thing going well. I do know, however, that I do not want to get a job as a manager (again) I am happiest in a project-based lifestyle. I like to wind ideas up and let others handle the follow-through. I have a real interest in hardware and keep trying to break into hardware consultation.
Currently, I have $0 in the advertising budget, and though I have several years of self-employment in IT-related stuff, I have very little actual IT employment on my resume. This seems to be hurting me as I apply for jobs, and the constant rejection has been heartbreaking. I have worked as a temp for a couple of big telecom and ISP companies, but I am so sick of being offered $10 hourly, and finding out that stuff that looks good at the beginning turns out to be “entry-level” after the fact.
I am drowning in red ink here! I need help, but I don’t know how to get it.