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Lies of our IT schools.

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Learn MCSE. Start a job at 60K.
Be a CNE. Start a job at 100k.
Be a janitor, most likely, you’ll make more money then being an MCSE these days. BEWARE THE LIES.

I am not a beginner when it comes to computers. I have been using MOSAIC before anyone even knew what the WEB was. I was making web sites before FRONTPAGE even came into being. But I have never really decided to move into the IT field. I wanted Law Enforcement. I joined law enforcement for all the right reasons, only to find outthey were the WRONG reasons. Then I decided to hit MCSE since I knew all my A+ stuff back and forth (i am considered tech support for my entire FAMILY).

Fine, I got into a school promising me that i will make 60k easy. BULL. The truth started showing itself early. There were 12 people in my class. Only 2 made it (including me). That school accpeted people who didnt even know how to chance the background on a win95 computer. But thats another story.

Once I got my MCSE, I sent out HUNDREDS of resumes. All the answers I got back were from uncaring headhunters wanting to set me up with a helpdesk job so they can get a piece of my salary while I work staring at a computer and on a telephone 99.999999% of the time. I couldnt find SHIT. Net work administration HA. Yeah right. Good luck baby. Right now I’m working for 15 bucks an hour and absolutely HATING my job. I love networking. Hell, I even have an application server in my own house. Geek city. But that doesn’t help me in my job search. Experience does. But how do I get experience if i can’t get a job??!! Beginners thinking of getting into IT BEWARE THE LIES OF OUR IT SCHOOLS. AND most of all, don’t pay in full. The people in my class did and they regretted it.

Good luck. The job market isn’t as desperate for you as your school tells you it is.

-Ginel Lipan
(just ranting and raving)

Topic

Bury the ANGER!

In reply to Lies of our IT schools.

If I were an employer and even got a hint of your all-consuuming anger I would NEVER offer you anything – not even the “Help-Desk” jobs where almost everyone starts now days. Stupid? – sure it is but because there were so many folks like you with ZERO network administrator experience advertising themselves as experts reality drove the industry to as “show-me”, and not “tell-me” trial start. Maybe you could try teaching an anger management course somewhere – buut of course it wont pay you whatyou are worth either!

Bury the ANGER!

In reply to Lies of our IT schools.

You sound like a timebom ready to explode.

For years employers hired Network Administrators that said they could manage hardware – and had the Certifications to prove it but (like you) had ZERO actual experience. The results were nearly devistating to our industry and as a result MCSE’s often begin as “Help Desk” techs today to demonstrate they actually do posess the knowledge and PATIENCE to handle the job at hand. I suspect you posess neither and would hope I never called you with a “stupid” problem. Have you ever run into anything other than yoursely that isn’t a stupid liar?

Get real – learn to teach anger management!

Bury the Anger !

In reply to Bury the ANGER!

I’m a level one tech. while I do not have a MCSE Cert. I am smart enough to know i needed a help desk job to learn new skills and to grow in the IT field.
I have heard the stories about help desk hell and never going anywhere, But i know that if i do not get promoted at my help desk job I can always take what I have learned there and use it someplace else.

Bury the anger and reamber this one fact.
If your un-happey find a new JOB !

mgmguy1

I’m sick of this whining.

In reply to Lies of our IT schools.

Where the hell did you think you’d start as a new graduate? CIO? Get over it.

How do you get experience? You’re doing it on that helpdesk. You’re paying your dues in this industry.

Just that: Beginners

In reply to Lies of our IT schools.

You said, “Beginners thinking of getting into IT BEWARE THE LIES OF OUR IT SCHOOLS.” It seems to me that you didn’t go to a technical “school”, per se, but instead took a cram course to get an MCSE. No offense, but perhaps your expectations were a little too high and you wanted to believe what they were telling you. The more people the companies that teach these cram courses draw in with their advertising, exaggerated as it may be, the more money they make. Did you really think that a companywas going to hire you with no experience, hand you the Adminstrator’s password to their network, and pay you $60k because you took a cram course and passed some exams?

It seems you’ll have to start the way I did. Find a desktop support job, keep up on the latest technology, get a couple of years of experience, and move on. With 2 years of experience and an MCSE, you should have no trouble getting a junior admin job.

That’s just it…

In reply to Just that: Beginners

…you have to learn to crawl before you can walk. It’s like anything else. The schools lead people to believe that they can just jump into high-paying network positions from MCSE courses because that’s what Microsoft leads people to believe. That’s what got my attention at first, but as time went on and I asked around, I found out that wasn’t a reality in my geographical area. I took MCSE courses anyway, seeing them as a good way to escape a career that I hated. They did indeed provide mewith a foot in the door, but that was all that I truly expected. I never assumed that I would jump straight into one of these dream positions, and I didn’t. I can tell you that although the courses do give you a good place to start, they don’t truly prepare you for the real IT world. I started out doing PC/network tech support in a small office, and put my hands on everything PC and network-related that I could. You need to do this, and more networking of the people variety. It will lead tobetter things – it did for me.

All schools are not alike

In reply to Lies of our IT schools.

Ginel…it takes more than technical knowledge to make it in this field. Personality and ATTITUDE are big +++++’s.

Many of our students have left the doors earning $40K…$50…$60K without a MSCE.

However, we are a different type of institute. It’s not about the money with us. Yes, we are a business…but more so we’re about helping people make life changes educationally, interpersonally and career wise.

So if you are in the New Jersey area we’d love to hear from you.
Institute of Computer & Network Technology, Inc. 973.623.8324.
Dawn

Most of them are…

In reply to All schools are not alike

I used to work for one of these “education” companies. And for the most part it was all about how many people you could cram into the class.

Many of the students were promised “the world” if they finish the course and pass the tests. No matter what you are promised, switching careers into IT without a “real” IT education or experience is extremely difficult. These cram courses only teach you the extreme basics. They do not teach you troubleshooting skills, they do not teach you common sense,etc.

What do you get with that —- a “paper” certification. With all of the “paper” certifications flooding the industry, do not be suprised when you get a low level job when you have the “certification” and the magazine you just read says you should earn the big bucks.

No matter what you are promised, you need to put in your time. It is just the facts.

Like I said, I used to teach at one of these cram education places and needed to get out.
That was many moons ago.

How true and sad

In reply to Most of them are…

At the school im currently attending, they did the same thing, but who can blame them? If you are actually planning to go into this field why just do the 20 problems Mr.teacher says to do? The program i am in really does stink, we cover material which mentions 286s and how the fastest computer is 300mhz!! Well i got tired of it, and instead of complaining i said i really enjoy networking and computers, so i go a volunteer job at Red Cross, and it so happens that i got a halfway decent job out of it.. Yeah i do some crap i dont like, but hey thats life and im only 18 =] so i cant expect much. Also i grabbed every bit of info i could get off the net about networking, and started chatting in the networking channels in IRC, And ive learnd the most out of IRC and working.. Why? Cause even thou page 254 says if you click here here and there you have a Proxy server running, it doesnt always run.. So ya gotta trouble shoot =] Currently i am the only one who has a general understanding of Unix,NT,Cisco, and networking in my class. Why? cause i cared about what i was going to do in the future and instead of going out party’ing i stayed home and studied.. Any ways i will get off my small soapbox.. Have a nice night all..

-Bob Wright
(any suggestions on tech schools? if so email me =] )

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