IT Employment·20,064 discussions

Should I even bother??

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With all of the outsourcing and loss of IT jobs, would it be a wise move for me to proceed in this career field? I graduated from ITT, top of my class. (I know..big deal, but hey I goofed off in High School and it was nice to see what I could do if I put forth the effort..) I have an A+, Network+ and my MCP. But the jobs I get offered are a joke, I make more money delivering pizza. The jobs are mostly contract jobs where I would make about $9/hr but they only last about 90 days, then I have to find a new job. Is there a light at the end of this tunnel? If so, what should I get next to help me out, MCSA or MCSE??

TIA!!

Topic

Depends

In reply to Should I even bother??

Depends on what your motivation is. The new IT as we are currently witnessing is definitely frustrating. This is especially true for those of us who are familiar with the days of readily available IT jobs, and the ability to move throughout the industry with little worry of job security. If IT is your passion, then I can’t imagine not going after what you love. True, for someone starting out, there will be no glamour jobs. Helpdesk or software support may be all that’s available for an entry level person, but we all had to start somewhere. Once you get your feet in the door, you will be in more of a position to advance your career in IT. My advice would be to get the experience any way that you can. Keep learning and expanding your knowledgebase. But at the same time, be realistic. You don’t want to get caught with all of your eggs in one basket. How many people do you know right now who spent 10-20 years in one career and are now laid off with nowhere to go. I’m talking about people who didn’t invest in learning any transferable skills. I say, go for what you love, but always keep your options open. I wish you the best!!!

RB

You’re a liar

In reply to Should I even bother??

GWb said there are more jobs now than EVER before! He has created all these great minimum wage positions so that the skilled people who’s jobs were outsourced can still pay taxes and work for a living.

On a less sarcastic note (sorry just dropped in from a political discussion)I have always be taught to never have ONE career or ONE focus. Sorry, I know you are somewhat pissed that you have worked hard and now have nothing to do, but one thing I have learned is you never expect you training to carry your career. I have two trades certs and an IT cert, I work in neither field that directly uses my training, but found my experience got me doing what I wanted to do, my own thing.

Don’t sell yourself short, keep hammering, don’t look in the paper or recruiting ads for positions, they are inundated. select who YOU WANT TO WORK FOR call them, probe the organization and find out WHO is in charge, not HR but the BOSS. get him on the phone even if it takes a week of callbacks, state who you are and offer RELEVANT achivements and goals that you can help them obtain by hiring you, force your way in for an interview WITH THE BOSS NOT HR, and sell yourself and your objective just as ANY salesman would have to work his way in to state his case.

I used to be a motivational speaker for a job club designed for youths who had left school for whatever reason and couldn’t get an interview. Within 2 weeks 98% would be hired in a fulltime position OF THIER CHOICE. The others would seek school or training.

Granted I live in a country with lots of work and they are screaming to fill IT positions here, but this has NEVER failed me nor anyone else focused enough to go for it.

That’s unfortunate.

In reply to Should I even bother??

In contrast, I was able to bounce around to several $25-$45/hr contracts (which an IT staffing firm found for me) with no certs at all for a year until I finally landed in a plum spot as Senior Network Administrator. $9/hr is a joke, and not a funny one.

The outsourcing thing is pretty overblown; I wouldn’t abandon my chosen career based on news media hype. Only the largest companies are doing it, and even then primarily in the programming sector.

An MCSE helps get you an interview, but that’s about it. Any hiring manager worth his salt knows that certs are not an accurate indicator of skill and are no substitute for experience. I didn’t bother because I know too many “paper MCSEs” and I didn’t want to work for a company that put an undue amount of stock in them (in fact on my resume I marketed myself as the polar opposite of a paper MSCE; I have the skills but not the paper as opposed to having the paper but not the skills). Having said that, once I got the job I got the company to pay for the tests by pointing out that it looked good to our clients to have me certified; I got the MCSE in fairly short order without any bogus “training classes” (if you truly know your stuff the tests are not hard).

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the input/encouragement!!!

In reply to Should I even bother??

I really appreciate the advice, it just gets really frustrating to watch the news and read things online that IT is near death in the U.S.

I really love computers and will keep fighting the good fight.

forget MS certs

In reply to Should I even bother??

Yes some companies still like them, but the more savvy of corps are realizing you can get a MScert without ever touching a computer…. worthless

Go after a CCNA if you truly enjoy networking. The Cisco networking academies are wonderful as well

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