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#1
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Struggling to find position in I.T.
Hello Everyone,
I recently graduated from high school about 3 months ago and during that time I have been having a rather challenging time finding work in the I.T. field. Just to let you know, before I go any further, I'm currently living in Calgary, AB (in Canada). Throughout high school I took many courses related to both computers and networking. I was actually enrolled in a special networking class - the Cisco Networking Academy program - in which I completed all four semesters in two years (It's considered a college level course). I struggled to find minor I.T. jobs through high school - my first being a three month work experience term at a computer servicing shop. Last summer I managed to land a summer internship at DeVry technical school. In my senior year I got myself a part time position at a local computer repair shop (about 10-15 hours/week - I learned a lot). Then, as graduation approached, I decided to earn some certificates to back up my knowledge and experience. I wrote and passed the A+ and CCNA exams both on my first try and with high final scores. Since graduation, I've applied for jobs such as Assistant Network Administrator, Helpdesk Analyst, and field PC Technician (for an ISP). After an initial interview (or two) the response from these companies is that I'm lacking in qualifications and/or experience (or someone else had a lot more). My question to any I.T. professionals reading this is - where do I go from here? How am I supposed to land my first "entry-level" position into the I.T. field? How did you land yours (when you had no prior formal experience)? I thought that I could get a technical job out of high school without post-secondary education - maybe that was very naive of me. I thought that certifications and the experience I had would be enough to get myself into an entry-level position. Now I am seriously considering attending SAIT, which is a technical school here in Alberta that offers 2 year technical diplomas and has a very good reputation for finding their students jobs. However, I don't want to waste $20,000(Canadian) and find myself in the same position I am now - not being hired because of lack of experience. So what would you recommend? Attending college, earning more certificates (MCP, MCSA, database certs, etc), or volunteering for free just to get the experience? Just on a side note - When I was going through high school I recall hearing so much in the media and from friends that "I.T. is the field to be in, there's a mass shortage of qualified workers, lots of money" but I suppose all this has changed(Spring 2000 .com flop, September 11th)? It frustrates me to see it change so quickly and now the only people getting hired have like Phd.'s with 5 years experience. I understand that the job market is competitive, but how can I compete with that? Especially when no one will hire me so that I can get those required 5 years experience!?!? Hope I don't sound too whiney :-P. Thanks for any comments or suggestions - I'd be happy to hear any input or thoughts. Brennan |
#2
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"Brennan" wrote in message news:HD8ab.8867$CU3.5772@pd7tw3no... Hello Everyone, I recently graduated from high school about 3 months ago and during that time I have been having a rather challenging time finding work in the I.T. field. Just to let you know, before I go any further, I'm currently living in Calgary, AB (in Canada). --------snipped for brevity ---------- Hope I don't sound too whiney :-P. Thanks for any comments or suggestions - I'd be happy to hear any input or thoughts. I cannot really comment specifically on Canada but I suspect it ( or the rest of the world ) is not much different from Australia in this regard. My advice to people wanting to get into IT is usually Think about and develop other skills in addition to IT. In Australia we have Universities churning out Computer Science graduates by the ton and as a result Employers can afford to be very Picky. As a person involved in the decision making process when assessing potential Employees. I ask myself what other skills someone has. It is a reasonable bet that most graduates at least have a basic understanding but will need to catch up to a certain extent However the Big questions are - Can they deal with Customers? Can they Manage a Team ? Can they Teach ? Can they work out new Technology ? These are all skills that are in High demand and as a Result I tend to regard IT skills as good but also training and qualifications in : Psychology, Management, Marketing ( all People skills) or even Physics (analytical skills) all tend to indicate that the Prospective employee will be of more value than the Traditional Computer Nerd / Boffin. In fact typically I would prefer IT experience and a degree/diploma/qualifications in another field such as those listed above. I am not sure wether the day of the Computer Nerd ever really existed in a big way outside of Movies (even Bill gates really made his money from Marketing rather than Computer Genius) but if it did it barely exists today ( and believe me the few places there are, are filed by the best of the brightest) and if you want to go somewhere and get the big Money or even being employable in IT you Seriously need to think about heading towards ; Training, Project Management, People Management or even Sales support (pre and post) all of which require additional skills to mere IT. Regards Richard Freeman |
#3
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I hear there are 22,000 out-of-work I.T. people here in Toronto from the dot
com bubble burst. It's a rough time to be getting a job. I have a Bachelor of Computer Science from UofT and it's still hard to find something (I've been looking for 2 weeks). Just FYI, I saw a show on TV the other day. It said that you have a 4% chance of finding work by applying to job postings, Workopolis, etc. "Networking" (who you know who knows someone who knows....) is the way most people find work. Start calling up your friends :-) --Mitchua "Brennan" wrote in message news:HD8ab.8867$CU3.5772@pd7tw3no... Hello Everyone, I recently graduated from high school about 3 months ago and during that time I have been having a rather challenging time finding work in the I.T. field. Just to let you know, before I go any further, I'm currently living in Calgary, AB (in Canada). Throughout high school I took many courses related to both computers and networking. I was actually enrolled in a special networking class - the Cisco Networking Academy program - in which I completed all four semesters in two years (It's considered a college level course). I struggled to find minor I.T. jobs through high school - my first being a three month work experience term at a computer servicing shop. Last summer I managed to land a summer internship at DeVry technical school. In my senior year I got myself a part time position at a local computer repair shop (about 10-15 hours/week - I learned a lot). Then, as graduation approached, I decided to earn some certificates to back up my knowledge and experience. I wrote and passed the A+ and CCNA exams both on my first try and with high final scores. Since graduation, I've applied for jobs such as Assistant Network Administrator, Helpdesk Analyst, and field PC Technician (for an ISP). After an initial interview (or two) the response from these companies is that I'm lacking in qualifications and/or experience (or someone else had a lot more). My question to any I.T. professionals reading this is - where do I go from here? How am I supposed to land my first "entry-level" position into the I.T. field? How did you land yours (when you had no prior formal experience)? I thought that I could get a technical job out of high school without post-secondary education - maybe that was very naive of me. I thought that certifications and the experience I had would be enough to get myself into an entry-level position. Now I am seriously considering attending SAIT, which is a technical school here in Alberta that offers 2 year technical diplomas and has a very good reputation for finding their students jobs. However, I don't want to waste $20,000(Canadian) and find myself in the same position I am now - not being hired because of lack of experience. So what would you recommend? Attending college, earning more certificates (MCP, MCSA, database certs, etc), or volunteering for free just to get the experience? Just on a side note - When I was going through high school I recall hearing so much in the media and from friends that "I.T. is the field to be in, there's a mass shortage of qualified workers, lots of money" but I suppose all this has changed(Spring 2000 .com flop, September 11th)? It frustrates me to see it change so quickly and now the only people getting hired have like Phd.'s with 5 years experience. I understand that the job market is competitive, but how can I compete with that? Especially when no one will hire me so that I can get those required 5 years experience!?!? Hope I don't sound too whiney :-P. Thanks for any comments or suggestions - I'd be happy to hear any input or thoughts. Brennan |
#4
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I guess most employers want employees with experiences/studies other than
just plain I.T.... like business management...commerce...marketing....leading.... etc etc If I were you, I would probably go into a university to get a bachelors in something, business appears to be a good one to mix your I.T. training/experiences with... I've always thought about doing that, and then able to open a web hosting business and creating my website while I know how to setup my servers in my own home... well something like that... Be your own boss! Jason from Florida "Brennan" wrote in message news:HD8ab.8867$CU3.5772@pd7tw3no... Hello Everyone, I recently graduated from high school about 3 months ago and during that time I have been having a rather challenging time finding work in the I.T. field. Just to let you know, before I go any further, I'm currently living in Calgary, AB (in Canada). Throughout high school I took many courses related to both computers and networking. I was actually enrolled in a special networking class - the Cisco Networking Academy program - in which I completed all four semesters in two years (It's considered a college level course). I struggled to find minor I.T. jobs through high school - my first being a three month work experience term at a computer servicing shop. Last summer I managed to land a summer internship at DeVry technical school. In my senior year I got myself a part time position at a local computer repair shop (about 10-15 hours/week - I learned a lot). Then, as graduation approached, I decided to earn some certificates to back up my knowledge and experience. I wrote and passed the A+ and CCNA exams both on my first try and with high final scores. Since graduation, I've applied for jobs such as Assistant Network Administrator, Helpdesk Analyst, and field PC Technician (for an ISP). After an initial interview (or two) the response from these companies is that I'm lacking in qualifications and/or experience (or someone else had a lot more). My question to any I.T. professionals reading this is - where do I go from here? How am I supposed to land my first "entry-level" position into the I.T. field? How did you land yours (when you had no prior formal experience)? I thought that I could get a technical job out of high school without post-secondary education - maybe that was very naive of me. I thought that certifications and the experience I had would be enough to get myself into an entry-level position. Now I am seriously considering attending SAIT, which is a technical school here in Alberta that offers 2 year technical diplomas and has a very good reputation for finding their students jobs. However, I don't want to waste $20,000(Canadian) and find myself in the same position I am now - not being hired because of lack of experience. So what would you recommend? Attending college, earning more certificates (MCP, MCSA, database certs, etc), or volunteering for free just to get the experience? Just on a side note - When I was going through high school I recall hearing so much in the media and from friends that "I.T. is the field to be in, there's a mass shortage of qualified workers, lots of money" but I suppose all this has changed(Spring 2000 .com flop, September 11th)? It frustrates me to see it change so quickly and now the only people getting hired have like Phd.'s with 5 years experience. I understand that the job market is competitive, but how can I compete with that? Especially when no one will hire me so that I can get those required 5 years experience!?!? Hope I don't sound too whiney :-P. Thanks for any comments or suggestions - I'd be happy to hear any input or thoughts. Brennan |
#5
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"FuzionMan" wrote in message .. . I guess most employers want employees with experiences/studies other than just plain I.T.... like business management...commerce...marketing....leading.... etc etc If I were you, I would probably go into a university to get a bachelors in something, business appears to be a good one to mix your I.T. training/experiences with... Or Psychology or Teaching or I would even accept Physics basically Training or experience in a field other than IT is often a good thing IMO. Yes you are right there is always the fear you will end up with some mindless Computer Geek with the social skills of a dead slug waiting to alienate collegues and Customers ..... I've always thought about doing that, and then able to open a web hosting business and creating my website while I know how to setup my servers in my own home... well something like that... Be your own boss! Nice idea but that market is pretty full ......as are many of the internet type businesses out there.... Regards Richard Freeman |
#6
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snip
I thought that I could get a technical job out of high school without post-secondary education - maybe that was very naive of me. I thought that certifications and the experience I had would be enough to get myself into an entry-level position. Now I am seriously considering attending SAIT, which is a technical school here in Alberta that offers 2 year technical diplomas and has a very good reputation for finding their students jobs. However, I don't want to waste $20,000(Canadian) and find myself in the same position I am now - not being hired because of lack of experience. So what would you recommend? Attending college, earning more certificates (MCP, MCSA, database certs, etc), or volunteering for free just to get the experience? WHAT EVER YOU DO - DO *NOT* GO TO SAIT!!! It was the biggest waste of time and money that I've ever seen. When they decided to stop having one class that I needed for one of their certificates, they just gave me the certificate without meeting all the requirements. VERY professional - NOT. |
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