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 FredDerf
journeyman
Registered: 04/14/00
Posts: 70
Last seen: 23 years, 7 months
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 Re: A job in the IT field... 
#258858 - 05/01/00 04:20 PM (24 years, 7 months ago) |
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Being a fellow NCNE (No Certification No Education) like your self I know how hard it is to get in to the IT field. But I got lucky and found an add in the Sunday paper looking for temp workers (grunts would have described the job better) to help roll out Windows 95 in a 3000+ user environment. While I was there they saw some talet in me and I ended up staying there for a couple of years and picked up the needed experience to get a job just about anywhere I wanted. Now if we could all be so lucky then it would be easy but its not. I would suggest to you to try and have someone you know working in the field maybe get you in to there place of employment you know put a good word in for you. Or try applying at a smaller consulting firm they made be a bit short handed and willing to take you on as a temp. Even if it is a temp job it is still some experience under your belt. If worse comes to worse go to your local community college and take a class or two, or hell even teach your self. And then go and try to take a certification test, the worse that could happen is you fail. Just don?t give up and keep trying it is a great field to work in with a wonderful future.GOOD LUCK
------------------
Common Sense is Free. Live it, Love it, Use it.
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Lazlo
enthusiast
Registered: 02/09/99
Posts: 17
Last seen: 22 years, 7 months
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Re: A job in the IT field... [Re: FredDerf]
#258860 - 05/01/00 05:50 PM (24 years, 7 months ago) |
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Here's what worked for me:First, it didn't hurt that I had a bachelor's degree and 10 years of retail store management under my belt. Maturity is a plus. But as far as tech experience was concerned, all I had under my belt was a few years of using database and accounting software to run a business. And I'd built maybe 50 or so PCs for fun and profit over the years. So . . . . I bought a Linux book, a four dollar copy of Redhat 2.0 (this was 1995) and a student edition of NT4 Server. I built three very cheap computers (two 486, one Pentium) and networked them with equally cheap coax cable and ISA network cards. All three double-booted between Linux and NT. I used Linux to learn Unix, then applied that to NT4. Finally, I went to a 5-week NT crash curriculum and buckled down on the MCSE exams. It took me eight months to finish the MCSE, but in the end, I snagged a nice little position as systems engineer for a regional bank. While I was working through the exams, I hung out my shingle as a freelance network engineer and made decent money. If you call $45/hr. decent, that is. One of the companies for which I was installing a Linux box happened to be a technical services placement firm. Once they saw what I could do, they asked if I wanted to put my resume on file. They hooked me up to my current job within a couple of weeks. So it was actually my Linux experience that got me the job, although I use my NT knowledge every day. Unix skills are highly valued, and, with Linux or FreeBSD, you can get it on your own with a very small monetary investment. A good Unix training checklist can be found at www.cramsession.com. When you can say you know most of the material covered by the RedHat certification, you're worth some money. Especially if you can do NT as well. Best of Luck,
Laz PS: The market for these skills is still hot. If you're trying to choose between learning Unix or NT/Win2000, go with Unix. Unix engineers always get top dollar and have a higher pay ceiling. Plus, versions of Windows come and go, but Unix hardly changes year after year.
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loathe
enthusiast
Registered: 01/25/00
Posts: 204
Last seen: 22 years, 5 months
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Re: A job in the IT field... [Re: FredDerf]
#258861 - 05/01/00 06:01 PM (24 years, 7 months ago) |
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I've got RedHat 5.2 dual booted with 98 on my box. I know basics of the operating environment, plus anything about Win/DOS. Hrmmm .. if I had the investment to pay for A+ / MSCE I would .. right now I'm at a crossroads....Bhut, I refuse to be a grunt. I've done it and I can't do it. It goes against every fiber of my being. I'll figure something out... Thanks for everyone's input .. ------------------
The girl he had dragged along to the pub with him had grown to loathe him dearly over the last hour, and it would probably have been a great satisfaction to her to know that in a minute and a half or so he would suddenly evaporate into a whiff of hydrogen, ozone, and carbon monoxide. However, when the moment came she would be too busy evaporating herself to notice it. -Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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 Aphex
Co-Webmaster
Registered: 07/12/03
Posts: 170
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Re: A job in the IT field... [Re: FredDerf]
#258862 - 05/02/00 09:28 PM (24 years, 7 months ago) |
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loathe - I'll give you a quick summary of what I did a couple years ago. I had been working at Pizza Hut when I found a job by luck at a local computer store. I had no 'official' previous experience, however they hired me. I worked there for a bit and excelled to be one of the better part-time employees. The next big step was when I got the boss to shell out the cash for the A+ test, a whopping $256. I'd recommend getting an employer to pay for that. Since then I've been messing around getting my MCSE (2 down) and Network+ certification. I quit that last computer job and have been doing free-lance stuff since then and making enough to live off of. However, in all the resumes I've sent in, no one's called back. It's hard to find a really good part-time job as a student I'm finding.
Anyhoo, moral of the story, certs and stuff are good, but grunt work (if you call building computers grunt work) will get you started and will open lots of doors. Hope this has helped a bit. Later.------------------
Aphex
Co-Webmaster of The Shroomery
Aphex@shroomery.org
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loathe
enthusiast
Registered: 01/25/00
Posts: 204
Last seen: 22 years, 5 months
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Re: A job in the IT field... [Re: FredDerf]
#258863 - 05/04/00 08:18 AM (24 years, 7 months ago) |
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Thanks for the input, Aphex.An update to the story -- I've applied for a call center job paying $11 - $13 / hr. Hopefully that'll come through, and I'll stick with the shitty work for the money. (c: Hopefully I can advance and get a better position, but, ya gotta start somewhere. ~loathe~
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Phyl
old hand
Registered: 01/17/00
Posts: 597
Loc: United Kingdom
Last seen: 15 years, 2 months
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Re: A job in the IT field... [Re: FredDerf]
#258864 - 05/04/00 09:06 AM (24 years, 7 months ago) |
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Goto a computer agency. This is what I did, and I went straight from working behind a bar to being a computer engineer. If you've got a good understanding of computers then you shouldn't have any problems finding some work through an agency, and the more work you get, the easier it is to get more. You'll have to start off doing the shittest work for the lowest money, but the money will soon go up as you get some experience under your belt.I've now worked myself up to System administrator, and for 2 years I've been single handedly runing a 3 server, 50 user network. I've got an MSCE in NT4, and am planning to do a win 2000 MCSE, and then become a consultant... That's where the big money lies. Good luck Phyl
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loathe
enthusiast
Registered: 01/25/00
Posts: 204
Last seen: 22 years, 5 months
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Re: A job in the IT field... [Re: FredDerf]
#258865 - 05/04/00 02:44 PM (24 years, 7 months ago) |
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A computer agency? Such as?I don't quite understand .. a staffing agency for technical positions? ------------------
The girl he had dragged along to the pub with him had grown to loathe him dearly over the last hour, and it would probably have been a great satisfaction to her to know that in a minute and a half or so he would suddenly evaporate into a whiff of hydrogen, ozone, and carbon monoxide. However, when the moment came she would be too busy evaporating herself to notice it. -Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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Its Pat
Still kicking
Registered: 03/01/01
Posts: 8,004
Loc: THAT MAKES ME BETTER THAN YOU
Last seen: 7 months, 30 days
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Re: A job in the IT field... [Re: FredDerf]
#258866 - 05/04/00 03:50 PM (24 years, 7 months ago) |
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I have been thinking about changing my Major from Accounting to Computer Science. I already have an AA degree in Business Administration. I'am currently working at a CPA firm which has two fulltime MIS people. We are currently running Netware 5 and NT. I helped them cut over our 70+ workstation office starting the day after tax day, it took a whole week. Although I'am working at an accoutning office, I don't do work for them in an accounting campacity. I primarily got my job there by having some knowledge of computers.
After working with MIS it seems like everyone uses me when they have a computer problem. Such as setting up print queues, installing software and setting up data pathes. And also adding new NT and Netware Clients to network neighborhoods and such. I have learned so much in the past 6 months, I'am thinking about tacking the semester long Computer Assembly and Repair Class offered at the Skewl where I recieved my AA. ------------------
You know I heard that
Boogie Rythmn
I had no choice
But to Get
Down
Down
Down
Down
Dance.
--------------------
BigUpRadio
WorldReggaeShow
DreaderThanDread - Listen!
(druqs said) don't get arsey, just get RC.
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Phyl
old hand
Registered: 01/17/00
Posts: 597
Loc: United Kingdom
Last seen: 15 years, 2 months
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Re: A job in the IT field... [Re: FredDerf]
#258867 - 05/05/00 09:28 AM (24 years, 7 months ago) |
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Loathe,By a computer agency, I mean an employment or temping agency that specialises in computing jobs. I found one near me without much problem, just looked in the yellow pages under emplyment agencies, and picked the ad's which specifically mentioned jobs in computing. Phyl
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