Internal IT?
Yes.
Sorry to hear that. Where I’m interning, they do contracted jobs. That’d be more along the lines of something I’d want to do, as internal IT would be maddening.
cut back on the cert classes and schedule some english courses. :tounge:
in reality this thread is great and all, i hope the best to you… but don’t be surprised when no one cares that you have a net+ and windows xp cert (lol)… i started working full-time younger than you and went through my years of helpdesk and system admins… i’m sorry, but you aren’t going to waltz out of highschool and impress anyone to the point that they hire you as a consultant, that comes with experience and job history…
as i already stated, your best bet is to identify what you want and to target it, start working ANYWHERE that gives you the oppurtunity and make a difference… i get hired to consult for groups of people with the highest and most expensive certifications availible, it doesn’t mean jack shit… it’s the application of knowledge and troubleshooting that makes a good ‘it’ guy.
point blank, get off the high horse… accept peoples opinions and work hard… don’t be some ass that expects anything from anyone because of any reason… those people suck.
roffle on so many levels…
but i do agree with one thing, you never know what you will get involved with.
Thanks for the advice.
:bigok:
I wasn’t trying to be a dick either… just pointing out that attitude is important as well. I’m sure that you’ll get on somewhere and start blowing them away with your level of knowledge early in the game… so that’s where it’ll start. I would just work in the cisco crap and get in to a big shop somewhere local… get a year in and work on some projects and you’ll be golden.
Good luck!
Real experence > What school can provide.
The year ive been @ expedient ive learned a retarded amount. Your doing well interning everywhere you can. I didnt make that choice and paid for it later. Still 4yr degree is where its at to even be considered. unless you know someone.
Oh I know bud! You’re just saying what needs to be said. That’s the plan for me at least. If my internship doesn’t turn into a job which is a possibility from what I’ve been told I’ll definitely keep looking.
Absolute Truth
very true
I’ve been working in IT as a network admin/help desk/general ‘machine repairer’ at an engineering firm for the past 4+ years. I barely have my associates in Information Science and Tech. from PSU. I got in here because of WHO I know. I kept the job because of WHAT I know. My degree/certs made no difference. The owners knew what I was capable of and kept me on board. I origionally stopped going to school because this gig was really nice as a 20 something year old with minimal school and no real-world IT experience.
But now that I have reached the maximum that this company will take me, moving on past this without a degree is hopeless. It is VERY easy for any potential employer to skip right over your resume without that degree no matter how much experience/recommendation you come with.
The best employees are the ones with degrees AND experience. You have to work hard to get both - which is why I am back finishing my B.S. By the time I finish that, I will have plenty of experience to go along with my education and hopefully that is FTW.
The most employable candidates are the ones with degrees, certificatios, AND experience.
Fixed.
certs are good for consulting, degrees are good for huge organizations and most internal it jobs, and experience is the best thing you can have.
There is no easy road anymore in the it field, back in the late 90’s you could quit your jod in the morning and have another one making 5g’s more in the afternoon. Now, most companies want you to know cisco routers, be a database programmer, be a sys admin, and handle pc and printer calls and pay you $35k/year.
Don’t underestimate the value of a good education.
A solid four year degree in Finance with some IT classes/certs will probably get you an IT job faster.
Why? Because the IT cheif at most places is the Finance/Operations Cheif whose backround is in Finance.
I agree if you’re going to be a figurehead IT director or upper management, you’d need to prove fiscal responsabilities along with technical skills. But money can’t buy you leadership and good decision making skills. If you look at it from another perspective, if you get a cert, some companies might be threatened that your worth has improved, which means they’d have to pay you more. Theres nothing worse than being ‘overqualified’. As far as the technical aspect, the last thing you want to do is go into a place 'Mr. Know It All". with all of your certs…lets just say mcse’s annoy me on a daily basis. So take that for what it’s worth. It all depends on the niche you’re going for in the industry. True some places will want to hire an all-in-wonder but most will flop and fill that position below expectations OR do it well till they realize they’re worth more $$$. Certifications will make you more marketable to a staffing firm but I’ve seen a few go under and people just migrate to another. It seems that the industry is heading back to basics. It’s all about simplicity, virtualization and consolidation for ease management and cost effectiveness. So brush up on your command line, virtualpc/vmware, scripts and unix based os’s. Keep in mind this quote…“Jack of all trades, master of none.”
4 yr degree = a must if you want to get paid decently, certs are important for some employers. most employers will say that certs are a plus but not necessarily needed. after starting the job they may require you to gain them so right now you’re in good shape. it’s deff good that you have them. it shows that you’re committed to learning and that will be important down the road. like someone else said…get an internship. i had one that started for just the summer…it ended up being 1.5yrs up to my college graduation. then i was a shoe in for my current position. consulting is > internal IT. i consult for penndot and i started out at 7K more than a new hire penndot IT person and after 1yr i now make 13k more than them. but that jump was because i put in my 2 wks and they didn’t want me to leave so they counter offered…worked in my advantage.
Thanks for the advice everyone!!
again, specific instances of peoples jobs are not a reflection of the industry in a holistic view… getting paid 13k more than an FTE is a very small amount… my first consulting job added to my income over 200% a year… the typical breakout for consultant vs. full-time is well over 20k a year… easy.
networking is even larger of a gap.
all of this boils down to the underlying skills of a consultant, the multiple environments worked and the multiple employers worked for. no one is going to hire you if you did something in school, or tested something in a lab, or did it once… they want to hear that you did something 10 times for 10 companies and got 10 outcomes… with that history of work and on-site skillset, you’re a shoe in.
don’t put the saddle before the horse… the best advice is to find a job you want, get it, then make a difference… do it two or three more times, then sit back and wait for the phone to start ringing… once you have the work experience backing, you dont’ look for jobs you just chose the ones you want. period. don’t pay too much attention to one-off advice and just make it happen. if you have the ambition, it will all fall into place.
So, after looking into schools and such more in depth, I’d be kicking myself in the ass if I decided to only go for an associates?