Recent College Grad scared?

izzyiz426

Hello I am a recent grad at a state school in New York. I got my BA in Network Administration. I'm excited to join the work force but am afraid that i don't know enough, as of now i'm studying for my mcsa and just afraid that i will walk into a situation that is over my head. What if any guidance could any of you guys give me would be great.

Thanks

Mr. Meeseeks

Congrats on graduating!

Dont worry too much on not knowing enough. BA and a couple certs should be enough to land an entry level position. Focus more on selling yourself than your knowledge. Technical stuff can be taught/learned. It's a little harder to learn "soft-skills"

Good luck!

jamesleecoleman

Having your degree will for sure increase the possibility for you to get can interview. Many people will help you out if you post your resume for review here. Try to check out helpdesk roles or Tier1 support at an ISP. What does your LinkedIn page look like? Do you know about Job Search | one search. all jobs. Indeed.com ?

You might get rejected a lot of time but keep trying. Something will open up for you. People who review resume's might call you in for an interview if you don't have something that they're asking for. If you can't find something that is full time in IT, try to get a "throw away" job such as a stocking shelves or a cashier, while getting an IT internship or a part time IT job.

CIO

Did you have an opportunity to do a internship while getting your degree? If so, be prepared to talk about that experience with potential hiring managers.

Gallager00

I have gone through a similar situation recently. Your potential employer will know that you don't have that much experience by scanning over your resume.

Your job is to make sure you focus on strong points of yourself. If your potential employer says you have no experience blah blah...then you say you are eager to learn blah blah and get along with people blah blah....and so on

izzyiz426

yea I have good people skills which some people in our field seem to have a hard time with lol. I did have an internship but i did it for the computer department for my school. Im just concerned that if i get into a position and my boss asks me some questions regarding technology im not familiar in he or she will get angry and ask say didn't i learn that in college. im looking for a position that will challenge me a little bit but not so much that im over my head.

Dream job would be a jr system admin or jr net admin.

Thank you for all the advice btw

Heero

You shouldn't have to worry about your boss getting angry that you didn't learn something in college as long as your boss isn't a dick and you didn't misrepresent yourself during the interview process.

Also, not knowing something happens all the time. That is why they invented Google. We all use google more than you could imagine.

RHEL

Sysadmin jobs, while rare for entry-level, do exist for 0-2 yrs experience. That's how I got my start 5 years ago out of undergrad.

A lot of mega corporations practice the whole "lay off the senior guys, bring in new grads for cheap" thing, and this can really work in your favor. The two things to keep in mind are:

1) Expect to be paid PEANUTS for the level of support you provide
There's only one reason a company would throw out experienced talent to replace them with new grad -- money. Expect them to offer you a crap salary to support multi-million dollar production systems that most admins are paid $90K+ to do. I was hired on to support a Linux/UNIX environment of 600+ mission-critical servers for aerospace/defense where mere minutes of downtime meant millions of dollars in business losses. My salary? $36K. Keep in mind, money is not important here -- experience is. In a couple years, you'll double that salary.

2) Be prepared to move for a role like this.
While they exist, these roles are extremely rare. I moved from the Midwest to Central New York for my first job as a system admin... I'd say that for one of these opportunities to pop up in your own back yard would be highly improbable.


Good luck, be flexible, and things will be fine. A low salary and moving somewhere new for a couple years is much better of a start in IT than going the help desk route. I promise you that.

izzyiz426

hopefully finding a job is not to hard for where i live long island new york (40min from city). Couple of questions, as far a looking at requirements for jobs lets say you only meet a some but not all of the requirements should i still apply? There are loads of jobs that sound interesting but i feel as if im not qualified because of all the requirements. So i find my self trying to learn all the different technologies at home (not on the job i might add lol) to be prepared for when im working. How often do experienced technicians use Google? i understand its used but to what extent. sorry for the noob questions btw thanks again.

Cisco Inferno

apply apply apply. no one is ever going to fill all the requirements.

Also, you'll notice that a job will say 5yrs exp, ccnp, mcse, $40k. There are loads of these listings. do not get discouraged. its all bs.

JoJoCal19

Ah yes, I remember feeling that way with a freshly minted AS in Computer Networking back in 2004. I think it's very natural when entering IT with no or very little experience. In school a lot of what you learn is the theory behind things, and sometimes no to very little practical hands on. The best thing you can do is start building a lab and learning. You said youre starting to study for the MCSA and thats a great first step into either Help Desk or entry level Sys Admin work. Get yourself a nice computer and start putting together a virtual lab. Set up a domain controller, workstations. Start getting very familiar with Active Directory, GPOs, etc. Over time you'll start feeling more comfortable and when you start working, as you gain experience you'll feel more and more comfortable.

izzyiz426

thanks a lot guys for the reassurance i really appreciate it i guess the job search is on ... What did you guys start out doing as your first job in IT?

Cisco Inferno

izzyiz426 wrote: »

thanks a lot guys for the reassurance i really appreciate it i guess the job search is on ... What did you guys start out doing as your first job in IT?

The majority of people in IT have to pay their dues and work up the ladder.
Most start out in support roles with names such as Help Desk Analyst/Tech, Desktop Support Technician, IT Support etc.
Once you do that for a couple years and prove yourself with good ethics and a cert here and there, you get considered for higher paying more specialized jobs.

When you start on the bottom, you really get a feel for the many niches in IT.
You might encounter a Systems Admin who sets up and maintains Windows Servers, you might encounter a Network Admin/Engineer who is responsible for the network infrastructure, you might encounter Voice guys, Security guys, Wireless guys etc. Its a crucial time to see where you wish to end up.

Good luck!