Which of these alternative skills are important, and how should I best market them?
mxmaniac
Member Posts: 49 ■■□□□□□□□□
I'm trying to get my foot in the door in IT, with practically no experience. I do have many other skills and experience though, that I am attempting to leverage upon as much as possible to try and make up for my lack of IT experience. I'm hoping to differentiate myself, and show that I'm much more than just an "A+ and Net+ holder with no experience".
I think many of these skills "could" be important in IT, but many might not be. Hoping to hear some input from people in the industry.
In particular I'm wondering
1) Which of these skills could be most valuable to landing an IT job, and which ones are possibly not important at all? And why?
2) Which types of IT positions may I be a good fit for based on these alternative skills? Right now I'm primarily searching for "helpdesk", "desktop support", "noc", "tier 1 (anything)", "network (anything)". Wondering if there might be titles or positions out there that I may be a good fit for that I'm missing because they aren't even on my radar.
3) What would be the best way to market these in a way an IT hiring manager would care about? Obviously cover letters, resumes, and linkedin profiles must be brief, so I must be very selective in describing the most important ones in brief and powerful ways.
So heres my skills which I feel make me stand out a little different from most IT people, and why I think they "could" be important, or why they might not be.
1) I have about 4-5 years experience as a commercial carpenter, mostly doing the heavy duty structural work for large commercial buildings. I've helped build entire commercial buildings, condos, stores, starting from the underground footings, all the way up to the roof. Primarily heavy structural stuff. Reason I feel this may be a good skill is I have real hands on working experience. I've seen many people out there who are extremely smart and technically talented, yet have a severe lack for mechanical ability, can't build things straight or with quality, fumble around with tools, etc. On the other hand though, I could see how a hiring manager might be like "We work with software, building experience is worthless".
2) I have 2 years experience as a commercial electrician. I've installed the main switchgear for commercial buildings (thats like the main, high current circuit panel that hooks to the outside transformer, and feeds the building), large 480V transformers, heavy electrical equipment, as well as basic circuits and outlets. I feel it might be marketable because, it involves installing and maintaining stuff. It may not be a computer or server, but I hope people will think "Well, if this guy helped install the entire electrical system for a commercial building, then he should be capable of installing or learning to install whatever computer stuff we have". (and I have built all my own computers so I do know how)
3) I am constantly working on technical side projects. I think this could be valuable because it shows I have passion, technical aptitude, and learning ability. I've built many quadcopters from scratch, some capable of completely flying themselves, and with all the fancy trimmings like stabalized camera gimbals, real time fpv video downlink, etc. I've built electric projects like tesla coils. I'm finishing up building a 3d printer from scratch (not a kit) right now. I build ardino projects all the time. Etc. My hope is that hiring managers will interpret it as having passion, motivation, and the ability to learn technical things. I hope they will think something like "If that guy can learn to build autonomous self flying quadcopters, then I'm sure he can learn whatever software we need to teach him". However on the other hand I could see them potentially thinking "Big deal, quit wasting my time talking about your play toys you build, they have nothing to do with what we do here".
4) I built and run my own website, nothing fancy, just a small niche site with some unique content, but people who see it always tell me they love it. I did build it the "right" way, actually getting a domain name, legit hosting provider, and doing a manual install of wordpress, with my own customization and css tweaks. It isn't just some template based free wix or blogger type subdomain blog. I honestly don't know if hiring managers will think this shows any talent or not. I can picture them possibly saying "Every IT person can put up a basic website, that's nothing special"
5) I did work as a comcast installer for a year, installing TV, Internet, and VOiP in customers homes. Nothing too technical though, internet consisted of plugging in the modem and running the install cd, and maybe doing an ipconfig /release /renew. VOiP involved slightly more, rewiring some jacks house to backfeed other outlets, and put the home alarms first in chain. And of course all the grunt work stringing wires, and installing outlets. I don't know if they will consider this valuable since it is sort of like IT work, or if they will think its too basic and simple to count for much.
I appreciate any input. And appreciate anyone who read through the whole thing, it definitely turned out long winded. If anyone wants to privately critique my current resume, you can send me a PM. Its pretty much selling the same info in this thread, just rearranged into a proper "functional" resume.
I think many of these skills "could" be important in IT, but many might not be. Hoping to hear some input from people in the industry.
In particular I'm wondering
1) Which of these skills could be most valuable to landing an IT job, and which ones are possibly not important at all? And why?
2) Which types of IT positions may I be a good fit for based on these alternative skills? Right now I'm primarily searching for "helpdesk", "desktop support", "noc", "tier 1 (anything)", "network (anything)". Wondering if there might be titles or positions out there that I may be a good fit for that I'm missing because they aren't even on my radar.
3) What would be the best way to market these in a way an IT hiring manager would care about? Obviously cover letters, resumes, and linkedin profiles must be brief, so I must be very selective in describing the most important ones in brief and powerful ways.
So heres my skills which I feel make me stand out a little different from most IT people, and why I think they "could" be important, or why they might not be.
1) I have about 4-5 years experience as a commercial carpenter, mostly doing the heavy duty structural work for large commercial buildings. I've helped build entire commercial buildings, condos, stores, starting from the underground footings, all the way up to the roof. Primarily heavy structural stuff. Reason I feel this may be a good skill is I have real hands on working experience. I've seen many people out there who are extremely smart and technically talented, yet have a severe lack for mechanical ability, can't build things straight or with quality, fumble around with tools, etc. On the other hand though, I could see how a hiring manager might be like "We work with software, building experience is worthless".
2) I have 2 years experience as a commercial electrician. I've installed the main switchgear for commercial buildings (thats like the main, high current circuit panel that hooks to the outside transformer, and feeds the building), large 480V transformers, heavy electrical equipment, as well as basic circuits and outlets. I feel it might be marketable because, it involves installing and maintaining stuff. It may not be a computer or server, but I hope people will think "Well, if this guy helped install the entire electrical system for a commercial building, then he should be capable of installing or learning to install whatever computer stuff we have". (and I have built all my own computers so I do know how)
3) I am constantly working on technical side projects. I think this could be valuable because it shows I have passion, technical aptitude, and learning ability. I've built many quadcopters from scratch, some capable of completely flying themselves, and with all the fancy trimmings like stabalized camera gimbals, real time fpv video downlink, etc. I've built electric projects like tesla coils. I'm finishing up building a 3d printer from scratch (not a kit) right now. I build ardino projects all the time. Etc. My hope is that hiring managers will interpret it as having passion, motivation, and the ability to learn technical things. I hope they will think something like "If that guy can learn to build autonomous self flying quadcopters, then I'm sure he can learn whatever software we need to teach him". However on the other hand I could see them potentially thinking "Big deal, quit wasting my time talking about your play toys you build, they have nothing to do with what we do here".
4) I built and run my own website, nothing fancy, just a small niche site with some unique content, but people who see it always tell me they love it. I did build it the "right" way, actually getting a domain name, legit hosting provider, and doing a manual install of wordpress, with my own customization and css tweaks. It isn't just some template based free wix or blogger type subdomain blog. I honestly don't know if hiring managers will think this shows any talent or not. I can picture them possibly saying "Every IT person can put up a basic website, that's nothing special"
5) I did work as a comcast installer for a year, installing TV, Internet, and VOiP in customers homes. Nothing too technical though, internet consisted of plugging in the modem and running the install cd, and maybe doing an ipconfig /release /renew. VOiP involved slightly more, rewiring some jacks house to backfeed other outlets, and put the home alarms first in chain. And of course all the grunt work stringing wires, and installing outlets. I don't know if they will consider this valuable since it is sort of like IT work, or if they will think its too basic and simple to count for much.
I appreciate any input. And appreciate anyone who read through the whole thing, it definitely turned out long winded. If anyone wants to privately critique my current resume, you can send me a PM. Its pretty much selling the same info in this thread, just rearranged into a proper "functional" resume.
Comments
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networker050184
Mod Posts: 11,962 Mod
Numbers 2 and 5 have the most applicability to a job in IT. You should be highlighting these on your resume and make sure you try to put more than basic duties. Anything you did above and beyond, any major projects etc. Number 1 shows you have a good work background so definitely put this on your resume, but probably not much transferable to IT there so don't get too carried away on that one.
Number 4 is a good one to highlight on LinkedIn or a cover letter. Shows your interest and abilities in tech, but as it is not professional work I'd leave it off the resume.
I'd probably leave number 3 out of the mix all together.An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made. -
techfiend
Member Posts: 1,481 ■■■■□□□□□□
Computer Operator is another entry level position.
I'd focus on 5, especially the customer service part and internet connection troubleshooting. 1 works well for showing good work ethic, most people see carpentry as hard work and you did it for 4+ years.
2 would be good to focus on if you are looking for wiring positions, otherwise I would probably just list it as experience.
4 you may be able to convert into scratching the surface on scripting and automation with css tweaks. I have seen some entry level positions listing vague web development knowledge. It probably wouldn't hurt to list that as a skill.
3 I'd leave off altogether
Some things to think of that you may have done at home. Install and configure a network, install operating systems, solve your own computer issues, help a friend or family with a computer issue, common software that you use (office, photoshop, etc.)
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adam220891
Member Posts: 164 ■■■□□□□□□□
Your resume is not about where you've been but about where you will go. If you have formal education, highlight it. If you did well in high school or received any awards or things like that, make a note of it.
It's not bad to highlight some of the more IT-related positions you've had on your resume but ultimately you need to convey that you are certified, actively seeking certifications/stronger knowledge, and have a high aptitude with an ability to troubleshoot and find information/answers. Your jobs will be limited to help desk tier 1 positions, computer repair/field tech, etc. You may need to take a contract job doing hardware warranty work (but 6 months experience in this industry will go a long way for your second job). -
darkerosxx
Banned Posts: 1,343
Honestly, it depends on the position and the manager. For a small business managed service provider, they would probably love to take your skill working in buildings and put you to use doing wiring and small computer installs. Train you up, but pay you cheap to start, and on your side you get some experience. That might be your target business and job to look for.