I’ve been away from the forums for about a month now. Forgive me in advance for a long winded post, but I have a lot going on right now, I’m really stressed, extremely frustrated, and I need to vent a bit. I also need some advice from you guys. I put up a few links to some previous posts about my background and situation, as I didn’t want to copy and paste and cause this thread to read like a book.
Ok, so firsts things first, I need to try my best to get you guys up to speed so that you can better understand my unique situation and where I’m coming from here.
My previous job as a systems administrator was a great learning experience, but it was a dead-end, go nowhere job where I was severely underpaid and treated like a dog. I never received a raise or promotion in the 4 years that I was there, despite being relied upon heavily by my employer. At some point during my tenure with that company, I said enough was enough and began working on certs and attending WGU simultaneously. I stuck with the job because I was so focused on my education, and also because I enjoyed my job duties and working with brand new technologies. How severely underpaid and mistreated was I? I was being paid $29K to perform the job duties listed on my resume in my previous role. Even before I got sick, I was pissed and bitter about my situation, but I saw school as a means to an end.
I wrote a frustrated post about it last year, please refer to this thread for that:
www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/99415-salary-expectations-resume-advice.html
^^^ Wow, I just noticed that I posted that just weeks before I got sick. How ironic.
Here’s a thread with a fairly recent version of my resume. Not much has changed except for a few cert additions and adding my LinkedIn address:
www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/104429-resume-critique-advice-final-draft.html
I had to resign from my former position as a full-time systems administrator of 4+ years on May 30, 2014 due to an unexpected illness. You can read about that ordeal in this post here:
www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/103934-anyone-ever-been-unable-work-due-medical-condition.html
Since then, I have been at home concentrating on school and certs, and learning to cope with NDPH syndrome. I finished my BSIT degree from WGU in August 2014, and have completed 17 CU’s toward the MSIT degree from WGU. I also obtained a few more Microsoft certs during that time, and the Cisco CCENT as well. Basically trying to stay busy and stay relevant while being treated for my medical condition, keeping my “eye on the prize” so to speak. I have a great interest in my chosen career path (obviously), and I wasn’t going to let something like permanent, lifelong headache pain and dizziness hold me back.
Fast forward to this month. My wife and I have been talking about leaving WV for over a year now. The economy here is bad (one of the poorest states in the nation), and IT jobs are almost completely nonexistent. We considered moving to Salt Lake City, Denver, Austin, Phoenix, and a few other larger cities. I sort of had my mind set on SLC for various reasons, but my wife decided that she didn’t want to go anywhere that gets lots of snow. The plan was for me to complete my MSIT degree while my wife worked full-time, and then start looking for a job. My wife was unexpectedly laid off from her job of over 10 years at the beginning of this month. So we went into panic mode. We have very little in the way of savings because of our current situation, barely enough to move and reestablish elsewhere. My wife had a very niche job as an art educator at a local museum (she has a masters degree in art history), and isn’t likely to find work without relocation to a large city. So it was time for me to go back to work…immediately. Otherwise we are going to be living out of a cardboard box in about....oh…3 months or so.
So ultimately we agreed on Austin, TX and I committed to concentrating 100% of my job search efforts in that city. My Dad and brother live in Dallas (my wife and I don’t really like Dallas), so choosing Austin made even more sense to us. This month I have applied to over 165 IT jobs in Austin through Indeed, Dice, ZipRecruiter, recruiting firms, etc. And yet, I have been contacted only a handful of times. I had two Skype interviews: one with a local MSP and one with a local business. The MSP sent me an email 5 days later stating that they were going to pursue “more qualified candidates.” The local business I simply never heard back from, even after submitting a thank you letter.
Frankly, I’m discouraged, I’m bitter, and I’m frustrated. I’m pissed that I’ve been busting my ass for over 5 years and have never made any real money and never garnered any real respect. I’m tired of being poor. I have a wife and a two year old daughter to support. I had to sell my car to make ends meet. Now my wife and I are both unemployed and borderline broke! I feel like these past 6 years were all for naught. Countless hours of studying, labbing, writing papers, etc, and we are about to be out on our assess. 165 applications submitted in a “booming IT area” like Austin and only a handful of go-nowhere phone calls. I always received encouragement on these forums regarding my background and credentials and always believed that as long as I was willing to finish my degree and leave WV, I would have no problems finding a good job. Not to toot my own horn, but before this situation I felt I had a kick-ass resume and wouldn’t have any trouble finding a good job as a sysadmin or systems engineer.
So at this point I feel like giving up and saying screw it. But of course I can’t because I have a family that’s depending on me. The burden is completely on me to get us out of this situation. My wife was only making $24K at her previous position, and whatever position she is likely to land in the future probably won’t pay much more than this.
The icing on the cake is my SSDI claim was denied because the state said I “wasn’t sick enough.” It’s a 24+ month process to fight them for back-pay, and I had to hire an attorney to do so. So we have zero source of income right now. ZERO!
The only thing I know to do at this point is to give it a couple more weeks and then move to plan B, which is to bail on Austin and start the process all over again in a city like Denver. Thank God we didn’t just up and move to Austin before I started job hunting. I was tempted to do it but my family said it was a bad idea. How right they were. I spoke to a recruiter in Austin about this situation and he thinks the fact that I’ve been out of work for so long and the fact that I got sick is going to scare away any potential employer. But here’s the kicker: he said I HAVE to divulge the fact that I resigned from me previous job because of an illness, because they CAN and WILL verify this with my former employer. So I’ve been honest throughout the entire process. Even when they demand to know my previous shitty salary, I have told the truth. My asking rate is only the average fair market value in Austin, which is about $65K. I feel I’m worth more, but I just want to get back to work and put this nightmare situation behind me. When asked about my current location, I inform them that we have already committed to moving to Austin on our own accord and I can be there next week. I will pay to fly Austin to attend an interview if it means the possibility of landing a job. But…I haven’t even been afforded that opportunity. I also obtained a Google Voice number with an Austin area code, and purchased an Austin mailing address. So for all intents and purposes for applying to jobs, I am already an Austinite.
I will update this thread as my situation progresses, but it’s not looking good right now. Have any of you guys been in a similar situation, and what are you experiences? I’m getting bitterer as the weeks go by, and it’s affecting my health. I've got insomnia now (can't shut my mind off at night) and my headaches are in turbodrive.
Can I get some feedback and advice please, or hell, maybe just some positive reassurance? Cause as it stands, I feel kicked in the dirt and left for dead.
F***!
