I'm in a Bind 5 years help desk exp but I've been told I don't have enough exp and A+ won't help?
johnIT
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I applied to over 200 job openings. Heard back from about 30 of them. Got 10 interviews. All said I lacked experience and my dream company told me i haven't furthered my education enough. I was trying to get into implementation and/or consulting but I'm also interested in security/IT Auditing. Do certs help get you in the door in those industries even if you have no experience whatsoever? Some of the other feedback I have received from another forum was:
1. These jobs are too advanced for your skill level/You don't have any marketable skills in IT.
2. A+ cert won't help you b/c you stayed in help desk too long. How was I supposed to know this? So how do I get certified in something I have no exp in and didn't even know existed up until a few minutes ago?
3. You have one year exp that stretched into 5 years. Leave. Uh, I need a job...
4. Why don't you self-study? B/c I don't know wtf to self-study and I haven't been introduced to anything new in the industry in about 3 years. Everything is now cloud/subscription based which the charity i work for cannot afford and don't want to invest in their technology. It's been a real hindrance in my professional development b/c I'll admit I'm lazy when it comes to self-study and do much better in classroom/e-learning environment and those things are expensive.
5. Why don't you get a cert? I attempted the MCSA one time last year and the material that I studied didn't match the material on the test whatsoever and it went way over my head. This appears to be a sign that I'm not cut out for some of the more technical positions in IT.
6. Get another help desk job at a bigger company. However, I don't really want to be working help desk five years from NOW, hoping that I land somewhere with great professional development, networking opportunities where people will notice me, with benefits and a living salary. (All my cowokers who I trained and left for another position are still doing the same help desk type stuff I am for a little more $$$) None of the level I help desk positions in my area pay much better than the job I have now, and most pay way worse like I'd rather work at McDonald's. They'd probably be way more stressful than the non-profit environment too.
7. Get out and get another job? Well apparently, I'm not even qualified for customer service positions since I haven't heard back from the 50-100 of such jobs I applied to...
So I take it from that feedback that I need a cert to advance my career even though I've been on help desk for five years (which is ridiculous I think). The problem is I do mostly everything at my non-technical non profit and I have no one to show me what this career track is like.
My family is full of traditional blue collar people who are business guys or some type of skilled engineers and who lived through times where staying loyal to a company for at least 5 years was the golden ticket. Well, I practically get laughed at for staying here for five years. It seems everything I do in this industry is wrong and I need a correction.
So I'm a little lost on my future direction. All I know is I need to get out of my company, cause of cost of living, wanting to start a family, wanting to advance professionally and mentally, feeling like I'm a useless password resetter etc... So what should I do from this point in order to get a new job in about a month or so? Any advice is appreciated and I hope my analysis doesn't sound as pitiful as I think it does, I'm just really frustrated.
Edit: I also have a BS in information systems. I have attached my resume if it helps.
Comments
Role all your experience on your top listed job into just system admin.... No need to list the break out and your first job.....
Non-Profit June 2014-Present
Systems Admin Newark, NJ
§ Administered Kaspersky Security Center Suite: firewalls, updates, policies and scans
§ Senior engineer mentored younger engineers to help support a staff of 500
§ Collaborated with IT Manager to help administer: active directory, Microsoft Exchange Server, Files Sharing
§ Migrated 13 Windows servers (2003/2008) to Windows server 2016/ Windows 7 to Windows 10
§ Collaborated with HR and Legal to support employee records and keep up with account deletion/creation
§ Collaborated with finance department to set up ATX Payroll and tax prep software
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXComputer TechnicianXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
§ Helped implement EHR software rollout for doctors, clinicians and other staff
§ Installed, monitored, diagnosed, repaired, maintained and upgraded all hardware/software as requested including: printers, monitors, wireless routers, and third-party software
§ In charge of imaging, migrating, installation and upgrading all desktops, laptops, and tablets for 500 users
§ Documented inventory, network maps, policy changes, and tutorials for department reference
*** Five years as a SA looks really GOOD. Don't get how that looks "bad".
your resume says system administer
--Alexander Graham Bell,
American inventor
Since you already have some web dev experience, look into picking up some aws, virtualization, devops skills while you job hunt.
Master of Science in Information Security and Assurance - Western Governors University
Bachelor of Science in Network Administration - Western Governors University
Associate of Applied Science x4 - Heald College
I think it's also important to remember that you're not expected to know everything about every software a different company uses. No one with 5 years of experience can do that. Your job would be to be willing and able to learn new systems quickly. For instance, maybe McAfee looks a little different than Kaspersky, but an AV is an AV. The same thing would apply to Cisco vs. Fortinet vs. Palo Alto networking and firewalls. They may have different interfaces, but if you know the fundamentals of networking, you'll be fine.
In terms of what you can do now, maybe look into the Net+ and Sec+ certs from CompTIA, or if you're looking for a more in-depth networking cert, the CCNA is a great first step. I've heard directly from IT recruiters that the CCNA cert alone is enough to land an interview.
I hope you find this helpful! If you have any questions - please let me know!
Who we are | What we do
Master of Science in Information Security and Assurance - Western Governors University
Bachelor of Science in Network Administration - Western Governors University
Associate of Applied Science x4 - Heald College
Who we are | What we do
Entry level first 3 months:
six months:
I'm very interested in security and IT Auditing so once I get the admin and general IT Certs I might go for the following:
6-12 months (each):
Who we are | What we do
There have been plenty of engineers I've met that have used powershell as a leverage into their next job. It may not be powershell that's required, but it'll be helpful as a framework for scripting whatever language you need to learn.
As far as security/IT auditing goes, I've only met ones that have a strong technical security background (can script, virtualize, hack, etc.) - which you seem to have some foundation in. So it'll definitely possible to get into this role with a bit more self-education and interviewing well.
Keep going though. It sucks you're frustrated, but you're asking the right questions and receiving the feedback well (from what I'm reading in this thread). Last year I was on a similar spiral. I did at least 30 interviews, which included creating projects, flying out, scripting, etc over many months.
I interviewed.
Learned the IT market needs.
Got rejected.
Studied my knowledge gaps per interview.
Repeated above process.
Stayed patient.
Then started getting significant offers.
The interviews were a better learning process than certs in one way because it gives you direct feedback on what companies are looking for (example: instead of having a CCN*, they'd prefer you know a specific hardware model and main troubleshooting steps). If you prefer classroom/e-learning over self-study, interviewing to learn could be the next closest thing. It's cheaper too.