Finished BS in networks degree, No Jobs

So these BS degrees are broad, i basically learned that i dont enjoy programming, ccna material, bash scripting, windows stuff / group policies, list goes on and on. The one single class i liked was an SQL course. I live in Hattiesburg Mississippi and have had no luck finding any IT openings. I half to find a job in this city, so relocation at the moment isnt an option. I know some people in the area that landed a job through the CCNA route and am forcing myself to study for it just to land a better paying job even though i dread every second of material. I was curious though, is it worth maybe studying for MCSA SQL server cert since its about to expire. I never see any job openings in this city for DBA type of jobs and im a roookie at it, buts its something i dont mind studying more of material wise. Im worried that i would basically be studying material in SQL witch would lead no nothing.

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stryder144

Not to be mean, but it sounds like you don't really enjoy much that is traditionally considered "IT". Why did you pursue a degree that didn't interest you? Are you willing to commute down to Gulfport or Biloxi? If so, you will find a few more jobs than Hattiesburg (more for CCNA than SQL, unfortunately). You might consider looking for fully remote SQL jobs and get the cert to back up your degree (over 6000 SQL remote jobs out there vs a small handful between Hattiesburg and Biloxi/Gulfport).

UngadungaDiablo

@stryder144 I thought it would be one of those things that would maybe get better as time went on, that wasn't the case though, just got harder and more boring. The biggest issue i have i think is being discouraged by not having the ability to do anything. For example, i took two semesters of C++, I had to look up how to do "Hello World" completely forgot. In regards to windows server, i can add roles and features, but thats just a person who can click on some features, allot of them i have no idea what they do. With linux, i remember what pwd means, touch means creating a new empty file. With cisco, i can ping a router, forgot how to subnet and anything more than that. My mind isnt built to study a bunch of syntax and then move onto something else immediately, otherwise i will forget 100 percent of it.

stryder144

@UngadungaDiablo: unfortunately, it seems like the only thing missing is practice. Getting the practice is the hard part, of course. That is probably the thing that sucks the most about a college education. You learn a lot of useful things but don't really get too many opportunities to master the topics. I have heard a lot of students that I've had (I used to work as an IT instructor for a technical school...not a college) complain about taking the Cisco CCNA classes in college and by the time they finish all four of the courses, they had forgotten the first three. That seems like what might have happened to you. Do you have the necessary hardware to run a few VMs and set things up and play with them in a home lab?

UngadungaDiablo

Thats exactly what happened at the junior college i went to, we finished the AAS degree in networking and a bunch of the people that i finished the degree with went on to complain to the school that they had no skills at the end, that nothing made any sense after they finished the classes, hell i felt the exact same way. Im discouraged from attempting to practice / study for the new CCNA because as far as i can tell with that field, at least starting off, you either love it or hate it, no middle ground which is what i am. I have attempted to practice using GNS3 and i left off on static routes, i think i could pass it but while im setting up static routes 50% of my mind is saying " **** doing this" " this cant be the rest of my life ". I would hate to study/pass and not be able to find a job, that's 5 plus dam years of studying. Unfortunately im only looking for employment in Hattiesburg MS, not aiming for the Gulfport area.

stryder144

Might I suggest checking out GitLab? They have a fully remote organization that would generally pay pretty well and since it is remote, you wouldn't have to leave the Hattiesburg area.

UngadungaDiablo

I appreciate the input, the systems engineer requirements show

Experience administering SaaS applications like Okta, GSuite, Slack, Zoom
Knowledge of configuration management tools like Ansible, Chef, or Terraform
Hands-on experience supporting Linux and Mac
Hands-on experience working in GCP and AWS environments
Developing automation workflows and integrations for repetitive or manual tasks
Experience working with CI/CD tools and Git
Ability to use GitLab

I have 0 experience or knowledge about any of this stuff though.

DatabaseHead

I found you don't really learn the job until you get in and "get your hands dirty"

In regards to SQL you'll find yourself needing to know how to program in most data engineering roles. You could be an analyst and gather requirements and write a little bit of SQL but that job is more around relationship management, requirements, taking notes. ETL developer can't be a good job if you are willing to lab the tools, TALEND, Informatica, etc....

Jon_Cisco

It does not sound like your looking for solutions so with that said I will say we all feel your pain. Every one of us started out not knowing anything about IT and eventually worked our way into careers. A degree does not limit you to the field you are in. Use your education to find a way into the career you want. While I don't know the true statistics I have heard 2/3 of graduates work in fields other then their major. Being willing to work hard and learn new things is a sure path to success.

Good Luck!

FluffyBunny

Jon_Cisco said:

While I don't know the true statistics I have heard 2/3 of graduates work in fields other then their major.

In a set of N=1 (me) I can tell you that I graduated in "Telematics" which at the time was a combination of analogue and digital electronics, programming, telecoms and more. I'm in Infosec right now, with a Unix admin background. Linux was a one semester course in that four year BSc track.

DatabaseHead

Jon_Cisco said:

It does not sound like your looking for solutions so with that said I will say we all feel your pain. Every one of us started out not knowing anything about IT and eventually worked our way into careers. A degree does not limit you to the field you are in. Use your education to find a way into the career you want. While I don't know the true statistics I have heard 2/3 of graduates work in fields other then their major. Being willing to work hard and learn new things is a sure path to success.
Good Luck!

The stats comment doesn't surprise me at all it actually makes a lot of sense. Degrees have multidimensional uses, one of which is the cliche, check box. Of course beyond that is a true fit into the career field you want to go in. The OP sounds like his/her align with that somewhat, even if it's SQL. The biggest piece to this IMO has to be the absence of fear. If you are going to make a decision you'll have to do so without fear. There is AlWAYS a risk-taking a new job, but the beauty of it is you'll find out sooner or later if you will and/or can do the work at the level required. This will directly show you what you are good at, what you aren't, what you like, and what you don't like. With this valuable information you can begin to truly navigate a sustainable career route.