Hang In There!!

Hey everybody,

I've been reading over these forums for quite some time, and have infact changed jobs twice (!!) in the last 7 months. Having read through a lot of the threads here and heard plenty of disheartening stories about people unable to find work, I wanted to say what seems to have been, in my opinion, not said enough.

There are a lot of threads about "How does my Resume look?" or "How long should I work on Helpdesk before applying for a Sys admin position?". I think these posts miss the miss the mark sometimes.

Having sat on a few interview panels now, I'm going to say that for the most part, Age/Experience/Certs is NOT as important as often made out. What is more important is TALENT. Simply put, when working towards the next job or position you have to Be the best that you can possibly be. There are plenty of people looking for work in IT right now, you guys have to be better than them. Follow your passions!!

For me, I'm a fairly hardcore geek as they go. I'm a CCNA because it looked interesting, though I don't work as a network admin. I'm hoping to take the RHCE fairly soon even though I don't want to be a Linux admin. I take them anyway though because I enjoy it, I want to learn, I want to be the best I can, and it makes me look a damn site more employable in other areas of IT too!

When you look at the people who are really earning the bucks and properly smoking hot, they didn't just say "I want to be in Security, I'll take Cert X,Y and Z". Instead they learnt and studied for the joy of doing it, to better themselves and to be the best in their field. Everyone looking for jobs needs to be the same, or it'll be hard competing against those guys.

I just turned 22, I'm now on $80,000 a year. And I'm expecting that to go up fairly rapidly. I don't want to be showing off here, but I want to demonstrate that it can be done.

I guess what I'm saying is, if you want to be a network/system admin, then go be the best one you can be. Don't worry about how many years one must sit on a help desk for, just study, improve yourself, and really immerse yourself. Then go get that job, by proving your more knowledgeable than anyone else. Before accepting my last job I actually got two job offers as Linux system administrators, despite that not being my specialty and having 0 real world experience. If I can do that, there is no reason why you guys can't!!!!!

I can't emphasize it enough though. If you are better than everyone else, you will go far, regardless of other circumstances. I've interviewed people who were completely hopeless, and I've no idea why they even thought they were qualified to work in IT. Worst thing is, these guys get hired sometimes. If your reading this site, you clearly have the dedication and drive to be better, so go be the best and get it done!!

To all job hunters out there, best of luck

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Comments

sprkymrk

I like the positive tone of your post, and want to congratulate you on your success.

However, there is a point to being certified and having a degree or experience. I'm not sure how it's done in Japan, but here in the states you can't "demonstrate" your "talent" in a resume or interview. You sat on several interview boards. How does a candidate demonstrate their skill or talent in a few minutes or an hour in front of you sitting at a table?

How did that person even get to the interview? The certs and experience and degrees on paper are what get a foot in the door for many people. Once there, then I agree - be the best you can be. That gets you raises, promotions, and even word of mouth leading to other possibilities. But the importance of certifications (and the increase in one's talent that should come as a by-product of the certification journey) cannot be under stated either.

Mishra

Where do you live?

binarysoul

Tesl wrote:

I just turned 22, I'm now on $80,000 a year. And I'm expecting that to go up fairly rapidly.

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That's a lot cash! If u don't minkd asking; what's your position, do you work for government or a company?

Trailerisf

80k a year is great... but its $100 for a hamburger there.

:P

binarysoul

Trailerisf wrote:

80k a year is great... but its $100 for a hamburger there.

:P

Is that the combo price or do I have to pay another $200 to get a pop

denko777

Mishra wrote:

Where do you live?

Good question !!!

Nishesh.Prasad

Great going Buddy ... i believe everything u wrote.

TheFORCE

his location says he lives in Japan. i would think that Japan is highly competitive and for you to be making $80.000 a year and only 22, you must be very lucky or i dont know lol.

The Prize Is Lobster

what he is saying is very true.

I think a lot of people see the jobs that say "5+ years experience" and shy away from them if they have less than that. Worst case scenario you get no callback.

Now, consider the 5+ year experienced techies. These are the kinds of people who are really able to be very selective when it comes to IT work. If they apply for 5 jobs, and 4 offer them...they'll take one. That means 3 of those companies now have to look towards alternate means of finding a person for that job. Filtering yourself out from the group in that regard ultimately narrows the availabilty of finding work simply because there is a lot of people who are trying to land that first job or a fairly entry level position.

When I was younger, I applied for a Network Admin job. I had just graduated with a certificate in networking in late 2001...had no real hands on experience, but I basically laid it out and said "I am a fast learner, I wont pretend to know what I dont, and I will work until the work is complete" and I landed the job even though I wasnt within the outline of what they were specifically looking for.

Kasor

Either you

1. very smart and lucky

or

2. just B.S.

Why!

First, it is doable if you are Govn't contractor with oversea assignment. However, for a 22 yrs old guy that just graduate from college (I assumed you did) with only intern expereince. It is very difficult to land a job like that. R u prior service for three years with clearance? If Yes, then you might get the job. May I ask what is your role with the Japanese corporation? If not, then you must be working with other foreign investing company.