QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND HOPE

TURTLEGIRL

Hi,

I've been a tech member for ages and loved it here. But I left due to the fact that I thought while I passed my exams and gained qualifications I would gain a job straight away. It never happened. Even though people gain IT qualifications, it's not always going to land you the ideal job. What I have learned is that employers won't take you on without experience and you can only gain experience from a job and home study. While I en devour to continue my studies, i know it will still be difficult. I've always wanted to try the CEH and decided to embark with the tools and study materials at home. Hopefully I will gain some more knowledge.

Although IT qualifications are great they do not 'always' guarantee you a job.

I've always believed that if you put in enough work and invest in yourself then the work will pay off. So for all those still trying to get employment. Keep your chin up and keep going.


Happy holidays

GBAGIRL (aka Turtlegirl)

nel

Welcome back

Im sure you'll find a job at some point. WOuld you like to share with other members in the same position what you have and havent done etc? Are you looking for entry level or a more advanced role?

networker050184

Sorry to hear about your situation. It is a tough world out there fighting for jobs. Good luck on you CEH and job hunt!!

sprkymrk

IT jobs are not the only ones that falls into the "needs experience" category. You'll find many who have gone to places like DeVry to become electronics technicians who end up at McDonald's, or scores of people with no xp applying to their local electrician/plumber/etc unions for apprenticeships who are turned down, and those who spend thousands of dollars and 4 years in college who cannot get a job in their major.

Supply and demand. Who is competing with you for the job? As long as their are people with proven experience competing for the same job as you are, and all other things being equal, you will have a hard time convincing them to hire you on your "potential".

I think persistence and a little luck are the keys. They say the harder you work, the more luck you will have.

Good luck to you and all who are in the same situation!

Schluep

sprkymrk wrote:

They say the harder you work, the more luck you will have.

Isn't it funny how that is always the case. You spend years working hard for something and then everyone calls you "Lucky." Even after you finally do achieve your goal (whatever it may be) then people don't even give you credit for earning it.

Just keep working off so you will be lucky, GBAGIRL.

liven

Listen to everyone here, they preaching the right things to you.

I got into IT (as a professional) in 1999. Then this job market crashed and the .com bubble burst.

I had to work various support jobs for many years. While it frustrated me to no end I learned SO MUCH! I have said this before and I will say it again, working a help desk teaches trouble shooting skills that few other positions will teach you. Plus you will learn how to deal with frustrated and upset people.

Having the opportunity to work at several different companies (yes I was let go several times because companies were constantly going out of business) made me much more aware of what I wanted to do with myself. Plus I got to learn countless different networks, operating systems and the like.

Do you currently work for a big or a small company? I ultimately settled for a smaller company (working on the help desk). Because the company was smaller, I got to support webhosting, connectivity (everything from dial up to fiber and wifi), e-mail, backup systems and countless other technologies.

If you can work for a smaller company, you might be able to work on some other things besides you r normal daily job. I would always ask the router guys if I could help config and set things up. I was constantly working with the web guys setting up web servers and web sites.

Push your self to demonstrate to your bosses that your constantly learning new things and that you have the desire to grow. Eventually it will pay off and you will get "LUCKY".

This happened to me. My boss saw that I was learning all kinds of new things. He eventually offered me a job as a developer and that was my last day on the help desk. Since then it has been a WILD ride.

But it took sime time. Just be patient, push your self to learn new things and you will be golden.

kenny504

I always tell people the best way to look at the I.T industry is to look at it as a big market. It's not entirely up to you to make the exact profit you expected from it. There is always competition, saturation, and a whole heep of other marketing schemes that are present in all industries.

The most important thing to remember is your personal job should be to increase your marketability and demand a right to be looked at based on what you know the market wants. Experienced persons are always a plus but in some parts of the market guys get no experience and wind up with the highest paid job of all, all because they know the "buyer". Of course this is more the exception than the rule but it surely does happen.

In a nutshell to be safe simply put, get as qualified as you can when you can becuase the market is unpredictable and its better to have too much and not need than to need and not have enough. As you can see the risk that businessmen take in thier market is the same risk that we as perspective employees have to take. The risk of investing in something that will not guarantee a significant profit. But you win or lose by taking the dive. To me either way you win, either in experience or that big pay-off.

sthomas

GBAGIRL wrote:

Hi,

I've been a tech member for ages and loved it here. But I left due to the fact that I thought while I passed my exams and gained qualifications I would gain a job straight away. It never happened. Even though people gain IT qualifications, it's not always going to land you the ideal job. What I have learned is that employers won't take you on without experience and you can only gain experience from a job and home study. While I en devour to continue my studies, i know it will still be difficult. I've always wanted to try the CEH and decided to embark with the tools and study materials at home. Hopefully I will gain some more knowledge.

Although IT qualifications are great they do not 'always' guarantee you a job.

I've always believed that if you put in enough work and invest in yourself then the work will pay off. So for all those still trying to get employment. Keep your chin up and keep going.


Happy holidays

GBAGIRL (aka Turtlegirl)

If you don't mind me asking, what type of jobs are you looking for? If you don't have experience you should be looking for entry level positions. Most of these jobs will be Tech Support, which in my opinion is a good way to break into the IT field and gain experience. If you want to be a Network/Sys Admin or get into Network security you will have to gain some experience before you get to that level. Of course if you see an opening that requires experience you should still apply if you feel you can handle the duties of that position.

NinjaBoy

One thing I would like to add to this is that no degree or certification will guarantee you a job, they will only increase your chances.

-Ken

JDMurray

GBAGIRL!! I have not seen your avatar in so long! You are certainly old-school TE, and it's good to see you posting again.

sprkymrk wrote:

I think persistence and a little luck are the keys. They say the harder you work, the more luck you will have.

Another way to put it is, "You must make your own opportunities."

NinjaBoy wrote:

One thing I would like to add to this is that no degree or certification will guarantee you a job, they will only increase your chances.

Very well said. Who you know, your personality, and luck can have as much influence as education, certification, and experience.

TURTLEGIRL

I am currently looking for an entry level job. Thanks for the support here, its much appreciated. I would love to get into penetration testing or forensics. I've always loved the Security side too. The most interest I have gained really is having a brief look at the CEH stuff. All them tools etc have always made me curious. I think that's why I liked the Security books so much as well.

I know I may well land up on a tech desk/help support, it's so not where I want to be. But I guess you have to start from the bottom and work my way up. Also being a girl makes me think I'm going to have to work harder to prove I can do it.

It's good to see everyone again. Same people here (smiles)


Happy holidays

Mrock4

I know this is a bit late, but I wanted to through my $.02 in. I have always been one to speak out against help desk work..just because I felt it was below what I "should" have been doing, and most importantly..NOT interesting to me. I don't find anything interesting about helping users fix Outlook, or dealing with new applications, troubleshooting god knows how many 7940 VOIP phones...but, the experience has been invaluable. Working at the help desk, you're kind of on the front lines, and really does put you at an advantage as far as learning new things. I don't want to go back to the help desk, but I'm glad I was there for a while.

Poison Reverse

If you're on the cisco path i recommend you get a NOC position get your CCNA and then the NOC experience will be more than enough to get you a nice job in the 50s at least. When i got to the NOC position a year ago EVERYONE was leaving and i was like why? they cried they were underpaid and they were just getting their CCNA and within a month they got new jobs doing less work and in the 50s. It was very basic NOC too. I took heed and stayed there for a year and did the exact same thing and i'm starting a 60k job this month.

Just home study and stay focused.

The employers i have encountered never asked me about my bachelors they just looked at my experience and if i had a valid CCNA