Very Frustrated

chelch

I have just about given up all hope in finding a job. I have no experience in the IT field which I know is hurting me big time. The only thing I have is an A+ cert which I recieved with studying on my own. I know hardware and os's pretty well and have been building my own computers all my life, but that doesnt pay me. EVERY job I find it says experience is needed to be considered. How do I get experience if no one will hire me??

I am very willing to take the lowest IT job in the world just to get my foot in the door. Does anyone have any advice,recommendations or stories on how they got there foot in the door. Thanks

garv221

LOL, I got lucky. Start off small...Due work study at your college campus

Jrmicon

Where do you live? I have been doing help desk/doman admin for my company for almost 2 years but I am leaving as of this Friday to move on to a Network Intigration Tech position. If you are in the MD/DC/VA area let me know.

/usr

You can't really get a job anymore with just A+.

garv221

chelch wrote:

How do I get experience if no one will hire me??

There are jobs out there! If you have hit the pavement and still cannot get a job, my advice is go to school. Get a degree and a MCSE... You will not have a problem getting a foot in the door with an MCSE & Degree. A+ just doesn't cut it, its a given.

janmike

I'm seeing more IT jobs offered now than I was seeing a year ago. Problem, of course, experience.

However, there are opportunities, but you have to be vigilant. And you have to keep trying. If a posting calls for some experience, apply anyway.
You have to apply before people will hire you.

My "foot-in-the-door" experience came after I got A+ and Network+ certs. I worked for a contractor on a work station deployment for the military. It only lasted 2 months, but I gained a lot of experience in that short time. The certs got me an extra $1/hour. The pay was still not that good, but I got a bit of experience. There were people coming in on that job from 2 states away just so they could do IT work! You may have to do that to get started.

A+ wise, there are exceptions. Where I work now, the operators who oversee backups aren't required any cert. However, help desk persons are required to get A+ certified within 6 months of being hired.

Keep trying! Best of luck!

moe2810

A few suggestions, pick up your local yellow pages and find all the mom and pop computer stores/manufactures. Call them, ask them if they need any help, allot of times those places are looking for extra help they just don’t advertise. The fact that you have the A+ is a good thing, and it still can get you a job. Another thing you can try, go to your local Comp USA or Best Buy, they are always looking for Certified Techs to help with computer repairs. The one thing you need to ask yourself is, what more could you be doing? Are you just picking up the local paper and going on Monster. COM, some times that works but allot of the time that won’t cut it. Put an ad in the local paper, Certified Tech for home repairs and training. Every little bit helps

garv221

I worked at a Comp USA before as a bench tech fixing stuff.

viper75

I also worked at CompUSA when I 1st started. I was a bench tech.

Mindraker

Since you already have your A+, if you also get your Network+, it will apply credit towards getting your MCSE. Just a warning: The Network+ isn't going to be the "Yellow Brick Road" to the golden job, either.

bighusker

Mindraker wrote:

Since you already have your A+, if you also get your Network+, it will apply credit towards getting your MCSE. Just a warning: The Network+ isn't going to be the "Yellow Brick Road" to the golden job, either.

It counts as one of the elective tests toward getting your MCSA. As of right now, the only comptia exam Microsoft excepts for MCSE credit is Security+.

But still, an MCSA isn't too shabby since you only have to take 3 tests after you get your Net+/A+.

chelch

Thanks for all the advice guys. At times it seems hopeless and I get down about it, but I know I will find something right for me. I just need to keep studying and applying to jobs.

imfrom51

chelch, Can I ask what work you are doing at the moment?

/usr

Not sure how old you are or what your situation is, but sometimes you just have to work ANY job while applying for IT jobs, which is was doing.

turtlenodhead

I have very vague understanding of what IT jobs are.

Are IT jobs only about system administration and maintainence?

since that is what I believe everyone is talking about now.

garv221

IT jobs...Anything and everything to do with Information Technology. MS/Cisco/Java/DB/Administration/Support/Building/Deveopment..

turtlenodhead- I thought you had a CCNA & some other certs??

turtlenodhead

yes, signature updated

how are pays there in the US?

people who start new in the IT field typically works 9 hours a day and makes 900~1240$US a month that is between 4.5$/hour ~ 6.2$/hour

I think I'll be forever poor

bjuarbe

Im working tech bench at bestbuy, Starting is $11.22, not too bad for college student with A+/NET+/Inet+.

How is working at COMPusa?

turtlenodhead

How much taxes are needed to pay out of the salary?

and how long need to work each day typically

imeldesign

Just my two cents as an encouragement....I got my first IT job with no certs and a little experience on my own. I was hired because of my design skills (former Art teacher who was teaching Web Design). I could fix computers, design websites, edit video, and most of all willing to learn anything. I took over a very sloppy network for a large church who desperately needed a nice website. I did the website first, fixed all the broken PC's, solved some server issues, and then was asked to replace the very old phone system with something state of the art....By the time I left that church I still had no certs...no time to study but I had a ton of experience including PBX... the network and new phone system were running flawlessly.
The new church I am at (even larger) has a great network , a new website, and now a new phone system (this time it was web design and phone system experience that counted more than certs.) I am currently coordinating an entire network move to a different building while renovation happens.
Because of less responsiblilty I can now use work time and home time to study for certs. I have A+ now will have Network+ by the end of next week then on to MCSE.
Look at local school systems websites for IT jobs...they won't be listed in papers or on Monster.com
Go to local churches and volunteer or ask straight out if they have a job. I answer calls almost ever week from other churches who don't have IT people even on a voluteer basis looking for answers.

garv221

Working at CompUSA..........It was a cool job while in college...A job is a job and that job got me todays job. Just keep the resume going w/ experience..

chelch

Hi imfrom51. I am currently not employed if that is what you mean. I am currently studying for my net+ but have a long way to go.

turtlenodhead

What I did is I used visual C++ and make some small and crappy software, and bring the DEMO to the interview.

For example instead of using a text resume. I make my resume itself as a exec program. Just some simple GUI displaying my info/education...

I really dont' know visual C++, and all I did is do some learning from online tutorial. The program itself is crappy but at least it shows you an enthusiastic. Becuase I think if you want jobs, and dont' have experience, you need to at least show you are willing to learn. And the boss should hire you instead of the others which also don't have experience.

james3302

on certs and educations. We need to get a Bachelors degree(40,000), and everyday that passes we need about two more certs heck we probably would need every cert available at this point to be considered a for a job, that would probably cost around 10,000 then we need to volunteer our time for free for about 2 years 20 hours a week. Then we can get that great $15/hr job While paying back a $200/month student loan. I should have just paid someone 50,000 to give me a good job in the first place.

garv221

james3302 wrote:

on certs and educations. We need to get a Bachelors degree(40,000), and everyday that passes we need about two more certs heck we probably would need every cert available at this point to be considered a for a job, that would probably cost around 10,000 then we need to volunteer our time for free for about 2 years 20 hours a week. Then we can get that great $15/hr job While paying back a $200/month student loan. I should have just paid someone 50,000 to give me a good job in the first place.

way to keep a good attitude. You will get a job

kicker22

well,
the key to get a job is to get interview.

When you get interview, excel it!

to excel it = you need to show your interviewer that you are worth it! make sure you have portfolio of work of what you have done: such as, web data system, VB software, research and so on!

and make sure your portfolio looks sweet! and you are all set...

kicker

learningIT

A friend of mine told me: "Experience is worth more than certifications." This is mostly very basic and true. Go out there and get some experience. That will get your foot in the door quicker than most anything else. I don't have my foot in the door yet, but hopefully I will someday this year. By the time I graduate High School I will have 2 years of extensive experience, helping the technology instructors out a lot, and helping the "Tech" expert of the school doing anything she wants me to do that's Tech. I think this coming school year I will volunteer after school, or just to fiddle around with the systems to get the hang of it. She's got some cool programs like Altiris, and my Cisco teacher has curriculum and tons of lab stations.

So why not VOLUNTEER or INTERN? It doesn't have to pay now, but it WILL pay off later! That friend of mine is now out of High School, with 8+ years of experience with you name it and has a good paying job! He volunteered at times 20-30 hours after school a week to help out the tech staff! Maybe you could find a local school to "help out" at? This summer I will be helping out my tech teacher prepare her classrooms for her students (it can be frustrating when they all want administrator, all these games, break computers all the time, passwords, etc...then they want to strangle you for it, ) I only have 1 solid year of experience, who knows what the decimal is after that, but hey, it's experience!

It kind of is hard to find a job in IT nowadays...where are you from?