Is it real to get a job?

Hello!

I have a specific question about a job, and I really need your answers.

My dream is to get a job in IT Field in the USA, but I'm currently live in Russia. It's not my one-minute wish, but long-time aim. Now I have a Bachelor Degree in IT, more than 3 years of expirience like Systems Administrator and more than 1.5 years - like Senior Systems/Network Administrator in IT (software development) company. HQ of our company located in the USA, but I always worked only in Russia's branch office.
My certs is MCP, MCTS, MCSA2003 and now I'm closely to getting CCNA.
Also I'm try to improve my English, but it's hard because have no enough practice here.
In common my experience and knowledges are: Microsoft technologies (AD, DNS, DHCP, Terminal Servers, IIS, GPO, Exchange 2000/2003, SQL Server 2000/2005, VPN, RADIUS, RRAS, some others), *nix (Squid, Apache, vsftpd, bind, iptables, sendmail, mysql, ssl/tls implementations), Cisco on CCNA level...

I'm ready to work on helpdesk technician position, or other entry-level position.
How do you think, can it be real? Or I must forget about working in the USA?
I need your opinions, please. Thank you.

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Comments

mamono

Have you considered working at your company's headquarters as a liaison to the branch office? I have worked at international companies where there were several personnel that worked as liaison for key departments between branches and headquarters, namely USA, Japan, and Brazil. It was great to work with these individuals because they always had different perspectives and approaches to their work. Some were technical and others were business logistics. What matters most will be your fluency of the English language. I always felt important when I was invited to meetings with engineers from both headquarters, branch, and our 3rd party overseas vendors.

It may be possible, you may want to look into whether your headquarters has something setup like this already or would be willing to send you to their headquarters if there needs to be IT collaborative work between HQ and branch offices in Russia. Who better to communicate with their branch office than someone who's fluent in Russian? Your English is legible, I believe that you have a pretty good start already.

There are people who have taken the Canada->USA route. I've seen this a few times, but it happens to be mostly Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. I personally would stay in Canada, the air is so much cleaner and crisp. LA air is nasty. Probably give you a nose bleed like trying to breath in Shanghai...

arvalea

Thank you for your answer, mamono!

What is about my company headquarter - they don't look personnel for US office... Company's profile is offshore programming, so company setup new offices in Russia and there are mainly sales and representatives in HQ. All R&D is in Russia. So this way is not for me (not for technicians, if exactly). We have no one technical vacancy in HQ for the last 4 year.

Canada - it's a great country too, as I see it. I heard about "hard climate" there, but after climate in Russia it's not a problem, I think.
So I can correct my first post, I want to get a job in the USA or Canada...
If I can hope for that, what must be my first step?

moss12

arvalea my friend , I think you should apply for Australia lots of IT jobs there ? very nice place

arvalea

moss12 wrote:

arvalea my friend , I think you should apply for Australia lots of IT jobs there ? very nice place

No, I don't want to Australia for some reasons... Main of them is my interest to USA and Canada, cultures of this countries, social life, different features and other. During my work I communcate with technicians of our customers (from USA), and my wish to work in North America grow up.
Australia is a good country, but not "my" country, don't know how explain it.
By the way, your advice is delicate hint and answer "no" for my question?..

supertechCETma

arvalea

supertechCETma wrote:

Contact US and Canadian embassy to inquire about visa.

As far as I know, now I can obtain only tourist visa with limited lifetime...
And what to do next?.. How can I try to get a job? Can you advise me a good sites with IT vacancies?
In Russia we have lot of such sites, but only four or five from them can be taken in all seriousness.

UnixGuy

yes you can, by obtaining H1-b visa, see details here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1B_visa

but I think the economic state in US right now isn't in its best condition, so think about it more.

And for jobs websites, I've learned from this forum:

www.dice.com

www.monster.com

KGhaleon

Before moving anywhere, be sure to check monsters and find a place that has a lot of good work, work that pays, etc.

I lived in Florida a while back and there was no work for me, and what I could find payed quite poorly.

itdaddy

Unix Guy

good advice to think about it more but USA has always had its ups and downs great depression
stock market crash etc..if you are not growing you are dying...yeah it looks scary but
look at Britian UK they had a huge bank fall...it is not just a USA thing it is I believe a global issue..USA will always be great as long as people believe...but it is nice to see other countries improve their economic state, I am all for a nice world..there is no reason...but I do believe the
push for global economy is what we are all trying to do and it is going thru birth pains!
Eventually we will all be brothers and sisters so to speak, I think other counrties are cool..

I speak some Spanish and would like to learn Russian and Ukrainian languages they are cool

itdaddy

KGhaleon

yeah i was in florida in orlando recently and i wondered why the same thing IT jobs didnt pay well. weird and it is Florida and well IT jobs in WI where I live dont pay great either.. starting
pay for IT admin for 300 people 43K but for the county it is 55k starting much better
but most companies think 35k is big bucks (morons) i work my arse off in IT to understand
many things like programming, scripting, MS, Cisco, Unix and they still in interview try to get you for nothing and then the guy who is hiring you is getting paid 65k and above..but he answers to only a few people us IT guys have to work for everyone we are the companies
biatch you know....i am on call all the time yeah i am salaray but the other managers who dont have to keep up on technology all the time get paid more than me and they dont have to come in at night...i think IT field is the most rewarding personally but man is it hard to find a decent job that APPRECIATES your hard work....I am 360 degree well rounded and a lot of people are not. As a net admin you have to understand all the layers well to troubleshoot, I do not know why the interviewers do not know that? In fact I had an interview recently where both of the interviewers were NON - IT so I requested if given a 2nd interview, to have an IT consultant in my 2nd interview he/she could talk with me and to verify my knowledge..I mentioned to them
that they should hire a IT consultant for the future interviews to help them pick a good IT guy.
I think I pissed/humilated them. I wasnt trying to I just mentioned they need and IT guy to help them..or else they will get the wrong untrained IT person....(dorks)

arvalea

First of all, thank you all for replies.

If honestly, I expected some words like "go away" and "drink your vodka in your Russia", so I'm happy that I wrong.

About relocation... I think constantly about that, and thinked more than two years before create this post. Economy state in Russia is not good too. And I think it worse than in USA. In common - I think that USA and dollar is much more stable than Russia and rouble. USA have it's own production, Russia today - only oil and gas

.
Sorry for offtopic.

Thank for web-sites addresses.
One more question - it's real to get work permit before coming to USA?

UnixGuy

itdaddy wrote:

Unix Guy

good advice to think about it more but USA has always had its ups and downs great depression
stock market crash etc..if you are not growing you are dying...yeah it looks scary but
look at Britian UK they had a huge bank fall...it is not just a USA thing it is I believe a global issue..USA will always be great as long as people believe...but it is nice to see other countries improve their economic state, I am all for a nice world..there is no reason...but I do believe the
push for global economy is what we are all trying to do and it is going thru birth pains!
Eventually we will all be brothers and sisters so to speak, I think other counrties are cool..

I speak some Spanish and would like to learn Russian and Ukrainian languages they are cool

That's true, it's a global crisis everywhere. I've been reading a lot about the economic crisis and from what I read I think it will be rectified soon. US will be OK

JDMurray

UnixGuy wrote:

yes you can, by obtaining H1-b visa, see details here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1B_visa

It's the employer that bears most of the cost of the sponsorship of H1-B visa, and many are reluctant to do so unless the person has a specialty that the employer absolutely needs. I have a Canadian friend that is having an easier time becoming a US citizen than finding steady IT employment as an H1-B worker.

wat08

JDMurray wrote:

It's the employer that bears most of the cost of the sponsorship of H1-B visa, and many are reluctant to do so unless the person has a specialty that the employer absolutely needs.

Judging by the rate at which the H-1B quota gets filled it's obvious that cost is not a deterring factor. The IT industry's unquenchable thirst for talent ensures foreign engineers will always have a place in the US.

JDMurray

wat08 wrote:

Judging by the rate at which the H-1B quota gets filled it's obvious that cost is not a deterring factor. The IT industry's unquenchable thirst for talent ensures foreign engineers will always have a place in the US.

The fact that there are precious few H1-B's allotted each year, and there are so many people willing to snap them up, does not mean that the IT industry in the USA has an "unquenchable thirst" for H1-B workers. I know many organizations that will not hire H-1B because of the added cost, and I know a few people with H1-Bs that have had a very hard time finding work because of their H1-B status. Getting an H1-B by no means guarantees you a job in the USA.

arvalea

JDMurray wrote:

Getting an H1-B by no means guarantees you a job in the USA.

Seems to be true

...
But if not getting H1-B... hmm... What must be my first step for landing with a job?

Or you mean that getting job is almost impossible in my case?..

JDMurray

There have already been some good suggestions in this thread. Get a job with a local company that will send you to work abroad, work in a different country (Mexico, Canada) as a way to eventually get to the USA, or come to the USA as a student and make networking contacts while working small jobs on the side.

You didn't mention how long you wished to stay in the USA, or if you were interested in becoming an American citizen. These are things you should think about now to help you plan.

UnixGuy

JDMurray wrote:

UnixGuy wrote:

yes you can, by obtaining H1-b visa, see details here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1B_visa

It's the employer that bears most of the cost of the sponsorship of H1-B visa, and many are reluctant to do so unless the person has a specialty that the employer absolutely needs. I have a Canadian friend that is having an easier time becoming a US citizen than finding steady IT employment as an H1-B worker.

Interesting, I thought the only way to get a job in US is by H1-B. So what you're saying is that there's a procedure for a Canadian citizen to become US citizen then find a job ? Any idea how long this process take ??

arvalea

JDMurray wrote:

There have already been some good suggestions in this thread. Get a job with a local company that will send you to work abroad, work in a different country (Mexico, Canada) as a way to eventually get to the USA, or come to the USA as a student and make networking contacts while working small jobs on the side.

You didn't mention how long you wished to stay in the USA, or if you were interested in becoming an American citizen. These are things you should think about now to help you plan.

Not very good choice

. I'm not a student already, and don't want to became student again... Local companies are checked - no way too, at that moment at least. Mexico...hmm... no, I'm not ready, absolutely unknown country for me. So, only Canada... Ok, but it's really easier to get an IT-job in Canada than in USA? Why?..

I don't know about how long I want to stay in the USA, because I never been there. I thought to find a work and look at american life during work. After that make decision. I have no idea why I must think about that now, it's really very important for current moment?..

Sorry if my questions dumb.

AlexMR

I find it strange that nobody has mention the definitive best way to get to work in the USA: Get a CCIE.

This is not a joke. I am in Dominican Republic. Supposedly, we have only two CCIEs now, andf one of them is a VP from a Global Communication Solutions firm, a dominican who was educated in teh US and is now in charge of a big project of the company here. The other one is a young Engineer whose education was covered by one big telco here (formely a GTE subsidiary, then bought by Verizon and now owned by America Movil) and I heard he already has a huge offer iun the USA. That company, named Codetel, has paid for the education of several CCIEs, and they just cant keep them for more than a few months. They all end up leaving to the USA to make very good money.

I dont know if it is because of the geographic location, and since we are under the direct influence of the USA and their interaction professionally is mostly with US enterprises, but it seems that even when it is not the same conditions as 2 or 3 years ago, the demand for CCIEs in the USA is apparently higher than the rythm of production...I heard somebody saying the problem was not the amount of them but keeping them as employees. Apparently they are becoming consultants way too fast...of course that is all me speculating.

Good luck on whatever you decide.

UnixGuy

AlexMR wrote:

I find it strange that nobody has mention the definitive best way to get to work in the USA: Get a CCIE.

This is not a joke. I am in Dominican Republic. Supposedly, we have only two CCIEs now, andf one of them is a VP from a Global Communication Solutions firm, a dominican who was educated in teh US and is now in charge of a big project of the company here. The other one is a young Engineer whose education was covered by one big telco here (formely a GTE subsidiary, then bought by Verizon and now owned by America Movil) and I heard he already has a huge offer iun the USA. That company, named Codetel, has paid for the education of several CCIEs, and they just cant keep them for more than a few months. They all end up leaving to the USA to make very good money.

I dont know if it is because of the geographic location, and since we are under the direct influence of the USA and their interaction professionally is mostly with US enterprises, but it seems that even when it is not the same conditions as 2 or 3 years ago, the demand for CCIEs in the USA is apparently higher than the rythm of production...I heard somebody saying the problem was not the amount of them but keeping them as employees. Apparently they are becoming consultants way too fast...of course that is all me speculating.

Good luck on whatever you decide.

I think there's a truth in this. I will add to this what my supervisor said, he told me he has job offers and/or work permit to both US and UK.

I don't know if he really has what he claims, but I do know for sure that he's been to both UK and US several times. He has 12 years experience in UNIX and SUN. So I guess having exceptional experience should help.

arvalea

Thank you all for answers!
It was really helpful for me.
So, summary, I understood that I must receive more expirience and have some "high-level" certs like MCSE and CCIE... Not sure about CCIE - it's really hard in Russia to get this cert, but I must try and do all for that if I really want to get a job in the USA.
In other words I need some exceptional skills...
Now question became more clear for me, so thank you one more time!

LarryDaMan

arvalea wrote:

Mexico...hmm... no, I'm not ready, absolutely unknown country for me.

Maybe, but with some clever hiking/swimming/evasion skills, you could be across the border and working in the U.S in no time.