Experience Wasted? Please Advise.

andytbellamy

Hi all,

I have just arrived in this country from England and am hoping to gauge opinion on whether my past history will aid me in any way to get a job in systems administration. My wife is American and wanted to move back here to be closer to her family. I’m concerned that as I have not worked in specific role for long periods of time, I may have to start again from the very bottom. Any advice would be hugely appreciated. I also can’t work for the next 3 months and would really appreciate advice on what to study during that time. I have already started studying for the MCSE exams.

A brief summary of my experience: (Please bare with me. It’s a lot of info)

- 7 years ago I gained a position as a Systems Administrator for the government working in a Windows server 2000 environment. I spent 6 months training before moving to a different business unit.
- For the next 6 months I was charged with developing an IT support Team for that business unit and asisted in the implementation of a whole new IT infrastructure. We were to support 300 staff in an environment that was part of a 100,000 computer network.
- I spent the next 2 years both managing the team and carrying out systems administrator duties. Unfortunately (And this is where my main concerns lie) the IT contract changed and the government employed administrators security levels were lowered. From that point, approximately 50% of the issues I encountered simply required me to diagnose them before handing them off to subcontracted expert domains. The non administrator side of my job involved designing and building new folder structures, planning and managing team and IT moves and managing the rest of the IT and Accommodation Team.
- I then moved on to manage a project to relocate the entire business unit including the staff and the IT infrastructure to another building. As well as managing the project and overseeing the relocation, my duties required me to play a part in analyzing the then current infrastructure and help to desig the new one.
- Following the relocation I was required to write a project report and act as an advisor to other project managers carrying out similar moves. I also continued to work as the sytsem adminitrator for that business unit.
- I then moved to a different business that tested departmental IT systems. As all reports were being drawn up on paper, my role was to analyse the structure they had in place, then design and develop a new paperless system. The system was based around a MS Database.
- Up until I left in July as well as analysing all findings that came from the testing it was my role to ensure the system was contimually improved and kept up to date.

laidbackfreak

andytbellamy wrote:

Hi all,

I have just arrived in this country from England and am hoping to gauge opinion

what you moved to wales..........

ok i read further down and guessed you mean the us......
but is this just a us board???? i always thought it was international.......

mamono

Your first post is rather sporadic regarding the information that it outlines and the request. I don't believe that it can be answered without additional information.

Did you move to the US temporarily? It seems that you have a lot of experience. Though, keep in mind that many of the companies here in the US have a tendency to be very certification centric. Certs here in the US play the role of a key, it gets you through the door and into the interview. How you play it form there is how you survive the interview and that mostly relies on your soft skills and sharp mindedness.

You might be able to find a company that likes your level of experience and would be willing to work out a probationary period based on obtaining the certifications suited for that role.

It all really depends on the company. Search around, find what fits you best, and then go on the attack.

Best of luck to you.

andytbellamy

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Almost every thread I've come across on here read like it written by someone from the USA. My apologise, if this has causded anyone offence.

Mamono, I understand that here in the US certification seems to be very important. As I said, unfortunately all of the training and courses I have under took has been internal. That is why I have been studying for the MCSE’. All the job descriptions I have read, however, said they will except experince in the place of qualifications. IS this not the case in reality?

I expect to become a resident in the US within 3 months and at this stage have no plans to return to the UK perminetaly. Ideally, I will be looking for a career in the US rather than just a short term job. I do have a lot of experience but as I said in my first post, my fear is that it will not be the experience the company is looking for. In that I mean, I have not spent 5 years solely as a System Administrator. Do you think I have the experience to apply for a role as a junior Systems administartor? I don’t expect to arrive in a new country, with a differenent environment and walk straight back into a management role. I don’t envisage that happeeing for a number of years.

What other information would you like me to give?

Thanks again for the advice. It really is appreciated.

andytbellamy

Is there anyone else at all that could please advise me on this?

dynamik

It comes down to more than just certs

JDMurray wrote:

( Experience + Certs + Education + Who you know) * Luck = really good career opportunity

It seems like you have some solid experience, so I can't imagine you starting at the bottom after doing all of that. I think the MCSE is a good starting place for you in terms of certs. Good luck!