Losing my job: Advice on direction

So I'm losing my job at the end of this month as my job is being outsourced and wanted to hear some opinions on what is the better route long term.

I'm a help desk II agent/application support currently and most jobs currently available are either contract or temp to perm with lower pay then I'm making now. I was thinking of spending a few months dedicating myself to the certificate chase(most likely MCITP:SA/EA) and then start looking again in January/February when more jobs are available. The other option would be to take any help desk job I can find for additional experience and to prevent a gap in my resume.

Currently have Associates Degree, A+, Net+.
Job experience is 3 years tech support, 1 year help desk/application support

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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Comments

Chris:/*

What type of jobs are in the area (OS type and so forth) and what path are you looking towards beside just another job?

My suggestion is first search for jobs in the area that are hot or prevalent and match your future training to them. At the same time make sure that it is something you want to do and can relatively quickly gain enough skill or knowledge to do it.

You want to make yourself marketable to as many jobs as possible, yielding the most benefit in the quickest time period. After that you can tailor your skill-set, resume and knowledge to your future goals. The bad news is much of help desk support is being outsourced to foreign countries. Computer Scientists, Electrical Engineers and Statisticians develop easy to follow checklist that really do eliminate most problems quicker and easier than your average help desk tech. They then pay a third world national pennies on the dollar to recite it to customers and have them follow their directions. The moral to this statement is learn fast and learn hard quickly to the professional level in a section of IT that you would love to be in.

BTW
Taking jobs that are temporary that increase your breadth are better than just studying books in the off time. You are not required to tell future employers what you made at previous jobs just what you will accept form them. Best of luck.

Bl8ckr0uter

Outsourced or Offshored? (there is a huge difference) Does the company that is getting the bid have any jobs available?

I suggest that you look at your local consulting companies (Robert Half, Teksystems) and try to pick up a position. Certing up will help but don't let yourself get stale.

One thing I forgot to mention is that some states (at least Ohio) will pay for some of your college credits if you enroll back in school. Do you have a degree?

earweed

Find something to doin the meantime for while you are working on certs. Make sure you have a relly good resume and get it out there. Don't wait to start looking as it may take months to land a good , if any, job.
A lot of the helpdesk jobs are now being outsourced. I just interviewed with a compzny which actually is nothing but a helpdesk (outsource) company.I would have been dealing with clients from a wide array of corporations who used to have their own helpdesks.
Make sure you register with every recruiting agency, temp agency, and employment agency in the area as they are now the main people you'll be dealing with for a Level I or Level II job. They are the only way to find a job in my area.

za3bour

Don't stay unemployed if you want my opinion at least you will save for money for your certifications. Since you're at help desk I suggest you begin with MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Support Technician or EDA then do the EA (4 more exams) or SA (3 more exams) or both if you do have time.

But why stay unemployed just for the cause of study ? the forum is full of members like me who have work/family and manage to study it's just a matter of organizing your time.

N2IT

Repo Man wrote: »

So I'm losing my job at the end of this month as my job is being outsourced and wanted to hear some opinions on what is the better route long term.

I'm a help desk II agent/application support currently and most jobs currently available are either contract or temp to perm with lower pay then I'm making now. I was thinking of spending a few months dedicating myself to the certificate chase(most likely MCITP:SA/EA) and then start looking again in January/February when more jobs are available. The other option would be to take any help desk job I can find for additional experience and to prevent a gap in my resume.

Currently have Associates Degree, A+, Net+.
Job experience is 3 years tech support, 1 year help desk/application support

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

First of all I am sorry to hear about your job.

Your experience and certifications already match up well. I don't personally see getting another cert or certs helping out that much. Worse case scenario would be to focus on them while looking for a job. But if I were you I would focus 100% on getting a new job. Hitting the job boards and even applying for jobs that are somewhat IT related. IT sales like Best Buy or whatever. Even television sales at an appliance store. Anything to keep from getting an employment gap.

In your downtime if you do have downtime I would then focus on a certification, but personally 3 years and A and N + is more than enough to get back into the market.

One other thing going into a new environment might actually be the best thing that could happen. You will learn new technologies and since you already have experience you might shine in the new environment and move up quickly. Look at this as a new opportunity.

thenjduke

I am sorry to hear about job being outsourced. There has been some really great suggestions here and I want to say go and work even if it is temp work this way getting expierence while studing for exams. I would get the MCITP Desktop exams out of the way and then work towards MCITP/SA : EA exams. Volunteer yourself as well as this makes a company look at saying hey you do not like to be lazy and your willing to volunteer yourself to learn or help.