The IT Industry has become an elitest society

DoubleD

The IT Industry has become an elitest society
aftr weeks of searching for a job ive now come to the point where some jobs are turning round and saying im over qualified!!!
i have a years voluntry at my old collage , 3 months contracting , and obviousley personal experiance but they dnt take that in to consideration, also to backup my customer service i worked at an asda store for a year The IT Industry has become an elitest society agree?

katierose

Judging by your typing skills, no.

forkvoid

DoubleD wrote: »

The IT Industry has become an elitest society
aftr weeks of searching for a job ive now come to the point where some jobs are turning round and saying im over qualified!!!
i have a years voluntry at my old collage , 3 months contracting , and obviousley personal experiance but they dnt take that in to consideration, also to backup my customer service i worked at an asda store for a year The IT Industry has become an elitest society agree?

I find it difficult to believe that someone with less than 18 months IT experience and a total of little more than two years work experience could possibly be overqualified for anything. I see bag boys at the grocery store with more work experience than that.

I think you failed the interview(s) and they're trying to be nice.

networker050184

forkvoid wrote: »

I think you failed the interview(s) and they're trying to be nice.

That would be my guess also.

chmorin

The above are kind of blunt but true. Make sure you anaylze yourself and not just the enviornment. If you can't do it, find a friend that can.

veritas_libertas

I think your asking yourself the wrong question. A better question would be, "What am I doing wrong?"

mikej412

DoubleD wrote: »

The IT Industry has become an elitest society

Entry level IT skills are a commodity. Every May/June a new crop of AAs and AAs roll out of Community Colleges -- and are willing to work cheap to score that first elusive IT job and earn that coveted IT experience that may some day get them the BIG BUCK$

And a lot of the entry level help desk jobs don't even really need an Associates Degree or Certifications -- just people skills.

DoubleD wrote: »

aftr weeks of searching for a job ive now come to the point where some jobs are turning round and saying im over qualified!!!

How many jobs did you apply for in those weeks? And how did you find those jobs? What were the jobs? And exactly what is your work experience?

Pretty much anyone who expects to make $40K doing basic racking and stacking or basic read-a-script help desk is "overqualified."

People who dismiss interview questions as trivial or act as if their intelligence is being insulted during interviews (think eye rolling, snorting, snide comments, etc) tend to be "overqualified."

People who spend the interview talking about what they'd like to be doing down the road -- rather than focusing on the technical interview questions for THIS job -- are usually "overqualified."

And people who don't/can't demonstrate people skills during an interview are definitely "overqualified."

On the off chance that you really are overqualified (or interviewing with Elitist Jerks) -- sorry for all the Tough Love you're getting as responses.

eMeS

I laughed so hard at this thread that the foie gras pâté came right through my nose! I need to close the door on my excessively oversized corner office so that all the minions walking the halls don't hear me laughing and think that I'm not working!

But seriously though, in one sense the OP is correct. Anytime decision-making and power is concentrated in the hands of a few, then technically elitism exists. The higher one goes in an organization the more elite that person is. That is the nature of any stratified organization; decision-making and power tends to be concentrated at the top. Yes, dare I say most IT organizations operate this way...

As you've heard from others, this isn't likely the problem. We all participate in and deal with elitism in organizations daily, and we all seem to be doing ok. As others have indicated, you will benefit from a deep look at yourself and what you're doing that is contributing to the results that you are receiving.

What I sense is that you think that you're more elite than you actually are. As Mike mentioned, you might be doing something behaviorally that is making interviewers think that you view the process as trivial. The message that you've posted is best described as indolent. That is likely part of what interviewers don't like about you as well.

And just because I want to jump back into character, let me end by saying that if you think IT is elitist, then Qu’ils mangent de la brioche!

MS

mikej412

eMeS wrote: »

let me end by saying that if you think IT is elitist, then Qu’ils mangent de la brioche!MS

Ah, a good example of the cake being a lie


The Cake Is a Lie | Know Your Meme

rogue2shadow

mikej412 wrote: »

Ah, a good example of the cake being a lie


The Cake Is a Lie | Know Your Meme

Lol Portal.

Bl8ckr0uter

mikej412 wrote: »

Ah, a good example of the cake being a lie


The Cake Is a Lie | Know Your Meme

I really need to step my geek up.

steve13ad

Did anyone else have to Google Image "foie gras pâté"?

peanutnoggin

steve13ad wrote: »

Did anyone else have to Google Image "foie gras pâté"?

+1 LOL!

eMeS

steve13ad wrote: »

Did anyone else have to Google Image "foie gras pâté"?

That is nasty nasty stuff...thank god there are only so many fattened goose livers out there....

There's a grocery store near my house where we shop that sells that stuff. During this time of year poseurs seem to buy a ton of it for their Christmas parties, etc... They line up to pay tons of money for that crap.

MS

eMeS

mikej412 wrote: »

Ah, a good example of the cake being a lie


The Cake Is a Lie | Know Your Meme

Yeah, the cake never tastes all that great if someone hands it to you...everyone has to work for their own cake....

MS

Forsaken_GA

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

I really need to step my geek up.

Install Steam.

Buy Portal.

If you have any degree of intelligence, the puzzles will keep you busy for a couple of hours max.

You will then score some geek cred.

Get cracking!

TheShadow

foie gras pâté -- You can still get black market hot dogs in LaLa land made with that stuff but for the most part People Eating Tasty Animals got it banned.

As for cake...
Pour la tarte de vacances est mieux No Lie

Sabalo

DoubleD wrote: »

The IT Industry has become an elitest society
aftr weeks of searching for a job ive now come to the point where some jobs are turning round and saying im over qualified!!!
i have a years voluntry at my old collage , 3 months contracting , and obviousley personal experiance but they dnt take that in to consideration, also to backup my customer service i worked at an asda store for a year The IT Industry has become an elitest society agree?

Disagree... at least, it is no more elitist than any other profession. What elitism I notice usually stems from people simultanously considering IT to be a job "anyone can do" and complaining about thier inability to actually do the stuff anyone can do.

We sort of get defensive when people assume that self-trained means we're any less skilled than those who were told what to learn.

eMeS

TheShadow wrote: »

...tarte...

This is not a thread about my wife!

MS

Slowhand

In the words of the great Ben Croshaw: "Allow me to hold your head under the putrescent waters of knowledge."

Is the IT industry elitist? In a word: yes. It's one of the few industries where the words "entry level" actually mean you should have several years of experience before applying. It's an industry where there is always someone younger, someone smarter, someone willing to work longer hours out to take your job and steal your promotion. It's an industry notorious for its demand that we update our skills faster and faster with each passing year, and that's simply to stay current with the job(s) we already work in.

However, there are some pretty good reasons.

The first reason is that, in IT, the spectrum of responsibility you are expected to carry can range from simply making sure a few office-workers can connect to the internet and download their email, to keeping system-critical servers and equipment working for hospitals and banks. We need to stay sharp, we need to keep ourselves up to date, and we need to grow with technology or we can't do our jobs and maintain that technology. That, of course, brings me to another reason.

Technology changes, the needs of businesses and users change, and we have to change with them. There is no way to do business today the way we did in the 80's, the 90's, or even the way we did in 2005. If you want to complain because you're just now learning what a server is, and most companies want someone who understands virtualization, that's nobody's problem but yours. One of the points that Ayn Rand once made is one I whole-heartedly agree with: a person is not hired for a job to his or her best, they're hired to do what is necessary to complete that job. This industry requires a VAST amount of knowledge on our part, a great deal of flexibility, and a practical understanding of how to use that knowledge to keep the world running. On to the next point.

As Sabalo mentioned, there are lots of people who get into IT thinking it's easy money, then complain when they find out it's harder than they thought. Oddly, no one expects to be a doctor, physicist, astronaut, firefighter, or engineer without a lot of work beforehand, and this industry is no different. And, honestly, it's not for everyone. Not everyone "has the right stuff", and some people even spend anywhere from two to eight years in school before they figure out that IT isn't for them. (This is also true for those other professions I mentioned, as well as many others, like computer science.) You keep working, you keep learning, and then you figure out if this is the path for you or if your best simply isn't good enough and another path is a better choice.

It sounds like you're fresh out of college, so you've got plenty of time to decide what to do with your life. You were told you weren't a good fit for the job(s) you applied for, so right now you've got a choice:

A.) Blame the hiring manager(s) that turned you down for being unfair not realizing your genius.

B.) Figure out why they didn't want to hire you, and work on those things.

Maybe you need more experience? Volunteer your time. Maybe you need more certs? Study and earn them. Maybe you need to work on your interviewing skills? Talk to professionals, (like the ones on this board,) and ask them for help. Maybe your communication skills are rusty? Take some writing and speech courses. There are lots of things we all need to improve on, don't expect to be the exception to the rule.

If all this sounds a little harsh, it's because it is. IT is a competitive industry, and it doesn't suffer fools. It's better to know what you're getting into and try to live up to that, than it is to get thumped on the head a few times and grow bitter because of it. We've all been new to IT, and most of us are here to offer help. . . but only if you can accept that you just might need it.

katierose

Slowhand said exactly what I would have if I didn't decide to be a jerk.

Slowhand

katierose wrote: »

Slowhand said exactly what I would have if I didn't decide to be a jerk.

Like it says in my signature: let it never be said I didn't do the very least I could do.

chrisone

DoubleD wrote: »

The IT Industry has become an elitest society

this is a good thing, i feel more important and my value in the industry rising.

Is it wrong to feel this way? after all i am the one working hard and studying.

it_consultant

chrisone wrote: »

this is a good thing, i feel more important and my value in the industry rising.

Is it wrong to feel this way? after all i am the one working hard and studying.

I wish it was elitist. I am tired of working with very competent IT professionals who have terrible professional skills. They dress like crap, show up late, have horrible people skills, etc. My cousin is one such person, he wonders why he always gets crappy jobs or is fired from the good ones.

Chris:/*

I am in agreement with the rest of the TE populace on this one. Long ago IT was handled by Electrical Engineers and Computer Scientists and there was no such thing as a degree in IT. They had to be a trade craft professional in development before moving to infrastructure maintenance and design.

Most people right out of college have only foundational entry level knowledge and deserve to be on the bottom of the pyramid. I see a growing trend with people having achieved a degree in IT believe they know all in an industry that has dynamically changed between the time they started their college education and finished it. The same can be said about CS and EE majors but I see less of them in IT (I am not devaluing the IT degree).

My suggestions would be to become a little more pious, more open minded and more receptive to the interviewer and his/her questions. I am assuming that judging by your education and certifications listed you would be overqualified for Geek Squad, Apple Store Genius or basic call center tech support. If you are truly being told you are overqualified then you need to look at a different branch of jobs. Where I work the CompTIA trio with a Bachelor of Science is considered entry level and it is not a guarantee that you will get hired.

Experience is king in IT the rest just gets you considered for the interview. When I am sitting waist deep in tickets that need to be fixed I do not care if you have a MS from MIT. I just want you to professionally complete jobs to get those tickets closed and improve the environment we work in.

As such get some experience with an ISP or small tech solution company and get some professional level exposure to the tech world.

The questions you need to ask yourself is where you want to go and how do I get there?

BTW these blunt comments are typical with what you will see in IT, Security or Engineering be prepared for them because most professionals do not have time to daisy step around the issue.

Hypntick

it_consultant wrote: »

I wish it was elitist. I am tired of working with very competent IT professionals who have terrible professional skills. They dress like crap, show up late, have horrible people skills, etc. My cousin is one such person, he wonders why he always gets crappy jobs or is fired from the good ones.

The only thing I disagree with is the dress thing. Of course i'm all for a open dress code policy within certain standards. Hygiene seems to be a bit more of an issue to my mind.

DoubleD

Well it is elitist cos I went for a job interview at asda for a shelf stacker and they where elitist you had to do a group interview and do various tasks like build a tower from newspaper and other tasks then after that if they liked you you where invited to a second interview one to one interview. So if that’s what you had to do just for a shelf stacking job I thought what the heck. So if elitism exists in an asda job how much more does it exist in the IT Industry? I had an interview and turned it down cos they said they wanted me to give a 10 minute powerpoint presentation as part of the interview tasks I was like sack that I want to be a IT Technician not a spokes person for the world.

steve13ad

Thank god you posted again, at first I thought you were serious. But now, sack that!!!!!!

joshmadakor

DoubleD wrote: »

group interview

I hate group interviews. Sorry, just had to share

stuh84

DoubleD wrote: »

Well it is elitist cos I went for a job interview at asda for a shelf stacker and they where elitist you had to do a group interview and do various tasks like build a tower from newspaper and other tasks then after that if they liked you you where invited to a second interview one to one interview. So if that’s what you had to do just for a shelf stacking job I thought what the heck. So if elitism exists in an asda job how much more does it exist in the IT Industry? I had an interview and turned it down cos they said they wanted me to give a 10 minute powerpoint presentation as part of the interview tasks I was like sack that I want to be a IT Technician not a spokes person for the world.

Wow. Seriously? You turned down an interview because they wanted you to prove that you could complete a task given to you?

The problem is, you've taken that too literal. They aren't saying do a Powerpoint presentation because thats what your job will be, they are wanting to see how you deal with a task given, how you deal with presenting your ideas to other people, and how you come across as a person.

There is almost no job in the world where you will be stuck in an office on your own doing a big list of tasks and never talking to anyone. You'll deal with people day in day out, and quite often you'll be helping other people out, even training others. It sounds like you want to sit in your own dark little corner and never be interrupted by people who need your help. Good luck, that job isn't in IT

DoubleD

YES I turned the interview down because of that. Im not a show person I dont give shows, I dont want to stand on a stage. im an IT technician end of. I wont give a power point show I voted with my feet and didnt go.