A word of encouragement...hopefully!

clutch

Hello all - first time poster. As I've been reading some of the topics in this forum I've noticed a lot of discouraging but true topics about jobs and money. I feel that the most important goal is experience but to get that you need good contacts! I was fortunate enough to find my contact at my own job in 2001. I used to work in a warehouse while attending Executrain (like New horizons). The IT Director knew I was working towards my A+ and Network+ and told me once I'm done to give him a ring. We'll to make a long story short, I completed the courses but I didn't take the tests. He didn't mind, he just thought he'd give me a shot and if it didn't work out so be it. I was determined to make it work. I busted my arse everyday learning new things. Now its 2005 and I'm a level 2 technical support specialist. Nothing to write home about but I'm in the mid to upper 30k salary range.

Bottom line is...it is possible. Take every route to find that one good contact. Keep busting your butt to advance. The money will come.

By the way...I'm taking the A+ OS test Friday for my first cert! I'm also in the MCSE track now. I love this stuff. Good luck to everyone and sorry for the long first post!!

x_Danny_x

ah, you must of read my thread! Im extremely bum right now cause I was thinking i was going to get a $45,000 job working for the University or a $60,000 job working with some industrial company!

I had this idea until I created the thread I believe you just read!

I have a Masters in Computer Science and soon to have those certs I have mention and Im going to start at the same level as someone who only gotten an A+ and N+ cert!

I just used all this money for basically nothing. well not nothing but you get the idea.

I hope that the list of certs and the Bachelors and Masters in Computer Science will help get to my destination sooner than someone without the Masters and certs!

I forgot to mention that I have 4 months experience working as a Help Desktop support. I dont think that changes much either though

Metaldave

One of the guys who was on my A+ course had a similar story. His brother graduated from probably the top university in Ireland with a degree in Computer Science and when he went for his first job interview, he got the job but only on the basis that he got the A+ Cert.

/usr

If your CS degree is anything like the curriculum here, then you've taken a lot of programming and electrical stuff, but not much hardware/networking stuff.

Maybe you're looking for a job which doesn't fit too well with your degree? Either way, we all have to start at the bottom.

Best of luck to you!

RussS

Hey clutch - welcome aboard.
No problemo about the post length as it is very sound advice. Two of the
biggest problems with our industry are those with an astounding number of certifications but absolutely no experience (i.e. Paper MCSE etc) and also those with minimal certifications such as A+ ansd Net+, but with expectations of earning $35-50K straight up. The fact of the matter is that those mentioned above were also very prevalent prior to the big crash and were earning seriously high incomes. After many of them were found out it created an atmosphere where many employers rolled back salaries to a level that was a bit too low, but they also have taken on a distain for many of the certifications.
For those that choose to live in the work in the IT field I suggest that by keeping your expectations modest to start with and being able to over-perform, you will not only advance your income reasonablt quickly but will also help remove some of the negative thoughts about us that many management types have.