Well it is official, I got my first I.T. job.
It happens to be in the same city in which I am currently a cop. I didn't want to talk about it much until it was for sure...didn't want to jinx the chance.
The company is a a large international information company. I will be working in the global data center. The job title is Production Support Analyst. The job basically entails monitoring many mainframes and servers watching for any performance problems that may occur. During the interviews the managers stated they like their analysts in this job to take ownership of the issue and attempt to resolve it before escalating it. I told them the concept sounds a lot like my current job as a uniformed police officer in that I am handling unexpected problems, gathering informaiton, taking action most of the time to resolve the issue and only calling for a specialist (CSI, Homicide, Traffic Reconstructionist, ect...) if it is beyond my level of understanding. They agreed with that generalization of the job mindset.
The compensation is exactly what I make now, so that is awesome for an entry level job, without a computer science degree and no on the job experience.
During the last interview, the director stated he almost became a cop himself and turned down a local sheriff when the job was offered because he made more as a manager at McDonalds than he would have as a deputy. He did say he had great luck thoughout all the years hiring police officers, mathmeticians, and music majors...when hiring non-I.T. degreed individuals. He said these types of people had a good ability to take a lot of information, put it into order and take action based on the information at hand. He also stated this job was about the best entry-level I.T. job he could think of for a career changer. He said this was because I would get exposure to all the areas of I.T. (networks, databases, ect...), I would get to work with hardware and software from Microsoft, Linux, Sun, Solaris. Also, I would be with a team of about 10 people so I would never be completely alone when dealing with an issue. The hours are awesome too...three 12 hours shifts one week and an additional day every other week to make up the difference. Because of all of this during this interview, I felt like he was sent from the heavens just for me to speak with.
Considering I couldn't even get a phone interview with many companies and I was getting discouraged slightly, I feel really blessed to have this opportunity.
Sorry for the long post...I am just really excited to get to learn a lot about a lot soon!!! I just wanted to thank you guys here on TechExams.net forum for your information over the past two years. I started with 0 certifications, a bachelors degree in criminal justice and no real world enterprise experience, and with your help I was able to get where I am today...and it feels good!:D So THANK YOU ALL.
