It's great to be marketable...

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to say how much I love working in the IT industry. In an unfortunate situation, I was laid off from my job a few weeks ago. I went home obviously sad and a little depressed. That night after I stopped feeling sorry for myself, I updated my resume and posted it on several sites. My plan was to get up the next morning and start actually applying but to my surprise, I received roughly 5 phone calls/emails that morning from various companies and it continued throughout the week. Some calls from head hunters and some from corporate recruiters. By the end of the week, I had several phone interviews and the next week, face to face interviews. Within about a week, I had 3 job offers ALL paying more than my previous job and two of them even a shorter commute.

I hope I don't come off as bragging or anything but it just feels good that in these tough economic times, I was able to find a job so quickly.

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Comments

spiderjericho

Glad you were able to land on your feet, especially given the current economic climate.

cyberguypr

Excellent! Life is weird that way. Would you be willing to share where you posted the resume and got such quick feedback? I am sure it will be of benefit for many here.

powerfool

Glad to hear of your success. I was in the same boat just after the New Year in 2010. Something that is very upsetting (especially because I poured a lot into my work) turned out to be something of a blessing as my new job turned out to be much better.

Best wishes.

veritas_libertas

Congratulations! You must have a killer resume

Psoasman

Good to hear in this economy. I think it's wise to have an updated resume available, as you never know what will happen.

JohnnyBiggles

That's great! But just out of curiosity, what kind of work do you do? Do you have a title?

sieff

was there one cert or a particular background that gave you an advantage with getting so many leads?

Armymanis

congrats dude!

CiscoKidd

cyberguypr wrote: »

Excellent! Life is weird that way. Would you be willing to share where you posted the resume and got such quick feedback? I am sure it will be of benefit for many here.

Sure...I posted my resume on Dice, Monster, and Careerbuilder. When speaking to the recruiters, it seemed most of them found me on Dice and Monster. I didn't get too many hits from Careerbuilder.

CiscoKidd

JohnnyBiggles wrote: »

That's great! But just out of curiosity, what kind of work do you do? Do you have a title?

For my previous employer I started out as the Jr Network Engineer and was promoted to Senior about 2 yrs later. In my last role, I primarily worked on Cisco routers, switches, and ASAs. Check Point firewalls, Web and Email Proxies, IPS, and some Windows Server admin duties.

My current title is just Network Engineer. Lost my "senior" title but this is a MUCH larger network being that this company is global and my last company was pretty much just the one building. This place also has Cisco switches, routers, and firewalls but they also use Juniper switches and firewalls so I will be learning JUNOS as well.

Only thing I think I will miss is that in my last role, because we were smaller, I got to wear multiple hats. My current job, its a dedicated Server, Security, and Network Team so I won't have too much time setting up a server or web proxy troubleshooting. I'll just be touching, Routers, Switches, and Firewalls.

CiscoKidd

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Congratulations! You must have a killer resume

LOL...Killer, I wish. I actually gave thought to posting it on here but I've seen how you guys tear through a resume. Perhaps I will whenever I feel I am ready to move on from this current position.

CiscoKidd

sieff wrote: »

was there one cert or a particular background that gave you an advantage with getting so many leads?

I am not really sure, it just seems Cisco guys are in demand, at least where I live. Maybe just in my last role, because we were small, I got to touch alot of things. Even though I was the network guy, I had to troubleshoot file sharing issues, email troubleshooting, DNS issues, etc. I am not going to say every call/email I received the jobs were a good match. Hell, some of the jobs were in other states or said CCIE with 15+ yrs experience and I am no where near that at this point in my career.

I was actually kind of surprised the company I work for offered me the position, They preferred a CCNP, somebody with experience with EIGRP and OSPF and a few other things I am light on. But I guess it was a situation where they were willing to work with the right person.

MrRyte

Good to hear that things are looking better for you.

CiscoKidd wrote: »

That night after I stopped feeling sorry for myself, I updated my resume and posted it on several sites.

NEVER waste time feeling sorry for yourself. When life knocks you down, get up and keep pressing on.

crazychrono100

Congrats on your new job! If you don't mind me asking, how much is your new job paying (range)? Just curious because I just got a new jr. network engr position as well and I wonder how well network job usually pay.

CiscoKidd

crazychrono100 wrote: »

Congrats on your new job! If you don't mind me asking, how much is your new job paying (range)? Just curious because I just got a new jr. network engr position as well and I wonder how well network job usually pay.

Well when looking, most of the jobs that I came across were mid to senior level positions and the ranges I saw started around $78K and as high as $95K. I also saw some super senior positions (15+ yrs exp.) paying $115K and up.

Now of course I don't know where you live so the ranges can vary, but in my area that was about average.

Devilry

This is a great thread, I am glad you bounced back so quickly!

You must have a great resume, post it on here some time

networker050184

Glad to hear things worked out for the best!

lsud00d

CiscoKidd wrote: »

I actually gave thought to posting it on here but I've seen how you guys tear through a resume.

I lol'd

Also big congrats! You have a great attitude and have obviously made yourself to be marketable..some people don't understand this concept at all and are determined to place blame on everyone but themselves. The only thing you cannot directly influence is luck/chance, so do all else to the best of your ability and you will be delivered upon good fortune (I should write fortune cookie fortunes

)

WillTech105

Wow -- this is a great testament that to be in the IT field, specially networking in this example, pays off long term.

I get calls every now and then from headhunters and recruiters and I havent even apply/publically posted out my resume in about 6 months now. Great to hear, congrats!

richardlipp21

HI I am happy for your recent success. I myself am trying to break into IT for that very reason. I have a BS in biology but never used my degree profesionally. I went into the real estate business and it was great for a while but now ....well you know I am sure.. any way I have watched alot of you tube vids on networking and want to break in but dont know what to do ?? should I get an associate in networkadmin or should I just start getting certified? and if certifaction is the answer.. then which certs should I get . I am willing to work for 20k a year to break in as long as a 50-60 year job sometime in the near future is in reach?? what do you think .. I really would appreciate your advice.. Thx

MrRyte

richardlipp21 wrote: »

HI I am happy for your recent success. I myself am trying to break into IT for that very reason. I have a BS in biology but never used my degree profesionally. I went into the real estate business and it was great for a while but now ....well you know I am sure.. any way I have watched alot of you tube vids on networking and want to break in but dont know what to do ?? should I get an associate in networkadmin or should I just start getting certified? and if certifaction is the answer.. then which certs should I get . I am willing to work for 20k a year to break in as long as a 50-60 year job sometime in the near future is in reach?? what do you think .. I really would appreciate your advice.. Thx

You may have watched a lot of YouTube vids on networking, but have actually touched any networking equipment (or even used networking simulation programs like Packet Tracer?)

I say start by getting the CCNA and the CompTIA A+ certs. But even then it's still no guarantee that you'll get into IT right away.....

CiscoKidd

richardlipp21 wrote: »

HI I am happy for your recent success. I myself am trying to break into IT for that very reason. I have a BS in biology but never used my degree profesionally. I went into the real estate business and it was great for a while but now ....well you know I am sure.. any way I have watched alot of you tube vids on networking and want to break in but dont know what to do ?? should I get an associate in networkadmin or should I just start getting certified? and if certifaction is the answer.. then which certs should I get . I am willing to work for 20k a year to break in as long as a 50-60 year job sometime in the near future is in reach?? what do you think .. I really would appreciate your advice.. Thx

I would say it depends on what you want to do and what direction you want to go in. My story is similar to yours and I have a BS in Physics. Building computers was a hobby of mine while in college but I never really thought it was going to be a career. After I finished school, and decided I didn't want to pursue advanced studies in Physics, I thought about going into IT. I took a class at a local tech school and earned my A+ and Network+ and got a job working overnight in a call center doing tech support. It wasn't the most ideal situation, but I figured a year there and I could move on....which I did.

This is just my opinion but since you already have a degree, I wouldn't go back for another one unless it's a Masters. Last year I completed my Masters in Information Assurance (CAPITOL COLLEGE!!!!!) but this was after earning several certifications. My advice, and once again this is just my opinion, would be to work on some entry level certs (A+/Network+/Microsoft)and look for some help desk positions. After you've secured one and worked in it, you'll get to see the different areas of IT and kind of decide which direction to go in. Once you have an idea of what you want to do, look at certifications and possibly degree programs that can help you get there. I already had a pretty good understanding of networking but I wanted to learn more about security so that's why I chose that program.

Of course other people can give you their opinion and may be great advice but this is what's worked for me over the last several and from my initial posting, it has served me well.

Good Luck to you!!

Pbutter

CiscoKidd wrote: »

I would say it depends on what you want to do and what direction you want to go in. My story is similar to yours and I have a BS in Physics. Building computers was a hobby of mine while in college but I never really thought it was going to be a career. After I finished school, and decided I didn't want to pursue advanced studies in Physics, I thought about going into IT. I took a class at a local tech school and earned my A+ and Network+ and got a job working overnight in a call center doing tech support. It wasn't the most ideal situation, but I figured a year there and I could move on....which I did.

This is just my opinion but since you already have a degree, I wouldn't go back for another one unless it's a Masters. Last year I completed my Masters in Information Assurance (CAPITOL COLLEGE!!!!!) but this was after earning several certifications. My advice, and once again this is just my opinion, would be to work on some entry level certs (A+/Network+/Microsoft)and look for some help desk positions. After you've secured one and worked in it, you'll get to see the different areas of IT and kind of decide which direction to go in. Once you have an idea of what you want to do, look at certifications and possibly degree programs that can help you get there. I already had a pretty good understanding of networking but I wanted to learn more about security so that's why I chose that program.

Of course other people can give you their opinion and may be great advice but this is what's worked for me over the last several and from my initial posting, it has served me well.

Good Luck to you!!

@ Ciscokidd..what did you think of Capitol's MSIA program?

ciscoman2012

Wow, this just turned out to be a blessing in disguise for you didn't it. Don't you love when that happens!

If possible, could you post up your current resume (while ommitting personal details, etc.) so we all could see how you presented yourself and the type of format you used? And how old are you if you don't mind me asking?

Xcluziv

Thats awesome!!!!

I'm a firm believer that, In every adversity, there lies a seed to an equal or greater benefit....you my friend are a living witness that this phenomena is true and will always be apparent. I can attest

CiscoKidd

Pbutter wrote: »

@ Ciscokidd..what did you think of Capitol's MSIA program?

I really liked the fact that while it was an online program, the classes were all live. If I had an issue, I could raise my hand and ask the professor during class versus only being able to speak via email. Some instructors even gave out their numbers for us to call if we needed too. Like all programs, there were some professors I liked more than others but overall, I felt it was a solid program and I learned a lot of good and useful information.

andy4tech

Congrats CiscoKidd.

LinuxRacr

Congrats! In for the resume. I need to see an example of a tried and true good resume, as I haven't updated my resume in years, and need to.

Ayvz

Yes Sir!by demand,if you don't mind can you give us a sample of your resume(ommitting personal details).:)

duckduckduck

Congrats!

I had a similar life changing layoff event about 18 months ago which was incredibly stressful due to having young kids at home. Same as yourself I had 3 offers on the table within a couple of weeks of getting my resume out there again. A year later I was recruited away from the new job I had just landed (which was a $10000/yr raise) for an additional $24000/yr raise. Being laid off was really a blessing in disguise for me as well.

I know the economy sucks right now and feel bad for anyone just trying to get started but once you've got your time in, this is an excellent industry to be a part of.