A little inspiration/advice for everyone trying to get in/advance in IT *rant/long*

MiikeB

Just wanted to let everyone know that if you work hard you CAN make it happen.

6 years ago I was 18 years old and just getting out of a program of a live in program for kids with behavioral issues that I had spent the last 3 years at. I had my GED.

Now I have my Bachelors degree and several certifications. I am starting my masters program next month. I have experience that gets me calls and emails from recruiters weekly with six figure salaries. I am currently awaiting an offer letter from a company for a position that pays almost a quarter million a year in Afghanistan. I turn 25 in 2 months.

I am not saying any of this to brag, I am saying it because I keep seeing threads saying "How do I find a job" or "What path should I take in IT" or "Whats the best way to get in to IT".

Just do it. If you aren't in IT right now then grab a couple microsoft certs or a CCNA and go work at a helpdesk. Keep studying, in a year, apply for a sys/net admin job. Stop looking for ways to skip the helpdesk/technician roles and just get through it. If you are smart and have a good work and study ethic you will advance quickly.

If you don't know what path you want to take in IT read up on a couple and then choose one. They all pay way more than you ever need if you are really good at them so don't worry about what other people think the path is, choose your own. Security, VMWare, Cisco, Microsoft all have high paying positions and all have helpdesk techs, so no matter which path you take your skills and knowledge will determine how far you can go.

If you need someone to point you in the right direction on how to find a job then I know for a fact I would never hire you. Everyone knows how to use monster/careerbuilder/dice etc. If you don't know how to do a resume then yea, post it up and get some critique. Otherwise just keep applying and keep your options open. There are a million articles about how to do interviews, resumes, cover letters, how to apply for jobs etc online. Go find them and read them if you don't understand how the process works. No one here has any magical answer on how to get you a job. With the exception of people who just knew the right people, everyone here applied for a job online, got an interview and nailed it. Thats how the system works.

If you are getting interviews but always passed up then you need to sit down with someone and get a critique. Call up some staffing agencies and ask them to interview you. They will let you know if you are awkward, not explaining yourself well etc.

Posting and reading a forum like this can sometimes be insightful and usually it is fun and interesting, but it is not going to give you some magic road map on how to be successful in life. You know what the path is to furthering whatever section of work you want to be in is. Its more education and more experience make you more qualified so instead of constantly asking people to rehash the same thing in different words just go out and get started.

Last thing I want to bring up is Comfort Zones - Stay out of them. Don't be afraid to jump in to something new and land flat on your face or you will never progress. I see all the time where some guy has been a Sys Ad somewhere for 4-5 years and is complaining because there is no room for advancement or a big raise. You need to be willing to say "This was a good experience and I learned a lot, I want more now" and then jump out there and find it. Starting a new job is always scary, everyone is afraid that they will get asked to do something they don't know how to do and get put on the spot etc. If you read the job description and know you are qualified for what they asked for then just go for it. No one is going to hand you a raise or a promotion so stop waiting for it.

Essendon

Excellent advice for just about anybody, a newb or a seasoned pro.

Good luck with that Afghanistan gig, but you'll try to stay away from the shelling, right?

NotHackingYou

Well said sir!

mapletune

Great advice and source of inspiration

Best of luck if you decide to go to Afghanistan!

MiikeB

Essendon wrote: »

Excellent advice for just about anybody, a newb or a seasoned pro.

Good luck with that Afghanistan gig, but you'll try to stay away from the shelling, right?

Yea, its not too hard. I find they like to keep the multi million dollar SANs and VMWare Clusters away from the bullets.

MiikeB

mapletune wrote: »

Great advice and source of inspiration

Best of luck if you decide to go to Afghanistan!

Well I am already in country, just looking at moving to a new position here with a different company. Current job changed my job description in a way that would lower my quality of life (traveling around a lot in country) and my safety (riding in convoys) but refused to renegotiate my salary.

My boss went as far as to tell me if I didn't like it to quit, so I will. No anger towards him, no complaining. He made his decision as to what he thought was best for his company, I am making my decision as to what I think is best for me.

healthyboy

how many years of i.t experience you have.

MiikeB

About 6.5, started doing this when I was 18 in a call center, worked my ass off there and a night job at Best Buy doing geek squad and PC sales, at 19 I made Technical Lead which was like tier 3 of the helpdesk, and at 20 I got my first full fledge Sys Ad job.

Another important thing when moving up is don't write your resume or sell yourself in a way that portrays you as a help desk agent. Try to come off as more of a customer facing system admin.

lordy

To underline your statement about the comfort zone:

Keener

That is fantastic and a definite inspiration! And Kudos to you and standing up for yourself and not giving in on your boss trying to change things. There are a lot of people who would not do that and just give in and ride in convoys, etc.

cyberguypr

Awesome story and superb advice. Those looking for "the easiest exam", "the shortest path to X", "the (insert lame excuse here)" should be required to read this. The only way people get to the top (and stay there) is by working hard, constantly learning and expanding the skill set.

Tackle

Excellent!

Knowledge is power, never stop learning.

RouteThisWay

Fantastic thread. I was working on one that was similar, so if it is okay- I would like to just comment on yours then add to it.

Your last paragraph is EXACTLY right. You must be okay with leaving your comfort zone. If you only leave for jobs you are 100% comfortable with and won't be challenged by- you are going lateral and that is perfectly acceptable if you are not looking for progression. You need to be able to take a risk and go for it.

Not to brag, as Miike pointed out, but my story is a bit different but successful. I didn't know I wanted to be in IT until I was about 20. I actually found the TechExam site before I was in IT and lurked for quite awhile. So I have been in the shoes of everyone here who wants to break into IT, and is on the outside looking in here.

I left my job washing cars to work in a warehouse for a local computer company that built their own desktops for customers. Transitioned that into a job building computers there- then turned that into a job repairing them. I then took those skills and got a job doing T1 Help Desk. I started bugging the admins for more and more work. I started doing more T2 stuff, working in Active Directory, working on network configs of switches, etc. I'm sure I annoyed the living hell out of them, but- I don't regret it.

I left after a little over 2 years on the Help Desk for a Sys Admin job. Just as MiikeB pointed out, tailor your resume for the job you want. I listed my T2/3 admin stuff first. This company ended up hiring me knowing I only had about a year doing the admin side of things- I had to sell my personality/CS skills, my ambition, willing to learn, etc. Plus, I had fantastic references. I was 100% honest with my boss at the time that I was applying for Sys Admin jobs and he was completely supportive. He just didn't have the budget to hire another one and didn't want to hold me back (I am still good friends with him and the admins from the co). They all gave me great references and I got the job.

I spent the last ~20 months working as an admin doing it all for a SMB. Network, servers, security, firewalls, IIS/web, VMWare, SAN management, T2 help desk, etc. I did it all. And I quickly found out I didn't like doing it all. So I looked over the last year and a half or so and pieced together what I really enjoyed doing and when I had "great days" and memories, what I was working on. Turns out I really loved VMWare. Which I do. I went to the mandatory class and then sat for the exam. Passed it. Then I found out my wife and are pregnant and I went into complete "comfort zone" mode. I was too scared to make a move now. But as fate would have it, a friend of mine referred me to a recruiter looking for a VMWare guy. I ignored his call a few times before finally talking to him. He explained the job to me and it sounded exactly what I wanted. I spent a week phone interviewing and going on face to face interviews with the same company.

The one thing that scared me: it was a 3 month Contract to Hire. He said this is very standard for this company (Fortune 500). I was tempted to turn it down, but the pay increase puts me right at $70k/yr from $40k/yr. Which isn't too bad considering I live in a small college town of 250,000 people and the cost of living is dirt cheap (bought a 3 bed/2 ba house for $90,000 in a good part of town lol). And I am 25. So I decided to do it and go for it. This is my first time working with a Contract to Hire position- and my first time with recruiter.

So in about 10 days I begin my next jump as a Virtualization Engineer. Was I completely qualified? No way. They wanted 10 years admin experience. But I sold them the fact that I had experience as an admin for a couple years, demonstrated technical growth and responsibility, and that I was passionate about the technology they were hiring for- VMWare.

Am I scared? Hell yes I am scared. But you know- I have been scared before every job I started because each job was "over my head" at the time. I met some of the qualifications, but not all. That fear is what drives me. It forces me to succeed. I know I would not be happy jumping lateral to lateral- go big or go home. I am going to approach this job with 2 personal goals in mind- A) learn how giant international data center infrastructure operates and learn how design/engineering of datacenters operate. I am going from my sole IT experiences in small ~120 user environments to a Fortune 500 giant enterprise system. I am going from 1.5 networks (Production and semi-test/dev) to 5 networks (Proof of Concept, Q&A, Dev/Test, Production, and Disaster Recovery). This opportunity has the potential to really spring board my career if I buckle down, study/work hard, and really learn the ins and outs of this operation.

And who knows, I may hate it and want back in the SMB world. I was told as such by my current boss, but you know- I will never know until I try. I may miss the freedom I have in the SMB world of having my hands in everything and be able to fix/touch anything I need to. Or I may really like the structure of the enterprise environment. Either way- this is a jump I need to make.

Someone asked me to create a thread outlining how I got to this point in my career- I think it belongs in this thread. It really emphasizes what MiikeB was saying. You just have to knuckle down, get the experience you can get, and sell yourself and your experience. There is no magical path of transitioning A to B to C. There is no magic "job" bullet. You have to be aggressive. You should be applying for jobs you are not 100% qualified for. That is how progression works. If we only applied for jobs we were 100% qualified for then we would all be working as T1 Help Desk because we never would have sets our sights higher.

If you sit in the corner and wait for someone to throw you a bone, you will be waiting for a long time. Get in the fight, throw some punches. You may get knocked down but you have to get back up and keep on punching.

EDIT: It also makes me wonder how far I would be if I had a degree. Getting a BS is something on my list of "to do" items. But with a kid on the way, I just can't put myself mentally in that mindset right now. Maybe after a couple years when things have calmed down. I seem to be doing okay without it but I know it will hinder me in my career at some point.

Mrock4

Glad to see another GED'er that did well

Legacy User

The OP sums it all up fairly well answering all of the repetitious questions I keep seeing on boards. I vote to make it a sticky to perhaps have people that made it up the ranks to share there stories. So others can see that there is no quick way to go from learning to crawl to running. Everyone has to pay their dues one way or another to get where you want.. You make the big bucks with hard work and dedication.

kgb

Too many people wait for someone to open a door for them. You want it, go open the door.

I had someone tell me, "What if there isn't any doors?"

My reply, "Pick up a hammer and make one."

BigMevy

Well said. No one that is successful in IT had it handed to them. We all worked for it, demonstrated some initiative and self-motivation, and progressed accordingly. There is no step by step instruction for it, we all went about it different ways.

healthyboy

yeah like i am working in our branch office and i am the sole i.t person there and i got none to learn from so my progression has being slow even though i try hard,

there are somethings you cannot change about your work place so i guess i will job hunt.

Legacy User

I know this one time I missed this opportunity to score with this smoking hot brunette. Had a window to take care of business but I blew it she went home. Later on we spoke and she mentioned that she was waiting for me to make a move but I said I was waiting for an opportunity which never came. She said one of the most profound things I've ever heard "I can't wait for opportunities to come that I have to make my own". Despite of what it meant in that instance I realized that was true in life. Can't wait for someone to give you a free pass you have to find a way to take it.


Bottom line what you put into your career whether trying to start out or advance into upper positions depends on your hard work and dedication. For the new guys you may have to get an entry job with crappy pay but once your in the field you have a leg up over someone that isn't. Over time it will pay off as long as you keep applying yourself, keep learning, and don't let yourself get stuck in a stagnant role over a long period of time.

From what I seen in a lot of places looking for someone to fill a position (non senior) the employer would look for key things that sets you apart from the rest. Many applicants will have the same skill set or more then you. What will differentiate you from the other candidate would come down to your communication skills, personality, if you will "fit" with the rest of people you will be working, and likability.

I know this one interview I went on to be a desktop/server/etc consultant I didn't remember certain details of Active Directory but I said in the past when I ran into something I didnt know I simply googled it and documented the solution. He was impressed said thats the type of person I'm looking for not someone that stands with there tail between the legs when they can't figure out an issue. The interview conversation branched out to what I do in my free time then we were talking about working out. He offered me the position 3 weeks later but I accepted another position the one I'm at now. From that interview experience I learned you don't have to know everything but be resourceful with your answers.

Patel128

This thread is going in the bookmarks for sure. The world of I.t. is rough and no one is going to hold your hand. I wouldn't want it any other way though. I love the challenge.

LinuxRacr

Great thread here. Lordy, I'm stealing that picture to print out, and post up in my house. I know some folks who need to see it.

Jackace

I fully agree with this post and I have tried to do the same in my IT career. I am always striving to learn more and take on more, but sometimes you have to take even more drastic measures than getting a new job that challenges you. Sometimes you have to move to an area with a better job market. Like for instance where I live now there are tons of help desk jobs and a handful of Senior level support jobs and nothing else. There just isn't any options to bridge that gap so a lot of IT people are leaving the area and I will most likely be one of them come first of next year.

networkjutsu

We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand. - Randy Pausch