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Difficulty breaking into the I.T. field

New2ITinCali

Why is it so difficult to break into the I.T. field for some people?

I am not saying I'm perfect, because none of us are. I know I have really good customer serivces skills cause it's documented on my yearly evaluations at work. I feel that I put a lot of hard work and effort into planning my career. I currently work in accounting and I earned my AA degree in Business back in 2006. I planned to stay in the field and when I enrolled in my Bachelors program, I initally enrolled as an Accounting major. Mid-way through the program I changed to I.T. I decided I wanted to do something different and a couple of my friends that worked in I.T. loved it. Well anyways I completed a six month internship while working full-time and recieved an A. I completed my Bachelors in I.T., but now it seems like I can't get a job- not even an entry level one, but the people who have no experience or education are getting the jobs. I feel like I put so much effort into school and learning about this field, but no one will hire me. It's getting very frustrating and discouraging, especially to hear that someone with no I.T. experience or education, in a lower level position with significantly lesser amount of seniority got hired. UUGGHH!!

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Comments

snunez889

Do you have any certs?

networker050184

What types of jobs are you applying for? Are you getting interviews? If not your resume probably needs work. Are you getting interviews but not offers? Probably need to work on your interview skills. You can bet that the guy with less qualifications than you had a nice looking resume and interviewed well.

Ivanjam

@New2ITinCali - I feel your pain, my friend. I live in New York city and find it difficult to land an interview, much less an IT job (and I have certs). I take it you live in the San Francisco area, where the competition for jobs is just as high as in NYC. Have you considered moving out of state to WA or TX? I would like to encourage you to persevere - get some more certs, continue volunteering - one day you will hit the jackpot! Good luck to you, my friend!

New2ITinCali

No, but I'm gonna start studying for them next year (Spring 2014). I can't afford to do it now, not while I'm paying off my student loans. The job I currently have doesn't pay me enough do anything but pay my bills and buy packages of oddles of noodles. I've hit the ceiling in accounting and I can't promote unless I go back to school and get a degree with a focus in accounting or a BS in accounting. So I'm stuck until I can break into the I.T. field... but would a cert really help me if they're even hiring people with no I.T. background at all?..

New2ITinCali

No problem getting interviews. I've had 7 of them already and had 2 potential offers. The first offer was with the state government and unfortunately due to a bunch of laid off individuals, the hiring manager told me she had to hire from that list first and she sent me a long e-mail which seemed like a sincere apology as she stated she really wanted to hire me. The second offer happened similarily, but this time Human Resources decided to do away with that particular position, but the hiring manager told me I did great in my interview. So I don't know...

I don't think my resume needs any tweeking. The lady that got hired over me had NO I.T. experience or education at all. I know because I spoke with her. She even told me, "Your well qualified they should've hired you a long time ago!"

New2ITinCali

Hi Ivanjam, yes I live in the Bay Area. I've been applying in the Bay Area as well as the Sacramento area and I still end up with nothing

I would move, but the school I went too wouldn't be familiar to anyone living outside the SF Bay Area and also, most of the alumni work in this area. I'm hoping to stumble upon a hiring manager that graduated from my school and then maybe I'll have some sort of connection *wishful thinking*

Akaricloud

If you're able to get that many interviews but not obtain any of the positions I would say it's likely how you interview.

Look into every aspect such as how you're dressing, how your personality comes across, your communication style, your enthusiasm, how you show willingness/ability to learn, your customer service skills, etc etc.

Without much experience under your belt you really have to impress them with you as a person during interviews.

networker050184

I agree with Akaricloud. You need to be impressing in interviews. Sell yourself. If someone with less experience and qualifications is getting hired over you then you are obviously doing something wrong in the interview.

WafflesAndRootbeer

It may not be that. A lot of companies have setups where they try to hire/contract the cheapest and least qualified people. It's pretty much the mantra for companies that do the low-end stuff.

coreyb80

Keep ya head up OP. It took me a year to land my first gig in IT and I just started last year. Only thing I had going for me was the fact that I did some IT work at my old gig, I'm currently in school, and great customer service experience. Went to a couple of interviews and things didn't work out, but I kept pushing. Interviewed for my current position and they wanted someone who had the personality moreso than just the technical know how. As stated before, make sure your personality reflects in interviews as it can go a very long way.

networker050184

I've never seen a company that wants to hire the least qualified person. I'm pretty sure that is a conspiracy theory used by people that got passed over by someone with less qualification.

Now cheapest, that is definitely a possibility but usually there is a budget for a position and a company just wants to get the best person they can that fits in that budget.

New2ITinCali

Well, that's what I think as well- conspiracy theory. One of the hiring managers was friends with this woman. Go figure.

New2ITinCali

Thanks Coreyb80! I've been applying and interviewing since March of 2012. There is another position coming up and it's actually a higher one than the last one I applied for and the woman that has No I.T. experience or education told me she is also applying for that one. I kind of have a feeling they might give it to her again.

NetworkVeteran

New2ITinCali wrote: »

the woman that has No I.T. experience or education told me she is also applying for that one. I kind of have a feeling they might give it to her again.

Cheer up. She can't take both jobs.

More seriously, are you applying for jobs that require or at least prefer a degree? Those are the employers with roles where they already anticipate having a degree would be valuable and thus are most likely to favor you and pay extra for it. Otherwise, you need to articulate and demonstrate how your degree makes you more capable to solve their business challenges than those without (who likely charges less), if indeed your degree brings value to the table.

lawrence_of_arabia

Work @ Comcast. No, it is not very fun, but do it for 4-6 months and then you have call center and (sort of) tech support experience. After that, try to land a job with a real IT help desk. Work your butt off there and then figure out where you want to go next. Always speak confidently during an interview. Possess the attitude of, 'Why should I let you hire me?' This routine combined with constant studies and passion allowed me to become a systems administrator in less than two years. I'm a highschool graduate with now three CompTIA certifications (none when I started). Another thing- fill out applications all day long until you get a job. I filled out a total of 68 before getting the job where I work now. Good Luck!

New2ITinCali

The initial job was very entry-level, basically all you needed was at least some type of experience or knowledge about computers and that was it. This new position, you have to have at least 2 years of I.T. experience or you can substitute the experience for education if you have at least an Associate degree in I.T.

New2ITinCali

Thanks for you feedback Lawrence_of_Arabia! I think that's what I really need to work on is my interviewing skills. I lack confidence during interviews because my anxiety takes over, my heart starts racing and then my mind goes blank. I definitley need to work on my interviewing skills.