new contracting role - starting in a week.

Hello Peepz,

I recently received a contract for 6 months and I am starting it next month.

I am confident but I haven't worked as a contractor before for a organization.

This is for a senior systems admin to come on-board to do project based work as well as you know the infrastructure support.

In the interview they were impressed with my skillz and knowledge however I do not have experience with VMware which was one of their project requirements. I never listed VMware and I told them that I have no experience in this but I do have experience with other products such as HyperV, yet they hired me. I'm labbing in my spear time for VMware - since I do not know VMware should I be worried? I told them I don't have experience with it.

I mean if I wasn't qualified for the job they wouldn't hire me - all of the rest of the stuff they wanted I had !

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Comments

jimjames

You're fine. You were upfront but that doesn't mean you can slack and not learn vmware before you start. You can learn enough to be comfortable enough in a week's time.

bryguy

"I mean if I wasn't qualified for the job they wouldn't hire me..."

As a guy who has been nothing but a contractor for the entirety of his IT career (10+ years), I can tell you that contracting organizations place unqualified people in positions regularly. The fact of the matter is, they're not making money off of anyone in an unfilled position and most contracting companies would rather send you in blind, than see that position vacant. It's the nature of the business. With that said, I'd try my best to get up to speed in the meantime, because the client will expect you to be a subject matter expert, and hit the ground running.

Drakeisa

bryguy wrote: »

"I mean if I wasn't qualified for the job they wouldn't hire me..."

As a guy who has been nothing but a contractor for the entirety of his IT career (10+ years), I can tell you that contracting organizations place unqualified people in positions regularly. The fact of the matter is, they're not making money off of anyone in an unfilled position and most contracting companies would rather send you in blind, than see that position vacant. It's the nature of the business. With that said, I'd try my best to get up to speed in the meantime, because the client will expect you to be a subject matter expert, and hit the ground running.

Hello bryguy,

I am not too sure if you read my post correctly or understood it .

I actually had the interview with the actual organization and the manager there, I will be working for,

so the team interviewed me and they were impresssed .

However in the job description and in the interview they required VMWARE skills.

I said I have no experience with this, yet I had the other skills and did the technical test well and I got hired,

VinnyCisco

I have been doing consulting for over 15 years. I can tell you not to worry. The preferred requirements in most cases is a dream sheet. They know you won't have all. As long as you were up front and you have most of what they are looking for, they will have no problem training. However, I would do my best to get a head start and learn some basic VMware skills. VMware is fun. I love it. I am sure you will pick it up quickly.

GOOD LUCK!

alias454

Like others have said, I wouldn't sweat it too much. It isn't like they are bringing you on as the "VMware" guy. With that said, brush up on some basics and you'll be fine. Congrats btw.

bryguy

Drakeisa wrote: »

Hello bryguy,

I am not too sure if you read my post correctly or understood it .

I actually had the interview with the actual organization and the manager there, I will be working for,

so the team interviewed me and they were impresssed .

However in the job description and in the interview they required VMWARE skills.

I said I have no experience with this, yet I had the other skills and did the technical test well and I got hired,

Good luck with that- let me know how it works out for you in 6 months.

Drakeisa

bryguy wrote: »

Good luck with that- let me know how it works out for you in 6 months.

bryguy, you being phycastic right?

bryguy

Sorry, I probably misunderstood you... I thought you were a contractor for an IT consulting firm or similar, where round pegs are repeatedly smashed into square holes. It sounds like maybe you are more of an independent consultant working in a contract position. IT contracting has become pretty cut throat over the last 3 years or so- forgive me if I came off as rude. Sincerely wish you the best of luck.

Drakeisa

Hey everyone

It's going well so far.

Thanks

techiie

@bryguy your post peeked my interest. Since I am considering a 12+ month consulting role that a recruiter contacted me about. I don't have any experience with consulting only FTE roles. I have heard about what you mentioned about some firms filling seats. Would you classify someone who still had to interview for a consulting position a seat filler?

Dojiscalper

VinnyCisco wrote: »

The preferred requirements in most cases is a dream sheet. They know you won't have all. As long as you were up front and you have most of what they are looking for, they will have no problem training. However, I would do my best to get a head start and learn some basic VMware skills. VMware is fun. I love it. I am sure you will pick it up quickly.

GOOD LUCK!

Wish someone would tell that to every place I've talked with or interviewed with in the past 6 months. You'd think 20yrs in IT and meeting most of their requirements would be enough. So far they've all been very concerned that I don't have a 100% match on their skills lists.
To me unless its being an expert in an entire programming language or something like MS vs Linus its just matter of sitting down with it a few days to get pretty competent.

Danielm7

Drakeisa wrote: »

Hey everyone

It's going well so far.

Thanks

Great to hear! See, nothing to worry about.

iBrokeIT

A good employer shouldn't base their hiring decision on the technologies you touched in the past, they should base it on your ability to figure it out and deliver. If you learned Hyper-V and successfully completed projects with it then you can learn VMware and do the same...

Cheers on the new job!

Drakeisa

Yeah,

It's good fun and a perfect match for me.

I love coming to work every day.

Hopefully they might extend my contract