I would of had this job

If I had my MCSD.net Cert. Everyone here seems to have alot of certs, do you actually get you jobs, or did you have jobs before you got your certs? I am concerned that my without any work experience still could not get a job even with the .Net cert. The job that I was referring to is an entry level job, and therefore requires no experience, but a Bachelors is nice(I have one). These jobs come along once year, I missed out this year, oh well.

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Ricka182

You don't want to be a paper tech, someone with lots of certs, and no experence. .Net is not an entry level cert. You should go for a lower level cert first, maybe MCSA, in conjunction with your degree, can probable get you a helpdesk job, which can allow you to study more advanced certs(.Net), and gain some experience. Even if you already know this stuff, employers want to see it on paper, with experience in real world scenarios.

james3302

why would I want to take the Systems admininstrator cert? When I am going for a software development cert? I could take the MCAD(application Developer) first then the MCSD, but seems like that would be a waste of money. Unless I take the MCAD and not take the MCSD. IF I was wanting a cert to get in tech support I would take the A+ right? anything else?

blackguymd

A guy with certs and no experience will get a job before a guy with no certs and no experience

also certs show your determininion..and work ethic...yadiyadiyadi

Ricka182

I've seen more jobs requiring the MCSA, even some asking for MCSE, just for tech support. You could do MCAD first as well. A+ is an entry level cert, lower than just about all of them. It's not very hard if you study a bit. I know I couldn't get a tech support job with just A+. There is also MCDST(71-271 & 71-272), which is specific on WinXP and asociated applications support.

james3302

First I have heard of it. It is of course a Tech Support Certification for Windows XP. I have not seen any jobs requiring this certification. Is it too new or what? It only requires two exams and seems easy to pass. Though I probably would not be motivated to take the exams if they get a $12/hr tech support job.

janmike

With no experience a $12/hr tech support job us about what you can count on to start with.

MCDST is brand new. M$ doesn't even have their exam study guides published yet. Only time will tell on this one. Indeed, they're supposed to come out with a new client OS in the next year or two, so XP will eventually go the way of all good systems.

If you're needing a job at present, the A+ and Network+ combination will maybe get your foot in the door and you can get some solid tech/help desk experience. If you're determined that you want to do developing, then by all means insist on doing that, but those jobs don't appear to be very abundant. I recall a few listings in recent months calling for someone with site developing/maintenance abilities/experience, but the position also required some tech support/help desk abilities too. The offerings in application developing have been very sparse--mostly with contractors on military projects.

Whatever you pursue, it's an employer's market at present. Lots of certs, degrees, and experienced folk out there in line. There's also the factor of who you know involved in the process.

Best of luck on your decision, james3302!

/usr

Agreed. If you don't want to start out in a low paying tech support job, I would suggest you find another field. Not to be discouraging, but I think it's just part of IT. These are just my opinions, maybe I'm wrong.

matts5074

Though I probably would not be motivated to take the exams if they get a $12/hr tech support job.

I would be thrilled to have a $12/hr tech support job! Beats the heck out of what I have now. You've got to start somewhere..... usually that's the bottom.

/usr

I would be thrilled to have a $12/hr tech support job!

I have the same type of job now, but I would gladly take $12/hr.

james3302

I make 10.50 now doing manufacturing, and I live with my parents(free rent). I fi was to get a $12/hr tech support job then I would have to move to Atlanta and then pay rent and utilities. And 12hr is not enough to pay for that, my gf would be moving down there with me, but she will have to work part time beacuse she is going to college, not for computers thankfully, at least she has a chance to make some decent money. [/i]

/usr

I think what we're saying is that you aren't going to be able to get some high level cert, then just get a high paying job. These lower level certs provide opportunity for entry level positions, which in turn provide for better job opportunities from more advanced certs and experience.

I think the days of starting work as a network admin or lead programmer are long gone.

james3302

to the A+, I have studied for this one before and it seems easy. I have been fixin computers for about 5 years now. And the Net+ this one will be a little more difficult for me, I have only created LANs from scratch, ran my own TP wires and wired up the junction boxes, made my own short cables and capped them, then configured Windows XP and 98 to run as a LAN with static IP addresses. That is pretty simple.

garv221

LostInSpace wrote:

If you don't want to start out in a low paying tech support job, I would suggest you find another field. .

I agree. If you want a "get rich quick program" pick up Donald Trumps new book. IT is just like any other field, you get out, what you put in. Everyone wants to get paid tons of money with no effort. I'm 22 years old, I worked on my college network for experience, I worked an A+ job at Comp USA, and finaly landed a Jr. Admin job 3 years ago. I currently still work there as title "System Admin" and over see everything. I now have 4 years of solid experience, a college degree, and finaly I am working toward more certs. My main point is, just get experience no matter how much your being paid. That low paying job will get you a high payinh job in the long run. You need to fill up your resume with experience. If you stick with it and as you get older with more experience, I'm sure this field is very rewarding, you just have to start small and get big just like anything else.

Orion82698

My first job as a tech, I did for free. Just to get experiance. I said I would do it for free, and I even had my A+ at the time, but no one would hire me. After 4 weeks, they brought me on full time. After a year their, I landed a network engineer job setting up networks around the US, and maintaining then. I am now a systems administrator for a huge company. Point is, even if you have to do it for pennys, it's still experiance that you didn't have.

james3302

So, the route that I was going to take, getting my MCSD.Net cert and do some open source projects from Sourceforge would not be a good path to take. I should get two/three unrelated certs and start work as a tech support person. I have worked tech support before for a little over a year, I was replaced by someone with a degree in Electronics. I didn't seem to be good at fixing things that I have never seen before. They would send me out to fix something I would say "can I at least see a picture of it?" They sometimes would show me a picture. Oh and they would say act like you know what you are doing, or say that you have not fixed one in a while. They didn't like it when the customer found out that I did not rightly know how to fix his robot. I had to call me own tech support people to get help, then ended up bringing it back to the office to get fixed.

garv221

Getting your .NET is a good route to go for Database programing. All I'm saying is experience is the key, whether it be .NET or active directory structure(MCSE SERVER), somewhere some how the two fields overlay eachother and both become a plus to know both. Take your MCSD, I believe only 1 test makes you a MCP. The more certifications the better. You gotta experience though, hit the concrete, there are jobs out there.

xevious

A friend of mine with no experience, fresh out of college, did the following things to get his first start. He wasn't having much luck with large firms, so he sent his resume to a bunch of small companies looking for a tech support / programmer be-all type position.

1. In his downtime, he got a couple entry level certs (I think it was a+ and an mcp)

2. Registered a domain and created a simple site to illustrate his programming skills. (asp / database) I think it was designed modelling a video store front. I shouldn't say it was a simple site since he spent the whole summer working on it.

3. ask around (friends, family, stores where you know the owner) if he could create something for them. Web page, even if it's all static, etc... to boost his resume.

After 4-5 months, he got his break. It's mainly supporting the users and their desktops. He's also working on an intranet site for the company and that's his main interest.

Good Luck.

-Xevious

james3302

it's nothing fancy, I am planning on adding a VB6 project to my example code, it's a file copy/paste/delete program, I had to write it for an interview. I will probably show some screenshots, describe the program, then give a FTP link it at all possible. I had a hard time picking out the color scheme, Im terrible at picking out colors.

http://jhambrick11.home.mindspring.com/Resume/Home.htm