Made a huge mistake

jryantech · August 2008

I took my classes Mondays and Wednesdays 9am-1pm for school...

And got an offer today from Embarq that was 8am-5pm paid training for 4 weeks... If it was like one week I would be ok, but 4 weeks! damn! It was a level 1 DSL tech support position.

I'm never doing any more schooling unless its night classes or online classes! I give up!

I feel the only positions I can get with this school schedule is Internships, NOC 24/7 support, Some PC Technician jobs and Call Center jobs(But no call centers are with-in 30 miles from me!)...

If your young like me and a sophomore in college I recommend doing night/online school so you have a better chance at landing an entry level job.

Sorry I had to vent.

gojericho0 · August 2008

Does your school have internships and co-ops you can take for credit? You may want to check with your career services to see if this is an option. At my school we had career days with numerous employers looking for qualified students

snadam · August 2008

jryantech wrote:

I took my classes Mondays and Wednesdays 9am-1pm for school...

And got an offer today from Embarq that was 8am-5pm paid training for 4 weeks... If it was like one week I would be ok, but 4 weeks! damn! It was a level 1 DSL tech support position.

I'm never doing any more schooling unless its night classes or online classes! I give up!

I feel the only positions I can get with this school schedule is Internships, NOC 24/7 support, Some PC Technician jobs and Call Center jobs(But no call centers are with-in 30 miles from me!)...

If your young like me and a sophomore in college I recommend doing night/online school so you have a better chance at landing an entry level job.

Sorry I had to vent.

is it too late to drop out of classes/re-schedule? They usually give at least a week for that stuff.

Paul Boz · August 2008

Do evening-shift tech support or over-night NOC work. That's what I did. I started out doing 5-10 then 1:30-10 tech support and moved to the NOC team after a while. I got through most of school no problem.

Crunchyhippo · August 2008

Ooo - not only a job offer getting paid experience, but they would train you, too? What a ripe plum! I'm not sure you should have let that pass you by. You'll be surprised to find out how difficult it is to get a job in the IT field with just an education or certifications. Some folks have to move across the country to find an IT job, just to get in the field.

sharptech · August 2008

When I was in college I worked in-between classes in our IT Department. Started out as a student tech, worked my ass off for them in the summer and then sophomore year was lead student tech. My senior year they offered me the full time position of Lead IT Tech and just did night classes so it worked out.

Any way to get out of the classes so you can take this? Sounds like a nice deal for you.

dynamik · August 2008

Keep in mind you won't be able to progress through school as fast working nights. Look at me. I had over 1.5 years of college done before I was out of high school. I worked full-time after high school, and it's been 7 years, and I'm still not done. I should have a PhD by now

jryantech · August 2008

dynamik wrote:

Keep in mind you won't be able to progress through school as fast working nights.

I think you mean the other way around?

I think it would be harder to graduate with night/online courses then during the day.
One because of the time slot and two because of the availability of courses at night are limited.

I would love to have a job 8am-5pm(Mon-Fri) then go to school 6pm-10pm(Mon-Thurs) and have friday nights and the weekend off, I could totally do it, i know some people say it would suck but I would really enjoy it. As long as the job is IT related of course.

dynamik · August 2008

Yea, I meant taking classes at night, sorry.

bighusker · August 2008

If you're relatively young and money is not an issue, can you find an internship or work-study job that is flexible with the hours? When I was in school, I got a part-time helpdesk job where I worked from 9AM-1PM. I usually was able to get my classes scheduled at 1:30 or later, but in the few instances where I had to take a morning class, my boss was flexible enough to let me make my own hours. It probably won't pay much, but school is probably more important in the long run. if you have a family to support, it's a different story.

jryantech · August 2008

bighusker wrote:

If you're relatively young and money is not an issue, can you find an internship or work-study job that is flexible with the hours? When I was in school, I got a part-time helpdesk job where I worked from 9AM-1PM. I usually was able to get my classes scheduled at 1:30 or later, but in the few instances where I had to take a morning class, my boss was flexible enough to let me make my own hours. It probably won't pay much, but school is probably more important in the long run. if you have a family to support, it's a different story.

Money isn't an issue but I honestly would rather get paid for what I'm doing so I can use that money for more training(books, classes, etc)

Sucks I had to let this go but I feel the degree is more important right now.

I'm just hoping to land something that will be flexible, I mean I only need Monday mornings and all of Wednesday off, any other time is fair game.

darkerosxx · August 2008

Search aggressively for paid internships. Even if it's in IT, but not necessarily what you want to do, it will look good on your resume. Usually, internships will accept that you may not know exactly how to perform a job and that the hours you're available may vary.

I searched hard and found one doing exactly what I wanted to do and it paid very well AND I could work whatever hours I wanted, 24/7. Search really hard and look in places you might not normally look. They're out there.

I know it's rough and you've especially had a hard time. Realize that school and experience are your top priorities, with other training come in third.

gojericho0 · August 2008

I still think you are better of in school full-time. You learn a lot about yourself and make a ton of new friends and new experiences. Taking night classes may help you get more experience than you normally would going full time, but I really think you'd be missing out on a lot of stuff. Your only responsibilities in college should be able to study, make the grades, and have fun. You will have the rest of your life to work and get experience

Mishra · August 2008

I smell a

in here.

famosbrown · August 2008

gojericho0 wrote:

I still think you are better of in school full-time. You learn a lot about yourself and make a ton of new friends and new experiences. Taking night classes may help you get more experience than you normally would going full time, but I really think you'd be missing out on a lot of stuff. Your only responsibilities in college should be able to study, make the grades, and have fun. You will have the rest of your life to work and get experience

I agree...enjoy college, make good grades, and do some internships during the Summer. If your grades are good enough, you might end up doing an internship with some big names like Microsoft.

http://www.microsoft.com/college/ip_overview.mspx

Enjoy your college years! If you are determined to work hard and make billions, create something while in college with some colleagues like other millionaires and billionaires did in the I.T. industry

.

shednik · August 2008

famosbrown wrote:

gojericho0 wrote:

I still think you are better of in school full-time. You learn a lot about yourself and make a ton of new friends and new experiences. Taking night classes may help you get more experience than you normally would going full time, but I really think you'd be missing out on a lot of stuff. Your only responsibilities in college should be able to study, make the grades, and have fun. You will have the rest of your life to work and get experience

I agree...enjoy college, make good grades, and do some internships during the Summer. If your grades are good enough, you might end up doing an internship with some big names like Microsoft.

http://www.microsoft.com/college/ip_overview.mspx

Enjoy your college years! If you are determined to work hard and make billions, create something while in college with some colleagues like other millionaires and billionaires did in the I.T. industry .

I agree with both of the above I had a great time in college my first 2 years and learned alot in my classes. Near the end of my spring semester sophomore year I landed an internship and started working there about 30 hours a week(I took most of my courses in the afternoon on Tues/Thurs and a few nights) I would have kept the same plan up if things hadn't changed in my life, after that I went full time for work and school. I was able to finish in a year and half after that doing both but I really hated it. It really took alot out of me, so my advice is enjoy college, learn a lot, take summer jobs, and keep networking. With those you should be able to find a good offer once you graduate, you won't regret finishing you degree I can tell you that IMO.

EDIT: I forgot to add in addition to famous's post about an internship at MS my college had interviews for an internship at Carnegie Mellon University...they ended up offering it to me after I accepted my full time job offer. I still kick myself for not taking it today would be doing some crazy stuff i'm sure.

LBC90805 · August 2008

dynamik wrote:

Keep in mind you won't be able to progress through school as fast working nights. Look at me. I had over 1.5 years of college done before I was out of high school. I worked full-time after high school, and it's been 7 years, and I'm still not done. I should have a PhD by now

Heck, it took me 11 years of going to skewl and living life and working 40 hour work weeks at the same time before I got my Bachelor's.

networker050184 · August 2008

LBC90805 wrote:

....it took me 11 years of going to skewl....

11 years and you still can't spell school!!!!

Made a huge mistake

Comments