IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[Rayzah]

That doesnt make much business sense, we'll see what happens

I have delt with them before and I also did not like my experience with them. They come off like they really want to help you get the right position but they make you go through so much jsut to get a job and it seems like they dont kow what they are doing and on top of that, they always low ball you on the salary, hardly ever give you any benefits. There are far better staffing agencies out there, that will not make you jump through all the hoops that those guys do to hire you

 

[BuyBlack365.com]

Yea you are right, I have been doing desktop support for 5 years now and I am ready to move on, and I have delt with the recruiters and staffing agencies before. I would like to maybe start my own consulting agency, but i dont know where to begin

Good for you for wanting to start your own deal!

Start where you are with what skills you have. ( minimize your market and be the big fish in the small pond)

Define a market put together some collateral and start. There are many small businesses and non-profits that cannot afford a full time I.T. Support/helpdesk person, you can offer your services on retainer for X amt of hours per mo or year. For example, you can schedule to run diagnosis routinely, clean computers, repair PCs/mobile devices, install/deploy new software upon request, set-up new employees, and manage all of their IT desktop needs.

FYI: Recruiters and staffing agencies are like Pro Athlete Agents. There may be tons of amateur athletes looking to sign the big contract or get the good gig, but often times agents will only deal with talent that returns the highest bang for time (Ask any sub-par D-III athlete how many agents approach them after graduation). If you're making less than six figures (or high 5s) it can be perceived to be more trouble for the firm to deal with the client and the talent. With the Pros, its easier to present them and its less hectic placement processes. With 5 years of experience, make sure you have a 'great' title. Also, show that you are a knowledgeable person with the equivalent of 10 years of experience.

While working for a company, I strongly advise all people that may read this post, to learn more than just your job. Learn about the business of your business, the industry, the margins, how they obtain clients and how they retain clients. Also know if you are in a growth industry, and see if there's a career path further than your current role within the company; and if your skills are transferable into the free market as an independent contractor, if so how, and what must be done to compete. I personally know several individuals who work for companies for 10-15 years in their role and they have no marketable skills and aren't experts in their given responsibilities. In I.T. it's easy to allow your career to dead-end if you're not aggressive, b/c some companies use dilapidated technologies and have a 'its not broke, don't fix it' mindset.

And @FreshFromATL is right! PluralSight is the business for learning! & Stackoverflow.com is also a good troubleshooting site.

 

[KOOL-AID]

What college are you at? If you are serious about engineering try to take engineering courses asap - otherwise it can stack your course-load awkwardly. For example, all engineers at all universities are required to take Physics and Calculus I & II. Be sure to take those because they are pre-reqs for many engineering core classes.

SEMO, and I talked to my advisor about the pre-reqs and all that, my math is low though so Im gonna take summer math classes and try to improve my ACT and SAT scores.

 

[BuyBlack365.com]

SEMO, and I talked to my advisor about the pre-reqs and all that, my math is low though so Im gonna take summer math classes and try to improve my ACT and SAT scores.

Don't give up. If you can take any classes at a juco - take'em there. (Typically easier). And don't be afraid to get a tutor...

Good luck! & Keep us posted.

 

[KOOL-AID]

Don't give up. If you can take any classes at a juco - take'em there. (Typically easier). And don't be afraid to get a tutor...
,
Good luck! & Keep us posted.

Thnx bruh n I will keep yall updated.

 

[Ikwa]

To my Network Engineers brehs. I'm planning on getting those CCNA Certs, thing I wanna know is how's the market out there for recent graduates with minimum experience in the field?

The thing I'm most concerned about is how to be visible. I'm sure there's plenty of freelance developers out there who aren't getting any work just because they don't have much of a reputation. How much work goes into building those connections and making sure you have clients knocking at your door?

I built an eCommerce site for 2 clients last month, they showed the website to colleagues and friends... the result is I got 3 new clients queuing up for my services.

If you deal with them in a good manner and always try to address an issue of theirs, the rep will automatically come.

 

[↓R↑LYB]

To my Network Engineers brehs. I'm planning on getting those CCNA Certs, thing I wanna know is how's the market out there for recent graduates with minimum experience in the field?

Get a help desk gig and move up, unless you have a connect. It's pretty dificult to get a company to trust you with their infrastructure with little to no exp.

 

[Chris.B]

Get a help desk gig and move up, unless you have a connect. It's pretty dificult to get a company to trust you with their infrastructure with little to no exp.

If he can prove himself he knows the material after he gets the CCNA, some company will give him a chance(maybe a low salary but that's a start)

 

[↓R↑LYB]

If he can prove himself he knows the material after he gets the CCNA, some company will give him a chance(maybe a low salary but that's a start)

It's possible, but I always say, take the path of least resistance. There's way more level 1 help desk gigs than there are junior network analyst gigs. I know when I was trying to be a network admin,I couldn't get one to save my life. I had my CCNA and actually knew a lot about routing, switching, and could configure those devices. Kept getting the same answer, not enough experience.

So I just gotta help desk job and transitioned to the network side

 

[Chris.B]

It's possible, but I always say, take the path of least resistance. There's way more level 1 help desk gigs than there are junior network analyst gigs. I know when I was trying to be a network admin,I couldn't get one to save my life. I had my CCNA and actually knew a lot about routing, switching, and could configure those devices. Kept getting the same answer, not enough experience.

So I just gotta help desk job and transitioned to the network side

The reasons why I disagree with this approach is, some people start becoming comfortable at helpdesk and forget about why they even took the CCNA.
I say he goes straight for a lower end network gig...like a NOC role where he can be checking port status, vlans, T1/DS3//frame-relay lines etc..., status of routing protocols, basic switch configuration etc..

That will even help him to go CCNP route. Helpdesk kills a lot of dream man, it may sour him on IT all together LOL too much abuse.

 

[↓R↑LYB]

The reasons why I disagree with this approach is, some people start becoming comfortable at helpdesk and forget about why they even took the CCNA.
I say he goes straight for a lower end network gig...like a NOC role where he can be checking port status, vlans, T1/DS3//frame-relay lines etc..., status of routing protocols, basic switch configuration etc..

That will even help him to go CCNP route. Helpdesk kills a lot of dream man, it may sour him on IT all together LOL too much abuse.

If you're the type of person who'll get comfortable in help desk, you're the type of person who'll get comfortable doing level 1 shyt in the NOC. Either way, he'll be stuck making 30-50k his entire career.

If he can get a job in a NOC great, that way he won't have to deal with helpdesk hell

But IMO it's just easier to get your foot in the door going the help desk route. At least it was for me.

 

[semtex]

Any software architects in here?

 

[Luken]

Forgot about this thread.... Since November I've been a QA Engineer at a Russian software company...its alright. The money in software in ridiculous brehs, if you own and distribute some sort of licensed software...your set for life, i see it first hand everyday...Sales, licensing, support. you can make money on all these fronts, its absurd

 

[↓R↑LYB]

Forgot about this thread.... Since November I've been a QA Engineer at a Russian software company...its alright. The money in software in ridiculous brehs, if you own and distribute some sort of licensed software...your set for life, i see it first hand everyday...Sales, licensing, support. you can make money on all these fronts, its absurd

You ain't never lied breh. I'd like to start a software company one day. Something in the security space or AD administration. Need a lot of bread for startup capital though, at least half a mil to hire competent developers and a 2 year dev cycle just to release version 1

 

[Rawtid]

For my programmer brehs out there, how is freelancing looking? I'm beginning to lean more towards being an independent programmer and I'd like to know how viable of an option it is.

From what I've read, it seems like it's a possibility but workflow can be erratic.

Freelance is the way to go.

Find a company that hires a lot of contractors and basically try to undercut the competition. For instance if a company uses a place like Tek systems to find a programmer, Tek may bill them $85 per hour for the position and the contractor may get paid $55 per hour. Now $50 an hour is good money but if Tek was out of the picture, that person could make $75 per hour, save the company money and have the same on the job experience. You'd just be responsible for your own benefts, taxes and retirement. That's basically what I'm trying to do over the next year or so. My position is billed at $61 per hour and I don't make that much AT ALL. If I could get closer to $50 per hour, I would be golden.