IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

If you're trying to get as much info on the subject, why not go through all the pages? Unless you have a med school, pharm d or some type of specialized degree the entry level pay will always be low. What makes IT so dope is the fact that its plenty room & many different tracks (all discussed in previous posts) for growth and opportunity. Not to mention, grad degrees aren't a requirement to get the gwuap.. its all about self disciplined learning and practice

Dont believe the hype, its takes hard work & dedication to get to the real money. If data mining is your thing, I suggest you study for the A+ or network+, join Linkedin, network with as many folks as possible, circulate your resume as much as possible (dice, monster, etc) then once you get that entry level job find books online covering SQL Server and learn as much while on the job as possible. Eventually you'll get that break but not without atleast 3-5 years at the helpdesk

my motorcycle brethren, I have a group of friends that I barely made it thru EE (what a waste of time ) with back in undergrad who ended up jumping into IT after looking at the ceiling compared to traditional engineering. IT industry is so appealing because the possibilities are endless depending on your work ethic. For any engineering major, work ethic shouldnt be an issue. I been in IT for 4 years. If I had stuck with EE, to get where I'm at now salary wise (low six figures), I wouldve likely had to get in more debt for a Masters plus needed 5 or 6 years of experience while waiting for some old geezers to retire.

In IT there's so many different paths you can take. Think of it like working in the medical field. There's many different branches. Salary & expertise wise, you can go down the path of a nursing assistant or you could go down the path of a doctor if that's what you want.

Help desk.. it is what it is, you gotta get started somewhere. I would just advise you to spend no more than a year max at help desk. I don't know much about data mining, if thats the route you wanna go I'd advise you start learning database systems, SQL, etc. Because of cloud computing & hadoop/big data, data center skills (vmware/storage/network) are highly in demand.

There really is no typical timeline after help desk. Some cats stay in the helpdesk for 10 years, I know some who worked their asses off and wound up as enterprise architects at 200k in 5 years.

Being in a high COL area like NYC honestly it won't take you that long to break 75k at all if you're committed. If I was you I'd try to get a help desk job as the first step, get in, ask A LOT of questions to the people you escalate issues to. See what peaks your interest (security issues, system issues, network issues, storage, databases, app dev, etc.), dig deeper from there. study, get some certs, and a year tops, move on. Just dont get misguided and think u pass a couple certs and get easy money. That was 15 years ago and the market crashed. You get paid today by demonstrating your worth, companies could give 2 shyts about a cert, they wanna know how will your skills impact their business

Thats my coli brehs

I am leaving NYC job or no job... I have an engineering freelance thing I am hoping will pay the bills till I find another gig or even help support me while I do the help desk thing. I think I kind of have an advantage in that I know how to play the corporate game a bit and spin things to sell myself, and I look young, so I kind of feel like I have a little leg up. Once I know the avenues and have a better feel for the trends I am confident I will pick the right path for my interests and career.

I will take my time and look through the thread too, there are def some gems. Its a big risk doe. Wifey and I want to start having kids and buy a house, so I def need to get the $$$ right by like 2016. I think I can do it though. If I am making 50-70K by then I would be happy + OK. I dont want to make it sound like its all just for the money though. I really do like computers. My laptop runs Ubuntu lol.

 

[↓R↑LYB]

I know I would be years away from making decent money. I'm OK with that. I do like working with computers and have always been good. I have an active interest in data mining and think that is where I would specialize. But I think I would also enjoy setting up data centers or just doing help desk stuff. Only branch I'm not really crazy about is security. I am just wondering if its worth a switch from mechanical engineering. What I do is OK and potentially a growth channel but not like IT.

And I'm sorry, I don't think its reasonable to demand that someone go through 1200 posts to find info. There are def entry level jobs out there for crazy low pay But I am just trying to see what paths are out there, what the typical timelines are and what I have to do to get on them. I work hard and do a lot of learning on my own, just looking for some direction/insight. What is the game like now?

Every time I see this I say the same thing. If a 1200 post thread is too daunting for you, you'll NEVER make it in IT. All IT is is research. If a easy to read light hearted thread is too much for you, I'd advise you to stay a mechanical engineer.

 

[↓R↑LYB]

I'm getting mad close brehs. I got hit up bout this job in January, got submitted, then totally forgot about it. They hit me back today saying the client wants to have a phone screen with me. Check out the rate breh's

I think I got submitted for a hunna, but if they pick me, I'm gonna tell em I need at least 110. That's almost 230k

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

Every time I see this I say the same thing. If a 1200 post thread is too daunting for you, you'll NEVER make it in IT. All IT is is research. If a easy to read light hearted thread is too much for you, I'd advise you to stay a mechanical engineer.

On page 12, quoting as I go. You right

 

[semtex]

I fukking hate implementing recursive algorithms

 

[No Homo]

I'm getting mad close brehs. I got hit up bout this job in January, got submitted, then totally forgot about it. They hit me back today saying the client wants to have a phone screen with me. Check out the rate breh's

I think I got submitted for a hunna, but if they pick me, I'm gonna tell em I need at least 110. That's almost 230k

Good luck breh keep up posted

 

[Regular Developer]

I fukking hate implementing recursive algorithms

I don't mind recursive algorithms as long as i get to make a call back to the function and have it return as a value everytime. This looping and checking shyt using table structures is not the business.

 

[Regular Developer]

Quick question to all. How are the IT markets (Mainly Business Intelligence or .Net development) in Houston, D.C., and ATL?

 

[JT-Money]

I'm getting mad close brehs. I got hit up bout this job in January, got submitted, then totally forgot about it. They hit me back today saying the client wants to have a phone screen with me. Check out the rate breh's

I think I got submitted for a hunna, but if they pick me, I'm gonna tell em I need at least 110. That's almost 230k

Didn't the SCDOR get hacked last September? Sounds like they need someone to come in and help clean up an disaster area. I try to stay clear of dysfunctional organizations but most are willing to pay contractors big bucks to fix all their screwups.

 

[Regular Developer]

Its crazy how much money companies wind up spending because they wanted to do it cheap, and not correct the first time.

 

[FreshFromATL]

Did this fukk nikka just compare a basic scripting language to Java ? I swear some of y'all nikkas is borderline retarded.

Lol. that nikka post had me like too...Did this nikka just brag about learning bash and compared it to the learning curve of Java? lmao.

 

[↓R↑LYB]

Good luck breh keep up posted

Ima do it for the coli

Didn't the SCDOR get hacked last September? Sounds like they need someone to come in and help clean up an disaster area. I try to stay clear of dysfunctional organizations but most are willing to pay contractors big bucks to fix all their screwups.

Breh, I've been in security for years now. Breaches and dysfunctionality are what I live for . I've been a consultant for a long time, shyt like this is what I do. Last gig I had was with a large publicly traded bank that just got downgraded by the fed for not remediating findings from past audits (cost em hundreds of millions of dollars). Right now I'm at a large hospital trying to help them remediate findings from audits that they have before they take an L (enterprise PKI, securing AD, IAM, RBAC, 802.1x, MFA, etc).

But this job is actually an AD position. Here's the job description

SCOPE OF PROJECT
Summary:
This specific Statement of Work is for a contractor that demonstrates an expert knowledge of Microsoft Active Directory and Microsoft Server/Network Solutions. We will look to this individual to document recommendations on improvements along with high level estimates on associated work effort. This individual will need to work with various application and infrastructure groups to understand data requirements for each area of the organization. Design documentation will need to be produced documenting final deployment details along with support procedures as needed. Architectural technical and documentation skills are equally important for this position.
General duties include managing internal agency system for agency, effectively researching and provide guidance leading to solutions with our strategic direction initiatives, monitoring system infrastructure and security, and assisting in supporting disaster recover/failover scenarios.
One main focus of this position is to supplement the current Service Level Agreement in accordance with the needs of the Agency’s application projects, migrations and related environment. These applications involve Internet technologies in Microsoft .Net Framework and related web enabled components. Support contractor must demonstrate an expert knowledge of SharePoint , VMware, Windows 2003/2008 and IIS 6.0 / 7.0. General duties include managing Windows 2003 and 2008 Servers, VMware ESX, Active Directory, SharePoint, .net migrations. Must know how to script/code and automate administrative tasks. Must effectively research and provide guidance leading to solutions with our strategic direction initiatives, monitoring network infrastructure and security, assisting in supporting disaster recover/failover scenarios. Engineer must be a team player that ensures the stability and integrity of network, data and server services through monitoring, maintenance, support, and optimization of all server and infrastructure systems. This individual has 24/7 on-call responsibilities shared with the group.



This position at the South Carolina Department of Revenue is one of multiple that will form a team of highly experienced IT professionals with time sensitive challenging projects. This contractor will be one member of a team that is comprised of proven experts in some or all of the fields of networking, virtual environments, security, encryption, network automation, centralized IT management, Microsoft server, system, and networking environments. This intent of this work order is to provide implementation and maintenance support on the network and networked systems at the SC Department of Revenue. Advanced, Project Lead or Consultant are the Tapfin levels of these positions.
Under general supervision, the contractor will serve as support specialist reporting directly to the South Carolina Department of Revenue Project Manager. These applications involve Internet technologies in Microsoft .Net Framework and related web enabled components. Contractor will be a team member that ensures the stability and integrity of network, data and server services through monitoring, maintenance, support, and optimization of all server and infrastructure systems. This individual has 24/7 on-call responsibilities shared with the group.
The following product/technologies are also part of the SC DOR environment, but they are not a requirement to apply for this position. Experience in these areas would be a plus: Networking, Security, Automation, and Disaster Recovery
- Expert in IIS 6.0/7.0.



SKILLS PREFERRED:
Highly Preferred

- VMware Esx 3.x

- Current industry certifications for Microsoft, Security, VMware,

- BA, PM, QA certifications & experience

- Expertise in AD security and overall windows best practices as it relates to IT security. Security expertise is a VERY important factor.

- Experience designing 99.9% uptime environments

- Experience designing backup strategies for large scale organizations based on best practices

- Experience in monitoring infrastructure systems for Windows environments

- Experience and working knowledge of backup products and methodologies.

- Ability to craft proactive and automated scripts and tools

- Knowledge of Virtual Machine operation, strengths, and weaknesses.

- Experience with VMware ESX administration

- Support of web-based applications for internal (intranet) sites and external (Internet) sites.

- Knowledge of software development lifecycles and migrations from different environments, such as development, production, etc…

- Expert on Windows Server 2008

- Expert with Active Directory administration

- Hands-on technical knowledge of network and server operating systems

- Working technical knowledge of current network hardware, protocols, and Internet standards, including TCP/IP, and DNS, DHCP.

- Experience in developing and maintaining documentation for policies, procedures, and best practices.

- Extensive working knowledge of Internet protocols, tools and techniques including but not limited to:

o Internet Information Server,

o Server operating systems installation and configuration,

o Internet security,

o Virtual Private Networking (VPN),

o TCP/IP, Local Area Networks (LAN),

o Wide Area Networks (WAN),

- Exchange 2003, 2010

- Group Policies

- Experience with designing web pages

- Familiarity with Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) and Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF)

- Experience and working knowledge of backup products and methodologies.

- Knowledge of Virtual Machine operation, strengths, and weaknesses.

- Team Foundation





Preferred

- Experience with Projects operating under PMI methodology

Current industry certifications

24x7 on call support. You know what that mean breh? Time and a half

And I'm still trying to get another remote gig, plus I got my IT consulting firm and another business opportunity I'm working on. I'm trying to be a 1% by the end of 2014

 

[↓R↑LYB]

Its crazy how much money companies wind up spending because they wanted to do it cheap, and not correct the first time.

shyt, I've had positions come across my inbox paying $100+ hr just because they need the talent. One was a VPN migration for the damn country of China

I told em chill, I ain't want it

fukk around and do something wrong and a nikka end up in a Shanghai prison for the rest of my life

 

[FreshFromATL]

shyt, I've had positions come across my inbox paying $100+ hr just because they need the talent. One was a VPN migration for the damn country of China

I told em chill, I ain't want it

fukk around and do something wrong and a nikka end up in a Shanghai prison for the rest of my life

 

[patscorpio]

What are you gonna do if they put a computer in front of you and ask you to do something you don't know how to do? You'll be laughed out of the interview...

...just saying because when we were hiring a DBA at the place I work, my boss and I decided to test the interviewees by making them do some basic DBA type tasks.


...let's just say we laughed a lot of people out. And these resumes said they had 5-6 years of exp. (My boss was looking for someone with 2-5 years exp)

this happened to me once years ago when i was looking for jobs during my last semester in grad school...position called for experience with unix (which i didn't have it) but the listing said it was preferred not required so i put it down on my resume plus that 55K-60K starting salary looked good to me...during the interview i was asked about unix and i said i had it...dude then asked me a whole bunch of unix command questions out of nowhere....had me like damn!!! ..needless to say i didn't get that job and i learned a valuable lesson...since then the interviews ive went on where i had to show and prove what i put down on my resume ive never failed on that aspect