Moving Up the IT Ladder in a Poor Economy?

Andy asks: "As almost anyone who joined the IT industry on the tail end of the Dot-Com boom can tell you, trying to move up in the industry for the past couple of years has been like jogging up-wind in a hurricane. I have sent resumes to countless numbers of employers only to still be working in the same $13/hr. low-end outsource support job as when I started (and $13/hr. doesn't get you too far in Boston these days). Learning more and more languages/technologies/protocols has merely resulted in a larger skill set on my resume, with pretty much the same level of experience, and no new interviews. Has anyone else been able to get out of this sort of slump, either during this economic slump or a previous one? Should I just continue the path of learning as much as I can and applying for jobs? Would getting a cert (maybe an RHCE or some Cisco certs) help? Would it be worth it to get a degree in MIS or CS?"

Comments

Work is obsolete

[poptones]

That is... jobs are obsolete. If you have skills it's time to think outside the box, for sure. You didn't really WANT to spend the next thirty years in a cubicle, did you?

I took my $10/hr job at a call center for the insurance and to be with " structured friends" (ie to have co-workers and regular personal interaction). I work there a few days a week (mostly weekends), I have half decent health care, and I have plenty of time T-F to do what I want with my time. I realize this isn't an answer for someone who has a wife and kids and expects to keep them in primo jeans and caviar, but I honestly don't see how ANYONE with a decent skill set in this world today could spend their life a pauper unless they WANTED to live as a pauper (which I have done, as I said, by choice).

You've got a world of connecitons at your fingers. Find a project and become an expert, tell everyone who will listen about it. Eventually someone will pay you for your expertise, and they'll do it on your terms.

Get used to the taste of cock

[stratjakt]

'cuz you're gunna be suckin for foodstamps if you think you're going to get rich in IT with no education or skills.

Re:It's who you know, and what you know

[superpulpsicle]

That's total BS. I know more people unemployed with a EE and CS degree nowadays.

Every MIS major I know is employed and doing better financially, that's no coincidence. The days of hard core programming degree no longer flys. Do you really think C/C++ from your school will give you an edge. Hells, everyone know the same shit as you by the time you graduate.

Re:You don't have a degree?

[Ginga_Ninja]

I'm certainly in the minority here, but we actually prefer people who don't have degrees (and we're also hiring like mad).

Now I'm quite prepared to accept that there are cultural differences betwwen university in the US and our universities in the UK, but excuse me for saying, that someone who spends 4 years at university getting a piece of paper to tell themselves how bright they are is far less the sort of person we want than someone who got off their ass, maybe travelled a bit, took a year out thinking what they'd like to do. Did some really crappy jobs and got some life experience.

Sure, we're also talking about different disciplines (programming as opposed to projects and alround ability), but we tend to employ on personal skills rather than academic achievement.

A lot of applications we get from degree holders tend to be "I have a degree, so you owe me a job". Yeah? well, come back when you've lost the attitude and we'll talk about it. :-)