I consider myself fairly successful education wise and professionally. I went to a major school for undergrad and have B.B.A. Tried finding a job, and no luck. Trust me, it wasn't from a lack of effort or not trying. So I went to graduate school and now have an M.S. I spent close to 6 months at my part time job while I was looking for a full time IT position. My part time job was doing 50% IT work and 50% business work (can you say lucky for not getting a CS degree). They eventually offered a position but they had no clue what the salary was, or what I would exactly be doing. Luckily, I then had two job leads thanks to Monster.com and my graduate school's career office.
During those 6 months I went to over 25 interviews, some of the same companies and others different. The guy/gal they picked always had more experience, hands down. I remember one guy who interviewed me was so cocky and was wanting to shoot me down that he asked me all kind's of questions. TCP/IP ports, I believe one was 443 (SSL) and 21 (FTP) and 139 (one of the many Windows IPC ports). Suffice it to say when he I was asked what an OU was. I drew a blank. He then had a great smirk on his face. I swear I felt like I was taking a final exam. (OU = organization unit in active directory lingo) This is just one example. There were many a time that I was interviewed by very arrogant and obnoxious people. Most of the positions I applied for were for entry to mid-level positions so it should be expected that I don't know everything there is to know.
I noticed someone mention that the quality of IT people has gone downhill. Well if you go to school you learn very little of this. I learned theory, business, how to program, managing security, general management techniques. Learning Oracle, Access, SQL server, Windows 2000, Windows 2003 Server, Active Director, Linux, TCP/IP implementations, networks and other software/hardware was left to the jobs I had during college such as computer technician and web designer and administrator. It boils down to in order to get experience you must be allowed to pass the door. If you don't pass the door then you don't get the experience. This becomes and ugly and nasty cycle which many of us do not have any control over. Whatever happened to being hired on the ability to learn versus what you knew. After all this is IT, we are always learning.
I was finally given a chance by two companies that I got past several rounds of interviews. One they hired the guy with more experienced and the other took a chance on me. The job pays well, a little less then I would like but way better then the part time job. The benefits rock and the people I work with though they are not thrilled working with a college newbie, are rather pleasant and willing to assist in any gaps in my knowledge. One thing that I did learn was that they were glad an American was hired versus a contractor and/or H1B visa.
Here are some of the lessons learned:
IT is no longer the field of choice for many Americans
Little job stability
In some cases lack of pay
In some cases overworked
In some cases age discrimination
Experience requirements are insane (12+ bachelors or 4 years masters, no room for entry level)
Contractors take all the jobs, some lie about what they know and then learn it in-house. (blame the contracting companies who instruct them to do so)
If you get a good job, make sure to stick with it and acquire as much knowledge as possible so that if something bad does happen you can recover easier.
Slashdot Mirror
I consider myself fairly successful education wise and professionally. I went to a major school for undergrad and have B.B.A. Tried finding a job, and no luck. Trust me, it wasn't from a lack of effort or not trying. So I went to graduate school and now have an M.S. I spent close to 6 months at my part time job while I was looking for a full time IT position. My part time job was doing 50% IT work and 50% business work (can you say lucky for not getting a CS degree). They eventually offered a position but they had no clue what the salary was, or what I would exactly be doing. Luckily, I then had two job leads thanks to Monster.com and my graduate school's career office.
During those 6 months I went to over 25 interviews, some of the same companies and others different. The guy/gal they picked always had more experience, hands down. I remember one guy who interviewed me was so cocky and was wanting to shoot me down that he asked me all kind's of questions. TCP/IP ports, I believe one was 443 (SSL) and 21 (FTP) and 139 (one of the many Windows IPC ports). Suffice it to say when he I was asked what an OU was. I drew a blank. He then had a great smirk on his face. I swear I felt like I was taking a final exam. (OU = organization unit in active directory lingo) This is just one example. There were many a time that I was interviewed by very arrogant and obnoxious people. Most of the positions I applied for were for entry to mid-level positions so it should be expected that I don't know everything there is to know.
I noticed someone mention that the quality of IT people has gone downhill. Well if you go to school you learn very little of this. I learned theory, business, how to program, managing security, general management techniques. Learning Oracle, Access, SQL server, Windows 2000, Windows 2003 Server, Active Director, Linux, TCP/IP implementations, networks and other software/hardware was left to the jobs I had during college such as computer technician and web designer and administrator. It boils down to in order to get experience you must be allowed to pass the door. If you don't pass the door then you don't get the experience. This becomes and ugly and nasty cycle which many of us do not have any control over. Whatever happened to being hired on the ability to learn versus what you knew. After all this is IT, we are always learning.
I was finally given a chance by two companies that I got past several rounds of interviews. One they hired the guy with more experienced and the other took a chance on me. The job pays well, a little less then I would like but way better then the part time job. The benefits rock and the people I work with though they are not thrilled working with a college newbie, are rather pleasant and willing to assist in any gaps in my knowledge. One thing that I did learn was that they were glad an American was hired versus a contractor and/or H1B visa.
Here are some of the lessons learned:
IT is no longer the field of choice for many Americans
Little job stability
In some cases lack of pay
In some cases overworked
In some cases age discrimination
Experience requirements are insane (12+ bachelors or 4 years masters, no room for entry level)
Contractors take all the jobs, some lie about what they know and then learn it in-house. (blame the contracting companies who instruct them to do so)
If you get a good job, make sure to stick with it and acquire as much knowledge as possible so that if something bad does happen you can recover easier.