Struggling to find position in I.T.

[Brennan]

Hello Everyone,

I recently graduated from high school about 3 months ago and during that
time I have been having a rather challenging time finding work in the I.T.
field. Just to let you know, before I go any further, I'm currently living
in Calgary, AB (in Canada).

Throughout high school I took many courses related to both computers and
networking. I was actually enrolled in a special networking class - the
Cisco Networking Academy program - in which I completed all four semesters
in two years (It's considered a college level course). I struggled to find
minor I.T. jobs through high school - my first being a three month work
experience term at a computer servicing shop. Last summer I managed to land
a summer internship at DeVry technical school. In my senior year I got
myself a part time position at a local computer repair shop (about 10-15
hours/week - I learned a lot). Then, as graduation approached, I decided to
earn some certificates to back up my knowledge and experience. I wrote and
passed the A+ and CCNA exams both on my first try and with high final
scores.

Since graduation, I've applied for jobs such as Assistant Network
Administrator, Helpdesk Analyst, and field PC Technician (for an ISP). After
an initial interview (or two) the response from these companies is that I'm
lacking in qualifications and/or experience (or someone else had a lot
more).

My question to any I.T. professionals reading this is - where do I go
from here? How am I supposed to land my first "entry-level" position into
the I.T. field? How did you land yours (when you had no prior formal
experience)?

I thought that I could get a technical job out of high school without
post-secondary education - maybe that was very naive of me. I thought that
certifications and the experience I had would be enough to get myself into
an entry-level position. Now I am seriously considering attending SAIT,
which is a technical school here in Alberta that offers 2 year technical
diplomas and has a very good reputation for finding their students jobs.
However, I don't want to waste $20,000(Canadian) and find myself in the same
position I am now - not being hired because of lack of experience. So what
would you recommend? Attending college, earning more certificates (MCP,
MCSA, database certs, etc), or volunteering for free just to get the
experience?

Just on a side note - When I was going through high school I recall
hearing so much in the media and from friends that "I.T. is the field to be
in, there's a mass shortage of qualified workers, lots of money" but I
suppose all this has changed(Spring 2000 .com flop, September 11th)? It
frustrates me to see it change so quickly and now the only people getting
hired have like Phd.'s with 5 years experience. I understand that the job
market is competitive, but how can I compete with that? Especially when no
one will hire me so that I can get those required 5 years experience!?!?

Hope I don't sound too whiney . Thanks for any comments or
suggestions - I'd be happy to hear any input or thoughts.

Brennan

 

[Richard Freeman]

Hello Everyone,

I recently graduated from high school about 3 months ago and during that
time I have been having a rather challenging time finding work in the I.T.
field. Just to let you know, before I go any further, I'm currently living
in Calgary, AB (in Canada).

--------snipped for brevity ----------

Hope I don't sound too whiney . Thanks for any comments or
suggestions - I'd be happy to hear any input or thoughts.

I cannot really comment specifically on Canada but I suspect it ( or the
rest of the world ) is not much different from Australia in this regard.

My advice to people wanting to get into IT is usually Think about and
develop other skills in addition to IT. In Australia we have Universities
churning out Computer Science graduates by the ton and as a result Employers
can afford to be very Picky.
As a person involved in the decision making process when assessing potential
Employees. I ask myself what other skills someone has. It is a reasonable
bet that most graduates at least have a basic understanding but will need to
catch up to a certain extent However the Big questions are - Can they deal
with Customers? Can they Manage a Team ? Can they Teach ? Can they work out
new Technology ? These are all skills that are in High demand and as a
Result I tend to regard IT skills as good but also training and
qualifications in : Psychology, Management, Marketing ( all People skills)
or even Physics (analytical skills) all tend to indicate that the
Prospective employee will be of more value than the Traditional Computer
Nerd / Boffin.
In fact typically I would prefer IT experience and a
degree/diploma/qualifications in another field such as those listed above.

I am not sure wether the day of the Computer Nerd ever really existed in a
big way outside of Movies (even Bill gates really made his money from
Marketing rather than Computer Genius) but if it did it barely exists today
( and believe me the few places there are, are filed by the best of the
brightest) and if you want to go somewhere and get the big Money or even
being employable in IT you Seriously need to think about heading towards ;
Training, Project Management, People Management or even Sales support (pre
and post) all of which require additional skills to mere IT.

Regards
Richard Freeman

 

[Mitchua]

I hear there are 22,000 out-of-work I.T. people here in Toronto from the dot
com bubble burst. It's a rough time to be getting a job. I have a Bachelor
of Computer Science from UofT and it's still hard to find something (I've
been looking for 2 weeks).

Just FYI, I saw a show on TV the other day. It said that you have a 4%
chance of finding work by applying to job postings, Workopolis, etc.
"Networking" (who you know who knows someone who knows....) is the way most
people find work. Start calling up your friends

--Mitchua

 

[FuzionMan]

I guess most employers want employees with experiences/studies other than
just plain I.T.... like business
management...commerce...marketing....leading.... etc etc

If I were you, I would probably go into a university to get a bachelors in
something, business appears to be a good one to mix your I.T.
training/experiences with...

I've always thought about doing that, and then able to open a web hosting
business and creating my website while I know how to setup my servers in my
own home... well something like that... Be your own boss!

Jason
from Florida

 

[Richard Freeman]

I guess most employers want employees with experiences/studies other than
just plain I.T.... like business
management...commerce...marketing....leading.... etc etc

If I were you, I would probably go into a university to get a bachelors in
something, business appears to be a good one to mix your I.T.
training/experiences with...

Or Psychology or Teaching or I would even accept Physics basically Training
or experience in a field other than IT is often a good thing IMO.

Yes you are right there is always the fear you will end up with some
mindless Computer Geek with the social skills of a dead slug waiting to
alienate collegues and Customers .....

I've always thought about doing that, and then able to open a web hosting
business and creating my website while I know how to setup my servers in my
own home... well something like that... Be your own boss!

Nice idea but that market is pretty full ......as are many of the internet
type businesses out there....

Regards
Richard Freeman

 

[Phrederik]

I thought that I could get a technical job out of high school without
post-secondary education - maybe that was very naive of me. I thought that
certifications and the experience I had would be enough to get myself into
an entry-level position. Now I am seriously considering attending SAIT,
which is a technical school here in Alberta that offers 2 year technical
diplomas and has a very good reputation for finding their students jobs.
However, I don't want to waste $20,000(Canadian) and find myself in the same
position I am now - not being hired because of lack of experience. So what
would you recommend? Attending college, earning more certificates (MCP,
MCSA, database certs, etc), or volunteering for free just to get the
experience?

WHAT EVER YOU DO - DO *NOT* GO TO SAIT!!!

It was the biggest waste of time and money that I've ever seen.

When they decided to stop having one class that I needed for one of their
certificates, they just gave me the certificate without meeting all the
requirements. VERY professional - NOT.