Making IT a Career: Starting College to Finding a Job Part 1
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So you have decided for yourself that a career in Information Technology is the path you want to take. That’s great because the only limits of this career are the ones you set for yourself. The field is vast and is comprised of many parts. Programming, networking, administration, and computer repair are just a few examples of the different paths you can take. Although the information in this article can be helpful for any path, I am mainly going to focus on networking as this was my major.
The first step is obviously an education. Although you may have years of experience with computers you still need that degree to prove your worth to potential employers. Picking the school is something you should take some time researching. Do they focus on the path you want? What about financial aid? What about the class size? Move away or stay close to home? These are questions you really need to think hard on. You will more then likely be dedicating the next four years of your life to this school, so you must make sure you will be able to handle it.
Once you decide on a school, consider your classes. While you may focus on one path, take classes in others. Even though I was a networking major, taking classes in Cisco and Microsoft Server, I also picked up some other classes such as Microsoft Office, Linux, SQL, HTML, Visual Basic, and Java. This makes you diverse and can be a tiebreaker in landing that IT job. For example, you and one other person interview for a job as a Network Engineer. You both have your CCNP and MCSE certifications, the same years experience, the same high grades, etc. However, your competition also studied Microsoft Office and got his MOS certification, along with his Linux+ certification on the side. Who do think will get the job? Even though you are 100% qualified for the posted job, employers want somebody who can be a resource for as many things as their company needs.
Tomorrow I will give more tips on things to do while attending school, preparing for graduation, and finally the job search. Take care everyone.
Paul
[tags]IT, college, tech vocation[/tags]
4 Comments
GaryK
June 7th, 2007
at 2:10pm
Forget IT! That’s a deadend if you are an American. I’m 61 years old. I was laid off by my American employer 7/1/2004 along with 149 other IT and IT related workers after working for the company for 9 1/2 years. I have been a programmer for over 30 years after 8 years in Law Enforcement. Started as a mainframe assembler programmer and then got to be a web and pc programmer. Since I was laid off, I have discovered that nobody wants me after being one of those programmers that walked on water and fixed everybody else’s bad code. Now days the ads request senior programmers with 3 years experience. Is that a joke or what? You want to do IT? Move to India or Russia. A project my 10 person group was working on was given to a group from the Ukriane (sp) one of the former Russian republics. Go into areas that can’t be outsourced like medical, nursing in particular. Big shortage there. Go into law enforcement. Can’t outsource that. Anything but IT. That’s a dead field. They just haven’t buried the corpse yet. Good luck.
paragonofvirtue
June 7th, 2007
at 5:18pm
GaryK: Yes that is the sad truth. However, this problem is not limited to IT as we all know. Before I started my career, I was involved with a company that conducted national sales campaigns. Our campaign was split with another office in Malaysia. In order for us to be of equal value to the company as the Malaysian office, we had to triple their amount of sales, which needless to say, was impossible. We lost the campaign, and were laid off. In the next posts I make, I am going to give advice on getting your foot in the door as well as taking your career from a “gun to hire” approach. But in the end, you are right. You do have 30+ years of programming experience in the field (which automatically gives you my respect), and what you said is a real shame. That having that amount of knowledge and experience only leaves you empty handed.
prashant
June 10th, 2007
at 12:36pm
hey , i just completed my “i.t” engg. this year itself , but am confused just because the curriculum taught to us was a bit theoretical i need a practical expperience which is why i want to know which are the computer languages i should learn so that it would beneficial for me!!
By the way great thoughts on I.T. because doors have just started to open now.
paragonofvirtue
June 10th, 2007
at 6:55pm
prashant: Thanks for reading. What you are talking about is common. We go and complete the curriculum , but never apply the skills which we are taught enough in class. As far as which languages you should learn, I say learn the basics for as many as you can but try to Master one or two. Visual Basic, Java, and even Linux Command Line are great skills to have. However, one who masters say SQL can find a job as a database administrator making a great living.