Saturday September 22nd
(jump earlier)
Alorica called me right after 10am yesterday morning. The job interview with them is Wednesday morning at 10am, or I think Wednesday afternoon around 1pm. I have to retake my math and computer tests over again. I will pass both this time because I have been studying my butt off for two months. When I do get hired, I will be a dignified tech support analyst, and I'm going to keep the job so I could gain some kind of IT experience working somewhere, because without any kind of IT experience and it's true, they won't hire you for an IT position. The job I applied for at Alorica, it's a tech support analyst position for $10/hr. Your pay does go up. I will get my networking certs (MCSE 2003, Network+, and MCSA 2003) while at Alorica so I can find a very good paying network support or admin job in this town or state somewhere. I'm also going to work on my Bachelor's degree in CS so finding an IT job will be easy in four years.
This site I read, if you got no IT experience, one has to start at the bottom to gain experience like Geek Squad, a local computer shop, consulting firm, or a call center. You will get more experience then you get more pay and a better paying position. I'm going to keep this Alorica job to pay off my Bryan College student loans, which take five and an half months, work on three networking certs, and probably keep the job for another four years to go to college to start on my Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. With my Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Network Support Specialist diploma, helpdesk experience I attained from Alorica, and the four IT related certs I have, someone will hire me for a very good paying network administrator, system administrator, or network support job. |
posted Saturday September 22nd, @10:10PM
Monday September 17th
(jump earlier later)
There's four more states I can apply for IT jobs: Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, or Washington D.C. I'm getting sick and tired of applying here and there, not getting call backs or emails for job interviews. I'm not sitting around the house in December, because it's boring and I did it once before. I applied at various state agencies six times now. You will think I have a job by now? I don't and I gave up. It seems like they hire some idiot faster than me. I'm not implying everyone in Topeka or Kansas are idiots, but it's frustrating. I'm just trying to gain IT experience so I can move on with my life, and move up in my IT career. Hard to do that when no companies in Topeka wants to give you a chance at the job. Even ninety days, because I know that I can do the job! But no.
I will try Cox in December. As long as I turn the computer on, have very good PC, Windows, and network skills, they probably will hire me right on the spot. As long as I can make it to training 9am-5pm Monday to Friday for five long weeks, I can do it. Probably have to move to Wichita for a year or two. Cox hires everyone: black, white, green, man, woman, etc. I am also going to get my network+, MCP, and MCSE 2003 certs while working for Cox, then enroll to Wichita State to work on my Bachelor's in Computer Science. Cox does have very good benefits and insurance plans, but you have to be on the job for ninety days before the benefits kick in. |
posted Monday September 17th, @03:42PM
Saturday July 21st
(jump earlier later)
| I'm going to try companies in the Seattle area at the beginning of December. I hope I don't put up with any racism when I move to Seattle. I'm getting sick and tired of racism. Why don't people get along and stop hating on skin color? That's so 20th Century. Unfortunately, in Topeka, that's all these racist buffoons see, superiority and skin color. No wonder the town is so segregated and backwoods. The Brown vs Topeka Board of Education did nothing to change Topeka. It probably did in the 60s but not now. No wonder Topeka has a high crime problem. The town is now segregated and backwoods. When I have kids, I don't want to raise them in this town. They will see how backwoods and segregated Topeka is and will be begging me and their father to hurry up and move out of this town and state. |
posted Saturday July 21st, @11:51AM
Saturday July 7th
(jump earlier later)
I was just ranting my butt off. Sorry. Well, here's the news and it's good!
When the end of November comes, I'm going to tell Angela, the career director person, if she can't find me an IT job in the Topeka area, and I know IT jobs have been hard to find for the last five years, she can go ahead and try Overland Park, Olathe, KC metro areas, the east or west coasts, or Florida so I can get my start in the IT field. I'm not stuck in the Topeka area, overall. Topeka is getting more dangerous as each year passes by, and I'm moving out of this town before I hit 30. You can move anywhere in this town and you are still liable for violence. |
posted Saturday July 7th, @09:28PM
Tuesday July 3rd
(jump earlier later)
*Rant incoming*
I went to the unemployment office and sit through a three
hour group interview, it's nothing but basic math and computer skills. I failed ten questions and you are supposed to miss a certain number, I'm guessing four. I'm sorry to say this about my fellow Topekans, it seems like the idiots get hire faster than smart ones, if there are any left at all. They start you at $9/hr. $9/hr! I am already making $12/hr at Topeka Independent Living right now, probably will have to move to land an IT job. I find plenty of them in Florida, Johnson County, Maryland and Virginia, but almost none in this dump called the Capitol City. Ugh.
I told the lady after she called me out of the room, "I am A+ certified." She told me to come back in three months to
retake the tests again. Forget it. I'm not going to study my ass off, go to Alorica and retake the tests in November,
then be stuck making $9/hr and work whatever shift they could put me on. Forget it. If I want a very good paying IT job, I will just have to move. No other option! There are hardly any IT jobs here unless you're an app developer,
web designer, or programmer. There are plenty of jobs in your field, but Computer Networking people can't find much of anything in this town but computer technician at some local shop, the school district, or something like that.
Might as well try the cable company since they're always
hiring for helpdesk. There's nothing here for me in this town. Hell, Cox starts you at $11-$16/hr in their CS/TS departments, it depends on experience, and I just want to start gaining some kind of experience in the IT field so I can move up. Oh, yeah, I tried the state sometime last month and didn't got hired because my "skills" didn't match theirs. If you think, for one single second, I'm going to try Alorica again around October, I'm NOT! It will be a waste of my time to bother applying when I won't get hired.
I'm not going to be stuck in this prejudiced town, either, when IT jobs are hard to find. |
posted Tuesday July 3rd, @05:18PM
Tuesday April 3rd
(jump earlier later)
I'm very sorry for the lag in my journal ^_^ I had been busy with classes and studying a lot. I make nothing but all straight A's, with a few B's thrown in, but my grades are mostly all straight A's. I thought I was going to get this $14/hr help desk job at Hill's two months ago. It has been two months and I still haven't heard anything from their HR Department, but this other woman in my class got hired at Hill's, she told the rest of us that it takes a while for Hill's to call you back. I'm not one of those black racists that hate white people for something that happened hundreds of years ago, especially today's white people haven't owned any slaves and today's blacks aren't slaves but maintain the slave crap and that's why most of
them don't want to get off their butts and better themselves. Just sit in the ghetto and throw a pity party,
rob, kill, or have a bunch of babies that the taxpayers have to pay for. My answer to these black racists is, move on, the past is the past. You cannot change what happened in the past but look forward to the future.
First of all, I am an American, not African-American since I have never been to Africa and I was born right here in America. Therefore, I'm an American and darn proud of it! I am not trying to throw the "race card" like it's going out of style, but my skin color probably had something to do with not getting that job at Hill's. The interviewers were white so that tells me the employees who are working at Hill's in the IT Department are mostly all white. They don't want Black and Hispanic Americans in their IT Department. I wish these racist employers would try diversity for a change. That's sad that racism still exist among blacks and whites, blacks and blacks, etc. etc. I had
to explain a little more, this town is still a backwater, uneducated, violent, hillbilly looking one I remembered as a kid. Except Topeka wasn't too bad and violent when I was growing up, the violence and crime just get worse, not better, over the past few years.
Hill's loss, another company's gain. Hill's isn't the only place that I can get a start in my IT career. I will call Affinitas in November and go fill a job application for
them, they will be happy to hire me on the spot for a tech support rep job. Affinitas, for those who don't know it, is an employer that has contracts with the cable companies. I'm going to get a help desk tech support rep job, not a customer service rep job, and that tech support rep job would be a perfect fit for me with my four certs since all I do is sit on my butt and help people troubleshoot their computers, help them to set up and troubleshoot their cable modems. No taking apart PCs or whatever. The job pays $21,000 per year but will help me
gain more IT experience so I can find a better and paying job in three years after I pay off my student loans. And I will be the best tech support rep ever and I won't blame
their PCs and ends. I will understand they aren't mad at me
but at their cable company. |
posted Tuesday April 3rd, @09:21PM
Wednesday February 21st
(jump earlier later)
I got a brand new computer yesterday, a $1,379.99 Dell Dimension 5150 from Aarons. I could burn DVDs and CDs on the DVD-RW drive, play CDs and DVDs on another DVD-rom drive. I also got a sub woofer, 17" LCD Dell monitor, speakers, and the PC is sweet! It's not going to take too long to pay it off if I have to use my living expense checks that I get in May, August, and November. I think this computer came out within the last three months, it may not be top of the line to anyone else here, but it's top of the line to me, and way faster than the four year old machine I was using. It doesn't have a floppy drive. It has two media card readers and I think floppy drives are dead because they are getting kind of hard to find. After I get the machine pay off, they will give me the CDs to this computer. It's too bad I didn't make the switch sooner because my old computer was getting slower and was dying on me. Half of the time the computer refuse to come on. This computer has a separate Ati Radeon x300 SE 128MB HyperMemory video card so I can play any online game I want. Can someone please tell me a good game I can play online?
Windows XP Media Center Edition is the OS and I can watch TV, but I don't watch much TV since there's nothing worth watching. Since I have a DVD-rom drive now, I put in a DVD when I can't find anything to watch on TV. But I do find American Idol kind of boring, though. It's nothing but the same old crap year after year. I do know people that like American Idol, but I don't. I find the show boring. |
posted Wednesday February 21st, @08:08PM
Tuesday February 13th
(jump earlier later)
I had a job interview today with Hill's at school. I talked
to two people, one was a level 1 tech and the other person
was the supervisor. The level 1 tech asked me tech and scenario based questions, and the supervisor of the call center asked me scenario based questions. I told them I just got A+ certified in the last month, they ask me what time I go to classes, and I told them 8am-12:30pm. If I was
offered this job, I will switch to evening classes and quit
my current job since $8/hr isn't cutting it anymore. I asked about health benefits, and interns don't get health
benefits, but you get a computer purchase discount.
I can sure use that, because the computer I am using now, it's a little over four years old and I recently upgraded the processor to 2.2GHz Pentium 4 and the RAM to a gig. On Friday, I will upgrade the hard drive to one with an 8MB cache since I found some online games I can play with this
computer until I can afford to buy a better and faster one.
I would rather build one than buy one from Dell or Sony. Because if I was to build one, I would get the kind of PC I
want and dream of. I was to buy one from Dell or Gateway, I'm not going to get the kind of computer that I want and dream of. The PC will be built for people who don't know
what they are doing and talking about. They just want a computer that works out of the box.
I got the job because of my A+ certificate and I answered the tech and scenario based questions. The supervisor said HR was going to call me in the next 2-4 weeks for another
interview. Also I am a techie type and girl. They wouldn't waste their time to come interview me if I wasn't a techie
or have my A+ certificate. So it will be the beginning of next month, or the middle, when I hear from HR. For $12/hr,
20 hours a week, I'm going to take that job because it's a start on helping me further my IT career. I may not like working in a call center after a year, but it will look very good on my resume when I find a better paying employer
like the state or city. |
posted Tuesday February 13th, @02:04PM
Thursday February 1st
(jump earlier later)
I am A+ certified  I took the hardware test on January 25, 2007, and I passed with a 666. I took the software test
on January 30, 2007, and I passed with a 602. I passed on
the skin of my nose! Let me tell you, folks: three people in my daytime class did NOT passed their A+ certification tests. The school pay for two certification tests, the software and hardware the first time - if you fail both of them, you will have to retake the tests and wait a month. I don't have to pay to take the test over again.
I am about to get this help desk job at Hill's, the lady told me last week, the internship is going to last a year, Hill's is looking to hire PT employees 30 hours a week. The pay is $12 per hour which is a very good pay for an IT position in this town, payday is every Friday, and they also offer good benefits. If I do a very good job while working for Hill's, after I graduate from Bryan College in ten months, they will be happy to hire me FT and the pay goes up $15 per hour. That's a good pay for a job to sit on your butt resetting passwords, talking to end users, emailing, IM'ing, and surfing the Net.
They should be calling me for a job interview within the next week or two. If they don't call me the middle of this month, I will just try a local mom and pop computer shop now I am A+ certified. |
posted Thursday February 1st, @05:49PM
Saturday January 27th
(jump earlier later)
Things are looking up for me, now, folks!
I'm so excited
My college has internship programs for students going into
rewarding, good paying careers. Angela, the Career Services
director, called me yesterday afternoon and asked me if I was interested in an internship help desk job with Hill's. She told me that the job pays $12 per hour and you work 30 hours a week. It's 30 hours a week since you have classes
to think about, so that's why they can't hire you FT. I asked her what Hill's since there are two of them here. Told me she tell me more about it on Monday to bring my resume which I already typed out and saved on my computer.
She thought it would be a wonderful fit for me since I'm going in the computer networking field. All you do is just sit on your butt and talk to users, reset their passwords, and surf 30 hours a week. I could do all those things standing on my head. I think payday is Fridays. But you also get benefits and if they like your internship work, I heard they hire you FT after you graduate from Bryan College and I think they pay $18 per hour. But I won't graduate until December 13.
Cox, AT&T, Hill's, Payless Source, the state, county, Josten's, and the city I think are the only very good paying employers left. If I get a very good paying job, you bet I'm going to hold on to it no matter how boring the job is! I will be at work with bells on if I had to leave early at 7:30am. I'm not going to mess up this $12/hr job when I can't find a help desk type job here? What kind of person would mess up a $12 per hour job? You aren't going to find anything else that pays this good and got benefits. |
posted Saturday January 27th, @09:56AM
Thursday January 25th
(jump earlier later)
I passed the A+ certification hardware exam!!!
I passed with a 666. When I took the test, the answers and questions was changed around, I did took my time since I had over an hour. There was 80 questions on the exam. I guess hardware isn't my thing, software is, but unless I passed. Doors will start opening up for me in March. I studied my ass off and read the Computer Hardware Help and Review forums here any chance that I get, took the CD practice test that came with the book and Transcender, read
the hardware chapters a lot and paid a lot of attention to my teacher's lectures. I think doing those things helped a lot. I was happy and thanked the good Lord above. Unless doors will start opening up 
I'm getting tired of making $8 per hour and have no dental
or medical benefits. Folks, even the local Geek Squad pay you $12 per hour and they give you very good benefits like dental, medical, 401k, discounts, etc. I have to take the OS part next, that will be sometime next week. I guess it
will be Thursday, February 1st. Then I will be A+ certified
and the only thing I had to do in 4-6 weeks is keep checking the mail for my A+ certificate and wallet card. I'm going to apply at Best Buy for an afternoon PT Geek Squad Agent job.
If I can't get hired at Geek Squad, then I will try the local computer shop as there is one that's near me and they wanted to hire me two years ago. They just couldn't hire me because I lacked my A+, so they can hire me now that I'm A+ certified! I'm telling you now, I don't care if it's a local computer shop, or Geek Squad, unless it's a good paying job than $8 per hour because I can't make it on chickenfeed money anymore. Which I have been making for the last three years, and it's time for me to get a better paying job. |
posted Thursday January 25th, @12:09PM
Wednesday January 10th
(jump earlier later)
The teacher told me I did made a 100% on Monday's test, which was writing 1500 words and memorizing numbers. It's hard to remember the hex. and binary numbers, but I can remember the IRQ numbers easily. I took the 80 questions pretest because I was bored, I missed one question two times, I decided to take my time on the third time, and made a 100% I went and talk to the financial aid person today, she forgot to have me sign something, then she told me my teacher said I am doing a very good paying job in his
class, making a 4.0 GPA, and because of all the 100% I keep
getting on the Transcender tests, it's time for me to take
the A+ certification tests. Right now, I am waiting for my
CompTIA A+ certification voucher to come. I know the A+ isn't much, but unless it will start opening up doors.
-----------------------------------------------
Now I have a question: should I buy a new computer next month or wait until August? My computer is currently four years old, and might withstand a few more upgrades before I buy a new computer. There's nothing wrong with this computer besides needing a RAM and hard drive upgrade. I have find a very good and fast computer for $500, but it's a Media Center PC and I don't watch a whole lot of TV anymore. And if I wait until August, I can get a good and fast computer for $600 than buying one now. Can someone please help this college student out? Should I upgrade what
I have or just go ahead buy a new computer? I asked my teacher and he tell me to wait until August, I can probably
get a better and faster one for $500, and just upgrade what
I have since there's nothing wrong with my computer.
Thank you.
TheNerdGirl |
posted Wednesday January 10th, @06:43PM
Sunday January 7th
(jump earlier later)
*Rant*
I got an IM from someone named "Grimmy" who just IM'ed me and called me a "redneck". I thought, "I wrote a post degrading hillbillies and dentist visits in Topeka and I am being called one." I decided to just block his posts and IMs, and don't let him get to me. It isn't sure worth it to let some fool over the Net get you upset. I'm NOT a hillbilly since I live in a house, I'm educated, not a racist, I have more computer and IT skills than what the heck I can do with, and I'm going into the IT field by this winter. And the local VA hospital should be contacting me for a PT contact rep job in March.
You know why? Because of my heavy computer skills! They wouldn't be contacting me if I didn't have any computer skills. I'm going to get A+ certified by the end of this month, and the rest of my certs before winter. And I'm not what you call lazy like some people are, unless I get off my ass and go back and forth to classes no matter how hard they get, every morning, rather than sit around the house complaining how no one isn't going to give me a job And I'm sure you guys know those kind of people. I do.
*RANT OVER*
Okay. Before I hit 30, and I start a family, I will have a very good paying IT job and all that I could afford is four kids. Four kids, a dog and cat, a husband, two nice cars, and probably live out in the country, or a rural town with
cool air and fresh water. Everyone in the family get their
own computer, all build by me I am not going to live in the city anymore, nor start a family in this city, ever. I had it. The crime is just too high, it's boring, and the broadband services stunk. If the broadband services aren't too bad, the cable Internet service is too slow and have mess up TS that just love to blame your computer. |
posted Sunday January 7th, @06:07PM
Monday January 1st
(jump earlier later)
Every morning before class would start up, and for the last
four days since I didn't have anything to do, I would do 50 random questions on the Transcender's A+ hardware test, and I would passed them each time. Since there weren't anything to watch on TV, I was bored yesterday and today, I did the 509 random questions and passed them four times. What does this mean, you ask? This mean I am ready to take the hardware portion of the test, and I heard this part is easy
if you know what you are talking about. I'm going to pray that I pass the hardware portion, but I think I will since
it's easy and I know what I am doing and talking about. I
should know what I am doing and talking about, I had been messing around with computers since I was a teenager.
I would have to study up for the software part of the test so I'm able to pass that. And read the FAQs here on DSLR to
help me. I just don't want to fail the software part then
having to retake the software part two or three times to pass. I have eleven more months until I am done with this college and I can find a job in my field. My teacher said one day to me the state is always hiring, they pay very good, have lots of benefits, and you get hired fast. If you can't get employed at the state, or they aren't hiring, you can always walk into any local ISP or computer shop and get hired on the same day as long as you have your certifications. There isn't very many IT jobs here but temporary agencies. If you do a very good job, just pray that you get hired full time for an IT employer. |
posted Monday January 1st, @05:07PM
Tuesday December 26th
(jump earlier later)
Getting to where I need to go
Hi, my name is TheNerdGirl, and I am going to this local college and major in Computer Networking. Today, a new six week term at my college is here, and it's A+ classes. Today, we learn where the North Bridge and South Bridge on the motherboard are, the BIOS chip, the ROM chip, CMOS battery, where the CPU is located, where the rear connectors are, etc. Some of the stuff I already know but I have to know again to pass my A+. I'm guessing sometime next week after another four day break, we will get into taking apart PCs and putting them back together again. We do that on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
This is the class that is going teach me how to build a computer. Every Monday and Thursday we are going to take tests to help us pass our A+. Our final will be taking the A+ exam. If you pass it, you get your certificate and wallet card in 4-6 weeks. If you don't, you have to find out the part you fail in, study the part you fail on, and retake the test over again. If you fail the test the next time, you will have to pay for the A+ exam yourself and I think that cost $135.00.
Well, I tried Mozilla Firefox today at school, and I find myself liking it. I downloaded Mozilla Firefox on my computer at home, and websites are loading so much faster than with IE. Or it could be my imagination. My computer is almost four years old. |
posted Tuesday December 26th, @03:27PM
|
