OS and Software > No, I Will Not Fix Your #@$!! Computer > Making smart career decision in IT.

Making smart career decision in IT.

If this post is any indication, you really might want to brush up on your English skills. If you're from another country, an awkward sentence in a paragraph might be understandable. If you're American, your language skills are awful, and I would never hire you.

As for money, the financial landscape varies greatly. I make $24 an hour to do Help Desk just outside of Denver. The job is way below my skill level, but it's a job, and the people are half decent to work with. Given that, this is one of the highest offers I've gotten. Chicago would probably offer more cash, but the cost of living is significantly higher.

Money should rarely be the primary factor in a job. I was being relatively underpaid at my last job, but I was there 6 years because I enjoyed it, and a lot of opportunities to learn and have a say in operations were available to me. I also had a job where I was making good cash, but I was out in 6 weeks because I was killing myself, and the hours were insane. Find where you're comfortable, at a rate slightly less than what you think you deserve.
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You're so vain... I bet you think this post is about you.

reply to chgo_man99
Every entry level job is like this in IT. You get hired in at the bottom and work your way up. By taking the certification exams, you are showing that you have the motivation. At the same time though, you are learning that experience is something that you will earn over time. It is never just given to you. The way you earn that is to take your lumps over time.

You aren't going to start out as a network engineer right out of the gate. You will get regulated to help desk, paperwork, and some junior like admin things for a while. I have been in IT for 15 years. My first 3 years were just like that. I job jumped a couple times and got the same treatment. It wasn't until I got about 6 certifications and proved myself at an organization when I got my opportunity to be a network administrator.

I know its tough, but the key is to be patient. Those that are patient and have a strong work ethic are going to be the ones that are going to excel. Keep working on your certifications. I don't know what where you graduated from, but if you got a college degree, that will also help your movement up the ladder. I say stay at least 6 months and then start looking around. Hopefully you will have a couple certifications to make your resume look nice. In the end though, it will all come down to your lack of experience. You may just be leaving for a job where you will be doing more menial things.

Also, you do need to brush up a bit on your spelling and punctuation as has been mentioned. Communication is important in any job.
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My domain - Nightfall.net

reply to chgo_man99
I won't even mention the grammar issues mentioned by others since you've already heard that. As far as how long to stay your present job goes my opinion is basically that longer is better. When I look at a resume where the person has constantly changed jobs I'm very unlikely to give it a second glance. Most companies are looking for people who will stay and grow with them. They don't want to have to keep training new individuals. IBM certainly is a well respected company in the IT field and the time you spend there will certainly help your career in the future. Unless something major comes to you you should probably plan on spending at least three years with them.

reply to chgo_man99
I would have to agree with the opinions of the other people that have posted a reply. Given your recent sporadic work history it would most likely be best to stick with your current job for a while. IBM is a good place to work and there are a lot of opportunities for advancement if you really know your stuff especially on enterprise level hardware.

If you are hoping to become a Windows system administrator I would focus on really learning the products not getting certifications. Once you know the products taking the exams is the easy part. A great way to learn their software is by downloading the free 120-day trials; or if you have a .edu email account sign up for the DreakSpark program which gives you educational licensed Microsoft software for free. At a previous job we hired a 21 year-old recent grad that had a complete Windows AD domain including a working Exchange server running on VMware in her apartment on trial software. At first we thought she was bullshitting us until she offered to VPN into her home network during the interview...she was hired by the end of the week.

Don't chase money, stay positive, and good opportunities will come your way.

reply to chgo_man99
Second what has been said already. As the old saying goes, "No work, no experience. No Experience,
no work." You mentioned you were looking for networks, what did you have in mind? Design, operate / maintain?
Don't know? CCNA is a good start, but if you wanted design, I'll tell you right now with just that under
your belt you're going to be at the bottom of a very long Rejected list.

I can empathize with your feelings that you're not putting your training to use, but what you get out of a
job is what you put in. It's good your manager is encouraging you to study, so study. I wouldn't focus too
much on not getting much time to study at work -- you're getting paid to do your job, not your "own time"
stuff.

I spent some time at IBM myself, are you a core employee or contractor? Generally if you do your time and
prove you're a valuable asset, IBM is pretty amenable to considering you for core conversion and advancement.
Another insider tip, if you're looking for CCNA / network admin stuff, most that is done out of Raleigh
these days, IIRC.

Regards

Another ex core guy ? Say it ain't so !!!! Blguy msg me your sametime Id on the network sometime and we can talk sometime.

I'm a senior Linux and windows guy been in it 14 years now and not until 5 years ago in a bad economy did I break the 75 k mark. In a big market none the less.

What it took was me working my butt off and having a strong work ethic. Once they seen it I was taken in by this company and allowed to grow with a company a lot of people who are some of the brightest on the Internet. I learned more there then any where in my travels.

Take in as much as you can from everyone there. Trust me on this. I know some guys in the windows and unix levels at IBM. They can teach you a lot if you ask.
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"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!"

@BosstonesOwn
Just ex, I was told I was a shoe-in for conversion till the big 'ends-with-cession' hit. 'Nuff seid.

Regards

reply to chgo_man99
I contracted to IBM for almost 4 years at one point in my career. They were paying me 50-60 hours a week most of the time which was costing more then hiring me as a full-time employee but they wouldn't for some reason. My boss was a perm IBM PM who tried a good dozen times in that 4 years to get me in as a perm employee with no luck. The money was good but the company is retarded. Years later I had the chance to join them as a perm employee but declined because of past experience with them. I'd never work for/with IBM again.
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"The beauty of an anonymous online forum is despite all odds in a nearly impossible manner we can have an expert on anything in every thread!"

reply to chgo_man99
The key is time. Everyone who gets into IT has to take their lumps. Some people spend a few years doing the small stuff while others spend more. No one fresh out of college with a 4 year degree gets the system admin or engineering jobs out of the gate. The only way you get those jobs is to have experience under your belt. I do have to agree with others and tell you to stick where you are and work on your certifications. The key is to be patient. Everyone with a strong work ethic will get their opportunities.
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My domain - Nightfall.net

reply to Storage_Guy

reply to chgo_man99
With regards to certifications just remember that the experience behind the certification is a lot of times more important than the certification itself. I have seen a lot of paper CCNA/CCNP that had a hard time troubleshooting basic stuff like bonded T1s going to a MPLS cloud. The same thing goes for the server/system administrator world. If you get the chance, learn as much as you can about SAN environments because when you move to larger IT shops everything is SAN attached.

reply to chgo_man99
Certs just tell someone you SHOULD know stuff up to that level.
Degree just shows someone you can make a decision and stick with it until complete. Military service can be used in place of a degree for this also.

My thought on this is experience gets you the job and keeps you employed while a degree and cert just open the door to start the process.
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"The beauty of an anonymous online forum is despite all odds in a nearly impossible manner we can have an expert on anything in every thread!"

reply to chgo_man99
Another road to check into is internship. I know lots of the fortune 500 companies take people fresh out of college and paid them peanuts to be an intern. Typically if they like you when an opening comes up you'd get offered a competitive wage and become an perm employee.

The only bad thing I can say about experience is technology changes. I've run into people who brag about doing IT for 30 years. The reality is what you did 15-20 years ago isn't relevant today so their not anything more special then someone else with 8-10 years of the same current experience. You can't just take total experience blindly.
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"The beauty of an anonymous online forum is despite all odds in a nearly impossible manner we can have an expert on anything in every thread!"

reply to Msradell
Who is policing the grammar police?

reply to Kenash0713
I understand everyone has to start somewhere especially with limited work experience out of college. But I think everyone would agree if they just use you and assign u a lot of meanigless paperwork or task that have little or nothing to do with your position and don't let you develop, it does not matter if you are 1 year or 5 years, bc what you're gonna know and tell in interview? A company name may be big but job functions are Important too.

Unless you are very healthy and have somebody to support u financially Sometimes, stayin in a low paying job away from home is impossible in long run. It's even just better to get another one at least where u can come back home for few more years while gainin experience while at the same time being able to take care of your payments or living expenses.

Bs it seems to me everyone thinks of IBM like Microsoft or google. It's no longer the same company as it used to be. Believe you would not be to much impressed what you find there today.

reply to chgo_man99
For a starter job your right in that you need viable experience no matter what the pay is. Once you get the experience it doesn't matter what they want you to do as long as you get paid the same. I'd scrub toilets with a toothbrush if they asked me as long as my wage was the same. My boss always seems like he's putting me out when he asks me to do some crappy job but I don't really care. I put in my 40 hours and collect my check.
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"The beauty of an anonymous online forum is despite all odds in a nearly impossible manner we can have an expert on anything in every thread!"

Don't u think that a recent 4 year college graduate after all hard work and big tuition costs would find a job smarter than scrubbing toilets?

As for paperwork, I am not talking about time reporting that is important in tracking progress. Although for that I wished we had a better methodology and tools . Trust me many will bring up buy management won't take many suggestions. They have other problems to worry than their employee satisfaction.

The paperwork involves basically a lot of hr work. When u are at low level and have no authority, u think it's cool? It's no fun chasing people who have a mess and cleaning up for them. Would u like to teach at 2nd grade school a class with worst student body in shool? It's no longer the same as scrubbing toilets or fertilizing farms with cow shit. It's kind of what it is. Unnecessary and distracting. There is a difference between planned career and just a job.