IT Careers

[joetheman]

Computer Science here. College was worth the money for me. Making 88k. I would say any kind of technology or healthcare field is never a waste of money since the jobs are always there.

[Diggles]

im glad someone else uses the term "bork"

[TheBlackSheep]

Originally Posted by Diggles [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

im glad someone else uses the term "bork"

Every day. That and "grenaded". Sometimes in the same sentence. In fact, I told another engineer today, "That piece of shit PowerEdge host grenaded again last night, threw an ASR, and then spewed its VMs all over the other nodes, borking the SQL cluster in the process."

Good stuff.

Azorath

[Klendathu]

School is fine, certs are fine. Try to avoid committing yourself to spending too much money, though. It's tough to start paying back student loans when you're making $12 an hour jocking a helpdesk (salary is figurative, don't know what HD jobs pay these days). Just bear in mind that the degree and certs help you out in the beginning. Once you've been in the field for 3+ years, it comes down to what you can put on your resume, to what you KNOW and what you can DO. If I'm choosing between hiring someone who's got some piece of paper saying they know Exchange, and someone who can tell me step by step how they built a new backend Exchange server for their company, I'm going with option B every single time.

Cisco owns Linksys now, but it's not like Linksys got better for it. IMO their products actually went downhill for some reason after they started getting stamped with the Cisco logo. All that was just a cash grab for Cisco. But honestly, comparing the two is like apples and oranges. It's not the same thing, it's not in the ball park, it's not even the same league. (it's barely even the same fucking sport, to finish the PF reference). Cisco=Enterprise, Linksys=SOHO, generally.

[Rogean]

If you do anything more than helpdesk get used to being on salary and pulling long hours whenever needed for free without compensation (which can be more or less depending on your job and how much of an ass your manager(s) are)

[TheBlackSheep]

Originally Posted by Rogean [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If you do anything more than helpdesk get used to being on salary and pulling long hours whenever needed for free without compensation (which can be more or less depending on your job and how much of an ass your manager(s) are)

This. IT people above help desk level are generally well raped in regards to long hours and compensation. I get paid for 80 hours every pay period, but I average 100-130.

Short of the perks, that is one of the main things I miss about the public sector. Actual overtime pay. I was given a choice between overtime and comp time. Being on call basically 24/7, I milked it every chance I got and made quite a bit of money over the 10 years. Not to mention, it was nothing for me to roll up 300+ hours in vacation and comp time and then take off for a month straight and hit the sea for extended periods of time, in effect making MORE money, while getting paid at home. Good stuff.

Since being in the private sector, I'm looking at a maximum of 3 weeks of vacation (after 5 years). No comp time and no overtime. Bleh.

Azorath

[Kabilos]

I don't remember what flavor of something I threw on an old box. I've since gone to a tight little Untangle box that sits in front of my Firebox :P

Which is also a project id like to throw a gallon of gas on and throw the match at it..

[TheBlackSheep]

Originally Posted by Kabilos [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I don't remember what flavor of something I threw on an old box. I've since gone to a tight little Untangle box that sits in front of my Firebox :P

Which is also a project id like to throw a gallon of gas on and throw the match at it..

I know exactly what you mean. I got away from that after I had a little IPCop box go up in flames.

Azorath

[Diggles]

I have a cisco that didn't cost more than 100 bucks, works like a champ

[TheBlackSheep]

Originally Posted by Diggles [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I have a cisco that didn't cost more than 100 bucks, works like a champ

Admittedly, most of my stuff I "acquired" here and there from cohorts in the business, from infrastructure upgrades. I mean, what are you going to say when a buddy calls you up and says "Hey, remember that money I owe you? Well, we had a 6108 with a bad port and HP sent us replacement with a couple of SX GBICs, but we're going with a E4200 Series Modular instead. Its new in the box. You want it?"

Azorath