RL professions p99 players

[fadetree]

Well, I work in a forested area mostly, wearing green tights. I spend a lot of time assisting campers and working with the animals. I also run around tracking things and occasionally have to kill some sort of wild beast or rampaging humanoid creature.

For relaxation I like to log into a game where I spend all day sitting at a computer and typing long strings of gibberish in to make it do stuff.

[maahes]

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

Any one who works for me (Director of ICT for a School Division) can pass the A+ on Monday after studying over the weekend. Network+, Security+, etc. are all very baseline certs for the bottom fee.. er... entry level employees of the ICT world, Deskside Support / Service Desk Techs (or guys assembling whiteboxes in the back of a computer store). Good money compared to delivering pizza I guess.

Get a 2 year Community College IT diploma then try to find someone to fund certs in SAN and Virtualization (if you like overtime!), or get a 4 year degree in CompSci and go program in Java if you want to make nearly six figures...

And work on soft skills - technical competencies will get you a job but soft skills (communication, negotiation, requirements elicitation, etc.) will be the rocket under your ass to get you places. Lots of otherwise smart people are glass ceiling-ed into a cube pumping out code til they miss a technology curve and retire as the only guy who knows COBOL (or whatever dead language you last ramped up on) because of their abysmal communications skills. And learn to spell [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] As a few people have said here, networking can help you. Join Toastmasters!

Just my $0.02 but then again I'm the guy on the other side of the hiring table [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Regards,
Mg

I strongly agree with the overall point of this post. Having the ability to bullshit/communicate will take you to places your skills never will. Shit many of my first jobs right out of high school (skipped college due to it being a massive waste of my time and money.) I landed only cause I can talk bullshit. Now that I think about it, 90% of the jobs in my past I had no idea about the technology I was applying to be working on. I studied on it over a weekend, used my charisma and bullshit to sweet talk me the job during the interview. Once on the job is was sink or swim while getting paid.

[Zallar]

My company provides outsourced IT services for small businesses between 5 -100 employees. Typically our clients have outgrown "Cousin frank does all our computer stuff" and they're not big enough to hire a full time IT guy.

+1 for the mention of communication skills. There are alot of IT folks out there, but the ability to talk to a business owner, understand their needs, and sell them a solution is $$$. Business owners don't want the geek speak, they just want a reliable solution so they can focus on their business.

Recommendations:
http://technibble.com
http://www.robinrobins.com/

[maahes]

Guess I should add what I do.

I freelance for half a dozen companies doing Application Packaging/SCCM Setup/Deployment

I also work for a major US Airlines.

Sadly I have not had the time to play on P99 for about a year now. I miss it everyday and visit the boards the same.

If anyone would like to ask me any questions regarding the opinions I have shared please feel free to IM me. I really had no idea breaking into IT was as difficult as it sounds reading others posts. If I could help breaking down those barriers in anyway, it would make me very happy to help.

[Slave]

I write science fiction and fantasy literature on a professional level.

[Peatree]

Major Account Manager for one of the major PBX companies.

[murcielago200]

ER nurse here and eternal student here so one day I can make big bucks. Nice thing I do is keep EQ on a USB stick and play it at work when ER is slow.

[Alarti0001]

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

I had no idea IT was so difficult to break in to. I've worked in multiple departments in IT, no one cares about Certs from my experience. When I interview candidates for employment I never focus on Certs or give them any weight in my choosing of who to fill positions. The list can sometimes look good, but I never look at specific ones people have. I personally believe when interviewing you can tell a persons general intelligence level very quickly, everything in IT can be taught to an average intelligent person. So will this persons personality benefit and fit with the rest of my team is far more important.

One specialty skill that I have been paying big money for is Application Packagers and SCCM Administrators. I am hiring packagers right now for around 70k to 90k contract, 60k to 80k salary starting. Experienced SCCM Admins are starting at 100k. SCCM Admins are all over the world, however the packagers are few and far between. No school teaches those skills and normally the market is controlled by 20 to 30 packagers.

Everything can be taught to anyone... Anyone can claim they know something. The cert is a guarantee that they do.

[Alarti0001]

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

Even with a degree the payscales aren't great considering most tech supp work can be outsourced as long as the SLA is beneficial. I abandoned IT completely especially with the cert factories pumping out IT techs. If you must have a career in IT, may I suggest security or becoming a database guru. Yeah, I know easier said then done. I'm currently halfway through my accounting degree and working in a mid-level govt. job analyzing statutes and administrative code.

IT is booming and will continue too. As i suggested earlier cybersec, the oil industry and the healthcare field will grow. They get paid alot too. Tech support work is entry level IT. 2 years of that or less and you will get bumped up if you apply yourself. I am making 5 times what I started out at.

[gloine36]

Look at public history. Huge field. The History BA is the most versatile BA from a liberal arts college there is. I'd say check on the NPS availabilities too but they're competitive for the low guide jobs even with a MA in history. Retired vets love them.