[OT] College help....Summon the tech guys.

[Cedric]

You can also get MCSE and Cisco qualified on your own...although it takes work and dedication, plus some money for the material.

But if you can get your MCSE and get a few Cisco qualifications, especially CCIE or some of the harder qualifications you won't have trouble finding a job in the computer industry...and I mean a good job.

Also, consider Tech Support on the phones. Most companies don't require their Tech Support reps to have that much experience or any qualifications.

Now of course, Tech Support may not be what you want to do for the rest of the your life...but it's good experience and gets your foot in the door.

Cedric

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

Also, consider Tech Support on the phones. Most companies don't require their Tech Support reps to have that much experience or any qualifications.

Especially AT&T Broadband. Ye gods. I've never talked to a more incompetent tech support guy in my life.

 

[Cardinal Aidan]

Who would hire him without the little paper saying he's capable of doing what he says?

A small business. Clueful owners are going to look at the person before the resume. Clueless owners wont be hiring you directly; they'll be going through a hiring agency/temp firm. Also, I think you learn more at a small place. You certainly get broader experience in the field.

Certs are useful and helpful, but they are just ways to get in the door. Yes, a lot of companies, especially big companies view them as requirements. Trust me, if you've got a company that will choose a certification over experience, you do not want to be there. That's the #1 sign of a bad work environment. Also, big companies are a bad idea right now anyway with the budget crunches.

Get the certs as soon as you can, but never assume you cant get a job without them.

 

[Psionicist]

I think there are more or less programming involved in all computer related fields, i know it is in Sweden. But then most of us learn at least C/C++ in high-school.

 

[Leopold]

let me give you a brutal awakening in the computer world that most people learn once they hit business with a degree.


Your piece of paper is equivalent to toliet paper. I use it for the same purpose.


Why is that? Because in computer that college degree does not teach you how to diagnose computers, repair networks, debug routers, handle irate customer emails, rebuild the Win2k/*NIX server and install the various components therein and a million other things network techs do.

A college degree gives you one thing that normal techs don't have: access to upper management jobs. If you have it you can go in the upper ranks, but for all us guys in the trenchs your degree is a handicap. It doesn't help the job one bit.

You think your gonna be a sysadmin when you get out? HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAH ::holds his side:: Stop please it hurts to laugh! Let's shatter that myth right now! Expect at LEAST 6 months in the trenches answering help desk phone "Help desk how can i help you?" type questions. Think your shiny paper is gonna avoid that? Nope. Not many companies will take someone with a paper degree and thrust them infront of their 50k+ servers and say "Oh that's broken fix it" without experience. Take your lumps in the trenches and see if it's what for you. Everyone's gotta do it and those that do it are stronger for it. Skip that phase and you will NEVER know what it's like and how to deal with the scream customer of "MY EMAIL IS BROKEN!!!" or "I CAN"T PRINT!!!!!!". It's a valuable learning step for all computer techs.

My advice? Figure out what you want to do FOR SURE! If you want to be a tech monkey like some of us then get your bachelors in management and get your MCSE/CCNA as a base and you will be 10X more valuable to an employer than having a BA or an AS or any of a hundred degrees. Your degree gives you the key to upper management in big companies and that's where some of us guys with associates and no college run into the glass ceiling. Take the job makign $15/hr or whatever the first level phone grunt takes, as that is all your going to get even with MCSE/CCNA, because you have not been 'blooded' yet per se.

Take it from me chief, if you want to work with computers and build/debunk/repair/whatever with them get your degree in management or just a degree it really doesn't matter (underwater hopscotch will do for most jobs!). If you want to program or code get your degree in that language. Doing anything else and your wasting your and your future employers time.


Leopold
MCSE/CCNP

 

[Griswold]

Who would hire him without the little paper saying he's capable of doing what he says?

If you want to be a tech, put in some resumes, call around and sell yourself. You will not get paid as much as the guy with the degree or the certificate, But A+ is an entry level cert anyway. Anybody can lug a monitor, a keybord or mouse. that's how I started almost 7 years ago. I was hobbiest, when I started I logged calls, answered phones, and lugged the heavy crap for the real techs. 1 1/2 years of that, and learning how to troubleshoot and repair stuff in our office, I replaced one of the techs who quit. Another year later I was lead tech and 3 years after that Account Manager. If you have a good head on your shoulders, can communicate well and don't aquire the attitude that some of the individuals in our field have, you can do very well for yourself. I decided to get out of hardware and get a degree, and become a programmer.

Gris.

 

[Psionicist]

let me give you a brutal awakening in the computer world that most people learn once they hit business with a degree.


Your piece of paper is equivalent to toliet paper. I use it for the same purpose.


Why is that? Because in computer that college degree does not teach you how to diagnose computers, repair networks, debug routers, handle irate customer emails, rebuild the Win2k/*NIX server and install the various components therein and a million other things network techs do.

A college degree gives you one thing that normal techs don't have: access to upper management jobs. If you have it you can go in the upper ranks, but for all us guys in the trenchs your degree is a handicap. It doesn't help the job one bit.

You think your gonna be a sysadmin when you get out? HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAH ::holds his side:: Stop please it hurts to laugh! Let's shatter that myth right now! Expect at LEAST 6 months in the trenches answering help desk phone "Help desk how can i help you?" type questions. Think your shiny paper is gonna avoid that? Nope. Not many companies will take someone with a paper degree and thrust them infront of their 50k+ servers and say "Oh that's broken fix it" without experience. Take your lumps in the trenches and see if it's what for you. Everyone's gotta do it and those that do it are stronger for it. Skip that phase and you will NEVER know what it's like and how to deal with the scream customer of "MY EMAIL IS BROKEN!!!" or "I CAN"T PRINT!!!!!!". It's a valuable learning step for all computer techs.

My advice? Figure out what you want to do FOR SURE! If you want to be a tech monkey like some of us then get your bachelors in management and get your MCSE/CCNA as a base and you will be 10X more valuable to an employer than having a BA or an AS or any of a hundred degrees. Your degree gives you the key to upper management in big companies and that's where some of us guys with associates and no college run into the glass ceiling. Take the job makign $15/hr or whatever the first level phone grunt takes, as that is all your going to get even with MCSE/CCNA, because you have not been 'blooded' yet per se.

Take it from me chief, if you want to work with computers and build/debunk/repair/whatever with them get your degree in management or just a degree it really doesn't matter (underwater hopscotch will do for most jobs!). If you want to program or code get your degree in that language. Doing anything else and your wasting your and your future employers time.


Leopold
MCSE/CCNP

God bless America