IT Career Thank you for the advice after a lay-off |
- Thank you for the advice after a lay-off
- How do I work 9-5 in this industry?
- Am I supposed to hate the service desk?
- Am I getting paid to low for my job?
- Civil service: Should I accept a title promotion to manger that cuts my salary?
- Red flags at my new IT analyst position
- Best skills?
- Predicting the 5 - 10 outlook
- Thoughts on what to do. My job is almost making me suicidal
- Is y career path feasible with only certifications?
- I am about to quit my job
- Where to go from here?
- Can you check my resume
- Udemy?
- Just starting tech industry
- Automation? The next step in the IT career world. A BUNCH of questions
- MCSA no experience
- Career Lock-in
- Need Serious IT Career Advice (27M) - Hate My Job
- ELV Specialist
- Project Manager looking for some guidance
- A job I feel perfect for
- Trying to break in
- Cybersecurity certificate useful in my situation?
| Thank you for the advice after a lay-off Posted: 02 Feb 2020 08:47 PM PST I wanted to thank this sub, I came to you guys in the midst of my first IT lay-off and took a lot of your thoughts and suggestions to heart. The suggestions to start learning new skills and applying to jobs and using failed interviews as a learning point was huge. I want to post some take Aways fro anyone who might experience layoffs or is just looking for work.
All in all thank you to this sub for helping me keep my mind straight in what seemed like a difficult time. Something I also got from this sub that has stuck with me is the following, whether you have a job or not, don't stay comfortable because anything good can go to bad quickly, when it comes to work, continue to better your skills because you want to be EMPLOYABLE not employed or comfortable. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| How do I work 9-5 in this industry? Posted: 03 Feb 2020 07:23 AM PST Recently failed my RS CCIE and am not going to make the v5 deadline. After two-years or study here I am at square one. I've got a bad taste in my mouth for IT in general right now, but not enough to up and do a career change. That said I've been evaluating options. I'm in a firewall position now and I enjoy this facet of networking, but the DevOps route seems to be more lucrative and secure long-term. I'm not attracted to DevOps but may once I jump in. I've also thought about just becoming a programmer. Above all, I'm looking for a path forward that allows me to work 9-5. I've also seen some local positions for a pre-sales engineer. I really enjoy the design phase of projects, but don't enjoy meeting with non-tech personnel to discuss solutions so that may not be right for me. Thanks for your time. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Am I supposed to hate the service desk? Posted: 03 Feb 2020 04:00 AM PST I started my first IT job after college as a service desk agent in November. First month or so I enjoyed it - making connections and finally getting some real world experience. Now I dread it immensely. Sitting in a cubicle for 8 hours a day to have people yell at me for things that aren't my fault. I make $17 an hour as a contractor so no benefits - no sick days or vacation, any of it. Is service desk a rite of passage to something better in IT? Or am I just in the wrong field? I mean don't get me wrong, I like when I am able to help people with their issues. I just don't feel like I know enough about certain things. I've got a bachelors in Business IT and an A+, currently studying for Net+. Should I keep pushing or maybe change directions? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Am I getting paid to low for my job? Posted: 03 Feb 2020 10:11 AM PST Hello everyone. I work for Cisco currently. I am basically a sys admin for the security center in our whole department. I am getting paid 13 an hour but they take out a lot in taxes and what not which results in me getting like $350 a week in paychecks which is super frustrating. Rent is super expensive where i live but the cheapest i pay is $500 a month and that doesnt include bills such as power, internet, etc. Plus gas given my drive is an hour everyday and most places closer are over 1000 in rent. I thought i could handle it at first but i am making a little over 1000 each month when i want to be making at least 2000 a month to have extra money for bills and myself and my dog. A couple of my good IT friends think i need to be looking for a new job even though i've only been here for 3 months. But Cisco has done some things that have really damaged me financially and i am not sure if i can be working like this anymore. I don't want to be looking for a new job but i can't afford anything. I cannot afford to go after certifications i want. The recruiting company i work for says i would get a pay raise after 6 months of working here but honestly i am not sure if i entirely believe their claims cause i've had too many of these companies screw me over. It's hard to move up and get the certifications i want when i can't even afford to get the vouchers for them to take the tests and if i fail they will be wastes of money on my part not unless i have a bit more of a pay raise. But are there even any jobs that are entry level in IT that might pay over 15 an hour. I hate to sound like a gold digger but i am needing to put myself first before considering taking a job like this especially given they give me so much to do at times. I hate to sound like a gold digger and am only in this for the money (even one of my cisco co-workers said this when i asked him about it) but i also dont want to end up on the street and having to have to give up my dog and home. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Civil service: Should I accept a title promotion to manger that cuts my salary? Posted: 03 Feb 2020 10:48 AM PST Working for the big city under a Computer Specialist (Software) title. I passed a promotional exam for Computer Systems Manager (CSM) and have worked in my current position for over three years. I'm being offered the promotional title now, but in the same job (at least for now.) I'd get $1K added to my current base salary and a few extra vacation days. The rub is I'd have to leave the union, so I lose ≈$5K in added differentials that are part of the union contact, and have to pay ≈$1.6K for prescription drug coverage the union provides, plus no more comp or overtime (which rarely comes up.) (There's other benefits the union provides that manager benefits cover so they're basically a wash.) So it's a higher title with a pay cut. The only advantage in the promotion AFAIK would be for job opportunities inside or outside civil service in the future. Anyone else out there been in this situation? Should I take it? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Red flags at my new IT analyst position Posted: 03 Feb 2020 06:16 AM PST So I finally made it out of the help desk and started my position as an I.T. analyst with a new company. The work is great, I do everything from networking, to system administration, to working on and supporting their ERP system. However, I have noticed a few red flags already. The first being that my boss (the GM), seems like he could be a complete psychopath. During my first week, he pulled me into his office for the better part of an hour and proceeded bad mouth the current sys admin, and informed me that he is thinking about getting rid of him because he is lazy despite being extremely knowledgeable and having worked there for 25 years. My co worker is late 40's burnout and has not painted a good picture of the company through the discussions we've had. The CEO has been known to fire people on a whim, and the previous girl that was in my position, lasted a month then suddenly left due to "family issues". I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. Should I make my escape now or stick it out? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Posted: 02 Feb 2020 12:07 PM PST From anyones experience or from someone who hires people. What are some skills that you look for in entry level positions or people with 3-4 years experience? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Posted: 03 Feb 2020 08:24 AM PST I work in an industry where a particular software vendor has a greater than 80 percent market share. Up until recent years, the vendor has partnered closely with hosting providers, and both the vendor and its partners were making a lot of money. People who had vendor specific certifications were also cashing in on the situation up until recently when the software vendor decided to host their own application. Due to this situation, and if I'm being honest, also some burnout, I'm trying to make a move within the next 3 - 5 years. I won't have to earn at my current level, and working 40 hour weeks (if such a thing exists) would feel like semi-retirement. I've been looking at cloud certifications, and also things like Docker/Kubernetes. Automation also seems hot right now, and I'm genuinely interested in it. Is anyone else in a similar situation? What are your thoughts/plans going forward? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Thoughts on what to do. My job is almost making me suicidal Posted: 03 Feb 2020 04:27 AM PST Hey Everyone, First off, please understand that I have to be intentionally vague because I know other administrators from the company I work at are around here. I work for a mega-corp in third line support. Been there many years (talking more than a decade) and it was always ok. We got a bit of "good stuff" ie projects to do alongside the dross that is tickets and mundane changes. There was also decent OT at good rates. Several managers during that time. The odd disagreement but nothing major. Now I have a new boss and he and I just don't get on, at all. He is new to management and thinks he can "get away" with things that outright horrify HR. More than once he has reduced me to tears and whenever work isn't meeting his standards I am threatened with a bad review, which has dire consequences.He *seems* to have OCD and a workaholic tendancy which isnt good. I already have mental health issues and he doesn't grasp it. The worse it gets, the more I shut down. On top of this he loves to micro manage EVERYTHING. All the good stuff is now solely his. He doesn't trust us to do our own things. Even things such as repairing a broken configuration now needs his approval, with email back and forth in minute detail. Previous bosses would just tell us to get on with it. Combine this with him now owning and running the projects and giving us scraps of information, its a pretty crap existance. It has gotten so bad that I avoid him at all costs. My entire working day (if I push it out) is about 2 hours. That and OT has gone away, so my salary has dropped by around $10K. He hoardes everything. What makes it even weirder is that the other manager for the other region, is as good as can be in terms of everyone gets a fair share, no micro managing etc. I used to love the job but now I hate and when I have a weekly meeting I find myself drinking half a bottle of Jack Daniels the night before because I know whats coming. The other bosses I had during my tenure I had no issues with at all. Just this one. HR have essentially said "put up or shut up" and go down the formal complaint route. I work from home due to commitments so another job isn't that practical along with the fact that all my stuff is a little dated because we are mega silod, if that makes sense. Im tempted to just go on long term sick whilst I work out my next move. Thoughts? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Is y career path feasible with only certifications? Posted: 03 Feb 2020 03:46 AM PST Hello all. Last week I started an community program that's preparing me for Comptia's A+ certification. I've been looking for an opportunity to get into tech on my own for the last couple of years and this is the first real step I've made. While we're starting the materials today, I know I want to end up in cybersecurity. I'm aware of that certs will me in the door and I'm looking at getting Cisco, E_Council, SANS and OSCP within the next 5 years. My big worry however is that I might hit a ceiling without a degree down the road, I'm wondering if anyone here has a prescribed path that they took? Thanks for your time and have a great day Ps I'm also planning on building a software portfolio of network tools in conjunction with these studies [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Posted: 03 Feb 2020 08:05 AM PST Hey there, I am about to quit my job as BI Backend Developer in a IT Consulting firm to start a new job as Backend Engineer for startup. I'm a bit sad to leave my coworkers, and I'm not sure how to tell it to my boss. Do you have any suggestions? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Posted: 03 Feb 2020 06:17 AM PST Hi all, Just got this job after a LONG search on a year long contract. Which career paths can I take after this? Would love the advice of the more experienced especially on pay. Thanks! Job description - Technical Specialist Key Responsibilities Authorisation and Access Infrastructure set-up and support Network engineering and maintenance support Server implementation and maintenance Database management/ securing Website administration Requirements Degree in Computer Engineering or Science, or a relevant field. Polytechnic Diploma holders in Computer Engineering with related skillsets would also be considered. Familiar with Linux, preferably Ubuntu Programming knowledge (network applications e.g. Perl/ Python) An excellent team player with effective communication skills Pro-active mindset with analytical and problem-solving skills Able to work independently in a dynamic work environment Pay - About 45K SGD yearly, very low medical insurance cover, no bonus. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Posted: 03 Feb 2020 06:14 AM PST | ||||||||||||||
| Posted: 03 Feb 2020 05:55 AM PST Someone at work recommended using the Udemy online courses to study for certifications. I see $200 course for $15 on sales right now. Looks like it comes with videos, practice tests, etc. Co-worker says he has good luck using Udemy. Has anybody used Udemy before? Any good? Not worth it? I've mainly used books as study materials in the past and will continue to do so. Im just looking for more resources. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Posted: 03 Feb 2020 05:35 AM PST Hey I am just getting started in the tech industry and I see things link Linux Administrator and Linux Engineer. What is the difference between administrator and engineer??? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Automation? The next step in the IT career world. A BUNCH of questions Posted: 03 Feb 2020 05:22 AM PST I just got my first help desk job after doing desktop support for a little bit. I despise it especially since I have to help a lot of middle aged to older people ex. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO DOWNLOAD THIS APP TO GET INTO THE VPN I DONT WANT IT ON MY PHONE ITS A VIRUS" I have a interest in making things automated especially with power shell and I'd like to start learning. How can I start? What field of IT uses a lot of automation and scripts? How long should I stay at a help desk job? What should i try and learn? A bunch of questions [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Posted: 03 Feb 2020 12:09 AM PST Hi everyone, I am looking to start a career in IT and after looking into certifications I think MCSA might be most useful for entry level jobs. I am based in the UK and from what I can see compTIA is not as popular with employers as MCSA. IT has been my hobby for a while and have experience with home labs and servers, however I have not got any formal IT qualifications or experience. From what I read on forums, it seems it would be quite hard to do it without any experience, I am wondering is there anyone in similar situation who has done it? I am looking to complete it by the end of the year as that is when I start my university. Any suggestions would he highly appreciated! Thanks :) [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Posted: 03 Feb 2020 12:08 AM PST I know I made a big mistake. I'm totally responsible for the direction of my career and I own it. I feel that I've painted myself into a corner with my decision to join the company I have now. I've worked for them for about a year now, doing App System development. I only have an AWS assoc cert, which isn't really in demand where I am. Linux Experience is also not in demand here. When I was starting I wanted access to the AWS/DigitalOcean accounts so I can have a sane infrastructure to work on. I wanted to do Infrastructure as Code but they dont see the benefits, boss said, give me the required server resources and ill send you your sshaccess. Add to that each customer produces an ungodly amount of adhoc requests. There are no standardized deployments due to customers bargaining for resource requirements. Red flags I noticed during my employment (crude timeline):
That god damn "code freeze" made things so much worse. 6 months after the freeze I don't even want to touch it. I raised my concerns that the app system is to brittle, and my vision of modularity was not implemented due to constant distractions from clients. The only positive thing is that I get a 25% raise every 6 months (and I get to put food on the table). How do you get out of this? No one is looking for a Linux guy here with container experience. One does, but wants one who had a full blown openstack implementation experience. I know there is another solution to this, take control and lead, but I've tried already. I dont think they understand it. I hate the feeling of being trapped, I think if I had no child I've bailed from this within 3 months. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Need Serious IT Career Advice (27M) - Hate My Job Posted: 02 Feb 2020 11:02 AM PST I'm currently working for a contractor (DoD) and have been for approximately 3 years. In that time frame, I've gone from intern to help desk to server admin to handling security compliance all without ever changing my title. While I have moved up the pay scale somewhat (started at $50k, now at $75k), I've never truly learned the basics of proper networking, systems administration, security, or true ITSM. The IT group I moved into was a one-man show for about 10 years until I came along, and needless to say, it was a disaster of a situation. IT has never been prioritized by the organization, and it has continued to not be a priority (serving as merely a customer service component for the organization) until compliance and auditing have come into the picture over the past year. Even after they asked me to move into a compliance/team lead role, they never took my recommendations seriously or approved any of the policies I wrote for them (they had NONE). I've never changed titles in the almost 3 years I've been with the organization, and I despise policy and security writing. On top of taking solutions to management for approval for compliance necessity (which are typically never approved or take months to make a decision on), as well as policy and security planning and writing, including checking in on the day-to-day work with the other 3 members of the team (who now handle various aspects of IT, such as networking and help desk), who I typically have to answer their questions or come up with solutions for them (even though they all have at least 5-10 years more experience than I do in IT), I'm never able to hone in on any of the true technical skills which made me love my job when I first started and what I could develop for the future. I've received multiple offers for other jobs, but the money isn't able to match what I'm currently making due to the lack of experience overall and in specific areas. I like the idea of management, but day in and day out of office politics, lack of and/or poor decision making from the top has drained me mentally and made me despise going into work each and every morning. And, upper management expects IT to solve problems that should have been taken care of years ago within a mere week without the funding to make the changes. I've also never been able to decide on a true career path in IT because I've always been forced to be a generalist. I like dabbling in software engineering, web development, networking, cloud-computing technologies, etc., but I've never been able to approach these paths with true experience in my current position which leaves me without much to refer to when hiring managers ask what my experience is or how to tackle certain problems that may arrive. Maybe I'm just complaining too much and need to suck it up, but I just don't want to waste my career doing something I hate. I have a feeling I'll never be able to move on from this company to get true hands-on skills in a professional environment where actual IT work and/or software development is being done. Especially when I would most likely need to take a pay cut to start fresh in a role that would teach me these skills in a professional environment. I just leave my house and immediately am consumed by anxiety until I leave the office. My brain just seems better suited for the true private sector, but most of the jobs in my area are all gov't. Any help or advice is appreciated. TL;DR: Been working in corporate IT for a DoD contractor for almost 3 years (started as an intern). Never developed any hard skills. Stuck writing dreadful security policy and dealing with lack of/poor decision making by management. Hate my current role (gives me incredible amounts of anxiety), and I've never been able to learn true hard IT skills at this company. Thanks! [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Posted: 03 Feb 2020 01:21 AM PST | ||||||||||||||
| Project Manager looking for some guidance Posted: 02 Feb 2020 08:59 PM PST Hey ya'll, So I'm a project manager for a company that mostly does work involving wireless site surveys using Ekahau and on site access point installations/configurations. I'm looking for some help in finding some training and certifications that will help me better understand how things work on the more technical side of things like how networks are setup at the hardware level (switches, routers, etc.) and how all of that hardware works. My current problem is this - I can hang with everyone when it comes to the basic stuff like ensuring we get CAT6 cables run or other scheduling related things, but as soon as we start wandering into things like VLANs and ports and the actual configuration of APs then I'm completely lost. I'm pretty good with Ekahau and I understand the general idea of how most of these things work, but I'm not much help with managing the more technical aspects of it. What certifications are a good place to start for me here? I've been looking at the A+ and Network+ certifications but I'm not sure if they're the best option for me. Also if anyone has recommendations for general project management training/certifications that would be greatly appreciate as well. Thanks! [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Posted: 02 Feb 2020 08:45 PM PST I've been at the same place for over 8 years. I started as a systems engineer and moved up to IT Manager since 2014. I've been deeply involved with end users and their needs ever since, basing most of my direction off of their feedback and it's propelled our company to where we're the focal point of IT progress. We're an incredibly small IT shop (2:2000 with only outsourced high-end technical resources) that has acquired many smaller businesses with the only other "on-the-payroll" IT employee being the Director of IT. Recently, a job opening was posted for Director of End User Experience. I'd heard about the role of Director of User Experience (Director of UX, which is normally marketing and graphic design-based), but this role specifically was new to me. After reading through the role description, it sounds like all of my favorite and most rewarding parts of my current role. I put in the application on a whim and received a call back the next day requesting a phone interview to discuss my qualifications. This is a huge step in my career. I'm a part of a company that's been growing exponentially, but I have a feeling that I'm at my ceiling - any forward progress will be hard fought and long waited. It's been a grueling time with such an imbalance of available resources to end users, not to mention the sheer complexity of our IT topology. The signs point up where I'm currently at, but with a fresh start with such a jump forward, I'm both intrigued and concerned. I have a couple things I'd like some advice with:
If I were to be offered the role:
Thanks in advance for the feedback. The call is this Tuesday. I feel that I'm ready for it, but I'm not going to pass up an opportunity to poll the audience beforehand. [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Posted: 02 Feb 2020 06:21 PM PST Got my degree in information systems security. Mostly it was in sysadmin. I'm good at and don't mind help desk, but in the last year all I hear is not refereed or under qualified. Any thoughts? [link] [comments]  | ||||||||||||||
| Cybersecurity certificate useful in my situation? Posted: 02 Feb 2020 08:05 PM PST It appears i am eligible for some free tuition reinburstment for cyber security courses. I was wondering if it would be useful to someone in my position. Currently I am a software developer working mostly on HR related software. I have read some material on cybersecurity mostly in terms of XSS, and SQL injection and know how to program. My goal with taking this course would be to:
I have worked with my employer's cybersecurity department and they do security reviews. They would run scan on software and then tell us what vulnerability are there, assign priority, and then tell us to fix it. Frankly, that scanning procedureal aspect of the cybersecurity job isn't that appealing to me. I would prefer to internalize that security knowledge so that when I can write code that isn't vulnerable, so cybersecurity to me is more of a means than an end. What do you think? Are there different types of cybersecurity certificates? Just want a way to analyze if the certificate will be useful. Paul [link] [comments]  |
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