IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

HoldThisL

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I think being unemployed is definitely hurting you. There are too many "now hiring" signs everywhere for companies to not look at you side-eyed. Granted they are dead end retail/service industry jobs but they are jobs. Companies stay looking for reasons to disqualifying candidates for anything.

Another issue is they judge you based on previous job titles more than actual experience. Based on the title alone, I'm thinking a PC technician is just focused on dealing with physical hardware issues. It doesn't speak to any experience with SaaS, RMM, MDM, security, encryption, networking, servers, automation, scripting, BCDR, services, applications, etc. You may have experiences in those areas but the title doesn't convey it

If you don't have those experiences, you may need to consider searching a specialists or junior sys admin role in a place with those solutions. As much as I hate them, I would consider a MSP. Just have an exit plan to possibly leave after 8 - 10 months because they grind you down.

What kind of sense does that make? I'm not going to take any job just to say I'm employed, and if a company thinks like that then that is not a company I want to work for. They can look at me side eyed all they want, I am living off my savings right now, put myself through a IT bootcamp to gain some additional skills, and doing self studying to get some certifications. I have been doing self projects too, so It's not like I'm sitting on my ass :stopitslime:

You hit everything else on the nail though as I tweaked my PC technician duties on my resume and been getting more callbacks since then. I added some numbers and customer service skills too. For the jobs that interview me I have gotten offers recently but I have denied them as the pay is too shytty for me, duties involved, and if the things I learn will be valuable for my career progression. Also no tech job should pay $15-$17, especially in NYC.

$18 should be the minimum, especially considering the things that you are required to know and do. I'm luckily enough to not have to be desperate enough to take on jobs like that where it's high stress, low pay. I will just keep trying until I find the right role that is decent, I'm not jumping into anything just for the sake of experience. Good experience is better than having bad experience. :francis:
 
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What kind of sense does that make? I'm not going to take any job just to say I'm employed, and if a company thinks like that then that is not a company I want to work for. They can look at me side eyed all they want, I am living off my savings right now, put myself through a IT bootcamp to gain some additional skills, and doing self studying to get some certifications. I have been doing self projects too, so It's not like I'm sitting on my ass :stopitslime:

You hit everything else on the nail though as I tweaked my PC technician duties on my resume and been getting more callbacks since then. I added some numbers and customer service skills too. For the jobs that interview me I have gotten offers recently but I have denied them as the pay is too shytty for me, duties involved, and if the things I learn will be valuable for my career progression. Also no tech job should pay $15-$17, especially in NYC.

$18 should be the minimum, especially considering the things that you are required to know and do. I'm luckily enough to not have to be desperate enough to take on jobs like that where it's high stress, low pay. I will just keep trying until I find the right role that is decent, I'm not jumping into anything just for the sake of experience. Good experience is better than having bad experience. :francis:
Agreed and I can't stress this enough. I've been in a position when I took a job and the foundation was there, the training was there, the other coworkers and engineers were there and it was 100% remote. Suddenly they changed my whole job, team, and manager and it suddenly was a nightmare. It was the worst job experience I've ever had. I resigned with my head up. But that's where the real work began. I was applying for jobs in the morning and studying my ass off for where I wanted to be in the afternoon. It was actually tougher than actually working. I had to stay disciplined. I lived off my savings for months because even after I got a job it took 4 weeks before I could start. But I turned down a lot of "opportunities" because it wasn't the right spot for me.
 

HoldThisL

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Yo, I am now apart of a interview process for a startup that has 5 stages and this shyt ain't it. Recruitment--->Take home project---->Live technical assessment------->Call with the hiring manager + IT department ------>Call with the head honchos all for $20 per hour :dahell:

This shyt can't be normal. It can't be this difficult to get a job, it can't be. They even seem like a good company to work for but damn all that for $20?
 

Mirin4rmfar

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Yo, I am now apart of a interview process for a startup that has 5 stages and this shyt ain't it. Recruitment--->Take home project---->Live technical assessment------->Call with the hiring manager + IT department ------>Call with the head honchos all for $20 per hour :dahell:

This shyt can't be normal. It can't be this difficult to get a job, it can't be. They even seem like a good company to work for but damn all that for $20?

LOL, this is fkn ridiculous for 20 per hour. This interview style are for big tech companies.
 

HoldThisL

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LOL, this is fkn ridiculous for 20 per hour. This interview style are for big tech companies.
Damn I am so conflicted right now man. On one end I love the company culture, it looks amazing, but on the other end I'm like wtf you ain't Google, and you ain't even paying me Google type money. :russ:

This is my first time ever going through a five stage interview process and I had to research if this shyt was normal or not.

Something reasonable would be recruitment interview--->take home project----->IT hiring manager interview imo. I'm in the middle of the take home project and while it seems easy, I don't feel like doing the rest of the interview for $20 :francis:
 

Dre23

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Yo, I am now apart of a interview process for a startup that has 5 stages and this shyt ain't it. Recruitment--->Take home project---->Live technical assessment------->Call with the hiring manager + IT department ------>Call with the head honchos all for $20 per hour :dahell:

This shyt can't be normal. It can't be this difficult to get a job, it can't be. They even seem like a good company to work for but damn all that for $20?
I'm not doing that shyt lol. Sooo many contracts out there where you can just walk in and make 20+. Legit without an interview. They just need bodies there lol
 

Adonai

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Congrats, breh

Studying for mine now. Any words of wisdom?

Honestly, I just watched Dion's videos and took his practice exams. The crazy thing is that everyone tells you that you need to know subnetting and I had 0 questions on that shyt. Memorize your OSI layers, Ports, and tools to diagnose network issues and you good.
 

Stocking Cap Stu

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Honestly, I just watched Dion's videos and took his practice exams. The crazy thing is that everyone tells you that you need to know subnetting and I had 0 questions on that shyt. Memorize your OSI layers, Ports, and tools to diagnose network issues and you good.
Breh.

Just double-played a tutorial on subnetting, nervous as shyt thinking I needed it inside & out :martin:
 
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What kind of sense does that make? I'm not going to take any job just to say I'm employed, and if a company thinks like that then that is not a company I want to work for. They can look at me side eyed all they want, I am living off my savings right now, put myself through a IT bootcamp to gain some additional skills, and doing self studying to get some certifications. I have been doing self projects too, so It's not like I'm sitting on my ass :stopitslime:

You hit everything else on the nail though as I tweaked my PC technician duties on my resume and been getting more callbacks since then. I added some numbers and customer service skills too. For the jobs that interview me I have gotten offers recently but I have denied them as the pay is too shytty for me, duties involved, and if the things I learn will be valuable for my career progression. Also no tech job should pay $15-$17, especially in NYC.

$18 should be the minimum, especially considering the things that you are required to know and do. I'm luckily enough to not have to be desperate enough to take on jobs like that where it's high stress, low pay. I will just keep trying until I find the right role that is decent, I'm not jumping into anything just for the sake of experience. Good experience is better than having bad experience. :francis:
Yeah but there are people doing all of that and working full or part time. I got my first cert working full time outside of tech. I've gotten six since then working full time in tech.

If you're applying to work for a company that has people self-studying or up-training while working full time, why wouldn't they compare you to them?

Hiring managers don't just measure against other candidates. They also evaluate against current employees in the same role, salary range, experience, skill-set, etc.

Gaps in your work history, terminations, resignations. That shyt will hit you somewhere in the process. The longest I've been in a role is two years and that was just because Covid fukked up my plans. That job hopping comes up in every interview so I know it's taken into consideration when reviewing my resume. It is what it is. I just apply to jobs and keep it moving.
 

Adonai

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Breh.

Just double-played a tutorial on subnetting, nervous as shyt thinking I needed it inside & out :martin:
:mjlol:
I spent like 10 minutes before the exam writing all the steps down I needed to subnet and didn't need them at all breh. The only thing that even mentioned the shyt was one of the PBQs I had but it was like "Pick the BEST subnet to host 10 devices" A) /16, B) /24 or C) /28. I was so hurt fam.
 

Sonny Bonds

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A ticket came in from the chief of staff. She wants to be able to print remotely. I'm thinking VPN. (This is pretty much the only way, right?)

But I don't control the office network. Our landlord /an investor controls it. Why do people always have goofy requests?
 
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