Originally Posted by
CrimsonEclipse
Unemployment paid my bills, and the Workforce Investment Act paid for my schooling as a Server Administrator. All my tests passed, new certificates in my pocket off to a new career.
You can't adequately train for that job. It takes intuition and mindset. Fortunately, the same sort of skills necessary to be a good (not necessarily a successful) pilot.
But, I.T. has similar problems as aviation, too many people willing to work long hours, holidays for minimal pay just to gain experience. If I have 5 years experience and an alphabet soup of certificates, I could muster between $10-15/hr.
"IT" is not where you want to be. Learn some Unix, bring your "A" game as a systems manager and emergency specialist extraordinaire to an interview, and I'd hire you for a NOC position in a heartbeat. The lower bar on that starts at about $25-$30/hr. After five years or so, if you have a legitimate interest in computers, networking, and systems, you should be able to get a mid-level systems administrator jobs in one of the tech parts of the country, at $75-$85k, assuming there are no major economic shifts (There could be). Five years, again assuming no major economic or market shifts, and you shouldn't have a problem breaking $120k. Very senior sysadmins/architects top out about $150k, but at that level you can also push $110/hr consulting, if you're good.
Don't waste your money on certifications. "THEY" will tell you that you need degrees and certifications, and a steady work history, and to wear a suit and tie to an interview, but "THEY" teach because they can't do; I show up to interviews in a T-shirt and jeans, at most. I've never owned a suit or a tie, and I dropped out of school in the 7th grade. I generally don't hire people with degrees, unless they really knock my socks off. (Hasn't happened yet)
If you spend your time trying to compete with the bottom feeders, you'll end up on the bottom. The key is to make yourself genuinely valuable and get past them quickly.
Does the field have problems? Oh heck yes. Tech is a horrible self-serving industry, full of fail. It's also the source of one heck of a lot of money, but that money spends a lot of time changing hands within tech and then much of it leaves the country.
Management consists predominately of people whose daddy bought them a degree at (Stanford compatible school), so there are plenty of bad decisions that come down from above, which you'll have to fend off.
It reminded me of the regional airlines but worse in some ways since the technology changed every 3-5 years. For comparison, I can easily make double that as an administrative assistant walking some CEO's dog. It's still a strange world.
It's more important to carve a niche for yourself that allows you to learn a system, rather than individual technologies. Systems don't change nearly that frequently, and the stuff under the hood is slow to change as well. New buzzwords float around every five years or so, but they tend to describe things that already existed as if they were new and novel.
Somehow, I found a way. I've found more than one position requiring my combined skills. My chosen field is still in I.T. but in a niche market where is pay is modest, but acceptable, health care provided, day shift, week days, and all holidays off. All of this on day one. And the best part, I have only one boss.
It's more important to be happy than to be rich. The two are not synonymous.
I honestly wish that all the people who don't absolutely have to fly for a living in order to satisfy their souls in a way that nothing else can..... wouldn't. :/
Sometimes when I talk to people, I realize that there are just too many people in for "a job", "an easy job", "a job that isn't real work", and not enough people in because they simply can't imagine doing anything else in life.
Just my $87.42 worth. (I charge by the hour)
~Foxy