So why is the job market so bad? (Portland, Clackamas: dangerous, statistics)

[Xanathos]

Originally Posted by TDNY

Wow, another post from you telling us how totally super awesome you are. Good job!

No, another post providing a dose of realism. I get that a number of people on this particular subsection are all about living in fantasyland, but fantasyland and I don't get along.

Leave it to people such as yourself to take something where I was telling someone exactly why they were wasting their time trying to "build a network" and then loosely hooking a guy up with a couple of leads as "telling you how super awesome I am". Seriously, you yourself admitted you don't have a flipping clue what the IT world is like, yet you're going to try and make declarations when I state some facts about where the industry is at presently? I honestly can't tell if you're just "out there" or merely jealous that some of us picked a field that's still short-supply-high-demand for people with a proper skillset.

Come to the real world sometime. It's not all that bad, I promise.

[TruckDriver33]

Originally Posted by TDNY

Wow, another post from you telling us how totally super awesome you are. Good job!

I have a couple of friends with that same attitude, both of them fell hard from their ivory towers.

[mcmike58]

Xanathos, thanks for the leads but I'm not a networking guru as you apparently are. I guess my resume *must* suck since I'm not being overrun by recruiters like you are. I don't have a CCNP or an MCSE. I've got my A+, Network+, Security+ and more and I've been working in a data center providing back end support for years. So what would you do if you were a middle aged, white, female "individual contributor", new in town and needing a job? Keep looking or just save up for a bullet?

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

No, another post providing a dose of realism. I get that a number of people on this particular subsection are all about living in fantasyland, but fantasyland and I don't get along.

Leave it to people such as yourself to take something where I was telling someone exactly why they were wasting their time trying to "build a network" and then loosely hooking a guy up with a couple of leads as "telling you how super awesome I am". Seriously, you yourself admitted you don't have a flipping clue what the IT world is like, yet you're going to try and make declarations when I state some facts about where the industry is at presently? I honestly can't tell if you're just "out there" or merely jealous that some of us picked a field that's still short-supply-high-demand for people with a proper skillset.

Come to the real world sometime. It's not all that bad, I promise.

Xanathos, occasionally you make some decent observations or intelligent points about Portland(and occasionally the facts you spout off about Portland aren't that true). But regardless of that--you often come off as one of the most narcissistic, unlikable people on this board, ever...

You're lucky to be such an IT rock star, since people skills are obviously not your forté.

And I know you'll have your typical response about how I'm just another liberal hippie Portland vigilante...

[jjpop]

Originally Posted by Deezus

Xanathos, occasionally you make some decent observations or intelligent points about Portland(and occasionally the facts you spout off about Portland aren't that true). But regardless of that--you often come off as one of the most narcissistic, unlikable people on this board, ever...

Obviously Xanathos doesn't come here to be liked or to provide encouragement to other posters. He either a) thinks his negative comments are actually helping people, or b) thrills at getting people's panties in a bunch.

[mcmike58]

re: jjpop's comment b) thrills at getting people's panties in a bunch. <--- that sounds like a troll to me.

[TDNY]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

No, another post providing a dose of realism. I get that a number of people on this particular subsection are all about living in fantasyland, but fantasyland and I don't get along.

Leave it to people such as yourself to take something where I was telling someone exactly why they were wasting their time trying to "build a network" and then loosely hooking a guy up with a couple of leads as "telling you how super awesome I am". Seriously, you yourself admitted you don't have a flipping clue what the IT world is like, yet you're going to try and make declarations when I state some facts about where the industry is at presently? I honestly can't tell if you're just "out there" or merely jealous that some of us picked a field that's still short-supply-high-demand for people with a proper skillset.

Come to the real world sometime. It's not all that bad, I promise.

Silly man. You have no idea who I am or what business I'm in. I don't have a "flipping clue" about the IT job market because I have no reason to care. There's a whole wide world out there that exists outside of your business.

I 'm just making the observation that every time I come to this message board I read yet another post from you about how great you are, and how much Portland sucks. You just seem like a snot. If that's just your "message board persona," then I apologize, but it's the impression you give off.

[SacalaitWhisperer]

The previous administration gave business tax breaks to send jobs overseas.

That might have something to do with the job market.

[Xanathos]

Originally Posted by mcmike58

Xanathos, thanks for the leads but I'm not a networking guru as you apparently are. I guess my resume *must* suck since I'm not being overrun by recruiters like you are. I don't have a CCNP or an MCSE. I've got my A+, Network+, Security+ and more and I've been working in a data center providing back end support for years. So what would you do if you were a middle aged, white, female "individual contributor", new in town and needing a job? Keep looking or just save up for a bullet?

To quote Jamie from Mythbusters, "well there's your problem".

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your place in the IT world is essentially gone, and it's probably not coming back. You need to raise your skills to the next level.

The thing about this most recent economic downturn is that the bottom rung of the IT ladder basically got lopped off. People are no longer impressed at the wizardry of power cycling a modem or rebooting a computer anymore. These days, help desk responsibilities oftentimes fall to a computer-savvy secretary, or are farmed out to managed services firms who charge 200 dollars a month for on-call service. What help desk jobs (which is what the CompTIA certs you have qualify you for) there are out there are inundated with hundreds of resumes. And since it's a significantly lower skillset, there are significantly more people out of those hundreds that are legitimately qualified. Higher supply=lower demand. In Portland, even if you did get an offer doing HD, it would be for no more than 11 or 12 dollars an hour these days.

My advice to you is to go back to school for a little while. At the very least, get your MCSA and your CCNA. Hell, brain dump it if you have to and then fake your way through a job for a while. Those will at least open the door for junior administrator positions (in the case of a CCNA, it will at least guarantee a callback for a standard network admin role). Preferrably, get your MCSE, your MCITP, and pick a specialization on the network side and cert up on that (CCNA Security, Voice, Wireless, etc.). Since you have your Sec+, your MCSA/E will automatically come with the -Security notation at the end of it, which is good for you.

Junior Admin is the new bottom rung in the IT world. The bar has moved.

[Xanathos]

Originally Posted by Deezus

Xanathos, occasionally you make some decent observations or intelligent points about Portland(and occasionally the facts you spout off about Portland aren't that true). But regardless of that--you often come off as one of the most narcissistic, unlikable people on this board, ever...

You're lucky to be such an IT rock star, since people skills are obviously not your forté.

And I know you'll have your typical response about how I'm just another liberal hippie Portland vigilante...

My people skills are just fine. The thing with me is I'm direct and I speak my mind - which offends the delicate sensibilities of some people. I call it like I see it, and I don't feel the need to try to rationalize or delude myself into thinking something is something that it's not just to soothe my mind. I come from a culture where this is the norm, and that's obviously not the norm for the Portland natives. That's their problem, not mine. I lack the time or inclination to candy coat or handhold someone while stuffing a peace pipe up their rear end to provide a little smoke.