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Sac lacks the vibrant, dynamic, private sector that would make it a regional center of commerce. No major banks hq there, no fortune 500 companies,etc
No. Just no. Sac is gub mint jobs, healthcare, logistics (warehouse and trucking) utilities, and service jobs. And a bunch of small companies or regional operations for large companies.
For a metro area, Sac is like what, a top 20 market? Yet it's GDP rank is not in line with it's metro rank. LA is number 2, NYC number 1. Yet Sac can't hit 20? SAD.
But Sac lacks the human capital to better itself!!!!
Been out of the tech world for 18 years due to a disability and now back in with an A+ Certification and an Associates in Network Administration... but after hunting for computer repair or tech support work for four years I still can't find a single job in this whole county! Everyone turns me down saying I have no recent experience.
How do you even get experience with no job?
Anyone have experience with Hello Tech? I'm considering that now as a last ditch move.
LOL and they're saying there are jobs everywhere...
I've worked in tech for two decades through several up/down markets. The market is really hot right now with low unemployment and lots of companies hiring nationwide. In fact, we've just lost three team members and are having a hard time finding people. But there's a catch - experience is King in IT. Always has been and always will be.
Here's the biggest challenge for those trying to get in with no experience and very little training. There is a glut of people in that same boat. The only way to stand out in a crowd like that is to offer something more. There are two primary ways to do that:
1. Get more education especially from a school that has good contacts with industry. This translates into excellent internship opportunities while in the program. That in turn provides built-in experience prior to graduation. Then those schools help students find jobs with companies that recruit on campus. The professors know employers looking for good students, etc... That is one of the ways we recruit for our entry level engineers, for example.
2. In lieu on that minimum educational requirement which is a bachelor's degree for some companies including ours some go the more non-traditional route. They learn as they go in more of an ad hoc fashion with certs, community college tech training, working their local contacts in the hope of finding a lucky break. Sometimes the CCs have some job leads. Other times they are pretty much on their own.
While the second is much less demanding on the front-end it is what follows those programs that becomes extremely difficult. Basically you have to take anything even if it pays minimum wage just to get started. And even that can be hard to find with so many trying the same thing. Its basic supply and demand with an over supply at the bottom end and an under supply at the mid to top end. I known quite a few who have wanted to enter the field but were unwilling to put in the additional time in school which led to a lot more time looking for work, being unemployed, etc... than an couple more years of hard work in college. For those who put in that extra time it goes a lot easier as long as they gain some experiences along the way.
One of the other issues with 'hardware' jobs is that most companies are moving away from supporting local hardware, racking and stacking servers and networks, migrating instead to the cloud. So knowledge and experience with systems including moving them to the cloud and supporting that environment is more in demand that computer/server repair and setup. Our Cloud System Admin just left and they are really in demand.
The other option is to volunteer/intern somewhere to learn and gain experience which can later translate into a paying gig. Here's some good advice for those returning to work after a break: https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_fish...a_career_break
Derek
Last edited by MtnSurfer; 10-10-2018 at 09:07 PM..
I looked it up, it doesn't sound like a viable full time job. Why not forget trying to find work that are specifically in computer repair or IT for now and apply for other jobs? Kinkos hires people with computer skills. You might also look at police dispatching if you can type well and don't have a criminal history entry level dispatcher is a decent job with a potential for earning 60-80k a year a pension and great benefits. Costco pays well and has great benefits.
I don't know enough about your skills or work experience so it's hard to make more specific suggestions
Well I do want to work in IT - wouldn't Costco or police dispatching mean I never get back into that industry? I will look into Kinko's.
My skills are in system and network administration, computer repair and software installation. I've been doing it since the 1990s.
I've worked in tech for two decades through several up/down markets. The market is really hot right now with low unemployment and lots of companies hiring nationwide. In fact, we've just lost three team members and are having a hard time finding people. But there's a catch - experience is King in IT. Always has been and always will be.
Here's the biggest challenge for those trying to get in with no experience and very little training. There is a glut of people in that same boat. The only way to stand out in a crowd like that is to offer something more. There are two primary ways to do that:
1. Get more education especially from a school that has good contacts with industry. This translates into excellent internship opportunities while in the program. That in turn provides built-in experience prior to graduation. Then those schools help students find jobs with companies that recruit on campus. The professors know employers looking for good students, etc... That is one of the ways we recruit for our entry level engineers, for example.
2. In lieu on that minimum educational requirement which is a bachelor's degree for some companies including ours some go the more non-traditional route. They learn as they go in more of an ad hoc fashion with certs, community college tech training, working their local contacts in the hope of finding a lucky break. Sometimes the CCs have some job leads. Other times they are pretty much on their own.
While the second is much less demanding on the front-end it is what follows those programs that becomes extremely difficult. Basically you have to take anything even if it pays minimum wage just to get started. And even that can be hard to find with so many trying the same thing. Its basic supply and demand with an over supply at the bottom end and an under supply at the mid to top end. I known quite a few who have wanted to enter the field but were unwilling to put in the additional time in school which led to a lot more time looking for work, being unemployed, etc... than an couple more years of hard work in college. For those who put in that extra time it goes a lot easier as long as they gain some experiences along the way.
One of the other issues with 'hardware' jobs is that most companies are moving away from supporting local hardware, racking and stacking servers and networks, migrating instead to the cloud. So knowledge and experience with systems including moving them to the cloud and supporting that environment is more in demand that computer/server repair and setup. Our Cloud System Admin just left and they are really in demand.
The other option is to volunteer/intern somewhere to learn and gain experience which can later translate into a paying gig. Here's some good advice for those returning to work after a break: https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_fish...a_career_break
Derek
Ah, I've been doing both 1 and 2, I just got an Associates in Network Admin and an A+ Certification. I tried finding contacts but isn't that funny, everyone I met, from fellow students to professors, knew absolutely no one.
The one gig I do have right now is computer repair volunteer work, but employers aren't taking that for some reason.
I'm actually just looking for a computer repair job and technical support. I'm not looking for a glamour job, I'm trying to re-start at the bottom of tech.
At what point will these companies run out of experienced people and have to start accepting new folks? Lots of people retiring out there...
Ah, I've been doing both 1 and 2, I just got an Associates in Network Admin and an A+ Certification. I tried finding contacts but isn't that funny, everyone I met, from fellow students to professors, knew absolutely no one.
The one gig I do have right now is computer repair volunteer work, but employers aren't taking that for some reason.
I'm actually just looking for a computer repair job and technical support. I'm not looking for a glamour job, I'm trying to re-start at the bottom of tech.
At what point will these companies run out of experienced people and have to start accepting new folks? Lots of people retiring out there...
While many computer repair jobs are becoming more outsourced to cloud environments, there will still be some. Though they're not as common as you may have remembered back in the day when you worked in IT. A lot of times when a computer breaks now and usually before it will be end of lifed (EOL) by the company. So they simply go lease some new ones rather than repair the older ones. Even in our large facility with hundreds of workers there are very few hardware technicians. You'll probably find more in the mom and pop computer repair shops or the local mobile device repair place. Now its mostly one and same. Fixing cracked screens and so forth.
Yes, there are a lot of retirees. But many have advanced skills and experiences with battle scars that come with many lessons learned along the way.
If you've done all you think you can in Sacramento then you might have to look outside it. Though I do think computer repair is a tough area to go into anywhere. So maybe telephone tech support would be better.
Another one to consider would be Quality Assurance (QA). I'm not sure how familiar you are with software as opposed to hardware. But I think job options are greater there. So you may want to consider some other areas like that as well.
The other would be System Administration. It sounded like you had some prior experience in that. That's why I brought up cloud since that is something important to learn more about now. With older skills learning the new tech in important. That may require experimenting with the new stuff on your own and taking some classes in it as well. Did they cover any of that in your AA?
Derek
Last edited by MtnSurfer; 10-11-2018 at 12:08 AM..
While many computer repair jobs are becoming more outsourced to cloud environments, there will still be some. Though they're not as common as you may have remembered back in the day when you worked in IT. A lot of times when a computer breaks now and usually before it will be end of lifed (EOL) by the company. So they simply go lease some new ones rather than repair the older ones. Even in our large facility with hundreds of workers there are very few hardware technicians. You'll probably find more in the mom and pop computer repair shops or the local mobile device repair place. Now its mostly one and same. Fixing cracked screens and so forth.
Yes, there are a lot of retirees. But many have advanced skills and experiences with battle scars that come with many lessons learned along the way.
If you've done all you think you can in Sacramento then you might have to look outside it. Though I do think computer repair is a tough area to go into anywhere. So maybe telephone tech support would be better.
Another one to consider would be Quality Assurance (QA). I'm not sure how familiar you are with software as opposed to hardware. But I think job options are greater there. So you may want to consider some other areas like that as well.
The other would be System Administration. It sounded like you had some prior experience in that. That's why I brought up cloud since that is something important to learn more about now. With older skills learning the new tech in important. That may require experimenting with the new stuff on your own and taking some classes in it as well. Did they cover any of that in your AA?
Derek
Lord, I did a LOT of white box and black box QA back in the day, went from not knowing SQL to writing bug fixes for b2b shopping cart software in two days (granted this was back in the simple days of 1998-1999). I just assumed that they needed giant frak ton of certs and experience for that now. I consider myself very strong with software, and with learning new software. I'd love to get training in cloud technology, too. Pity I am out of money
Ironically places like UC Davis just need a bottom-floor newbie tech guy to install computers, and I know how to do that. But I need a birth certificate signed by four Gods to get in there. LOL.
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