A Formal Hello

[LoveForLife]

Originally Posted by hamellr

Maybe by the time you graduate it'll change, but I'd expect to be starting in Help Desk type positions. Or if you're going the software route, as a junior QA person. While Portland is pretty tech savvy, we have an interesting problem in that there are a ton of people at entry level and 2-4 year experience required levels. Luckily the jobs are there to support them.

Being that I wouldn't be considered as experienced (meaning 5+ years experience as some of the jobs are looking for), I am definitely considering an entry level entrance into a company. I've been told Help Desk would be the way to get in the door. I would be interested in software as an option, I would prefer it to be my first option actually. However, not everyone gets everything they want in life, but, I won't let this deter me away from looking and applying.

So, as someone who has been in the IT industry since before there was an IT industry, keep yourself current. Grab every certification you can. Make sure your resume is full of all the buzz words. Get to know every single person remotely associated with the IT industry you can. Do side projects, and have a bank of computers at home to play with new technologies as they come out.

What are some basic certs that are considered to be in demand at the time? Excuse me for sounding juvenile (I told you guys I'm a southern gal, simple-minded...lol..jk ) but really what do you personally consider to be buzz words? I have a few people that I know in IT, they were the one who actually recommended this career path to me. Side projects are a great idea, are there any websites were I could find some side work at, or would it mainly be through connections?

If you are female as I assume you are (I deeply apologize if you are not,) then you'll likely push out someone else as a diversity hire. Make sure that you stay competent though and good at your job. Portland's IT industry is small and you're never one or two jumps away from former coworkers or bosses.

Yes, that would be right, I am a female, so no apologies needed. Thanks for letting me know, I really do appreciate your insight hamellr.

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by LoveForLife

I would be interested in software as an option, I would prefer it to be my first option actually. However, not everyone gets everything they want in life, but, I won't let this deter me away from looking and applying.

If software is what you want to do, then now is the time to go for it. You won't have time to learn and practice all the languages you'll need to know AND get all the certificates you'd need to be in support. Programming is far enough from hardware support that no one can know both.

Right now, at this time, people who know JAVA, Ruby and IOS are in high demand in Portland. I had to hire some Ruby programmers about a year ago and had nothing but trouble doing so. I finally ended up outsourcing to an Indian company at a price that blew my budget away because that was the only choice.

Originally Posted by LoveForLife

What are some basic certs that are considered to be in demand at the time?

Comptia A+ is a must. The Macintosh Certs are good and will help you narrow down competition a lot. Even though I feel the cert itself is useless, the MSCE is good to have on your resume.

Originally Posted by LoveForLife

but really what do you personally consider to be buzz words?

This depends on the job you're going for and your experience. Generally any of the technologies you know are your buzz words. But you need to modify your resume for each job you go after. Agile, SCRUM, etc are good methodologies to add to your resume also. You can take classes in them fairly easily, I know there is a group in Seattle that offers them for free every month.

Originally Posted by LoveForLife

Side projects are a great idea, are there any websites were I could find some side work at, or would it mainly be through connections?

Fivvr.com , Freelance.com, Elance.com and a whole bunch others. You're not going to get rich, but you can make some pocket money from these sites. And, you'll get good experience that you can show off.