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Just as a note - I just placed a job posting for software testers, and have been receiving a number of resumes from software DEVELOPERS, many with Masters degrees and 8-10 years of experience.
You can look on the bright side... much of the competition may not settle for a position in your salary range. I say keep at it, if you are determined enough it will happen. Btw, help desk is where you want to be--unless you get lucky somehow.
ps. I have no certs and don't believe in them. Experience and proper education are the way to go, much 'safer' bet.
I cringe every time I hear one of those ad's on the radio about getting a "high paying" IT job after a couple of classes and a certificate. I have been in the industry 14 years (I'm 32) and never had a single certification (I'm a systems engineer for a bigger company in RTP). There is nothing wrong with bettering yourself and trying to get into IT but the fact is if you sit us down in a room in front of a hiring manager for a job .... ANY tech job with a decent salary you lose EVERY TIME. The certs are nice but like everyone else here said the paper MCSE ruined it. When you get into a real world situation where a production server is down and its potentially costing 1000's of dollars for every minute its not working you arent going to be able to choose A. B. or C. to fix it ... either you know how to fix it or you dont, and nothing gets you that kind of skill except for time on a job. If you can afford to go entry level to get you feet wet go for it but dont think you are going to walking in the door in this economy / job market with nothing but a certificate and even get 45K
Let me describe my situation very briefly. I have a PhD in biomedical science and have been looking for a decent job for 3+ years. It hasn't happened and I've become so disillusioned that I'm ready to do the unthinkable, go back to school quickly to get certificiations so I can get a good IT job. I am pretty knowledgable about PC hardware and operating systems, so I was looking for a sysadmin or networking job.
My plan is to go back to school and get CISCO certified by taking 4 courses. Simultaneously I will study for the Red Hat Certified Engineer exam and take it. I am also thinking of Microsoft certification. My desire is to get some certifications which would partially obliviant a need for experience (every ad I see nowadays is '7-10 years experience required'.
Anyway what do people in the field suggest? This is a huge step and I am wondering if I am doing all this work just to find myself unemployable once again (due to layoffs, overseas transfers, etc).
I think what I am really looking for is more personal interaction, team collaboration, decent paycheck ($40k starting pref), sane bosses, easily managable workflows, etc. This all lacks in my current field for numerous reasons.
Thanks.
You may get those certifications and have them on your Resume but I am afraid you are going to get hit with the 'over qualified' answer when they see you have a PhD even though it is unrelated to the IT field. You would be competing against IT Professionals with years of experience in their related field that will have at least a BS and with a fair number having a MS Degree in IT. IMO it would be difficult to hire you as an entry level IT Professional given your extensive educational backround. Why start at the bottom with your credentials.
IMHO you should look for an IT Service Company that is working with the Health Care Industry to automate their workflows. Your back round can help any IT Business Analyst define critical requirements from a Health Care ( Clinical Research Center) company. In parallel you can be leaning the IT both on the job and in the classroom while you are employed. Check out IT Service Companies working with the Health Care Field, I'm sure there are some. May the Google be with you! Good luck!
When I transferred to IT in 1979, Exxon-Mobil sent me on the clock to a 10 week full immersion certificate program in system 360/370 development and programming on campus at New York University.
Those were the good old days. Now, contractors are brought in with all the required skills and there's little chance to move up through the ranks.
Shame how American business no longer values company loyalty and business experience.
You mentioned CISCO certification, Red Hat Certified Engineer and Microsoft certification. I'm not sure being certified in all different areas is the best use of your time & money. You might want to focus on just one area - networking, O/S admin, programming, DB admin, Web design, application admin, etc. If you focus in one area, you'll be a specialist and (in my opinion) have a better chance of landing the job in that area. If I were starting down your path, I would consider JAVA programming and enterprise portal development. (netweaver, oracle/bea, jboss, etc)
Good luck!
Just as a note - I just placed a job posting for software testers, and have been receiving a number of resumes from software DEVELOPERS, many with Masters degrees and 8-10 years of experience.
Most s/w testers have at least some dev't experience. Very few people spend entire careers as testers only.
I'd like to see de-emphasis on degrees; that square-filler is mostly that and companies put FAR too much emphasis on it, esp regarding anyone with more than a few years' experience.
Anyway I don't know anything about the biomed field and respect your thinking in new directions, but with a PhD I can't believe starting over in IT w/no experience would be preferable. What about teaching positions?
Just as a note - I just placed a job posting for software testers, and have been receiving a number of resumes from software DEVELOPERS, many with Masters degrees and 8-10 years of experience.
Just something to consider.
I made that mistake once and don't want to resort to it again. It kills your marketability as a developer. I took the job so that I could break into a new field, but after that nobody wanted to hire me as a developer. . . . . It was if they felt 2 years as a tester would invalidate the previous 7 years I had as a developer.
Look at the chart at this page, the Triangle is not the place for biomedical at all.
Exhibit 2: Ranking Life Sciences Cluster by Employment
Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing Instruments Manufacturing Medical Devices Manufacturing Research
1. Philadelphia 1. Bay Area 1. Minneapolis-St. Paul 1. Bay Area
2. Los Angeles 2. Boston 2. Bay Area 2. Houston
3. Newark, NJ 3. Bridgeport 3. Los Angeles 3. Boston
4. Middlesex 4. Los Angeles 4. Boston 4. Washington DC
5. Chicago 5. San Diego 5. Chicago 5. Los Angeles
6. Bay Area 6. Indianapolis 6. St. Louis 6. Chicago
Thanks for everyone's candid advice. For the time being I am sticking with my current job and doing night school to get Cisco cert. I understand the cert flood has resulted in alot of highly unqualified people making unrealistic career expectations.
For a number of reasons I have discovered that this field isn't the best for me. I would have liked to get into business but I have the wrong degree for it (chemistry or bioengineering or pharacuticals is best). Essentially all I have really prepared myself for is academia, and I am dissatisified with that. Exploration of a career change for me is mostly about being dissatisified. I could always be a 'permanent postdoc', with decent wages and benefits, but highly unsatifying for me.
Perhaps people underestimate the high burnout and job situation in my field. IT may be bad, but this is field may be worse, for the same reasons.
It's not about money or career stability as it is career satisfaction, which to me is a great reason to switch careers. I antiicipate having to start at the bottom.
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