So which is it, is the IT field still open or is that propaganda?

Here is the Rub on IT, if your looking at hardware, most of those jobs are either outsourced like mad or held by fossils who can not afford to retire who are willing to forgo pay raises. You only in on that route is the stuff you can not by on the shelf at egg head, for example HMI, PLC, SCADA systems...

The Routers and Networking are pretty much locked down with overseas admins who do the configure remotely, which leaves the cable jocks who usually are contracted in by head hunters for a temp job. By the way it is Orange-white Orange Green-white Blue Blue-white Green Brown-white Brown for the best throughput, and if you know how to configure Point to point radios and also tip fiber you may have spastic sections of work but no long stay power..

Then there is programming Here are the Big 3 C+, VB.net, and Java... Almost 85% of the Modern "Hip" programming languages are a derivative of one of those three. With the latest focus being on Mobile Application Languages for Droid and Iphone. (Get ready for an uphill battle if you go this route the universities and fly by night career schools are cranking out younger and dumber willing to work for peanuts competition every day.) Oh by the way sales and Marketing will always throw stupid stuff your way your job at this point is to deliver exactly what they want, and while your doing it make sure you code like the guy coming behind you knows where you live and has a gun.

If your looking at Infosec, Get ready to be more bean counter then active in the field, you will spend more time chasing license issues and security patches then enjoying yourself, oh yeah and don't forget the guy who could not keep his porn collection in his own basement.

Telephony and Voip tend to be a little more stable but you do have to latch into and onto a trunk carrier to get any decent pay...

Desktop repair and maintenance good luck finding a company that has their own shop for this, if you do and you get in you will realize most of the guys there are white-haired old raisins for a reason. The younger guys will not stick around either they do something stupid and get themselves canned or they are so good that they whore themselves out for higher pay, assuming you can even get your foot in the door of a shop like that, (if you do hold on to it as long as you can the more experience you have the more likely you can walk into a new job when that location switches over to Leased systems with overseas support and contractors to install and vanish.)

The days of holding an "IT" job for 20 years are almost gone, you will be the "Hourly Only Employee" serving "Professionals In Management Positions." Get use to working for at least 20 to 30 "Jobbing Opportunists Hiring No-one"

You survive in the field 10-15 years being passed around more then a lit thing at a Willy Nelson concert then maybe just maybe you may get lucky and find a place that will be stable for 4-8 years.

Now if your just starting out and are looking for a good career that you can bank on get your Apprenticeship in Electrician or Plumber that is where the money is now going. Learn the IT stuff on the side and hope you can find a good shop in the process.

CoBaZ

a reply to: schuyler

So where do you start to get to that point?

a reply to: CoBaZ

Thanks for the post.

Been waiting out an opportunity to get an apprenticeship with one of the trade unions but they are hard to get into without a contact inside.

Been thinking about going to a job site for the IBEW or or a plumbing company and paying someone 500$ to be a reference.

a reply to: onequestion

Ugh the union mix, I hate those situations but it can be done, here is a backdoor.

1. Shriners
2. Moose Lodge
3. If your a Vet, VFW or American Legion
4. Elks Lodge
5. Depending on Family History You may Try A Mason's Local

Joining one of those or if you can a couple and being active will increase the chances of Networking in on a Union.

Yes everyone screams TPTB when you mention Masons but if you look at it as there are no TPTB and that all a Mason's local or an Elks or Moose lodge are just Social Unions then they make great stepping stones and foots in the doors to Bigger Unions.

Or you can cheat like a mad man and find a Right to work state and tell the Unions to go hang themselves until your experienced enough to move back and Dazzle a union rep with your XP.

CoBaZ

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: schuyler

So where do you start to get to that point?

Fact is, it's tough. And my experience is probably not typical. I "got in" when there was no such field. And I have to say, it was the most rewarding, fun, exciting, and exhilirating thing I have ever done. I am so happy, in retrospect, with what happened to me in the IT field. I understand that what happened to me could not possibly happen to anyone starting out today. I get that. I got ahead because I was the only one who had experience, and that consisted of an Apple ][ on my desktop. No one else had a clue. I bought Visicalc and Wordstar, and suddenly people wondered why I was so far ahead. I wound up with 500 PCs, 50 servers, and a 10 site WAN with fiber optic to the internet. My site was one of the first 600 "web" sites in the world. Before that I had Gopher and a FidoNet site.

I'm not special. It just happened. I happened, accidentally, to be there, and I got some arrows in my back. That's not a brag. It's like saying I was stupid enough to sail on the Titanic.

From today's perspective, now that it is effectively over for me, and seeing what people must and do experience, my advice, such as it is and as trivial as it is, is to get yourself real-world experience actually DOING the tasks that need to get done. I know that this next example is trivial and you may even deem it stupid, but it happened.

When I and my partner, Al, had to wire a new building with Ethernet, we had a big problem. There were no conduits for wires because the architects did not understand our needs. So we had to run wire beneath the building in a crawlspace. Understand that I bought wire 1,000 ft at a time for 27 cents a foot. We had reels of this stuff. So Al had this kid named Michael. We attached the reel of wire to his leg and told him to crawl 'toward the light" and we would buy him a Happy Meal from McDonalds. He did it and we wired the building. I didn't want to do it because of all the spiders, but I've been up and down and in between too many crawlspaces and attics to count just running Ethernet wires.

Today Michael runs a "cloud" Internet service for his clients and his company was just bought out for $2.5 million.

So, Point/ get yourself situated with a "client" who cannot afford the freight, work with them to establish your bona fides and real-world experience, supplement that with certifications as you see fit, and present yourself as an experienced IT pro who is not afraid to encounter the spiders.

Really. Build your own Linux server. Attach it to the Net. THEN tell people what you've done.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Wow, they got their "bang for the buck" with you..

So do you still work onsite, or do you work mostly from home now? (Is that what telecommute means?..)

You get paid as a consultant or salary? JUst curious.. and looking into the field myself

a reply to: schuyler

Some old school IT guys up in here..

So I guess you know what a BNC T connector is..

a reply to: nOraKat

I heard DBAs are in but that's probably bs as every millenial on the planet can code practically.

a reply to: nOraKat

thats new school an AUI connector would be better

but for real old school anything that doesn't have a DOVE connection and a max of 300bps is pretty much too new school (the DOVE is optional as it depends on the site specs)

a reply to: Maxatoria

I remember when 150 baud with acoustic coupler modems or cradle (the telephone set in the cradle) modems as I called them were the best way on to BBS and ugh the vampire in the room compuserve. The glory days of the TI-99 4a and the Assembly language cart.

And by many here I am a freaking toddler in comparison. I think we may have some punch card dinos around here on this site.






CoBaZ

Friend of mine runs a big Edinburgh based IT department.

He's spent the last 3 years of his job training people in India to do most of the work his department in Edinburgh does.

For some odd reason he thinks his job is safe...

a reply to: onequestion

it depends on your area. Look at the jobs that are listed. See what the requirements are. Most here are looking for virtual machines, SQL, MS cert, and Cisco cert. I'd advise you to call around and see if you can meet someone in the particular field you might be interested in and see what they do. Some of IT is really fun and challenging, and some is hugely boring. And that will very between the people and what interests them. find out what you like, then see what certs you need. Most will only take a few months to get if you bust your ass and pay attention. (though they may cost you a bit to get that fast)

originally posted by: nOraKat
a reply to: schuyler

Some old school IT guys up in here..

So I guess you know what a BNC T connector is..

10 base T. token ring. old school. back then you didn't have to know very much at all, and everyone thought you were a jedi or something. times have changed.

Sometimes I think us Old Schoolers hit the Easy button our way out of a job...

Now too many people know only the easy button ways to access things, but what is hilarious is watching collage kids get lost when you use a Net Use batch file to set up shares on a network...

and god forbid pipes up and pipes down...

originally posted by: network dude

originally posted by: nOraKat
a reply to: schuyler

Some old school IT guys up in here..

So I guess you know what a BNC T connector is..

10 base T. token ring. old school. back then you didn't have to know very much at all, and everyone thought you were a jedi or something. times have changed.

Im still in an environment where POTS lines are a primary source of bringing calls in from the PSTN even though we have a CO switch on site.

Im in the middle of leading, from an engineering standpoint, a migration of about 25000 phones off of TDM to VOIP and it's fun. I love watching people look at me blankly when I say "this room dedicated to our CO switch is not as redundant, robust or able to grow as much as these 20 ESXi guests are..."

originally posted by: CoBaZ
Sometimes I think us Old Schoolers hit the Easy button our way out of a job...

Now too many people know only the easy button ways to access things, but what is hilarious is watching collage kids get lost when you use a Net Use batch file to set up shares on a network...

and god forbid pipes up and pipes down...

Man I hear that...
Can't figure something out Tweet the question and in a few mins you have multiple replies.
Previously it was "Why the hell does this OS/2 box have a red or blue spine? What does that mean and how much of 640k can i free up to play Wing Commander."

The good old days, men were men and punched tape was used for everything

When i started on mainframes in the late 80's the site still had a late 1960's printer which used punched tape to control when to throw the pages, the thing could do about 1500 lines a minute and was so old it wasn't listed as an option if you rang up the mainframe co for support so you had to explain to the call desk person what it was and just tell them to send the engineer down as they know what to do. Thing was pretty bullet proof and given the size of it and the metal hood etc around it probably could handle a few bullets...was a shame to get rid of it and the old 1900 series tape decks as they worked well

a reply to: onequestion

I am getting, literally, 2 calls/emails a day from different companies and recruiters for Networks and telecom.

It is still open, if you have the chops for it.

a reply to: onequestion

Yes and no.

Passing the test are a way to get your foot int he door.

In the interview, expect to be asked questions using that knowledge.

Best thing is to do a lot of one off network designs in Cisco Packet tracer. Lab lab lab, and more lab work.

a reply to: opethPA

I say we move everyone back to 1A2.