Tech's 10 Worst Entry-Level Jobs 312
Nicholas Carlson writes "These employers (Amazon, Google, Yahoo, etc), and the others hiring for tech's 10 worst entry-level jobs will look good on a resume someday, but for now the only good these jobs promise the world is the pleasant feeling you and I can share knowing we're not the ones stuck in them." The story is really obnoxiously laid out, requiring many many clicks to read very little actual content. Perhaps Valleywag could afford to hire another of tech's worst jobs: the web designer.
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Re:Chiming in (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd have to say that's not the worst entry-level job in tech by a long shot, ever since I started working in the wonderful area of, wait a minute some guy had to restart his DSL modem and needed me to hold his hand, tech support.
Seriously, working in tech support is about as low as it gets, you're expected to have college-level skills while everyone assumes you're some high school dropout who is barely capable of reading and writing, the pay is horrible and very few people really appreciate the work you do (most of the time the first thing you hear after helping someone fix a problem is "...and how are you going to compensate me for this?").
/Mikael
Re:Chiming in (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine it the other way around, though; There have been many times where I have been on the phone to somebody like yourself, having already performed ALL of the troubleshooting tips you'll go through (having done them at least three times before on seperate calls), yet you still WILL NOT proceed with escalating a call until you've been through them ONE MORE TIME to make sure we've done it right.
Too damn right you get a mouth full, you insensitive clod!
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Re:Chiming in (Score:5, Insightful)
Toss in draconian call metric systems, skeleton crews and call volumes that burn out your L1 and L2 techs before they start getting raises and you've got a system that favors not promoting customers up the chain if at all possible.
Another thing to remember: when you call in you are bothering the other person on the other end as well. They really don't want to talk to you. They will make you share in the suffering. If the L2 techs can find a way to keep you in L1 hell, they will. L3 does the same.
I'm amazed that we haven't had enough incidents yet to coin the phrase "going tech support". Hitler and Stalin don't have anything on the average L2 tech when it comes to malevolence and a burning desire to rid the world of all life in the cruelest, most painful ways possible.
Re:Chiming in (Score:5, Interesting)
It's amazing what being nice will get you in general, actually.
Re:Chiming in (Score:5, Interesting)
in fact, it readily became apparent that the only way to establish service (get a username and password) was through some sort of Windows extensions/js stuff for Internet Exploder...
so i called Bell Atlantic and social-engineered my way past the first tier folks, and then got a good tech... i explained that i was using Linux... he understood, got a customer service (billing) rep on the line at the same time, who then gave me a username and password right over the phone - no going through any software install or Windoze browser crapola!
i was pretty stoked when i got my first ping from an xterm on my new DSL connection...
so whoever you are and wherever you are, thank you tech rep from the now-defunct Bell Atlantic DSL support line!
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I worked for Bell Atlantic DSL support, later renamed Verizon DSL support. It was the worst job I've ever had, or ever will have. I wasn't even all that upset when they fired us all to move our jobs to Canada.
And I did help a lot of Linux users, since I was one of the few people there who used it at home.
--saint
Re:Chiming in (Score:4, Interesting)
The other frustrating thing I've found is, especially with ISPs, if you call on nights and weekends, you get an outsourced L1 tech, which is even worse. Best bet is to call someone you know who works there, if possible, because the tech support pyramid, in general, won't get you where you need.
Example: We have to DHCP Release on the old router before switching to a new one (or, really, a new MAC address) -- one thing I've occasionally called in for is simply asking someone to nuke my lease. When we call the guy we know, he calls a guy he knows, and in maybe two minutes, we're back online. When we call tech support, especially on a weekend, if I'm lucky, I can explain the situation in less than five minutes and the tech is actually competent enough to understand me -- but I'll get no real help until it expires on its own, or until I can call the guy on Monday.
Maybe I'm naive, but it just surprises me that tech support has never been tried with quality over quantity.
Re:Chiming in (Score:5, Interesting)
Once my ISP had a switch or router or some of their equipment down the street go bad to where it started dropping packets - but only at peak load.
So every time I called, by the time I had gone through level 1, level 2, and all the waiting on hold - by the time I got to level 3 (*if* I ever got there) the problem (which at this point, all I knew on my end was that I was losing packets, somehow) had stopped.
The most frustrating thing is that every time I called to continue to resolve the issue - they started me at step one again. They actually sent a tech out to my house three times to say "huh, I don't know why they sent me out here" and for some time refused to escalate me to level 3 without sending the tech out again.
If they would have just kept some record that I had already gone through all of their earlier steps, I could have talked to a level 3, explained the problem, and worked out a solution. Eventually I figured out the problem myself and called up to tell *them* what it was - their equipment, and exactly where even. I wanted to charge them a consulting fee.
I have no problem having to go through the standard "unplug/replug" rigmarole once - sometimes it's even fixed it as I forgot one step. But when I call back, let me go straight to where I left off, please!
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Yeah, see the thing is that even though I'm not just some script-monkey I still need to check certain things with the customer and I can honestly say that any customer who knows what he/she is doing shouldn't need more than a few minutes to go through all the things I need him/her to check.
If I don't check these things before sending off a ticket then the 3rd line techs send it back to me with a note to contact the customer and get the necessary info (plus a comment about always getting all relevant info).
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It not really either lying or understanding. Many times the customer calling in believes that they automatically know more than you, since you're just a "script reading monkey." Once armed with this belief, they ignore everything you say and insist that their diagnosis must be correct, even when its absolutely bollocks.
Re:Chiming in (Score:5, Funny)
insist that their diagnosis must be correct...
Don't waste my time with scripts boy!
I *know* the electrons have leaked out of my computer,
and if you would just send me a fresh jar I could refill it myself.
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At that point they're wasting their own time by not trying my basic suggestions. They could either wait 5 minutes for a first responder to show up to reboot their computer, or they could have their
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Re:Chiming in (Score:5, Insightful)
I do technical support for cell phones and BlackBerrys. Although I try to get a feel for each person's competency and react accordingly, it does happen that a competent-sounding person has overlooked something obvious. Better safe than sorry, I say, if the basic troubleshooting is pretty quick to do. It's embarrassing to escalate something and find out that it was a no-brainer after all.
I do get callers who are in charge of setting up other people's devices, and when I hear from them multiple times, I start trusting that they know what they're doing.
One thing's for sure, though: I don't just talk like a robot through some script. I'm a human who likes helping humans.
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That's because you really haven't called tech support.
You're really dead and in Hell.
"Now, sir, let's just check one more time, is the power switch on the back of the computer in the "ON" position?"
GOTO 10
Re:Chiming in (Score:5, Funny)
I wish I was kidding when I say that I had calls about about computers not working at all and the fact that there was no power in the room, building, or city (had all three cases) apparently didn't cross their minds at all.
"Is the power light lit on the monitor?"
"No"
"Is the monitor's switch turned on?"
"Hold on, I'll have to get a flashlight, the power's out in the building."
*eye twitch*
Re:Chiming in (Score:5, Interesting)
Users would, of course, assume you were patronising them when you asked 'is the cable plugged in' (be it network, of power, or whatever) and say 'yes' despite not knowing.
So we included a standard check of 'what kind of connector is it?' in the call resolution process. Not because we think it's likely that anyone has anything other than the standard IEC connector, and RJ45 network plug, but because that basically guarantees they'll look at the back of their machine, and probably spot unplugged cables, isolator switches toggled, or just 'stolen' gang sockets.
We have had a fairly substantial number of calls end with 'oops, nevermind' at that point.
Re:Chiming in (Score:5, Informative)
I bet Sky get quite a few "oops, its OK now" too when they ask people to turn a wire around.).
That's the worst they can come up with?? (Score:4, Funny)
I have to agree. I only skimmed the jobs, but none of them looked that bad...especially for a college grad coming out of school with no experience. I looked at 2 at random, and range was from $45K - $75K. That is fantastic....I know we have to take into account inflation, but, WOW....I started at about $20K or so....but, started quickly working my way up.
I was expecting to hear that complaints on these would be working 32/7 hours....with no AC, etc. The google dba one, the largest complaint I could see was....it was a bad cubeland...and he got mistakenly put in the wrong group....OMG!! That is a complaint on a first job for $75K/yr??
Geez, in my day, I had to wake up at 10 o'clock, half an hour before I went to bed, eat a lump of cold poison....go down the the mill and pay mill owner for permission to work...and well, you get the idea.
YOu try to tell that to the kids of today.....and they won't believe you..
Re:Chiming in (Score:5, Interesting)
My sympathy for somebody doing phone support for Google is therefore quite limited. Boy, what a weak article...
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Re:Chiming in (Score:5, Funny)
So, now, were they networked or weren't they? Because a modem connection still is a network connection. A slow one, over POTS, but still a network connection.
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Re:Chiming in (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Chiming in (Score:5, Funny)
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Running two such sessions (if possible) would probably overload the CPU with interrupts.
Re:Chiming in (Score:4, Insightful)
There's no identification mechanism on either side (IP address, machine name, etc) of a point to point (not PPP) dialup connection you either initiate or answer and once the handshake is complete there's no further distinction between the two nodes. There's no addressing mechanism either, you just pump stuff out your serial port and the other side gets it nor not, you may never know unless you were running a specialized transfer app/protocol like Kermit or X/Y/Zmodem. In fact you can't even tell if there is "another side" sometimes you may just be sending to the bit bucket.
Ghetto (Score:5, Funny)
That makes me hope that their admins go BOFH on them.
And it only pays $80K. (Score:5, Insightful)
Since when is $80K an "entry level job" in this industry?
And when is being a SysAdmin an "entry level job"?
Who writes that crap?
Re:And it only pays $80K. (Score:5, Insightful)
I know there are pretty crappy jobs in every business. Thats because there is just a lot of crap that needs to be done, period. The real question is "what do you get from it". If you work at Google or Amazon, there is probably a pretty good chance that your job is going to lead to "something else". Even if its just within the company for a few dollars more an hour. If you do things right, chances are you will have career advancement.
Someone needs to define "worse". Mundane, boring jobs may not be what everyone is looking for, but truly 'terrible' jobs, in all industries, are ones with no advancement, no benefits, and expose the employees to all sorts of potential career/health hazards with practically no pay (and yes, there are LOTS AND LOTS of these jobs in every industry, even IT).
Re:And it only pays $80K. (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't make me laugh. (Score:5, Informative)
First, the apps were a nightmare. Kludgy vb, massive sourcecode duplication...If the guy needed new functionality he'd make an edit to his solitary library (more than a meg of code including huge chunks of hardcoded html) save it under a slightly different name, and include it in the application. Effectively the same code linked in a dozen times, but each piece very slightly different.
Second, all the data was child abuse, spousal abuse, etc. Imagine working with that data for weeks on end, wallowing in that hell, and you really had to dig in the data because there were tons of inconsistencies.
Third, the "server room" was a closet with one tiny window, and a floor air conditioner/dehumidifier that had to be emptied by hand. The only tech job I've ever had where toting a 5 gallon bucket of scummy water out of a server room was a daily job. The real icing was the location; the server closet was right off the "visitation room"...The only way into the rest of the building was to walk through a room where child abusers got to visit their abused kids. Yee haw! I could go on about the work environment, but you get the point.
Fourth, the pay. Yea. I could have made more waiting tables. No benefits, and I was a subcontractor, and the contractor was so crooked he kept trying to pay me under the table, basically so he could pocket the chunk of my check that was supposed to go to the government.
That is a shit job. Doing sales customer service for fucking Google does not compare.
Re:Don't make me laugh. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the point here was that it's about "crap entry level jobs at well known big IT companies". Having Google on your resume is an asset. Your job, while absolutely sucky was not at a high-profile IT company.
Re:Don't make me laugh. (Score:5, Interesting)
Now either I don't work in tech, or they're full of shit. And since their "tech" jobs include administrative assistants, and salespeople, I'm calling the whole article a thinly veiled blowjob for VWs advertisers.
Re:Don't make me laugh. (Score:5, Funny)
Once my boss and I had to go see the doctors to get some questions answered. My boss had talked to one of the doctors on the phone beforehand and he was pretty irate. My boss said, in a thick chinese accent, in an elevator full of oncology patients "why he so pissed off? maybe all his patients die" i shit you not. I have never been so mortified in all my life. That was about 8 years ago and i still remember it like it was yesterday.
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Looking without seeing. I don't see the actual contents anymore - salaries, names, numbers, cause of death, how the fire started, child abusers, IRS cheaters, executive emails discussing layoffs - none of it. I see the code. I see the machines. I see whether the application talks to the database via ODBC or not. I see that the pr
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Re:Don't make me laugh. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Don't make me laugh. (Score:5, Funny)
The article sucks? (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, this is slashdot (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Well, this is a slashvertisement for valleywag (Score:4, Insightful)
Boycott. For great justice.
Re:The article sucks? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The article sucks? (Score:5, Funny)
That assumes someone is actually screening them (Score:2)
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Re:The article sucks? (Score:4, Insightful)
Okay, deep breath, clean the coffee off your screen, let me explain:
Something that's usually doled out in small amounts (leave 'em wanting more) becomes basically a janitor's job. Think you'd really like to spend your day applying mods to goatse and crapfloods? Sounds boring to me.
Mind you, I'm not saying that being a Slashdot editor sucks in general. I just wouldn't want the job.
Re:The article sucks? (Score:4, Informative)
Have you had mod points recently? I've been getting 10 at a time the last couple of times, rather than 5.
But as always, I only ever seem to get mod points when /. is full of articles that don't really interest me, and the points end up expiring. Almost guarenteed, once the points expire some juicy stories will come along!
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The hardest part would be making the kdawson posts, where you have to purposely misconstrue the linked story and make inflammatory remarks for no apparently reason other than to create controversy. Those rumors that kdawson
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So... this is more like a simple "what is the worst tech job" you ever had dressed up as an article.
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That doesn't answer your second question, of course...
Is this any better? :) (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Is this any better? :) (Score:5, Informative)
Where are all the dead end jobs that pay less, and demand more work? People don't really consider this stuff hard do they?
Re:Is this any better? :) (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Is this any better? :) (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Is this any better? :) (Score:5, Funny)
Hey! Leave my Mom out of this!
Re:Is this any better? :) (Score:5, Insightful)
This sounds awful close to the standard Slashdot business model.
Tech Ghetto? (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's my take from back when I was in IT.
Developing software can be really interesting, cool, challenging, stimulating, etc... but when the project it done, they really don't need you anymore - unless you work for a software firm. Even if it's a large company with a shitload of projects, eventually they'll be done. With the current trend of buying canned software and integrating (usually done by the canned software co.) there's less opportunity for he hard core developer.
Support, DBA, and other admin type of jobs.
Ghetto indeed! There' always something to be done and some of the scripts I've seen from you admins can rival much software I've seen. And if I could do it all over again, I would be going for an admin job/career. Why? Because there's a bigger demand for them and you're more likely to have a job. I learned the hard way that it's more important to have a steady job than to be chasing after the highest rate and the coolest project. Well, maybe in the beginning I would do that, but definitely later on, I'd switch to the steady stuff. And, invest my money a bit beter - save, save, save!
Just this old fart's $0.5.
So you're not in your dream job at 21 (Score:5, Insightful)
What's so bad about most of these jobs? Sure, they all look kind of mundane and I wouldn't want to do them for 50 years, but when did we start thinking that every job was supposed to be so fun, fun, FUN! I realize this may sound a bit like a "get of my lawn" post, but the biggest fantasy we've hoisted onto young people is making them think that work is supposed to be glamorous and the be all/end all of life.
I'm lucky enough to be in a job that I enjoy very much, but at the end of the day I realize that it's a JOB and that if for whatever reason I have to work on some projects that are a little mundane or boring it's no big deal.
Re:So you're not in your dream job at 21 (Score:5, Insightful)
Those who listened threw themselves at the entry-level help desk jobs, where they stayed just long enough to angle for a junior admin slot at a start-up or small biz, which in turn was a resume' boost for bigger and better things. It's just how one gets up in the world nowadays... I still get a kick out of hearing from a couple of them, and how they've been doing. The ones who didn't are working in some other field entirely after a ton of disappointment and rejection.
The funniest thing is, I don't think it's us the pros who have foisted visions of joy and glory onto the kids: It's the images from Hollywood of "'leet hackers" (*snort*). It's the unholy size of Bill Gates' bank account. It's the image that all the non-tech-oriented folks project (as if we were keepers of some arcane dogma that only The Chosen Few can ever learn... Cripes, folks - it's just a frickin' BASH prompt!)
That, I think in combination with typical youthful impatience, is what tends to delude the kids into thinking that it's all glory and no muck-hauling...
Re:So you're not in your dream job at 21 (Score:5, Insightful)
Just in my own city, I could find 10 "tech" type jobs that are all FAR worse gigs than anything they listed in this article.
Like one guy said, have a Best Buy in your town? How about Geeksquad being on the list? There's a job where you'll never see anything remotely LIKE a $50K a year salary, yet your customers will all place demands and expectations on you like that's what you make (since that's the kind of money they pay Best Buy to get you out there in the first place!).
Or try a call center for any of the telcos? I've had friends doing that job for Verizon and AT&T. You're looking at being packed in a building like sardines, with no windows and poor climate control. The whole place literally stinks of sweat and mildew, and their idea of "variety" is shuffling you around to different cubicles every few weeks. (Really, it just ensures you don't get too friendly with co-workers sitting nearby and actually make new friends!) The pay? $11/hr. if you're lucky.
I know cost of living is different in different parts of the country, but geez! I'm past my mid 30's and I've been working in I.T. since I was 19 or 20. I've STILL never received a salary as high as $50K, much less the $70-80K some of these "worst 10" were offering! I have to work two jobs to get into the lower part of that range at all!
you've got to be kidding me (Score:4, Interesting)
Entry level DBA for google? you've got to be sh*tting me, thats a stellar job out of univ. stop whining and get back to work.
My first job was working as a C# programmer for a large Canadian freight company (Arrow Transportation), my boss had zero idea how to develop software, consequently it was basically all up in his head what he wanted to see, the program didn't follow any particular development model, and subsequently failed. What did I learn? Only work for people who do not suffer from the Peter Principle.
Ref:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle [wikipedia.org]
Re:you've got to be kidding me (Score:4, Interesting)
Pfft! Please... (Score:5, Interesting)
Large parts of the network had been strung in the production area - where nightly, a gaggle of folks would hose the entire place down with hot water and caustic cleaners, all delivered at 1500 psi. Troubleshooting a busted wire or device in a non-beaconing token-ring network got to be real fun, especially when half the automated weigh-stations' operators knew maybe 5 words in English. At one point, I drilled holes in the NEMA 4x-rated junction boxes to let the water drain out faster than it got in - just to keep things from corroding as quickly.
You had to fend off (and sometimes referee) 'manager wars', where area managers would slip into the control room and try to literally steal chickens from other managers off the pneumatic shackle lines (by twiddling the priorities and weights when they thought no one was looking).
It was an interesting sysadmin slot though... one which taught me some (since forgotten) Spanish, how to weld stainless steel, how to deal with USDA inspectors who walked about with permanent anal cramps, how to remove chicken fat from a keyboard, and how to endure some brain-melting odors every time one of the pH meters at the water treatment building went down. It was the only computer job where the combination of rubber boots and a hair net were required.
I think it was something like three years after I left before I would bring myself to eat chicken again...
Re:Pfft! Please... (Score:4, Insightful)
Poultry, Water and Swamps (Score:2)
You have my vote for suckiest (yet rewarding) tech job. I visited a poultry plant once and discovered that I really needed to be elsewhere, FAST.
Worst tech working conditions I can recall was mopping 6 inches of stagnant water out of a sub-floor while the Burroughs mainframe above was still powered up. I stood on the power conduit most of the time (I knew it was well grounded).
Worst working conditions overall was walking/wading/swimming through the swamps near Moody AFB GA looking for parts from an F-4
Re:Pfft! Please... (Score:4, Insightful)
Exactly how I like my food inspectors.
Re:Pfft! Please... (Score:4, Insightful)
The job you can't escape (Score:5, Insightful)
The guy who fixes our computers has been with us for about ten years. He got the idea that he should upgrade his education. He got a BComm. It cost a lot and it was hard work. The trouble is that he has no administrative experience so our mutual employer won't promote him to anything where he can use the degree. His only option is to quit and take an entry level position elsewhere. The trouble is that he can't afford to take a cut in pay.
That has to be the worst job. Look up 'wage slave' in the dictionary and you see buddy's face.
Not even close (Score:5, Informative)
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Worst entry entry level jobs? (Score:2)
BTW, there are people working in box stores who would love to make those sort of salaries, not to mention folks in India. So stop hanging around on slashdot and get your ass back to work!
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BTW, there are people working in box stores who would love to make those sort of salaries, not to mention folks in India.
If people in box stores have a college degree and experience in a high paying field you have a point, otherwise it's not a valid comparison. I want to be George Clooney but I don't want to make the investment and pay my dues to get there. If people in box stores want to invest in going to college, learning a high demand skill, then claw their way to the top of their field, then they'
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Where to start (Score:2)
Vallyway is crap (Score:2)
Wow (Score:2)
Don't bother clicking (Score:3, Informative)
* Online sales and operations account manager, Google
* Support engineer, Washington-Seattle, Amazon.com
* Content Acquisition Intern, IODA
* Customer support specialist, Fox Interactive, MySpace division
* Database administrator (temporary), Google, contracted through WorkforceLogic
* Support professional, product: Windows, Microsoft
* Executive admin to Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore
* Analyst, user operations, Facebook
* Operations finance, analyst intern, Yahoo
* Part-time guide, Mahalo
Worst Jobs (Score:3, Funny)
The quality of your job is what you make of it. (Score:4, Insightful)
Often Tech Support jobs are hated by college grads because they feel the work is really below them, in many ways it is. But if you put that asside and focus on making peoples lives a bit easier then the job would be less of a pain, and letting the angry insults roll off your back.
Or you can be a software developer on actually a very exciting project but you tend to focus on the mononoty and your ideas that got rejected, making working on the project just mizerable. Vs. exciting if you focus on the interesting bits and the ideas that you contributed and got approved.
It is often the mindset of the job that makes it good or bad. Yes managers and corporate culture can effect your mindset as well. And just staying happy with your job isn't really an option. But it is not always the job itself but what you make of it.
For the 'suck it up' crowd (Score:5, Interesting)
There is the widespread attitude that no matter how bad graduate work is, you've got to grin and bear it. Old IT hands will tell you every time "Thats where I started, and now I'm successful rich and happy." regardless of it thats true or not. It usually isn't because conditions in the IT industry change rapidly and most of that change is negative for people entering the industry.
It is fine explaining to young people they have to work their way up, but this bottom rung is getting fucking ridiculous. McDonalds workers have been known to get more money, respect and job satisfaction than recent IT graduates. I was advised by a career centre that it I was better off claiming benefits (reasonably generous in the UK; you won't be homeless but you won't be partying either) than taking most entry level jobs.
It is fine making people work for respect, but entry-level work these days feels more like unusually vindictive hazing rather than a job. The upper echelons seem to take a delight in torturing the fresh-faced graduates, and then moan and whinge when they can't get good people with experience. Its because most of the good people fuck off and find a more rewarding career before they get experience you idiots!
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missed one (Score:4, Funny)
Oh please (Score:5, Interesting)
My first tech job was in the backroom of a grimy computer repair shop. I was working up to four computers at once. One or two would be some home user who had covered their system in spyware and expected it to be fixed for $100. ("Fix! Fix in two hours or we lose money! Or format system and say couldn't save it!") One or two would be testing and writing up specs for some abandoned/old system the owner has kicking around so she could try to resell them. (p2/233, with 32 megs ram. price: $200. in 2003.) The rest would be warm-bodying Windows installs and updates. For $8.00 an hour. When they expected me to get all excited about a raise to $8.25, I quit.
The second, working for an "IT Consultant" company that still showed all the signs of the garage it started in crossed with the worst of Dilbert: clueless management, sales promising the world for pocket change, and techs required to travel all over the place in their own cars, using their own cell phones, without travel compensation. We were being billed out at $100/hr while being paid $10/hr. The managers kept ranting at the techs for not doing the amount of work required to keep the doors open, while the techs ranted at the managers for not assigning it, and the whole place was owned by a completely clueless martinet. I left after six months when they fired the best tech they had and announced intentions to continue operations with a mix of unpaid college interns and foreign outsourcing. ("Indians?" "... Actually, cheaper than.")
In that light, let's go over this article:
1. Online sales and operations account manager, Google
$45k - $60k a year plus google on your resume? sign me up!
2. Support engineer, Amazon.com
$80k/yr plus amazon on your resume? SEE ABOVE.
3. Content acquisition intern, IODA
Unpaid sucks, true, but there's many more unpleasant/dangerous things to do than rip CDs all day.
4. Customer support specialist, Fox Interactive, MySpace division
Customer support sucks, no matter where you do it. 33k/year is better than $16k.
5. Database administrator (temporary), Google
70k/year. See item 1.
6. Support professional, product: Windows, Microsoft
Listening to people's Windows problems for $40k a year, plus actually having access to resources that might help you fix them? Beats the shit out of spyware fixing for 16k. Plus: Microsoft on the resume.
7. Executive admin to Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore
This isn't even a tech job, this is personal assistant territory. With commensurate pay.
8. Analyst, user operations, Facebook
Support again. Decent pay again. (Well, maybe not for Palo Alto.)
9. Operations finance, analyst intern, Yahoo
Okay, this one *might* be bad. Intern, company possibly going down in flames, $12/hr.
10. Part-time guide, Mahalo
They admit this one themselves. "Why so bad? It's not, really."
Article rated (-1, Sensational)
yikes! (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I'll keep my nice clean text, thanks.
Re:These all sound like the same job (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Computer Operations in Ohio (Score:4, Informative)
I personally had two job offers right out of college, and I didn't exactly graduate with honors. Since then, I've had zero trouble finding a decent job, and consulting work on the side.
So, not to brag, but it sounds to me like your job prospects are simply what you make of them.
Re:Computer Operations in Ohio (Score:4, Informative)
This is a no-brainer around here (literally.) First, there are no tech companies in Ohio, so tech jobs are quite scarce.
What in the world and what part of Ohio are you talking about? I'm a software engineer in Columbus, OH and I'm posting this on my lunch break. There are plenty of tech jobs out there, you just have to know where to look. A few right off the top of my head:
Admittedly a lot of these aren't what you classify as "tech companies," but they still hire developers like crazy. I think the market is what you make of it, and a lot of getting a job is simply not giving up on the hunt.
As for a B.S. being B.S... I call BS. Most places around here won't give you the time of day unless you have a B.S. Certifications don't mean a thing (unless you have experience to back them up), and an Associate's means the hiring manager will at least glance at it for a fleeting few seconds before deciding to toss it back in the pile.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)