Comment I haven't seen anyone answer the question yet (Score 1) 380
So I'll probably side step it as well. OK, maybe just a few rants...
More than your lack of certifications, (and although most slashdotters will probably have kittens at this statement) your problem is your degree. I should preface this by saying that I have a degree and change in a natural science, and that I was only a few units short of C-Sci degree. But in my little corner of the world, a C-Sci degree on the resume is a direct ticket into the trashcan. Sorry folks, rant all you want, but that's the way it is in almost every company I have worked with and for. We even give an MIS degree more weight (just enough to read it first and laugh before we toss it in the trash, in contrast to the direct route). Our company is 20% IT, and 50% of them are "programmers" (and we're currently trying to hire more). Of that lot, there are only two of us who have *any* type of degree, although we both put ourselves through school doing the work (and neither of us are "programmers")
If guidance counselors knew the first thing about the real world and the job market, they wouldn't still be crappy guidance counselors. I used to work at the University, I know what goes on there. I spent my time in the C-Sci department, although admittedly I did sleep through most of it. But a C-Sci degree teaches you only one thing, how to survive in the academic computer world. Now there may be schools out there with decent departments that graduate cluefull students. In fact, I must infer that they exist. It's just that I've never seen one, nor met anyone so blessed. But learning the ins and outs of the Minix kernel means jack when accounting wants a custom module to track the new 401k deferrals, or the boss wants to merge the shipping and sales applications, and sell online.
Most college grads don't want to hear this. The guidance folks and the industry reps (a la MS) have been sitting around, passing the hashpipe and telling you all that as soon as you graduate you'll make six figures and get eight months vacation. WRONG! You have to start at the bottom and work your way up. While I understand that the American dream is a shortcut to wealth and prosperity, you need to wake up. Some of us put at least a decade into crummy jobs. I get punks in here all the time who want my job without working for it.
Forget wasting time on certifications. And since you've already wasted four or more years in the chair at school, you're four years behind. Go out and get a job, any job, that pays anything. Some of us didn't own cars when we started, lived in the ghetto, and ate potato(e)s. If in five years you still can't manage to find a decent job, then come and cry to slashdot about how unfair life is.
I'm sure there'll be several people exagerating their accomplishments and saying "not so, I got X job right out of school." To them I say, "Congratulations, I hope you appreciate it. Consider yourself lucky."
With the economy doing the slow spiral down the bowl, geeks are a dime a dozen. Heck, I feel bad for the last guy we hired. He relocated from Houston to get the job, and he gets paid *half* what I do. Dude works in a gas station to augment his income! Right now is pretty much the time that the pointy haired ones are bending the IT folks over the desks in the NOC. It's all in the timing, and unfortunately, yours sucks.
Sorry dude. Wish there was better news. But if I had the ultimate control over time and space to grant all graduates great jobs, I sure as hell wouldn't be sitting around wanking on slashdot...
More than your lack of certifications, (and although most slashdotters will probably have kittens at this statement) your problem is your degree. I should preface this by saying that I have a degree and change in a natural science, and that I was only a few units short of C-Sci degree. But in my little corner of the world, a C-Sci degree on the resume is a direct ticket into the trashcan. Sorry folks, rant all you want, but that's the way it is in almost every company I have worked with and for. We even give an MIS degree more weight (just enough to read it first and laugh before we toss it in the trash, in contrast to the direct route). Our company is 20% IT, and 50% of them are "programmers" (and we're currently trying to hire more). Of that lot, there are only two of us who have *any* type of degree, although we both put ourselves through school doing the work (and neither of us are "programmers")
If guidance counselors knew the first thing about the real world and the job market, they wouldn't still be crappy guidance counselors. I used to work at the University, I know what goes on there. I spent my time in the C-Sci department, although admittedly I did sleep through most of it. But a C-Sci degree teaches you only one thing, how to survive in the academic computer world. Now there may be schools out there with decent departments that graduate cluefull students. In fact, I must infer that they exist. It's just that I've never seen one, nor met anyone so blessed. But learning the ins and outs of the Minix kernel means jack when accounting wants a custom module to track the new 401k deferrals, or the boss wants to merge the shipping and sales applications, and sell online.
Most college grads don't want to hear this. The guidance folks and the industry reps (a la MS) have been sitting around, passing the hashpipe and telling you all that as soon as you graduate you'll make six figures and get eight months vacation. WRONG! You have to start at the bottom and work your way up. While I understand that the American dream is a shortcut to wealth and prosperity, you need to wake up. Some of us put at least a decade into crummy jobs. I get punks in here all the time who want my job without working for it.
Forget wasting time on certifications. And since you've already wasted four or more years in the chair at school, you're four years behind. Go out and get a job, any job, that pays anything. Some of us didn't own cars when we started, lived in the ghetto, and ate potato(e)s. If in five years you still can't manage to find a decent job, then come and cry to slashdot about how unfair life is.
I'm sure there'll be several people exagerating their accomplishments and saying "not so, I got X job right out of school." To them I say, "Congratulations, I hope you appreciate it. Consider yourself lucky."
With the economy doing the slow spiral down the bowl, geeks are a dime a dozen. Heck, I feel bad for the last guy we hired. He relocated from Houston to get the job, and he gets paid *half* what I do. Dude works in a gas station to augment his income! Right now is pretty much the time that the pointy haired ones are bending the IT folks over the desks in the NOC. It's all in the timing, and unfortunately, yours sucks.
Sorry dude. Wish there was better news. But if I had the ultimate control over time and space to grant all graduates great jobs, I sure as hell wouldn't be sitting around wanking on slashdot...
