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Originally Posted by ai-danno
Getting a job at $13/hr "pushing carts" in a datacenter is key to the rest of the journey, and no one hires degreed people for that kind of position.
One last thing- you don't want to push carts for the next 30+ years. But, pushing carts for the next 1 to 3 years is what's called "your foot in the door." Working for a company a) improves your resume and b) opens up opportunities within said company. And you network socially. I was told that my "next job" wouldn't come from Monster, it would come from someone I knew- and that guy was on the money- my last three jobs were like that. While you tinker at night, you justify the position of cart-pusher, and when the time/opportunity comes, you are already there to seize it.
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So, so, so true. My first job was as a newb programmer making $9/hr. One of the best things though is how much I learned. Having a real job, even one that pays crap, will force you to learn some genuinely useful stuff. Call around your local IT employers. Consultancies, ISPs, hosting businesses, whatever. See if they want someone with no formal experience but a decent bit of knowledge who'll come cheap. Be honest about being willing to come cheap.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ai-danno
- You have to "figure out what you want to be when you grow up." Now I put that in quotes because I ask everyone that when they question their career direction for the next couple o' decades.
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I don't know if I agree with this. I've ended up doing an awful lot - systems engineering, data center design (the whole shebang), systems architecture-level work, programming, systems security work, even some network security work. My specialties have bounced around a lot, and it's been fruitful. I never have less than 4 or 5 resumes with different emphasis based on what is needed for a given position, and I usually end up making at least one or two new ones every time I go looking for a job.