IT BS thread

Yeah, I agree. But like most large organizations we have an HR department and their rules must be followed. Mostly for good reason, because if we didn't interview this guy we could be sued for being biased. The silver lining is the best worst interview ever.

 

^ This (well for the most part).

I applied for a Desktop Tech position but didn't get it. They wanted me to come back and interview for a Help Desk position and I got it. Went from Help Desk to Help Desk Team Lead and now currently in Desktop Support. I'm fine where I'm at. No plans to move to server/network/database administrator at this time.

 

My problem with many certs is I know guys who just memorize banks of test questions and answers and pass the test without really knowing anything beyond those specific questions. Sometimes, they find out they can't pass because enough questions changed and they didn't really know the content. Of course, that can't happen so easily on a test with any sort of lab element to it, but many of the lower level certs don't have that.

I have some degree of bias because I have an A.S. and I've been doing this for 7+ years and I don't think my degree helped me much at all--it's just a piece of paper.

 

Well said sir!

I also have a A.S. degree. Been with my current employer for 11 years (in November). The piece of paper might "help" get your foot in the door (depending on employer) but the experience/knowledge is where it's at.

 

Sooo I'm a Linux user (Debian), somewhat familiar with FreeBSD, and usually help people fix their Windows machines. Do I qualify for any IT jobs?

 

^^ This.

Even with high level certs that require labs (ie CCIE) doesn't mean you end up with a qualified engineer. I have hired and fired several CCIEs because they were completely lost when working on other customers networks. This isn't to degrade the cert as for the most part someone who has their CCIE is a good engineer. But it does go to show that just because they have a high level cert doesn't mean they are good.

I personally have very little certifications but I have proven myself to my employer and to our customers in such a way that they don't even question if I am qualified or not.

I also hold a BS in Telecommunication and Network Management though this degree has not gotten me a single job. All my jobs have been via networking and people I know. This degree did help in getting promoted to a management position at one point which I did for 2 years and then went over to Sales Engineering in the same company.

 

I don't have many either. There are a bunch I could get without much of any effort or studying because it's stuff I know. But I'd have to pay for them and they expire. If I were to leave, they'd help me but I don't plan on leaving any time soon.

 

I think that's the 80% rule for finding any job, or at least the tech ones. Past 3 jobs were based on friends I knew or people who I had worked with before.

 

I would say so definitely, Look into LPI Certifications (Linux Professional Institute).

 

Since i feel preachy today:



Don't be afraid of the stepping-stone job, even if that means a do-over.


I started with a contract job out of college, getting paid slightly above minimum wage. My work environment was a broken desk in an un-insulated room above a smelly production floor, which made earplugs mandatory. I upgraded to a closet in the server room.

However, that put me in contact with a consultant, where my career took off - I changed jobs, my paycheck shot through the roof, I got my own office, and I started flying around the USA to visit clients. If I was still with them, I would have probably been making close to 6 figures by the year 2011 with a base salary + commission. I was part of a lay-off.

Instead of moping about or expecting the world owed me a job that was no less prestigious, I accepted a big step down to a contract job as a testing monkey. I spent my day growing old, and spent evenings making my LinkedIn profile badass while scouring jobs. That lasted 6 months before I scored another 'real' job. Neither that position, nor my subsequent careers have been as high-paying as that big fish job, but the key point is I recovered, I'm still making a really good income, my business cards are back to having a formidable title on them, and I'm a FTE with solid job security.



Meanwhile, I have a friend who landed a well-paying contract job out of college doing testing monkey work for a large corporation. He's had at least 6 contracts since then doing variations of the same thing - there's no chances for promotion, FTE hiring, or increase in skills. His most recent contract has ended, and he's back again to being unemployed. I'm thinking this is the end of the cycle this time, since the company he contracted for all these years is doing massive downsizing.

Despite the writing on the wall, he expects something to happen. His resume has a continuous string of 'tester, 1 year' not showing any progression. I tell him he has to make his own success, and try a job with a smaller company that might not have the deep pockets, but has growth and learning potential to springboard.

However, he refuses to look at anything that would pay any less than what he's used to. Completely ignoring his job history, he bemoans how the university he went to gave him a "crap degree" and hasn't helped get him something like what I have (FYI - we've been out of college for 10 years, my degree came from a podunk tech college while his came from the 2nd largest university in the state. No one's asked about my degree since the George Bush Jr. administration).

 

I call these guys paper tigers. Early in my management career I hired one of them, what a mistake. He had all the buzz words down, but couldn't actually solve a problem. Fortunately he was hired away by another fool company for more money.

Aren't certs, degrees and resumes all just pieces of paper? I think of them more as advertising brochures than actual proof of competence. (I learned my lesson with the paper tiger) Great advertising gets you into the interview room, but what you do in there gets the job, or not.

I'm a bit biased too because I have 2 BS degrees and a couple of certs. The first isn't tech related at all and the second IT degree is so out of date as to be completely laughable. But I know for a fact both have gotten me interviews and then jobs. The non-tech degree got me an interview because the boss was sick and tired of one dimensional tech nerds and thought maybe I might be different. When I went stupid and decided to go into management the IT degree, even as out of date as it is, is pretty much a requirement.

 

The convo gets deep in here lol

 

Anyone have an account with Forrester? Need to do some research on Organizational Change Management. Was curious if the content/quality warrants an account.

 

WARNING......... this is a generalized statement based on my experience



the reason is that most network engineers are asshats and once they achieve the CCIE level, they are king-asshats.

 

Thank you for all the replies and info.

I have a couple interviews coming up.

Would you guys mind posting questions you ask during interviews for a help desk position? Or have been asked if you are not a hiring manager?

I have googled interview questions, I am just trying to prep myself as much as possible, so I can hopefully nail the interview.

Thank you!

 

A user calls and says their printer is broken. It's obviously personally your fault as is made apparent by the user. She's remote so you can't just go fix her computer. How do you prevent hanging up on her?

 

We do group interviews and use a peeling the onion technique. The questions' purpose is to direct the conversation and based on how you answer we will ask deeper and deeper follow up questions. Once we are satisfied their knowledge is sufficient for the job or the BS gets too deep we move to the next question.

Here are a couple we use:

• We are going to do a roleplay, I'm a user and you are here to help me. We are in the room together and the computer is a windows desktop machine. Are you ready to begin? OK "my son, who is really smart with computers, was helping me yesterday. When I came in today my computer doesn't work."
  • The answer I'm looking for is two fold. How does the tech talk to the user? Are they friendly or condescending? Do they talk in terms that a user will understand or rattling off a bunch of jargon. On the troubleshooting side I'm looking for a logical step by step process. Do they check the obvious stuff first or go straight to replacing the computer? Usually the "problem" in the roleplay is pretty simple, a borked driver, bad motherboard, bent vga pin, stuff that always seems to happen after that "smart" son has been in the office.
• Describe a situation where you had to balance competing priorities and work independently.
  • The correct answer here is something where you put the customer facing user first. (that the culture around here)
• Describe your knowledge of computer hardware and software
  • An amazing, to me at least, number of applicants have never seen the inside of a computer. Another amazing number of potential techs have never poked around under the covers of windows or OS X. Obviously more is better, but for my team this isn't a deal breaker, that is if they are willing to learn.
• Tell me about your greatest flaw.
  • Miss the answer to this question and you'll get kicked out of the interview room
    • Just kidding. I hate this question and IMHO interviewers that still use it are lazy. I used to use it and I was looking for evidence that the person recognized that they were imperfect and were working on improving. It is best to have an answer in your back pocket for this. Something work related, something not directly related to the job you are applying for, and how you are improving upon the problem. Oh, and all of it needs to be true, no bs. Mine is "I'm terrible at remembering meetings, and I hate being late. (true) What I've done to overcome this is to be absolutely religious about maintaining my calendar. (true) I set alarms on my smartphone to remind me ahead of time, so now I rarely miss or am late to a meeting." (also true)

Be friendly and approachable, treat every single person you meet with respect, try not to be nervous and you'll be fine.

 

What do these entry level positions pay on average?

 

It depends. I started at doing desktop support in a warehouse at $15/hr, but today I see my company hiring entry-level tier 1 server support people at like $60-75k. I'm talking people that don't know the basics. People that try to rdp to a VMware host, then can't, and then escalate the ticket because "the host is obviously down if you can't rdp to it".

 

Sounds like decent money for an easy job.