How long to find an IT job

Soybomb

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2000
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So on May 15th I'll be graduating with my BS in information systems technologies. I have a few years experience at an ISP doing tech support and then networking stuff for them such as customer installs and office stuff. My other job was working for our sister company, a CLEC, as the unix sys admin. I run the freebsd servers, setup their firewall, setup a mail solution with spam and virus filtering, the webservers, backup solution, etc.

I need to be deciding what to do with my apartment lease today. How long do you think it will take me to find an IT job? I'd really like something concentrating on networking or security, not just like pulling disks out of floppy drives. I figure it would be best for me to keep my current jobs until I find a new one but its hard to find places that rent month to month here.

I know there are alot of you who don't work in IT that think the situation is miserable and it will be years so if you would like to share your perhaps far too grim opinion I would appreciate it if you specify that you can't back it up as an IT worker. I don't think the outlook is all that bad but I'm guessing maybe 3-6 months for something good. I'm willing to relocate to pretty much anywhere too. Washington would probably be prefered though.
 

Frdm51472

Senior member
May 30, 2002
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as an IT Professional who does hiring.....good luck....2 entry level jobs posted 200+ resumes for each job.....15 interviews, both times the top 15% of applicants were 4 yr degree, 7+ years of solid IT experience.
 

djNickb

Senior member
Oct 16, 2003
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Including their month long interview process it took me about 2 months to find a job out of college. They actually found me and on Monster too of all places.


edit: I do systems/network support for a software company
 

GoingUp

Lifer
Jul 31, 2002
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Really depends on your location and such....

I got an internship this summer with Abbott Labs in their IT dept. Im hopin it will lead to a full time job after I graduate.... I dunno.... Arent there any career fairs at school?
 

Soybomb

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2000
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Originally posted by: Gobadgrs
Really depends on your location and such....

I got an internship this summer with Abbott Labs in their IT dept. Im hopin it will lead to a full time job after I graduate.... I dunno.... Arent there any career fairs at school?

We have some career fairs but they aren't too good. We usually just get like country companies or some other insurance agency and maybe SBC.


Also in carbondale Illinois now, its in the southern part of the state about 75 miles from St. Louis.
 

ghostman

Golden Member
Jul 12, 2000
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Actually, the people around me have had quite a bit of luck (or maybe the economy is picking up...) finding CS and/or IT positions. We're all 1 semester away from graduating a 4 year university and we all have a job lined up already. Most of my friends received multiple offers. If your school offers a career-finding service, take advantage of it.

And relocating is a major part. I don't mean India...just California or NY.
 

SpazzyChicken

Senior member
Feb 8, 2002
843
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I graduated with my BS in Computer Science and Mathematics (double major) in June, and was hired by a local school district in August to do network/server administration and support. Went through so many applications and interviews during those two months. Almost every hiring manager told me that they had another interviewee who had 5+ years of experience and a 4-year degree. It sucked.

But so did the pay from the school district job. Imagine that from a public school! But luckily, a recieved another job offer from an interview that I had about a month before. So now I work at a hospital doing administration/support for our PACS (Picture Archive and Communications System) system. Much better pay/benefits and the job is VERY interesting.

Just be persistent and open to any positions out there. The jobs are out there.
 

MaxDepth

Diamond Member
Jun 12, 2001
8,758
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Do you like curry?
j/k


But seriously, you need to be talking to company recruiters now and some pimps (aka contract companies). Washington state or the the capitol? With Homeland Security being the new pork, there are many openings for IT folks in the DC/VA area. Also, ever thought of being a spook? The CIA and FBI are always looking.
 

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,853
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Originally posted by: Frdm51472
as an IT Professional who does hiring.....good luck....2 entry level jobs posted 200+ resumes for each job.....15 interviews, both times the top 15% of applicants were 4 yr degree, 7+ years of solid IT experience.
200+ applications to one place even in Georgia... our national job economy is definitely still in the crapper. It's best to recommend people not even bother with IT going into school.
 

damiano

Platinum Member
May 29, 2002
2,322
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Originally posted by: rh71
Originally posted by: Frdm51472
as an IT Professional who does hiring.....good luck....2 entry level jobs posted 200+ resumes for each job.....15 interviews, both times the top 15% of applicants were 4 yr degree, 7+ years of solid IT experience.
200+ applications to one place even in Georgia... our national job economy is definitely still in the crapper. It's best to recommend people not even bother with IT going into school.

i dont agree
all my friend that are tech professionals all have a grat job
it's just tougher these as the market is submerged by pseudo techies that learned HTML during the dot com area and got some crappy cert..and now pretent to be tech pros...
just show that you are good
THERE ARE jobs out there for GOOD IT professionals
 

Soybomb

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2000
9,505
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Originally posted by: MaxDepth
Do you like curry?
j/k


But seriously, you need to be talking to company recruiters now and some pimps (aka contract companies). Washington state or the the capitol? With Homeland Security being the new pork, there are many openings for IT folks in the DC/VA area. Also, ever thought of being a spook? The CIA and FBI are always looking.

State like seattle area or something. Couldn't work for the governemnt.

 

Optimus

Diamond Member
Aug 23, 2000
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So now I work at a hospital doing administration/support for our PACS (Picture Archive and Communications System) system. Much better pay/benefits and the job is VERY interesting.

Cool - and a good industry to get into!
I do top level PACS support for one of the big PACS makers... who you guys got in there? GE? Siemens? Kodak? Philips?

Hey, maybe I'm supposed to be fixing your PACS right now instead of being on ATOT...

uh oh. ;)


To the OP - look into Healthcare IT - HUGE and growing industry, very interesting, and a lot more stable overall.


 

SpazzyChicken

Senior member
Feb 8, 2002
843
1
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Originally posted by: Optimus
So now I work at a hospital doing administration/support for our PACS (Picture Archive and Communications System) system. Much better pay/benefits and the job is VERY interesting.

Cool - and a good industry to get into!
I do top level PACS support for one of the big PACS makers... who you guys got in there? GE? Siemens? Kodak? Philips?

Hey, maybe I'm supposed to be fixing your PACS right now instead of being on ATOT...

uh oh. ;)


To the OP - look into Healthcare IT - HUGE and growing industry, very interesting, and a lot more stable overall.


SWEET!!! Looks like I'm coming to you with all of my problems and questions!! ;)

We have Philips PACS here (along with Xcelera). Which vendor do you support? Hopefully Philips!

OP, definitely look into healthcare IT. I didn't look into at first, but I am really glad I did. I really enjoy my job and it is such an interesting field to work in. I have learned so much in the past 3 months. Not only do I get to work with my knowledge of Unix, java, networking, windows...etc, I also have the opportunity to learn all about radiology. Look into PACS positions on monster.com or in your area. Demand is high.
 

Optimus

Diamond Member
Aug 23, 2000
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D'oh! Not Philips, unfortunately. Still, the fundamentals tend to be across the board - once you know the underlying technologies like DICOM and HL7, and what modalities, a RIS/HIS etc are, you are pretty much good to go for multiple vendors. PACS Admin = PACS Admin! :)

What I do is when a PACS has big problems, a field engineer is called in. They can't fix it the case is escalated to a support center (next level). They can't fix it they escalate to us (top level). We can't fix it we go to the developers who write it. Day to day its a lot of research, digging, and working in logfiles and the PACS database. Off hours there are emergency pages that can really get your heart racing... since its people you're really dealing with in the end, not some financial system or such.

I find the medical stuff is the biggest learning curve. I may know the database and software, but when we get problems like "When a patient is scanned in head first supine position, the slice rotation is showing markers backwards" I tend to go "weeeeh"? for a bit. :)

You mentined UNIX - is it a big enterprise level UNIX cluster PACS then? Win clients? Are they using Oracle or something else for the DB? (just curious really)

I was pretty much done with IT until I moved into this... its like a whole new field, but still all the technology I already know...
 

ManSnake

Diamond Member
Oct 26, 2000
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What are your salary expectations? If you just want to find an IT related job after graduation, then look into the public school systems, those jobs are relatively easy to get, pay ranges from low to mid $30K.
 

nebula

Golden Member
Apr 4, 2001
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What's the penalty for breaking your lease? If you get a nice job offer somewhere and have to relocate, burning $100 or so wouldn't be the end of the world, not for a good job.

Take the shortest lease you can, and renew it if need be. But you should try to get some idea of the penalty first. A good contract should have it in there, otherwise you'll have to try to find out without letting on you may be breaking your lease. If it's not spelled out, who knows what they'll make up at that time.

Have you lived there for awhile? Maybe they'll let you have a shorter lease.
 

atom

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 1999
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It took me 3 months to find a job, 10 months to find a decent job. But I wasn't as flexible about my location as you are.
 

DougK62

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2001
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I was hired before I graduated and then went fulltime with the company after graduation.

I had no problem and I live in the midwest - a horrible place for IT. Things aren't so bad.
 

SpazzyChicken

Senior member
Feb 8, 2002
843
1
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We have enterprise level PACS here (large hospital). The backend infrasturcure is unix, but the rads read off of windows machines(gotta love diagnostic LCD screens!!). The databse is Oracle.

I know exactly what you mean, there was a huge learning curve for me. The RIS system (siemens), modalities (stupid PET scans are still owning me), HL7, DICOM (native DICOM, Philips DICOM..) , HIPAA......the list goes on. It makes for quite an interesting position. I love getting calls like, "I am looking at a Cardiac Echo and I am having trouble getting a density reading from the stats tool." Ok, let me put you on hold while I look up what the hell a cardiac echo is! :confused:

I love it here, and I hope to maybe have a job like yours (look out!) or just a PACS Admin somewhere. Currently I am an assistant PACS admin, but I am also responsible for the RIS and transcription systems.