System Admins... how hard was it to get your 2nd job

[debian0001]

Hello,

Basic question. How hard was it to get your 2nd job while having one currently? I want to move on. I am just starting to search.. applied for a job that I thought I'd be qualified for except for experience (3 years instead of 5) didn't get a call. The pessimism is starting to kick in.

My history... I interned at a company and got straight into networking as a network support tech after some time.. then moved my way up to a Senior position over exchange, active directory, backups, and whatever else in the span of 3 years. I basically bypassed Help Desk, Desktop etc....

Thanks!

 

[Insomniator]

Pessimistic over 1 no call??

I'm trying to do the same actually. 4 years of exp and basically out of helpdesk at this point. Thing is while I have a lot of responsibilities, I'm still the young guy that can ask for help on a project whenever. I wonder how I'm gonna make the jump to the guy that people ask help from.

 

[xSauronx]

they may be strict on required experience, or they may take time to accept applications before they screen and call back.

im trying to apply back to a place i internet at...its been a couple of weeks since i applied, but they are notorious for taking FOREVER to give callbacks, not just for initial interviews, but for callbacks AFTER an interview as well, even if they think they want you.

decent place to work, but sometimes the red tape is insane.

 

[dawks]

lol, I have 8 years experience with a 4-year Degree and 2-year Diploma and I've been trying to get a new job for 3.5 years now. Good luck.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

lol, I have 8 years experience with a 4-year Degree and 2-year Diploma and I've been trying to get a new job for 3.5 years now. Good luck.

Degrees in what?


Biggest IT mistake is thinking your degrees matter. They don't.

What matters is your job experience, most IT managers have been burned bigtime by bootcamp certification classes.

 

[exdeath]

Cherry picking. In today's economy they will collect thousands of applications and sit on them until they get a guy with three PhDs for $9/hr

 

[JM Aggie08]

Cherry picking. In today's economy they will collect thousands of applications and sit on them until they get a guy with three PhDs for $9/hr

Where the hell are you people trying to work???

 

[Insomniator]

lol, I have 8 years experience with a 4-year Degree and 2-year Diploma and I've been trying to get a new job for 3.5 years now. Good luck.

Something obvious is definitely wrong with you then.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Cherry picking. In today's economy they will collect thousands of applications and sit on them until they get a guy with three PhDs for $9/hr

Agreed. In this job market, employers can be very picky.

OP, don't get too discouraged from just one no-call but remember that we're in a tough economy right now and you're competing with many, many other people with more experience than you.

 

[rsutoratosu]

Same thing, first 3 jobs were easy, hedgefund closes, move to the next one. I been sitting at this job for 3 years now, i make good money, work about 30 hours a week but I wanna make more.. a lot of hf are not hiring, people arent very crazy to just quit like before. I guess raising money isnt as easy as before.

 

[classy]

Everytime this conversation comes up, it gets flooded with the doom amd gloom. I have never had an issue trying to get a job in IT, but it didn't happen overnight. There are tons of factors, but just be dilligent in looking and applying. System admin can be a very varied title. My last job, I was a system admin, but in reality I was more of a desktop admin. But just keep looking an opportunity will show up.

 

[sourceninja]

I've had no shortage of offers, however I've not gotten offers that are better than my current position.

No degree, 15 years in IT...

 

[Pantlegz]

I'm trying to transition from federal to the private sector and haven't had much luck over the past 6 months. A few interviews but most of them were lateral moves with a possibility of promotion where the position(and more importantly the pay grade) I'm in now is pretty much all I have to look forward to here for a few years at least. I've got 3 years of experience, BS and a few basic certs. Good luck OP

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Degrees in what?


Biggest IT mistake is thinking your degrees matter. They don't.

The last two companies I've worked for (one being a Fortune 500) won't even look at your resume if you don't have a degree on it. I believe that trend is expanding as well.

 

[JM Aggie08]

I feel like the industry and economy have become scapegoats for individuals' short-comings.

Granted, these are not ideal conditions for being in the job market, but if you stand out above the rest you should have no issue landing something.

Best of luck nonetheless.

 

[classy]

The last two companies I've worked for (one being a Fortune 500) won't even look at your resume if you don't have a degree on it. I believe that trend is expanding as well.

Not in the Philly area. Experience is top of the list. Many places won't even give you an interview without some kind of cert, even with a college degree.

 

[ultimatebob]

It's pretty easy if you are willing to take a contractor position.

I wouldn't so that unless the hourly rate is awesome, though.

 

[Pantlegz]

I feel like the industry and economy have become scapegoats for individuals' short-comings.

Granted, these are not ideal conditions for being in the job market, but if you stand out above the rest you should have no issue landing something.

Best of luck nonetheless.

Really depends on a lot I've been looking in a ~300 mile radius and haven't found much better than what I do have, the few that have been better are expecting the world(min BS/ pref MA with 8+ years of experience) for around 5k more and I'm only making 47k. I'm young, educated, have 3 years of solid/full time experience with good references. But the few interviews I've had didn't result in a job. And like I said in my post above, they were basically lateral moves that could possibly result in more money eventually and had a bit of room for advancement, neither of which my current position offers.

 

[BlitzPuppet]

Took me 3 months while I had another job.

 

[mshan]

If you can move, west coast and southwest appear to be faster growing parts of country. Can google for something like Silicon Prairie for more ideas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Prairie Austin, TX may be really booming, maybe look at Phoenix metro, too.

I would guess that hirings for finance related positions are going to be sluggish, while tech companies levered to social / mobile / cloud (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple in epic battle trying to win as defacto platform smartphone uses all over the world use and how to monetize that). Maybe look at companies that are derivative plays on social / mobile / cloud.

Healthcare is probably another growing area, as is oil and gas.

General Motors supposed to hire up to 10,000 IT types over next 5 years: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/gm-...ogy-workers-1C6341925?streamSlug=businessmain & http://careers.gm.com/career-tracks/technical/information-technology.html

Top 50 business and engineering companies to work for: http://www.universumglobal.com/stored-images/d1/d1ab7acf-1f7c-4cc0-9dba-edef590321a5.pdf

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Not in the Philly area. Experience is top of the list. Many places won't even give you an interview without some kind of cert, even with a college degree.

I haven't seen a place that really cares about certs (unless it is a consulting house). Most places that I've seen want a degree and all want experience.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Really depends on a lot I've been looking in a ~300 mile radius and haven't found much better than what I do have, the few that have been better are expecting the world(min BS/ pref MA with 8+ years of experience) for around 5k more and I'm only making 47k. I'm young, educated, have 3 years of solid/full time experience with good references. But the few interviews I've had didn't result in a job. And like I said in my post above, they were basically lateral moves that could possibly result in more money eventually and had a bit of room for advancement, neither of which my current position offers.

Wait -- you're saying that many want a Master's degree for a Sys Admin position? LOLOLOLOL!

 

[JM Aggie08]

Wait -- you're saying that many want a Master's degree for a Sys Admin position? LOLOLOLOL!

There's absolutely no way this is true.

 

[dawks]

Wait -- you're saying that many want a Master's degree for a Sys Admin position? LOLOLOLOL!

You'd be surprised at how often this is happening. I just had a phone interview for a position administering 15 servers, 450 clients, 100 wireless devices, Windows desktops, Mac Desktops, publishing software, and large printing presses. They wanted 5+ years experience, a Degree in computer Science, Masters preferred, but were only paying low $40's (on call for 1 week on, 1 off). I had to fight back the laughter.

I've seen lots of jobs wanting 5+ years for entry level help desk support. Its pretty ridiculous.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

You'd be surprised at how often this is happening. I just had a phone interview for a position administering 15 servers, 450 clients, 100 wireless devices, Windows desktops, Mac Desktops, publishing software, and large printing presses. They wanted 5+ years experience, a Degree in computer Science, Masters preferred, but were only paying low $40's (on call for 1 week on, 1 off). I had to fight back the laughter.

I would not have fought back the laughter. I would've asked them to outline what benefit a Master's degree would provide to the job. Because I can tell you the benefit -- absolutely none.

I applied for a job 8 or 9 years ago and we kept playing phone tag. I was getting pretty frustrated. Finally, the HR lady caught me at my desk and they wanted to transfer to the manager for a phone interview immediately. I was kind of tired of messing with these guys, so I point blank said: "Before you do that, may I ask about the compensation?" She said "$47K" and I laughed her off the phone and said "No thanks."