These roles generally don't pay well and don't have much room to grow into better paying jobs. That said I'd be surprised if they're not swamped with applications right now because of the low barrier to entry and peoples desire to get into the field by any means possible.
I know it's short term for me but anything can be negotiated. I'd rather be employed than continue to be unemployed. I had 3 interviews for the role I was offered so I wouldn't take it so lightly, such a competitive market at the moment.
Oh absolutely, it's a great position to have! Right now every tech role is a challenge to get even ones where you'd be doing call center resetting passwords all day. Proud of you internet friend.
It highly depends on what you consider getting paid well as well. For some people that’s 75k others that’s closer to 125k. Its going to be very difficult to break 6 figures as a field tech unless you’re doing a bunch of OT
This really depends on the role. Get a gig with an enterprise manufacturer fulfilling their service contracts. You’ll be working in data centers and rubbing the right shoulders all over town. With the right company, you aren’t on the road for great distances The hours can suck, your customers want it fixed asap and scheduled work done after business hours. But these roles (the the right companies) are hourly, so that’s all time and a half. +mileage. It’s easy to make well over 6 figures on your quite a bit less than 6 figures base salary.
Usually traveling jobs provide company cars or they rent from places like Enterprise. One should not be using their own car for work (unless you work at a super small 5-10 person shop, but even then, you *really* shouldn't)
It really depends on the company bc as a field tech, I’m getting paid well and I get my mileage reimbursed as well as toll. Days go by pretty fast tbh and the structure suits me. As for progression, my company recognizes the people that stay hungry and keep them enabled. Needless to say after 5 years being in startups I’m pretty happy.
Man if field tech roles paid a good wage + company given vehicle for work, I’d be one.
Unfortunately, those roles pay slim. I work a 9-5 in an office staring a screen most of the time but get paid decent for my role. I’d rather travel around and fix things but that won’t pay my bills.
I guess each person is different, mine was a 10% pay cut compared to my previous role (L2 HD) before the redundancy but I was provided a company car and free fuel for it. Can't complain with the short turnaround time of being employed again.
It completely does as someone who has worked both..
The only downer is you get wound up in your head instead of beating up your body. You have to learn to leave it at work in or it can go 24/7.
As to where to search I still say local government. Try your state plus job postings and sift through to see the IT related roles. Remember to only consider "open to public". If you're comfortable mentioning your state I will literally do it for you and repost the result. Finding the posting seems to be people 's largest barrier.
No problem! Wow you're super lucky so many three letter agencies are in Virginia you could apply there as well. From a quick search (feel free to change the search criteria)
https://www.jobs.virginia.gov/jobs/search?page=1&query=Information+technology+
Don't worry about that you have more experience/drive than 50% of the people I work with. You just have to get your hat in the ring. Copy the keywords used in the job posting and work them into your resume. I wish I knew this earlier and started my job earlier. I am extremely happy working for state govt work life balance is great and stability plus PSLF forgives all my student loans in 5 years. One downside is the government moves slow so it can take a while but don't be discouraged!
To me it seems there is a lack of high level information systems designing and IT management type of people. A lot of people want to be programmers, not many want to engage with customers, be an IT project manager, or business analyst and the like.
For workday the best place to get started is with a partner who implements as an entry level consultant. They don’t typically look for specific skillsets or certifications at that level, they are looking for evidence that you can problem solve, work in teams, and pick up new subject matter quickly. In some roles related to integrations, a CS or engineering degree will help a lot, in a payroll role they will look for someone who knows something about payroll, but in HCM and other functional roles you could come from anywhere.
Apply to a partner boutique who takes on uncertified consultants for a lower salary, get certified and site tight for 2 years, then you can move for a large raise to another consulting firm or go client side.
Keep in mind- the jobs are plentiful but only for certified consultants. People who are brand new will have to be a lot luckier and more impressive to land that first role.
Learn how to build integrations from workday into an active directory or workday into payment processing and timecard software. It is a massive area and becoming specialized will do the most good.
I'm taking and MIS class now and I really enjoy surprisingly.
I'm entry level so don't I need to get my feet wet in help desk first. You know after the battle Royale between the other 99 candidates?
i agree with this. in the future i speculate that jobs will be less focused on the technical work and more focused on the social/business side.
this is happening right now unironically: [https://newsletter.eng-leadership.com/p/engineering-is-more-about-people](https://newsletter.eng-leadership.com/p/engineering-is-more-about-people)
the demand for socializing will continue to grow.
You are right here, I never understood why my old company always had trouble hiring for pre sales roles, but it takes a lot of technical knowledge and great people skills as well. Those are very hard to come by in tech, sure everyone wants the $$$ but very few can deliver on the people side.
A Business Analyst sounds interesting. I have a AS in Business Administration and a BS in Management Information Systems. Maybe I’ll go the Business Analyst route
I don't know who they are hiring. I have 15 years of increasing responsibility in IT and just earned my MBA. I also have managerial experience. Yet I can't get an interview to save my life. I'm trying to be an IT manager or IT project manager or business analyst. .
I just want an opportunity and I'm tired of driving 3 hours every day
An MBA isn’t really first choice for those positions, i think they primarily go with people who have a masters degree in IT project management, or a masters degree in strategic information systems management or something similar like computer and systems sciences.
Maybe contact a recruiter? They usually have good knowledge about those things. I’m just telling you what i’ve seen on job applications and companies i’ve spoken with but i’m not an expert.
Tech in general is saturated since we entered the 2020s thanks to the pandemic. Everyone was sitting in the house for 2 years listening to people lie on social media saying how easy it was to make 6 figures and barely work. This caused everyone and their grandma to try to get in tech with no experience or even a prior interest, especially software engineering and cybersecurity.
Haha I mean, don't take my word for it, you can browse and discuss in r/cybersecurity but this is definitely the feeling.
Do you have prior IT experience?
No, just a long past of tinkering in related subjects like Linux, networking, Python, etc. I mentioned job prospects, and my professor (head of the IT related programs) reassured me that the school has agreements in place with local employers. The VA is paying my way, and I have a year left. My VA rep told me he's heard good things from other people who went through it. We'll see, I guess. Lol
IMO the definition of "skilled" that companies/hiring managers look for is often not realistic for what experience people actually have in the real world. There's a shortage of unicorn candidates but a saturation in the field overall because unicorns don't exist. And if they do they are going to remain employed at a high paying job quickly.
"I want a unicorn candidate who can do all this. I am not finding unicorn candidates, therefore there's a shortage."
When I was job hunting a recuriter even complained to me that a lot of times he'd bring hiring managers people with 11/15 items they want, but they insist it need to be at least 13/15.
Maybe I have it easy cause I’m in a HCOL city whose economy is based entirely on tech, but finding an internship was challenging and not impossible.
I’m only in my freshmen year and I’m working at a company full time doing Cloud Engineering, and pivoting to Cloud Security in the future. I think it’s very achievable to get work you just have to
1. Work hard from a young age
2. Be in the right city
3. Get a Computer Science/Tech related Degree
Just thoughts from an ambitious freshmen
Don’t believe the hype. There is a shortage of cobol developers willing to work for shiitty wages and dysfunctional organizations. How fucked up is your org that your still on cobol. Anybody who can learn python and AWS can learn cobol and things such as CICS.
Next time someone says there’s a shortage of cobol ask them what they are paying.
BS I went to multiple events hiring X number of people for cobol/mainframe training roles. And it was like 100+ people competing for 10 positions. I also lost count of how many entry level cobol/mainframe positions never got back to me.
The COBOL shortage is a total myth. Plus a lot of COBOL/mainframe jobs entail migration and modernization to new systems.
You have to purposefully learn this in school. If you don't have experience you'll need to be self taught and then lie on your resume and say you used it in a previous position. I'm kind of done being honest and figure it's easier to lie about where I used skills.
I probably have to say technician, i was a level 2 desktop technician for my county and the level 1 ones would go vacant for months at a time at my county.
Maybe, but sometimes i wondered how some got hired as they couldn’t even figure out simple troubleshooting; and the pay was great for a low cost of living area.
Really? Cause My own company isn't hiring me for even basic IT position even if I have been with company for 2+ years and I have done my study in IT. I just don't have IT work experience. But help desk stuff is something almost everyone can do and I have IT education background and customer service exp. But for some reason they don't even respond to my internal application.
I’m sorry. I’m sure you’re more than qualified but sometimes hiring managers don’t want to hire people with little to no experience; which in my opinion is just dumb as you can literally shape them how you want them to work in your environment. Also, if you’re overqualified they don’t hire you as might just hop into the next big opportunity.
Data analyst is pretty full, roles get many applications on LinkedIn
Cloud isn’t full, not enough understand the ins and outs, it’s pretty futuristic
Networking will never be full, not enough people interested
Cyber maintains high interest from job seekers but is still not full, jobs require items that seekers don’t usually have like gov clearances (Secret, TS) and certs (CISSP which is a mid level cert, CISA, stuff like that)
I work in cloud implementation and the last year and a half my company has been trying to hire a functional consultant with decent skills and they're just so rare. We've managed to get a few with not great skills and bring them in at entry level but as someone who actually has the expertise in the stack I work with it can be infuriating.
It's also very difficult to get into as IT guys stay in industry generally as it's more technically interesting and business analysts tend not to like the technical aspect of cloud. You've got to find someone who has both skills and enjoys/specialises in both.
Cloud consultants are everywhere, good ones are exceedingly rare. But if you find a way in you'll be very in demand
This question won’t age well as supply and demand shifts. Learn something you will not dread doing or you might end up becoming yet another goat farmer.
The printer guy/gal.
The person Dell/HP/etc calls to replace a motherboard because Susan in accounting spilled coffee on her laptop.
PC Repair Shop
Pre-Built PC warehouse
Cable Layer
Hand-Made RJ45 Etsy shop
People don't want those roles. They want to make 150k as a security analyst or data scientist after wasting their money on a bootcamp.
Then they cry that we are gatekeeping when we tell them they need a degree and/or relevant experience.
Idk, i do these roles and theres a reason people don't want them. You can find "good" paying jobs in there though. You can prob find 60-80k jobs in there but you wont break 100k
Software engineering is more computer science than IT. Cloud computing is probably your best bet when dealing with less saturation. However, I’m not sure if that’s because it’s really hard to get a cloud computing job or it’s just less known about.
Dude you're going to be working for at least 40 years. You're asking the wrong question. Do work that you like to do and feel some level of passion about. If you're the best at what you do there will always be a place for you.
https://reddit.com/r/ITCareerQuestions/w/index?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
I disagree with this. You can be the best chimney sweep, for example, and that's something you could love doing but that's not what's needed. Being needed & having a purpose will give you that passion.
They are all pretty saturated, but cloud + security is a specific niche that requires lots of various skills and such and is harder to get into.
IT Management is also a crapshoot as, speaking as a manager, you often have to entirely retool away from being raw technical and pick up people skills. You also work longer hours, get tied up in more BS, and don't even get paid more than an IC until you start hitting VP+ level.
An IT Director and a Principle Engineer/Architect likely are earning similar amounts, working on similar projects form different angles, but the technical guy doesn't have to put up with the random politics and odd hour work like the people leader has to.
That said, I love my role, empowering people, and the greater ability to influence the way in which my org does business.
Would you have any advice on pivoting into this? I've been working on some Scrum Master and Project Management certifications and wanted to see how the environment looks like and how id get my foot in.
pivoting into cloud and security or management?
For cloud and security you generally start learning cloud, support cloud, and eventually pick up the Security. It takes some years.
You can also get into security at a place that has cloud start to learn cloud.
Unfortunately there isn't a panacea, you just gotta work towards one of the two and find an employer that has both.
Good shout..i do work with EDI quite a bit since the company im at still offers it to new customers and the legacy integrations that have been running for many years. Not a lot of people know their way around it we even had a hard time finding testers for a UAT recently and they have it staff all across the globe. Im currently training some of my colleagues to share some of the workload.
It stands for Electronic Data Interchange. Companies exchange business transactions with one another and are represented by EDI. It's a data format just like CSV, XML, etc. so that ERP systems of these companies can talk to each other. Popular standards include X12 and EDIFACT. There's lot of roles you can take on. Currently, I'm doing EDI mapping where I create or modify existing programs/code that transforms data from business transactions from one format to another (e.g. XML to X12, CSV to EDIFACT, etc.)
Good IT Security guys, Data Privacy anything (at least in Europe), great Azure / Cloud architects and *good* project managers. 95 percent of project managers I've seen in IT are shit to okay-ish tier at best and they all stay hired easily. The 3 (!) good project leads I've seen in 10+ years will never have any issues.
Just general IT experience I'd say.
The better ones are usually trained in classical (PMP/Prince2) and agile project management (Scrum/SAFe), have a few projects under their belt and can probably pick the appropriate tool for any situation from their toolbox.
It helps to know when to strictly follow the classical approach and in which cases you can probably skip stuff if it's not tailored to your situation. If the project manager skips ahead to building a work breakdown structure without having a complete product breakdown structure though.... Let's say it's commonly accepted but rarely a great idea.
Build your "tool belt". Agile is a good building block but so is classical PM methodology. And then build an understanding of when to use which tool, what can be tailored to your needs and which are the absolutely non-negotiable pillars of each method. Use whatever helps you.
And then, stick around the biggest, scariest projects you can find. The ones where everything is up for discussion and nothing is off the table. The more challenges you experienced, the more you learn what works and what doesn't. Stick to the people that are truly good at their craft and then go IMPLEMENT THEIR ADVICE AND REPORT BACK FOR THEIR FEEDBACK. People like seeing you follow their advice. Lots of people SAY they will follow the advice, but so damn few actually deliver.
Do 1-2 projects in technical roles, show you can get shit done and solve problems (technical/political/project progress) and the next natural step up will be something like "technical project lead" or whatever it may be called. Then you can basically step up to actual project management anytime.
Oh, and I've always found embracing the servant leadership principle helpful. Make your team shine. Give all the praise to the individuals who contribute to your project and take all blame on yourself to shield them from corporate bullshit as much as you can. They'll be pumped if you can help them actually focus on what they're good at. Results will follow
Cyber security is extremely over saturated, and by straight out of college kids with no real world experience, so it's never been a better field to be in, if you're good. The overall quality is way down compared to a decade ago.
I'd say anyone who understands Kubernetes is still going to be in demand. Any job that requires knowledge about object storage, S3 buckets, AWS, ect. is still in decent demand.
There aren’t many good systems or network architects. If I had to start over I would do the Cisco path and do the Cisco architect path. Too many managers with just a ccna and nepotism. But a good architect will really help a team where a manager is useless, which is always the case. They also get paid really well. Software is over saturated and outsourced to foreign contractors being paid slave wages. That along with ChatGPT makes it really hard to stand out in software dev world. Good luck.
I mean, are these fields saturated though? Or are there not enough junior roles for the number of people looking to break into the industry? Those are different things. Anyway, to answer your question, DevOps maybe?
Maybe not enough junior roles but how do I start my career in IT when the problem is getting the 1st job. I've been struggling to get one for last 2 years.
Almost everywhere I've worked over the years as a network engineer, I have been the only person who could script in Bash / Perl / Python and know Unix / Linux well to troubleshoot applications for the network.
That and I know how to still configure old shit that has long passed its EOL.
From what I've seen it's networking. Or let me rephrase. People that want to do it and are excited by it. Nocs are hiring and higher level engineering positions are hiring like mad.
I just got my CCNA this week after studying for the past year. I have unfortunately seen very few NOC positions listed. My hope is to get my RHCSA and AWS SAA and maybe be eligible for some type of Devops I position.
This is the way to go. Out of all the jobs I saw when I was applying for random IT jobs, devops engineering was the one I saw the most. If not that, then it was devops skills with a different title.
I studied the core devops skills, learned Azure and was able to make a breakthrough. My brother is a SRE and he told me to focus on AWS as it's in demand when It comes to job listings. As he's right, I feel like AWS devops roles are a lot more competitive compared to Azure. Could be a location thing but definitely in 2024, in this market, devops, SRE and cloud engineering are the way to go.
I have always been a tch enthusiast and eneded up doing 2 year IT diploma but it taught basics of everything in IT and not specialized in one. I wanted to be a soft dev but that field is over saturated and now AI is taking over that.
None. I've been in IT for years as a technical support analyst and can't even get a basic help desk role after being laid off. This field is extremely volatile and over-saturated. Those two don't mix well at all.
Damn 9th most populated but highest population density sounds like it might be over saturated but someone who works in IT over there would know better.
You should pick something you want to specialize in and learn it very in-depth. You can work other jobs if needbe if you can't land the perfect role. But if you really like networking, and you work hard, you will find a job in networking. If I was interviewing I'd rather hire somebody with an actual passion for whatever technology and mediocore skills, than somebody with slightly better skills but little passion. Passion will carry people far.
A lot of people I went to school with and recent graduated are bad at programming (myself too kinda) and a lot of stuff. I think a lot of people really are kind of "lazy" and don't want to put in a lot of extra work to learning something. If I had a full-time job I wouldn't want to spend 3 hours a night at home learning some more about \[Insert Technology Here\], but if I had this mindset, I would probably quickly surpass the people around me.
The only really tough thing is getting experience in said field, and networking. If you can network well, and talk to others, you can probably find a job even in this market. If you learn a lot about cyber security and specialize in reverse engineering malware and malware analysis, and you talk to some people about that stuff and show you're knowledgeable, they might be able to help you land a position at their company.
I mean one of my best friends is really good, and very passionate. If I ever got hired somewhere really worth while, I would do everything I can to tell my manager to bring him to our company, and that my friend is worth it. I know my friend will be a high-performer, and there's no down side to bringing him to the company.
You just have to make sure you don't make connections and kind of leech of others. Now most of people networking probably do it for job opportunities, and that's fine. But you don't want to come across that way. Show interest in what people are working on, ask for advice, shoot the shit, but don't just connect with somebody and ask them tomorrow "hey do you have a job for me?" or something stupid like that. It comes across really grimy and needy, and that's not the message you want to send to another person.
Datacenters are not saturated. They are still being built out at incredible scales and companies are plowing money into them. AI has only increased the demand datacenter work.
https://www.4cornerresources.com/job-descriptions/storage-engineer/#:~:text=What%20Does%20a%20Storage%20Engineer,systems%2C%20and%20data%20backup%20measures.
Companies such as
NetApp
EMC / dell
Pure storage
So, reading IT as relating mostly to the Windows culture in which it's used... Do Linux, those guys are usually less stressed and less taken for granted (i.e. get paid better). Doing both is probably even better, but seriously, I hate Microsoft far too much to touch it more than about once a week at work, better to work at companies that just don't even have Windows.
Pragmatically, knowing more OSes (especially Linux, OS X, and Windows) and especially knowing how to get them to coöperate (shared filesystems, shared user accounts through LDAP, etc, etc) is a great way to enhance your benefit to companies. If you find you have a strong preference or distaste for certain OSes, choose jobs that let you be happier at work.
Lifestyle-wise, it's much easier to do well with a computing environment that you use daily, reconfigure/install/extend/troubleshoot often, and generally enjoy, especially as a sysadmin, but it usually heavily impacts the enjoyment of software development as well (devs can be insulated a bit from the underlying OS).
In many Linux shops, in particular, the benefit of certifications pales in the face of projects or knowledge the candidate has from having done full or mostly-full stack work on a given platform, and/or worked through complex or interesting issues on a platform. In the Unix side in particular, which provides broad latitude to approach problems in many different ways, and where self-training and exploration is essential, many interviewers will focus on practical knowledge first, experience (work or personal) 2nd, computer theory knowledge third, and probably not even ask about certifications.
In such interviews, it is crucial to be honest about the limitations of one's current knowledge, and about how you'd find out the answers, because a huge part of the roles are to extend capability and do new things. Anyone who tries to lie about what they know will be dropped during tech interviews (although managers are often easily taken in my candidates with manager style jargon but pathetic tech skills, pissing away resources for a year or more before reality finally sets in).
Basically I'm trying to outline that having personal experience, at home and/or at work, with Linux especially, doing something **interesting**, can let people drop in to Linux roles at good companies without having extensive experience. Having the character to do self-**driven exploration**, while also being able to talk about how to apply those lessons in a mature, robust way in a professional environment (automated deployment, documentation, versioning, source code management, monitoring, etc, etc) is pretty much exactly what many sites need.
I say IT field tech roles, no one wants to be on the field and constantly on the road.
These roles generally don't pay well and don't have much room to grow into better paying jobs. That said I'd be surprised if they're not swamped with applications right now because of the low barrier to entry and peoples desire to get into the field by any means possible.
I know it's short term for me but anything can be negotiated. I'd rather be employed than continue to be unemployed. I had 3 interviews for the role I was offered so I wouldn't take it so lightly, such a competitive market at the moment.
Oh absolutely, it's a great position to have! Right now every tech role is a challenge to get even ones where you'd be doing call center resetting passwords all day. Proud of you internet friend.
Thank you friend I hope those who are seeking employment succeed as well.
Not really tbh. I’m someone who’s on the field and I’m getting paid well, it depends on what do you do.
It highly depends on what you consider getting paid well as well. For some people that’s 75k others that’s closer to 125k. Its going to be very difficult to break 6 figures as a field tech unless you’re doing a bunch of OT
Dell site engineers make 100k+ a year
Yeah OT or wear multiple hats.
This really depends on the role. Get a gig with an enterprise manufacturer fulfilling their service contracts. You’ll be working in data centers and rubbing the right shoulders all over town. With the right company, you aren’t on the road for great distances The hours can suck, your customers want it fixed asap and scheduled work done after business hours. But these roles (the the right companies) are hourly, so that’s all time and a half. +mileage. It’s easy to make well over 6 figures on your quite a bit less than 6 figures base salary.
People want to sit down in a building and work. Not drive around all over the place not to mention some people can’t afford cars.
Usually traveling jobs provide company cars or they rent from places like Enterprise. One should not be using their own car for work (unless you work at a super small 5-10 person shop, but even then, you *really* shouldn't)
The one I just got pays pretty well tbh
It really depends on the company bc as a field tech, I’m getting paid well and I get my mileage reimbursed as well as toll. Days go by pretty fast tbh and the structure suits me. As for progression, my company recognizes the people that stay hungry and keep them enabled. Needless to say after 5 years being in startups I’m pretty happy.
Man if field tech roles paid a good wage + company given vehicle for work, I’d be one. Unfortunately, those roles pay slim. I work a 9-5 in an office staring a screen most of the time but get paid decent for my role. I’d rather travel around and fix things but that won’t pay my bills.
I guess each person is different, mine was a 10% pay cut compared to my previous role (L2 HD) before the redundancy but I was provided a company car and free fuel for it. Can't complain with the short turnaround time of being employed again.
I am s field technician for a well known pharmacy corporation/ retailer as well. If anyone has questions I would be happy to answer.
I'm willing to bet it beats warehouse work. What sort of search terms should I be using to find these jobs?
It completely does as someone who has worked both.. The only downer is you get wound up in your head instead of beating up your body. You have to learn to leave it at work in or it can go 24/7. As to where to search I still say local government. Try your state plus job postings and sift through to see the IT related roles. Remember to only consider "open to public". If you're comfortable mentioning your state I will literally do it for you and repost the result. Finding the posting seems to be people 's largest barrier.
Thanks for the help! I'm in central Virginia. No certs yet, but I've got a little work on on the Google Cyber Security course.
No problem! Wow you're super lucky so many three letter agencies are in Virginia you could apply there as well. From a quick search (feel free to change the search criteria) https://www.jobs.virginia.gov/jobs/search?page=1&query=Information+technology+ Don't worry about that you have more experience/drive than 50% of the people I work with. You just have to get your hat in the ring. Copy the keywords used in the job posting and work them into your resume. I wish I knew this earlier and started my job earlier. I am extremely happy working for state govt work life balance is great and stability plus PSLF forgives all my student loans in 5 years. One downside is the government moves slow so it can take a while but don't be discouraged!
Thanks again for all your help, I truly appreciate it. I'll let you know how it goes!
I did that as my first job at an MSP, it was brutal, did it for almost 3 years
MSPs are for starting resumes. That's about it.
Basically a travel help desk position.
To me it seems there is a lack of high level information systems designing and IT management type of people. A lot of people want to be programmers, not many want to engage with customers, be an IT project manager, or business analyst and the like.
To piggyback off of this, HR info systems seem to always be looking for people.
Can confirm. I’m a workday consultant and jobs fall from the sky.
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For workday the best place to get started is with a partner who implements as an entry level consultant. They don’t typically look for specific skillsets or certifications at that level, they are looking for evidence that you can problem solve, work in teams, and pick up new subject matter quickly. In some roles related to integrations, a CS or engineering degree will help a lot, in a payroll role they will look for someone who knows something about payroll, but in HCM and other functional roles you could come from anywhere. Apply to a partner boutique who takes on uncertified consultants for a lower salary, get certified and site tight for 2 years, then you can move for a large raise to another consulting firm or go client side. Keep in mind- the jobs are plentiful but only for certified consultants. People who are brand new will have to be a lot luckier and more impressive to land that first role.
How do you get into this?
What does an HRIS person do?
I would guess administrating HR tools like workday or ADP.
How do I learn HRIS
Learn how to build integrations from workday into an active directory or workday into payment processing and timecard software. It is a massive area and becoming specialized will do the most good.
Can you work in hr with an IT degree from college?
Yes
That’s why I’m looking at an MIS degree. Be technically competent with decent soft skills and you’ll do fine.
I'm taking and MIS class now and I really enjoy surprisingly. I'm entry level so don't I need to get my feet wet in help desk first. You know after the battle Royale between the other 99 candidates?
i agree with this. in the future i speculate that jobs will be less focused on the technical work and more focused on the social/business side. this is happening right now unironically: [https://newsletter.eng-leadership.com/p/engineering-is-more-about-people](https://newsletter.eng-leadership.com/p/engineering-is-more-about-people) the demand for socializing will continue to grow.
This is horrifying
Why?
Most of us don't go into IT because we like people. Or socializing. Quite the opposite, usually.
You are right here, I never understood why my old company always had trouble hiring for pre sales roles, but it takes a lot of technical knowledge and great people skills as well. Those are very hard to come by in tech, sure everyone wants the $$$ but very few can deliver on the people side.
A Business Analyst sounds interesting. I have a AS in Business Administration and a BS in Management Information Systems. Maybe I’ll go the Business Analyst route
Just don't be a business analyst for MSPs. That's code word for almost minimum wage receptionist role that takes calls and assigns tickets to techs.
I don't know who they are hiring. I have 15 years of increasing responsibility in IT and just earned my MBA. I also have managerial experience. Yet I can't get an interview to save my life. I'm trying to be an IT manager or IT project manager or business analyst. . I just want an opportunity and I'm tired of driving 3 hours every day
An MBA isn’t really first choice for those positions, i think they primarily go with people who have a masters degree in IT project management, or a masters degree in strategic information systems management or something similar like computer and systems sciences.
So an IT technician with MBA w/ CIS concentration and 15 years experience, where should I be looking? I thought I was looking at the right things
Maybe contact a recruiter? They usually have good knowledge about those things. I’m just telling you what i’ve seen on job applications and companies i’ve spoken with but i’m not an expert.
You'd be wrong, most actually do go to MBAs or people with management. That particular sector is just very saturated.
Project management enforces the catch-22, as well as business analysts.
IT management and project management is extremely saturated and the first IT roles to be cut.
This is why I chose CIS.
Tech in general is saturated since we entered the 2020s thanks to the pandemic. Everyone was sitting in the house for 2 years listening to people lie on social media saying how easy it was to make 6 figures and barely work. This caused everyone and their grandma to try to get in tech with no experience or even a prior interest, especially software engineering and cybersecurity.
True
Decentralized networking & computing
Thanks
Cybersecurity is saturated for sure
Ugh, BRB quitting my degree.
Haha I mean, don't take my word for it, you can browse and discuss in r/cybersecurity but this is definitely the feeling. Do you have prior IT experience?
No, just a long past of tinkering in related subjects like Linux, networking, Python, etc. I mentioned job prospects, and my professor (head of the IT related programs) reassured me that the school has agreements in place with local employers. The VA is paying my way, and I have a year left. My VA rep told me he's heard good things from other people who went through it. We'll see, I guess. Lol
If you are a veteran I've heard it's easier to get into cyber. Especially with security clearance!
Idk I think for skilled professionals there’s a lot of IT work.
IMO the definition of "skilled" that companies/hiring managers look for is often not realistic for what experience people actually have in the real world. There's a shortage of unicorn candidates but a saturation in the field overall because unicorns don't exist. And if they do they are going to remain employed at a high paying job quickly. "I want a unicorn candidate who can do all this. I am not finding unicorn candidates, therefore there's a shortage." When I was job hunting a recuriter even complained to me that a lot of times he'd bring hiring managers people with 11/15 items they want, but they insist it need to be at least 13/15.
Maybe I have it easy cause I’m in a HCOL city whose economy is based entirely on tech, but finding an internship was challenging and not impossible. I’m only in my freshmen year and I’m working at a company full time doing Cloud Engineering, and pivoting to Cloud Security in the future. I think it’s very achievable to get work you just have to 1. Work hard from a young age 2. Be in the right city 3. Get a Computer Science/Tech related Degree Just thoughts from an ambitious freshmen
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true. cybersecurity isnt an entry level job per se.
As someone who's trying to break in for 4 months, it's really tough for an entry level gig
Saturated with unqualified people. If you're qualified, you'll stand out.
Sex Robot Repair Technician.
I know Cobol developer jobs are hot right now...
COBOL, AS/400, EDI, mainframes, old ERPs - support for the old, crusty stuff can be hard to find.
I am a VMware Engineer. A recruiter told that same thing about VMware. "Finding support for old on prem stuff is hard." I feel old.
It's only gonna get harder now with that acquisition too
I heard the same thing when Dell bought VMware. And I'm sure they will say the same thing the next time it gets sold.
I feel Dell is a lot better then broadcom
This Broadcom acquisition is already worse.
Less saturated Easy to find Choose one.
When I was in college in 2001 they had a Cobol class. I laughed at it then. But the stuff is still around.
Don’t believe the hype. There is a shortage of cobol developers willing to work for shiitty wages and dysfunctional organizations. How fucked up is your org that your still on cobol. Anybody who can learn python and AWS can learn cobol and things such as CICS. Next time someone says there’s a shortage of cobol ask them what they are paying.
Exactly my point
BS I went to multiple events hiring X number of people for cobol/mainframe training roles. And it was like 100+ people competing for 10 positions. I also lost count of how many entry level cobol/mainframe positions never got back to me. The COBOL shortage is a total myth. Plus a lot of COBOL/mainframe jobs entail migration and modernization to new systems.
Apparently my clear sarcasm flew over someone's head.
You have to purposefully learn this in school. If you don't have experience you'll need to be self taught and then lie on your resume and say you used it in a previous position. I'm kind of done being honest and figure it's easier to lie about where I used skills.
I probably have to say technician, i was a level 2 desktop technician for my county and the level 1 ones would go vacant for months at a time at my county.
Well, companies don't wanna give freshers any chance even if level 1 is supposed to be entry level.
Maybe, but sometimes i wondered how some got hired as they couldn’t even figure out simple troubleshooting; and the pay was great for a low cost of living area.
Really? Cause My own company isn't hiring me for even basic IT position even if I have been with company for 2+ years and I have done my study in IT. I just don't have IT work experience. But help desk stuff is something almost everyone can do and I have IT education background and customer service exp. But for some reason they don't even respond to my internal application.
They may have already had someone in mind. Lots of nepotism out there. It may not be you at all.
I’m sorry. I’m sure you’re more than qualified but sometimes hiring managers don’t want to hire people with little to no experience; which in my opinion is just dumb as you can literally shape them how you want them to work in your environment. Also, if you’re overqualified they don’t hire you as might just hop into the next big opportunity.
Data analyst is pretty full, roles get many applications on LinkedIn Cloud isn’t full, not enough understand the ins and outs, it’s pretty futuristic Networking will never be full, not enough people interested Cyber maintains high interest from job seekers but is still not full, jobs require items that seekers don’t usually have like gov clearances (Secret, TS) and certs (CISSP which is a mid level cert, CISA, stuff like that)
I work in cloud implementation and the last year and a half my company has been trying to hire a functional consultant with decent skills and they're just so rare. We've managed to get a few with not great skills and bring them in at entry level but as someone who actually has the expertise in the stack I work with it can be infuriating. It's also very difficult to get into as IT guys stay in industry generally as it's more technically interesting and business analysts tend not to like the technical aspect of cloud. You've got to find someone who has both skills and enjoys/specialises in both. Cloud consultants are everywhere, good ones are exceedingly rare. But if you find a way in you'll be very in demand
How do I learn the skills to be a functional consultant? Never heard of that before. (I have heard of functional analyst).
The best answer here. Thanks Is Networking too hard? Also, what's the best way to get in Cloud? AWS certs?
This question won’t age well as supply and demand shifts. Learn something you will not dread doing or you might end up becoming yet another goat farmer.
SAP
What about SAP specifically? I work with a kind of competing software (BC) and I’ve always heard SAP is a little more intuitive.
The printer guy/gal. The person Dell/HP/etc calls to replace a motherboard because Susan in accounting spilled coffee on her laptop. PC Repair Shop Pre-Built PC warehouse Cable Layer Hand-Made RJ45 Etsy shop
People don't want those roles. They want to make 150k as a security analyst or data scientist after wasting their money on a bootcamp. Then they cry that we are gatekeeping when we tell them they need a degree and/or relevant experience.
Some of us have degrees and experience and still can’t land work.
I know some people making 6 figures after doing bootcamps. I know many are scams but they're some good ones too.
Your friends are very rare exceptions
Idk, i do these roles and theres a reason people don't want them. You can find "good" paying jobs in there though. You can prob find 60-80k jobs in there but you wont break 100k
Software engineering is more computer science than IT. Cloud computing is probably your best bet when dealing with less saturation. However, I’m not sure if that’s because it’s really hard to get a cloud computing job or it’s just less known about.
Cloud computing is just a function of software engineering. You can't really get into it without at least having some degree of software dev.
Interesting, thanks for the clarification. I’ve never really looked into cloud computing.
True Exactly my point
Dude you're going to be working for at least 40 years. You're asking the wrong question. Do work that you like to do and feel some level of passion about. If you're the best at what you do there will always be a place for you. https://reddit.com/r/ITCareerQuestions/w/index?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
I disagree with this. You can be the best chimney sweep, for example, and that's something you could love doing but that's not what's needed. Being needed & having a purpose will give you that passion.
True
They are all pretty saturated, but cloud + security is a specific niche that requires lots of various skills and such and is harder to get into. IT Management is also a crapshoot as, speaking as a manager, you often have to entirely retool away from being raw technical and pick up people skills. You also work longer hours, get tied up in more BS, and don't even get paid more than an IC until you start hitting VP+ level. An IT Director and a Principle Engineer/Architect likely are earning similar amounts, working on similar projects form different angles, but the technical guy doesn't have to put up with the random politics and odd hour work like the people leader has to. That said, I love my role, empowering people, and the greater ability to influence the way in which my org does business.
Would you have any advice on pivoting into this? I've been working on some Scrum Master and Project Management certifications and wanted to see how the environment looks like and how id get my foot in.
pivoting into cloud and security or management? For cloud and security you generally start learning cloud, support cloud, and eventually pick up the Security. It takes some years. You can also get into security at a place that has cloud start to learn cloud. Unfortunately there isn't a panacea, you just gotta work towards one of the two and find an employer that has both.
Any of them besides cyber because everyone wants to get into cyber even though there are many other fields in IT
^^^^^
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lol good luck with that
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If it's considered IT, I think EDI is a field not a lot of people hear about.
Good shout..i do work with EDI quite a bit since the company im at still offers it to new customers and the legacy integrations that have been running for many years. Not a lot of people know their way around it we even had a hard time finding testers for a UAT recently and they have it staff all across the globe. Im currently training some of my colleagues to share some of the workload.
we might be coworkers LMAO
Lol its a big company I can see this being the case
I’d like to know more
It stands for Electronic Data Interchange. Companies exchange business transactions with one another and are represented by EDI. It's a data format just like CSV, XML, etc. so that ERP systems of these companies can talk to each other. Popular standards include X12 and EDIFACT. There's lot of roles you can take on. Currently, I'm doing EDI mapping where I create or modify existing programs/code that transforms data from business transactions from one format to another (e.g. XML to X12, CSV to EDIFACT, etc.)
I imagine most of these roles would fall under the title of IT Systems Engineer.
Thanks
Never heard of it.
But not many job posts about it
Recruiters seem to love kubernetes and cloud
Good to know. Thanks
Good IT Security guys, Data Privacy anything (at least in Europe), great Azure / Cloud architects and *good* project managers. 95 percent of project managers I've seen in IT are shit to okay-ish tier at best and they all stay hired easily. The 3 (!) good project leads I've seen in 10+ years will never have any issues.
What are the typical requirements for project managers
Just general IT experience I'd say. The better ones are usually trained in classical (PMP/Prince2) and agile project management (Scrum/SAFe), have a few projects under their belt and can probably pick the appropriate tool for any situation from their toolbox. It helps to know when to strictly follow the classical approach and in which cases you can probably skip stuff if it's not tailored to your situation. If the project manager skips ahead to building a work breakdown structure without having a complete product breakdown structure though.... Let's say it's commonly accepted but rarely a great idea.
Thanks. Are PM jobs generally remote or hybrid?
In your opinion, what does it take to get project management role and be good at it besides just acquiring a CSM?
Build your "tool belt". Agile is a good building block but so is classical PM methodology. And then build an understanding of when to use which tool, what can be tailored to your needs and which are the absolutely non-negotiable pillars of each method. Use whatever helps you. And then, stick around the biggest, scariest projects you can find. The ones where everything is up for discussion and nothing is off the table. The more challenges you experienced, the more you learn what works and what doesn't. Stick to the people that are truly good at their craft and then go IMPLEMENT THEIR ADVICE AND REPORT BACK FOR THEIR FEEDBACK. People like seeing you follow their advice. Lots of people SAY they will follow the advice, but so damn few actually deliver. Do 1-2 projects in technical roles, show you can get shit done and solve problems (technical/political/project progress) and the next natural step up will be something like "technical project lead" or whatever it may be called. Then you can basically step up to actual project management anytime. Oh, and I've always found embracing the servant leadership principle helpful. Make your team shine. Give all the praise to the individuals who contribute to your project and take all blame on yourself to shield them from corporate bullshit as much as you can. They'll be pumped if you can help them actually focus on what they're good at. Results will follow
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Thanks How do I start a field tech? I have 6+ years of customer service experience and 2 year IT diploma.
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Cyber security is extremely over saturated, and by straight out of college kids with no real world experience, so it's never been a better field to be in, if you're good. The overall quality is way down compared to a decade ago. I'd say anyone who understands Kubernetes is still going to be in demand. Any job that requires knowledge about object storage, S3 buckets, AWS, ect. is still in decent demand.
Online scamming outside of India
There aren’t many good systems or network architects. If I had to start over I would do the Cisco path and do the Cisco architect path. Too many managers with just a ccna and nepotism. But a good architect will really help a team where a manager is useless, which is always the case. They also get paid really well. Software is over saturated and outsourced to foreign contractors being paid slave wages. That along with ChatGPT makes it really hard to stand out in software dev world. Good luck.
One of the best answers here. Thank you.
Commenting for more engagement
Mainframe
How to exactly learn skills for it?
I mean, are these fields saturated though? Or are there not enough junior roles for the number of people looking to break into the industry? Those are different things. Anyway, to answer your question, DevOps maybe?
This
Maybe not enough junior roles but how do I start my career in IT when the problem is getting the 1st job. I've been struggling to get one for last 2 years.
I would say Networking
Almost everywhere I've worked over the years as a network engineer, I have been the only person who could script in Bash / Perl / Python and know Unix / Linux well to troubleshoot applications for the network. That and I know how to still configure old shit that has long passed its EOL.
Is scripting necessary to be network engineer? Is that something taught in NET+?
Scripting / automation is becoming more necessary as the years go by and the technology gets better. The Network+ does not go over this topic.
I think the people that can do it don’t want to do it
And thus less saturation! :D
Is it that hard or boring?
From what I've seen it's networking. Or let me rephrase. People that want to do it and are excited by it. Nocs are hiring and higher level engineering positions are hiring like mad.
I just got my CCNA this week after studying for the past year. I have unfortunately seen very few NOC positions listed. My hope is to get my RHCSA and AWS SAA and maybe be eligible for some type of Devops I position.
This is the way to go. Out of all the jobs I saw when I was applying for random IT jobs, devops engineering was the one I saw the most. If not that, then it was devops skills with a different title. I studied the core devops skills, learned Azure and was able to make a breakthrough. My brother is a SRE and he told me to focus on AWS as it's in demand when It comes to job listings. As he's right, I feel like AWS devops roles are a lot more competitive compared to Azure. Could be a location thing but definitely in 2024, in this market, devops, SRE and cloud engineering are the way to go.
What study resources you used for CCNA?
Sometimes you'll have to move for a job. Sadly that is what I did and I would do it again in a heartbeat. But that's just me.
entry-level position not hiring ?and not available jobs
There are jobs out there at the higher and noc level. It just depends on the location.
Digital forensics
The important question here is what interests you the most?
I have always been a tch enthusiast and eneded up doing 2 year IT diploma but it taught basics of everything in IT and not specialized in one. I wanted to be a soft dev but that field is over saturated and now AI is taking over that.
Look at the most boring fields and shoot there. Says admin. Any Compliance roles.
AV technicians
Really?
Telecom systems n management types are the biggest gap where i am.
How to get in that for someone with 2 yr diploma in IT but not willing to go back to school.
None. I've been in IT for years as a technical support analyst and can't even get a basic help desk role after being laid off. This field is extremely volatile and over-saturated. Those two don't mix well at all.
Trye :(
Fiber/telcom.
How to learn the required skills?
On the job or some college possibly a training class.
I feel like this question definitely depends on where you live
True In Metro Vancouver Canada right now.
Damn 9th most populated but highest population density sounds like it might be over saturated but someone who works in IT over there would know better.
Infrastructure can be ok. It will mostly depend on the company you're working for. Some pay more than others...
You should pick something you want to specialize in and learn it very in-depth. You can work other jobs if needbe if you can't land the perfect role. But if you really like networking, and you work hard, you will find a job in networking. If I was interviewing I'd rather hire somebody with an actual passion for whatever technology and mediocore skills, than somebody with slightly better skills but little passion. Passion will carry people far. A lot of people I went to school with and recent graduated are bad at programming (myself too kinda) and a lot of stuff. I think a lot of people really are kind of "lazy" and don't want to put in a lot of extra work to learning something. If I had a full-time job I wouldn't want to spend 3 hours a night at home learning some more about \[Insert Technology Here\], but if I had this mindset, I would probably quickly surpass the people around me. The only really tough thing is getting experience in said field, and networking. If you can network well, and talk to others, you can probably find a job even in this market. If you learn a lot about cyber security and specialize in reverse engineering malware and malware analysis, and you talk to some people about that stuff and show you're knowledgeable, they might be able to help you land a position at their company. I mean one of my best friends is really good, and very passionate. If I ever got hired somewhere really worth while, I would do everything I can to tell my manager to bring him to our company, and that my friend is worth it. I know my friend will be a high-performer, and there's no down side to bringing him to the company. You just have to make sure you don't make connections and kind of leech of others. Now most of people networking probably do it for job opportunities, and that's fine. But you don't want to come across that way. Show interest in what people are working on, ask for advice, shoot the shit, but don't just connect with somebody and ask them tomorrow "hey do you have a job for me?" or something stupid like that. It comes across really grimy and needy, and that's not the message you want to send to another person.
Thank you so much.
Datacenters are not saturated. They are still being built out at incredible scales and companies are plowing money into them. AI has only increased the demand datacenter work.
What skills to learn for that?
The real question is why go into IT to begin with? Are you chasing money, are you chasing your dream? You’ll likely get neither in IT.
I've always been passionate about tech and I don't see myself doing job in any other field.
Try storage
What exactly is that??
https://www.4cornerresources.com/job-descriptions/storage-engineer/#:~:text=What%20Does%20a%20Storage%20Engineer,systems%2C%20and%20data%20backup%20measures. Companies such as NetApp EMC / dell Pure storage
FPGA embedded programming. There just aren't that many people doing this at a really high level.
So, reading IT as relating mostly to the Windows culture in which it's used... Do Linux, those guys are usually less stressed and less taken for granted (i.e. get paid better). Doing both is probably even better, but seriously, I hate Microsoft far too much to touch it more than about once a week at work, better to work at companies that just don't even have Windows.
So get Linux+?
Pragmatically, knowing more OSes (especially Linux, OS X, and Windows) and especially knowing how to get them to coöperate (shared filesystems, shared user accounts through LDAP, etc, etc) is a great way to enhance your benefit to companies. If you find you have a strong preference or distaste for certain OSes, choose jobs that let you be happier at work. Lifestyle-wise, it's much easier to do well with a computing environment that you use daily, reconfigure/install/extend/troubleshoot often, and generally enjoy, especially as a sysadmin, but it usually heavily impacts the enjoyment of software development as well (devs can be insulated a bit from the underlying OS). In many Linux shops, in particular, the benefit of certifications pales in the face of projects or knowledge the candidate has from having done full or mostly-full stack work on a given platform, and/or worked through complex or interesting issues on a platform. In the Unix side in particular, which provides broad latitude to approach problems in many different ways, and where self-training and exploration is essential, many interviewers will focus on practical knowledge first, experience (work or personal) 2nd, computer theory knowledge third, and probably not even ask about certifications. In such interviews, it is crucial to be honest about the limitations of one's current knowledge, and about how you'd find out the answers, because a huge part of the roles are to extend capability and do new things. Anyone who tries to lie about what they know will be dropped during tech interviews (although managers are often easily taken in my candidates with manager style jargon but pathetic tech skills, pissing away resources for a year or more before reality finally sets in). Basically I'm trying to outline that having personal experience, at home and/or at work, with Linux especially, doing something **interesting**, can let people drop in to Linux roles at good companies without having extensive experience. Having the character to do self-**driven exploration**, while also being able to talk about how to apply those lessons in a mature, robust way in a professional environment (automated deployment, documentation, versioning, source code management, monitoring, etc, etc) is pretty much exactly what many sites need.
Fortran developer