If possible, i'd try hard to work towards a double major or at least a minor in computer science or related field. A lot of jobs just want a BS in anything, but a lot want the BS in computer science or related. This will just open the door to more job prospects...
Don't worry about certs too much. They aren't very helpful if you don't have experience to back them up. A+ and Network+ are entry level certs for entry level tech positions paying 8-10 bucks an hour...obviously not what you're looking for. Comptia certs are easy, and employers know this (i am Security+ certified and helped revise the new Linux+ exam). If you must get a cert, go for LPI, Redhat, Cisco, or even MS. Hopefully Novell linux certs will start gaining some recognition. The job market in La is tough. I did a monster.com search on "unix" in La and turned up 18 jobs, versus 248 jobs in North Carolina. My only advice there is to network with as many people in the field as you can. Lots of jobs are filled by friends, acquaintances, and colleagues of people already at the company before the job posting ever makes it to the classifieds or monster.com. Definitely look for an internship somewhere. Perhaps even at LSU? You need to get as much experience as you can. Experience will do more for your resume than degrees and certs ever will. As far as your current job, that's easy. If it's not something you want to do, then don't do it. :) I'd say low to mid 30's is about average starting salary in La for someone with a BS Comp Sci and some experience. ray On Mon, 28 Mar 2005, michael dolan wrote: > A few things: > 1. Classes - I'm at LSU, and I'm set to graduate in a little over a year. > I'm actually an English major, but I don't know if that will have any effect > on my job prospects. I've taken the first computer science class (which is > just basics and MS office applications), and I'm taking two ISDS classes > right now. I'm set to take another ISDS class on network security this > summer. I would really like to take some interesting computer science > classes, there is one on e-commerce, 2 on networks, etc. To take the > interesting classes, you have to take more programming classes than I have > time to take before I graduate. I don't really want to take any more > programming classes, but I don't know if that will have any affect on my job > prospects either. > 2. Certs - I'm thinking about both A+ and Network+ to start, but maybe MS > certs would get me a better job. Or, should I not waste my time and money > and jump straight to something harder? > 3. BR - I think I might be in this area for awhile, just what is the job > market here like? I've done a little browsing on monster, and there are some > jobs, but they seem so specialized. > 4. Internship - one of the classes you can take at LSU in ISDS is basically > an internship class, which I would like to do, but A) I work full time during > the day and B) I wouldn't know where to find a local company that might use > linux, would want an intern, and would want an intern at night. > 5. Money - Right now I have a full time job at LSU that has nothing to do > with what I want to end up doing. I don't make very good money (about 28+), > but I'm worried I might move down the pay scale if I got a job on the bottom > rung of a field. > > Basically, if you were in my position, what would you do? If you had to do > your pre-job education over, what would you do differently? > > I would really appreciate any help any of you could give me, because honestly > I'm kind of worried about this. > > Michael > > > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > [email protected] > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net >
