I agree with Ray on internships. Having experience, any experience, is going to greatly increase your prospects.
--- Puryear Information Technology, LLC Baton Rouge, LA * 225-706-8414 http://www.puryear-it.com Download "Best Practices for Managing Linux and UNIX Servers" http://www.puryear-it.com/bestpractices_ebook.htm ----- Original Message ----- From: "-ray" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "brlug General" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 1:56 AM Subject: Re: [brlug-general] Advice on entering the job market? > > 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 >> > > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > [email protected] > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > >
