A few things. x The job situation is not dire in Baton Rouge. You just need experience. ;)
x I'm not sure you are right about entry-level positions. They are out there, they just don't tend to get posted. You have to develop a network of people to get the job you want. It's the only thing I've ever seen that really works. x Any industry is hard to break into. It sucks, I know. x LSU is regionally accredited the last I heard. I was told this is the case for the majority of universities, including those in and out of the state. --- 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: "Andrew Baudouin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 8:48 AM Subject: Re: [brlug-general] Advice on entering the job market? >I graduated in 2002 in computer engineering. From my experience: > > 1) Employers don't know what a degree in computer engineering is. > They make you explain that to them, and if you have to explain what > your degree is you've already lost. > > 2) The computer science undergraduate degree at LSU is currently not > accredited. > > 3) There are never any full time jobs available in BR doing entry > level Unix/Linux administration. They all want something ungodly like > 10+years experience. > > 4) Any job postings either through LSU or in the paper are already > filled. > > 5) The I.T. market in Baton Rouge is stagnant. > > I got a part time contract position at ExxonMobil through contacts > right after I graduated (doing access and web programming). They cut > the contract off four months later. I then got another part time job > with a local web company, who forgot they didn't have enough work to > keep me on longer than 2 weeks. I was self employed for another 6 > months until I was lucky enough to meet an I.T. manager at a job fair > who didnt' want to hire any foreigners. > > All of the previous jobs were MS. Intermediately I had a LAMP job but > they were only paying me 8 bucks an hour. > > BTW for those who think START training is good, I was a student worker > at the Office of Computing Services in 1999-2000 during the inaugural > START session and wrote much of the section on memory, motherboards, > CPUs and the like. Look for me under the August 2000 list of > graduates ;) > > http://appl003.lsu.edu/START.nsf/$Content/Track+2+Graduates?OpenDocument > > > On Mon, 28 Mar 2005 23:53:22 -0600, michael dolan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 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 > >
