IT Job market?

[Satyrist]

After becoming unemployed a few weeks ago, and after quite a bit of humbling through looking for a replacement full-time job in the field I was in, (print production) I had been thinking about a career refresh.

I do know computers, with some basic networking experience. I was curious about whether there were fields in IT that would make it worthwhile to go back to school for, as it does appear that I would be able to get assistance with tuition.

Also had thought about the web design route as well, but I feel a bit too leery of taking a fairly specialized field again; My last job was sent to my ex-company's facilities in India, simply a sign of the times...Most graphic design type jobs (that deal with production at least) have been heading overseas with other types of jobs, or being given to people who are willing to do it for perhaps a little more than McD's wages.

Graphic Arts jobs aside from part-time/contract jobs have been pretty nonexistent, through my searching, and conversing with mutual colleagues who I have worked with.

I had thought about moving towards A+ certification, if nothing else. I also know that more employers these days looking for people in IT value experience more than eleventy billion paper certifications that may or may not show they actually know anything other than to cram for an exam...What might be some directions to actively look at if going into IT?

Thanks.

 

[Xed]

Certs and a degree will help you get your foot in the door at your first job (entry level). After that paper is nice but it's mainly about experience.

If a+ and beyond isn't a walk in the park for you I'd look for a help desk type job and go to a community college for an associates or a transfer degree.

 

[melchoir]

I'd look the other way. The IT field is saturated with people just like you, I doubt finding a new position in IT would be any easier. This is only my opinion though.

 

[Satyrist]

The other directions I had been hearing about were more geared towards medical imaging or lab tech variety positions, but not having any degrees in the medical field, I didn't know if those would be easier to find work in, or had a means for getting a post-graduate cert.

 

[RelaxTheMind]

I'd look the other way. The IT field is saturated with people just like you, I doubt finding a new position in IT would be any easier. This is only my opinion though.

I second this... Veteran IT folk are getting paid peanuts because the industry is so saturated. The only branches worth working toward is programming/web development/network engineering.

 

[Slew Foot]

The other directions I had been hearing about were more geared towards medical imaging or lab tech variety positions, but not having any degrees in the medical field, I didn't know if those would be easier to find work in, or had a means for getting a post-graduate cert.

Obamacare pretty much torpedoed the healthcare industry. Hiring pretty much ground to a halt this year, unless someone dies/retires, its tough to find much.

 

[MovingTarget]

The IT Job Market: Abandon all hope all ye who enter here...

 

[classy]

I don't know where any of these people live, but I live in the Philly area and you can find a job in IT. Outside of nursing any field you enter can be considered over-saturated. Finding a job in IT will be no worse than any other field. Pay in any field except the highly skilled like doctors, will be tied to your experience. There is tons of IT fields to get involved in that were not there just 5-6 years ago. You have storage, database, virtualization just to name a few. Don't listen to these idiots. Any field of work, the reward will only be what you put into it.

 

[somethingsketchy]

Obamacare pretty much torpedoed the healthcare industry. Hiring pretty much ground to a halt this year, unless someone dies/retires, its tough to find much.

+1

Long before I graduated from college about three weeks ago, I began a search for employment. So far from what I've seen, it doesn't matter if you have a degree (Associates, Bachelor's, etc) or not. It's pretty much experience at this point. And if you happen to have the experience, be prepared for a wait. So far two of the four interviews I've had, the HR reps were like "we'll hire you in 3 to 12 months".

As others have said, it's a tough time to find a job in just about any industry. I wish you good luck on finding a job.

 

[chipy]

my 2 cents:

i agree that the IT market may currently be oversaturated. and i'm not saying other job markets aren't, but i think eventually there should be more jobs available. as more and more baby boomers retire, the jobs should come open. having said that, as economic times aren't that great now, you might have to wait a while longer.

also, i sort of agree with Classy. there are jobs out there, even in IT, if you're willing to relocate. depends on how old you are, how close of ties you have to the city you live in now, and whether you have the means to move to a different city.

also, don't overlook federal government jobs. i think Pres. Obama wants to reduce the number of contractors and increase the number of federal employees. i.e., they'll probably take current contractors and offer them jobs as fed civilians. but they also hire college grads right out of school. a lot of people make fun of or criticize fed government jobs but they provide you with a good job and secure income as long as you do your job. anything from park rangers to lawyers to financial analysts to... you named it, IT folks.

good luck OP!

 

[RelaxTheMind]

I don't know where any of these people live, but I live in the Philly area and you can find a job in IT. Outside of nursing any field you enter can be considered over-saturated. Finding a job in IT will be no worse than any other field. Pay in any field except the highly skilled like doctors, will be tied to your experience. There is tons of IT fields to get involved in that were not there just 5-6 years ago. You have storage, database, virtualization just to name a few. Don't listen to these idiots. Any field of work, the reward will only be what you put into it.

someone stepping into entry level IT isnt gonna exactly land a job directly into those fields you named. most blue collar jobs are not saturated. food industry isnt saturated. marketing jobs arent all that saturated.

In regards to your idiot remark... job availability is highly regional. even if you look at the major IT areas that used to be the motherlands of the IT world. YOUR AN IDIOT if you think its worth putting 10+ years becoming the best of the best and getting replaced by some college grad getting paid a fraction of what they should be getting paid. id say a lot of the people underpayed/unemployed are the ones you refer to as "experienced".

Major companies that RIFed 1000s of employees and reduced benefits have still shown no real sign of growth in the past 3 years.

so if u are planted where u are or if u plan on relocating i would check the local job statistics which are usually available on most state websites.

if your in an area like me your better off delivering pizzas than trying to make it in the IT field.

 

[classy]

someone stepping into entry level IT isnt gonna exactly land a job directly into those fields you named. most blue collar jobs are not saturated. food industry isnt saturated. marketing jobs arent all that saturated.

In regards to your idiot remark... job availability is highly regional. even if you look at the major IT areas that used to be the motherlands of the IT world. YOUR AN IDIOT if you think its worth putting 10+ years becoming the best of the best and getting replaced by some college grad getting paid a fraction of what they should be getting paid. id say a lot of the people underpayed/unemployed are the ones you refer to as "experienced".

Major companies that RIFed 1000s of employees and reduced benefits have still shown no real sign of growth in the past 3 years.

so if u are planted where u are or if u plan on relocating i would check the local job statistics which are usually available on most state websites.

if your in an area like me your better off delivering pizzas than trying to make it in the IT field.

You spouted the same bs peeps like you say every year. You even took it a step further. How assinine is it to say deliver pizzas rather than educate yourself and try to make it in a good paying field like IT. Any field worth a grain of salt is going to be tough. But it is f'in retarded to tell someone don't even try. If thats the best you can do, just sftu.

 

[Tsaico]

+1

Long before I graduated from college about three weeks ago, I began a search for employment. So far from what I've seen, it doesn't matter if you have a degree (Associates, Bachelor's, etc) or not. It's pretty much experience at this point. And if you happen to have the experience, be prepared for a wait. So far two of the four interviews I've had, the HR reps were like "we'll hire you in 3 to 12 months".

As others have said, it's a tough time to find a job in just about any industry. I wish you good luck on finding a job.

I don't think Obamacare really had much to do with this. Right now, experience can tell you a lot of a candidate. Did they jump jobs a lot, did they stay for long periods of time, are they proven? Degrees and certs in IT positions are great, but if you don't do it right, you still have nothing. If I were to get 90% of an email server running, it still won't work right. The experience allows you to make sure the time you are investing into a new employee isn't wasted, because there isn't a lot of it. Employers have not been as forgiving on projects and deployments. But nearly all position across the board is like this, right now employers have the pick of the litter since so many people that should really have been fired have been laid off instead.

As for IT working for peanuts, I found overall my wage hasn't suffered, nor has any of my colleagues. What has is the frequency at which we were offered positions has gone down. Before people were trying to steal talent all the time, now the talent has been afraid to move around. What's left is the crap entry at the bottom, that so many that were not hacking it at higher levels pushed them back to the place they should have been.

Just check out Dice.com and see how many positions are around and how much they pay, and you will see what I mean, there are still lots of good paying positions that are not filled for many different reasons.

As for the OP, I would start at Dice and see what positions you qualify for and also get a good idea as to what is out there. Also doing some onsie jobs and gigs found from Craigslist can sometime help you get your foot in the door at some places. Also check out a tech temp agency, IT people need temps too for projects and vacations, sudden death etc. Temps are also a good place because as people are cautiously hiring back, they often will do so from a temp agency so if things go sour again, they do not have to deal with things like severance or other HR issues.

 

[JS80]

Even a finance monkey like me knows IT. Which makes your position even less valuable.

 

[Saga]

Even a finance monkey like me knows IT. Which makes your position even less valuable.

Like every other role there is always an over-saturation of low-level, low-skill requirement positions such as general HelpDesk; literally anyone can be trained to do the mechanical job requirements, they don't even have to speak English to enter trouble tickets. I think it's fair to say even a data entry monkey can do basic finance monkey work with minimal training and access to excel and a calculator.

Subsequently, like every other role there is always a higher level of higher educated, more experienced individuals doing specific key roles. I'd love to see a finance monkey repair an Exchange Information Store with 250+ users, or configure a enterprise level Firewall, or manage a Avaya PBX.. the list goes on and on.