InsideTech

Hi! My name is Scott, and I'm a 45 y.o. newbie... sort of. The first time around I was a CompSci minor in college... we'll leave it at that. =P This time around, I'll be a newly minted Network Administrator with an AAS from Kaplan University in late November. December I enter training and examinations for the CompTIA Network+ and A+ certifications. Then in January its back to Kaplan to pursue my BS IT/NetAdmin. whoof!
I currently reside in Kansas City, KS - and no I'm not proud of it. But I make the best of a middling situation, and hope to someday move back home to Nawlins... That's New Orleans for all you "normal" people.
Currently I'm burning up the email and Job-sites hunting for an employer in the area who's willing to give me a shot. Help Desk, Jr. NetAdmin... whatever! Nearly 15 years of building "beige boxes", small office & home networks, an Associates Degree with a 3.94/4.0 GPA and 6 times on the Honors list has to count for something! If not, then 25 years worth of experience in the customer service industry and an obscene wealth of soft skills should at least earn me a sniff!... Gee!, I'm sorry! Did that sound frustrated? Hmmm...

Thanks bunches, Judy! You can believe I'll be checking out Doug and Gary's columns regularly... and, by the way, InsideTech has already been a big help in landing my FIRST IT JOB!!! Through the jobsearch link here I found a position that I considered very interesting, and with the help of some of the ideas on one of the other columns I polished my resume a bit more. It took all of last week to wade through the application process, but now I finally have my foot in the door! YEA FOR ME!! LOL

Thanks again, InsideTech! NERDS RULE!

Hi guys I'm Ruth, soon to be college graduate. I'm currently looking to start my career in the web industry.

RAnderson said:

Hi guys I'm Ruth, soon to be college graduate. I'm currently looking to start my career in the web industry.

Oh, and by the way y'all... that foot I had in the door? Yeah, they slammed the door on it. Unfortunately, Harte Hanks is cutting back, and new hires are out. So much for that first IT job I thought I had... ah, well. Back to the trenches!
Scott

Howdy all - Name is David Brockstedt. I am Tech Sponge, meaning I have learned everything by absorption :) I currently work for a Local/State Government agency as a Network Administrator / Server Administrator / PC & Printer Tech / and support. Many hats keep me busy.

I really need to get myself into some classes so I can have some of that paper hanging on my wall - seems to make a difference in the way they pay you. :)

Kevin Martin here (a.k.a. Kmart), I've only been in the IT/IS industry for just over 13 years but in that time I have experienced most all of it I think. I am currently Managing a Desktop Services Dept. with a Regional Financial Institution. In the past I have been involved in pretty much everything from A-Z in IT for our Company. We have gone through OS/2 deployments and migrated from OS/2 to where we are today with a mix of Win XP and Win 2K3. I have worn many of the same hats has David, and once upon a time I even helped launch our Companies Intranet and email systems. Time flies when your having fun!

Hello and Congrats!! Scott

I'm in a similar position although not quite as many years building beige boxes. I used whatever I could get my hands on! Just kidding.

I'm a 45 year old, as of nov 3, Full-Time Student at UCMO at Warrensburg in EET>Networking for my B.S. I already have an A.A.S. in Networking and an A.A.S. in Telecommunications. I completed both degrees at Linn State Technical College this past May. They are trying to get me to obtain my Masters here but that appears a bit daunting from my lowly point of view at the moment.

I am a disabled student in school through V/R (vocational rehabilitation) retraining for a new career behind a desk or in a NOC.

I'm entirely self-taught when it comes to pc building, troubleshooting, repairing, installing an O/S,Updating it, well you get the picture. That is until I attended LSTC.
Never even looked at a computer until 1998, but after paying $3,000 for my first pc with a whopping (at the time) 300Mhz intel celeron, 3gb hdd with 32 mb or ram, 56k win-fast modem and a 13 inch monochrome monitor, and lucky enough to have windows 98 on it, I decided to take it apart and improve on it.

I somehow managed to speed it up, take apart, clean, and then reassemble every single component correctly, then put it all back together. It was blazing fast for it's time, booted in under 1.5 minutes, worked perfectly and I said this is for me!!

I've been hooked every since although building is my first passion, Installing software and different O/S's is just as much fun. I also like troubleshooting pc's, networks, routers, switches, domains, routing protocol errors, Telecom issues etc...

I was an aircraft electrician in the USAF (82-86) and worked many years in electrical building maintenance, and in residential, commercial, and Industrial electrical work. Never could get interested enough to obtain a license or join a union but had the requisite skill set to perform ok otherwise.

I also worked as an Iron Worker hanging "Red Iron", Yep, the crazy ones who walk out on beams with nothing but 40-80 feet of air with a concrete pad at the bottom.

I think this is much safer and I am very good at being a GEEK!! aren't we all??

Not really looking for much in the field for employment just yet with my work load being interesting and busy but will be I expect after xmas this year.

Look forward to visiting with everyone here and building my professional network of IT geeks as much as I can.

I'm willing to help in any way I am able to contribute and will gladly do so.

Nice to be here and thanks to all

Respectfully,
Bobby Ketcham
randy_rogers38@hotmail.com

Hello, my name is Bobby from NJ. I have a BS in Computer Science, AS in Computer Networking, and a Cisco Certified Network Associate. I'm hoping to get my CCNP by next year if time permits. I work in a NON profit healthcare industry and they said they have no money all the time but they spend millions of dollars in IT infrastructure. :-( Having a lot of degree, certifications are nice but it doesn't matter what you know, it's who you know. I know somebody who use to be a mechanic, high school grad and now a development engineer?? WoW! I also like to mention when I was looking for a job, the answer I would get was either I'm not qualified or over qualified. Good luck to job hunters and hopefully you get what you guys deserve.

Hey my name is David I love computers now hated them till that was the only way I had to connect to the rest of the world. No not locked up just living in bush Alaska about 500 miles from Anchorage by air needless to say I didn’t get out much. Started working on my laptop a Sony viao between installing and uninstalling programs getting viruses and my own stupid mistakes I must have reinstalled the os at least 6 times in 6 months thankfully back then there was tech TV and screen savers (but no more) any way I got pretty good and started working for the school district and got to do the same all day long or at least 8 to 16 hours a day for next to nothing. But I love it now so who cares that’s the short of it the rest would take to long and who has that kinda time. Looking foreword to what ever.

I'd like to say "WELCOME" to all the new faces! I'm overjoyed to see all the responses in this thread, and thank each and every one of you for participating. It's nice to learn a little about all our new friends, and I wish everyone the best and brightest!

Hey everyone,

I wanted to bring to your attention a project that i’m working on. I recently started my own PC repair business and I’ve also decided to document my journey through thick and thin. I’ve put up a blog about my experiences, failures, and successes. Its a way for others to learn about the business and just something different to check out. Its unheard of for a business to put up a diary of EVERYTHING that is going on with them. I’d like to think I’m a bit of a pioneer with this project. Anyway, if you guys get a chance please check it out. You can find the blog at:

www.teamtechcs.blogspot.com

Thanks guys,

Paul TeamTech Computer Services

Hi there everyone,
My name is Kerry, I'm 39 and I started in 2000 building the 'beige box' by picking up some parts and learning what I could one my own at the time after I decided it was time for a career change. In 2001, I received my CompTIA A+ certification through hands on and self-study. In 2002, I decided it was time to go back to school and began attending ITT Tech where I received my AAS in Computer Network Systems. I decided that still wasn't enough, so in 2004 I decided to continue after a quick summer break and then proceeded to earn a BS in Information Systems Security. I finished that at the end of 2006 hoping to at least make an attempt to find a job as an entry-level security analyst in the area, but to no avail there does not seem to be any in this area (Cleveland, Ohio area) or they are wanting experienced or part-time analysts. So I have stayed at my current job in a contract electronics manufacturing facility in a two-person IT department taking on as much as I can. The advantage to working in a small IT dept. is I definitely get a lot of time in a test environment and I get to work with basically whatever tools (usually all open-source and free) that I feel may be beneficial to the network. So at this point, I am still on the lookout for a security analyst position to attempt to begin that aspect of my career.

Hi, I'm Christine from New Hampshire. I'm a 47 yr old wife, mother, grandmother and sys admin; not necessarily in that order.. I fell into the IT world about 11 years ago. I didn't know two hoots about computers when I landed a computer operator job I heard about through my mother-in-law. I soon discovered this was much better than the deli counter in the grocery.
I took advantage of the companies tuition reimbursement and got my BS in IT. I also asked lots of questions and watched over many a shoulder to learn everything I could to work my way up. My hiring manager says I am the best hiring decision he has made. Although he is no longer my manager, we work closely on a daily basis.
I'm still here after an acquisition, then an outsource, and now an insource but I'm still loving it.

Hey im Brandon, still in college but been working with AutoCad for the past 4 years so im very knowledgeable when it comes to that program. Im trying to find a job with drafting so i can start a career. Im currently in a job working for a credit union here in San Antonio. Hoping to learn alot from this community. :)