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Since this seems to be the venerable area that everyone posts their job questions regarding general IT work I am posting here (mods feel free to move where necessary).
Anyways, so here is my story:
I have been working with/on computers since I was about 10yrs old (so approximately 20yrs now) and have loads of personal experience doing a range of things from general installs, tutorials, virus removal, you all know - the "Norm" stuff.
I was laid-off as a state worker at the beginning of the year (Feb 14 to be exact) and have been looking for work since. I know that the economy is hard right now and finding good work is just as hard to find, but I figured that with years of experience and two degrees (BSIT and MBA) I would be a viable choice for many positions. However, in the last, almost, 4 months I have had 3 interviews and did one "aptitude" test, with only one of those interviews being for and "IT" related position.
At this point I am thinking that my main drawback is that while I have tons of personal experience I have little to no "corporate" or "on the job" experience. Really I have had three positions that were truly IT focused in the last 10yrs. Reasoning being that going to school and paying for bills, rent, etc I had to have money. Since no one would give me an IT job because I lacked the experience I had to take what I could get.
So, the viscous cycle started for me then, no on the job experience made me an unappetizing candidate but how am I going to get the experience if no one gives me a job?
I am looking at starting over, I have a decent working knowledge of a lot of different aspects and find that programming/coding is not my strong suit. However, I can do it. I am more of a project planner, hardware and application troubleshooter, with a love for researching new products and doing a Cost Benefit Analysis to see if it will truly work for me.
I guess I am just looking to see what you guys think. I was thinking about doing some online tutorials to reacquaint myself with stuff like PHP, SQL, MySQL, DB2, and different coding languages because that seems to be what the majority of the positions available around here are looking for.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Anyways, so here is my story:
I have been working with/on computers since I was about 10yrs old (so approximately 20yrs now) and have loads of personal experience doing a range of things from general installs, tutorials, virus removal, you all know - the "Norm" stuff.
I was laid-off as a state worker at the beginning of the year (Feb 14 to be exact) and have been looking for work since. I know that the economy is hard right now and finding good work is just as hard to find, but I figured that with years of experience and two degrees (BSIT and MBA) I would be a viable choice for many positions. However, in the last, almost, 4 months I have had 3 interviews and did one "aptitude" test, with only one of those interviews being for and "IT" related position.
At this point I am thinking that my main drawback is that while I have tons of personal experience I have little to no "corporate" or "on the job" experience. Really I have had three positions that were truly IT focused in the last 10yrs. Reasoning being that going to school and paying for bills, rent, etc I had to have money. Since no one would give me an IT job because I lacked the experience I had to take what I could get.
So, the viscous cycle started for me then, no on the job experience made me an unappetizing candidate but how am I going to get the experience if no one gives me a job?
I am looking at starting over, I have a decent working knowledge of a lot of different aspects and find that programming/coding is not my strong suit. However, I can do it. I am more of a project planner, hardware and application troubleshooter, with a love for researching new products and doing a Cost Benefit Analysis to see if it will truly work for me.
I guess I am just looking to see what you guys think. I was thinking about doing some online tutorials to reacquaint myself with stuff like PHP, SQL, MySQL, DB2, and different coding languages because that seems to be what the majority of the positions available around here are looking for.
Thanks in advance for any help.