What do you work as, or aspire to do?

What do you work as, or aspire to do? - Page 26

moltenlead

Canada866 Posts

July 27 2011 06:24 GMT

#501

I'm in HS, looking to do a Comp Sci degree, then merge into finance/Wall Street type jobs. Can't say too much about whether my gaming can continue, but will try to follow in my family footsteps.

Roe

Canada6002 Posts

July 27 2011 06:30 GMT

#502

which category is psychology under?

neohero9

United States595 Posts

July 27 2011 06:33 GMT

#503

I'm about to start the last year of my Philosophy BA. The plan is to get my PhD and then teach until I die.

Dub_doubt

United States86 Posts

July 27 2011 06:39 GMT

#504

I'm an engineering student however I aspire to win the lottery

Gimmickkz

154 Posts

July 27 2011 07:14 GMT

#505

progammer isn't on here

jarrydesque

584 Posts

July 27 2011 07:21 GMT

#506

On July 27 2011 15:30 Roe wrote:
which category is psychology under?

I just voted society and culture

.

Woo psych!

impression

413 Posts

July 27 2011 08:15 GMT

#507

I am doing my advanced diploma in animation. Doesn't sound very impressive, but its fun and lots of hard work

AmericanUmlaut

Germany2597 Posts

July 27 2011 08:22 GMT

#508

I'm a computer programmer/softare architect. Currently doing web applications.

dolph

Germany2 Posts

July 27 2011 09:08 GMT

#509

I'm currently in my 4th semester of computer science (BS) and exams are coming up in a few days

D_K_night

Canada615 Posts

July 27 2011 17:36 GMT

#510

On July 07 2011 00:31 TadH wrote:
Right now I work for the largest privately held telecommunications company in Canada, we are partners with Google, Microsoft and others.

I work as "Pre Sales Support" Basically on my way to becoming a Sales Engineer. I also do work in the Data Centre, running fiber, setting up servers, hubs, switches.

I's also starting to manage new Lync accounts. Which is the new version of OCS.

My Certifications include Networking+, A+, MCITP, MCSE, MS Office Certified. And other more obscure ones.

Basically if I don't fuck this up, this is where I can grow my career, I work in the corporate ehad quarters, along side with the VP, CEO, CTO and directors.

I actually love my job.

A consultant buddy told me this the other week:

"If you're doing any kind of hands-on work - you're expendable".

I thought that was the snobbiest thing he's ever said in his life. A cocky thing for him to say, but then he explained himself. It came down to this:

A typical IT guy is a dime a dozen. You can find anyone to build servers, setup switches, run cables, etc etc. How hard is it to find some dude who just passed his CCNA? They're everywhere. Just get that fella to configure the Cisco switches or whatever. Same with MCSE's...dime a dozen. Some UNIX sysadmin...dime a dozen.

A grunt IT fella, with all your running around, the detail-oriented BS you gotta remember(or document), shrug - you're just not respected or nearly on the same level as a designer who just spends all day just talking and schmoozing with clients.

Do you actually talk to those big wigs? Or relate to them on their level? Probably not right? What do they think of you? The truth is probably not what you'd like it to be.

--

My personal take on all this? You're on the right track. I know all this IT hands-on stuff might seem way cool, but when you're asked to do after-hours or 2AM in the morning, it's not so fun anymore. You're probably the guy who gets paged when hardware goes down. Not fun.

Here's another tip. You may feel that mentioning all your certs looks impressive...I did the same thing before too. But here's the trap you'd fall into:

"you listed all these certs...OK...is that ALL you know, then?"

See that? So rude right? Unfortunately? That's what ppl think. Having those obscure IT certs don't mean the same thing as a university degree, an accounting cert, or all the truly well-known titles. It's the sad truth. They don't mean anything to the common man.

My take on this is, if you're required to get the cert by your employer, well it's a gun to your head that you can't deny, so of course you do what you have to. They probably need X number of ppl to hold the cert, so they can retain their gold status, retain something on their support agreements or whatever with their vendor. It isn't totally altruistic when your manager approaches you and says "how would you like to be certified on X".

Bottom line...get to the point where you don't need all these fancy BS certs. You want to be where you don't need to know all the details. That's what those sysadmins are for. You just draw diagrams, know everything on a high level...your pay will skyrocket, and you'll actually be doing LESS work. You'll giggle in your cubicle and think back how much harder you worked as a junior IT kid.

No more running around getting your hands dirty. No more phone calls at 3AM in the morning. Everything you do...within office hours, and that's it. And since there's so much invested into you - they can't just let you know at the drop of a hat. That's the theory anyways.