Breaking into the IT Field

[keyboard150]

don't rule out temp or contract stuff as a way to get your foot in the door
I got hired for a 3 month part time temp job on a help desk. within a week and a half they asked me to be full time and within a month and a half or so they asked me if I wanted to become a permanent employee when my 3 months were up.

Believe it or not, that is what I REALLY want right now is a contract position. That way I can test the waters a bit.

[Linda_D]

Buffalo area employers are notably demanding of experience, which is why I ended up in Albany years ago. Once you get the experience, it's an entirely different story. One place that may hire you without experience is NYS. The state is always in need of Grade 18 programmer/analysts because they are reasonably competitive for entry level pay but the opportunities for promotion, professional growth, and working on new technology are simply NOT there, so lots of programmers will work for NYS until they get a couple of years experience and then move on to the private sector.

You also will probably be working in Albany (ugh). I believe the Grade 18 programming/analyst position is a continuous recruitment position based on your qualifications and experience, so there's no test to take. The info should be on the NYS website.

What you shouldn't do, if you decide to work for NYS, is allow yourself to get drawn into working in a shop using ancient technology. I left state service more than 12 years ago, and some of my former co-workers are working with essentially the same technology that they were when I left. Where I currently work, we are hardly "state of the art" but we're at least into the 21st century. DOH. You do NOT want to trap yourself into getting experience in technology that's not transferrable.

As a teacher, you might consider working in IT in higher education. College and university staff do NOT consider people with masters degrees plus other college level coursework to be "professional students". Every college and university has some kind of IT department. There's also an outfit located on Buff State's campus called ITEC (don't know if it's part of Buff State or just located there) that provides technical and other support to lots of SUNY campuses (and maybe others).

Another heads up: Buff State, Fredonia State, and NCCC are all BANNER/ORACLE shops, and Sungard, the owner of BANNER, is converting their software from ORACLE FORMS to Groovy and Grails and all the web technology associated with that, meaning that schools are scrambling to get their staff up to speed. Some of these schools could be looking to add staff because of this. BANNER is probably the most widely used integrated software package in higher ed in the US and Canada, so having experience with it, administering it, installing/managing it, etc. is a very marketable skill. There are also numerous private colleges that use BANNER as well that may be in the same situation. The ones that stick in my mind are Canisius and Alfred U (I'm not sure about Alfred State), but I'm sure there are others.

I don't know if any of these schools accept unsolicitated resumes, but sending one wouldn't hurt. At worst they would toss them. You should probably send resumes to the IT/MIS director rather than Personnel BTW. They will also publish notices of openings in the local papers. There are several private colleges that use BANNER as well that may be in the same situation.

[WNYresident]

Believe it or not, that is what I REALLY want right now is a contract position. That way I can test the waters a bit.

Why don't you focus on web type items. Something beneficial for our community. You would earn some experience working on a real world type item.

[keyboard150]

Why don't you focus on web type items. Something beneficial for our community. You would earn some experience working on a real world type item.

I'm not very good at JavaScript which is why I haven't really gone the way of Web stuff. I can write pages and stuff like that, but beyond that I'm very basic in Web programming.

[keyboard150]

Buffalo area employers are notably demanding of experience, which is why I ended up in Albany years ago. Once you get the experience, it's an entirely different story. One place that may hire you without experience is NYS. The state is always in need of Grade 18 programmer/analysts because they are reasonably competitive for entry level pay but the opportunities for promotion, professional growth, and working on new technology are simply NOT there, so lots of programmers will work for NYS until they get a couple of years experience and then move on to the private sector.

You also will probably be working in Albany (ugh). I believe the Grade 18 programming/analyst position is a continuous recruitment position based on your qualifications and experience, so there's no test to take. The info should be on the NYS website.

What you shouldn't do, if you decide to work for NYS, is allow yourself to get drawn into working in a shop using ancient technology. I left state service more than 12 years ago, and some of my former co-workers are working with essentially the same technology that they were when I left. Where I currently work, we are hardly "state of the art" but we're at least into the 21st century. DOH. You do NOT want to trap yourself into getting experience in technology that's not transferrable.

As a teacher, you might consider working in IT in higher education. College and university staff do NOT consider people with masters degrees plus other college level coursework to be "professional students". Every college and university has some kind of IT department. There's also an outfit located on Buff State's campus called ITEC (don't know if it's part of Buff State or just located there) that provides technical and other support to lots of SUNY campuses (and maybe others).

Another heads up: Buff State, Fredonia State, and NCCC are all BANNER/ORACLE shops, and Sungard, the owner of BANNER, is converting their software from ORACLE FORMS to Groovy and Grails and all the web technology associated with that, meaning that schools are scrambling to get their staff up to speed. Some of these schools could be looking to add staff because of this. BANNER is probably the most widely used integrated software package in higher ed in the US and Canada, so having experience with it, administering it, installing/managing it, etc. is a very marketable skill. There are also numerous private colleges that use BANNER as well that may be in the same situation. The ones that stick in my mind are Canisius and Alfred U (I'm not sure about Alfred State), but I'm sure there are others.

I don't know if any of these schools accept unsolicitated resumes, but sending one wouldn't hurt. At worst they would toss them. You should probably send resumes to the IT/MIS director rather than Personnel BTW. They will also publish notices of openings in the local papers. There are several private colleges that use BANNER as well that may be in the same situation.

Thank you,

I'm already on the list for NYS, however I'm generally hovering around 70-80. I am on a county list as well, where I am at a obtainable number---around 15 or so.

I've interviewed for a position at Buff State. I do have experience developing training materials---in fact Ed Tech was my Masters degree, plus that was a major part of my job when I was doing technology in the school district.

I've got money saved up, so I can probably last a year on a much lesser salary, as long as I can move up the ranks within 2 years or so. I would assume with the experience I already have, I would need about a year to 1 1/2 to get qualified for a JR. Network /Systems position...or at least they would start taking me seriously then.

I'm just going to keep applying around and see what happens. Someone is going to bite eventually. I did get hired by Time Warner a couple years back, but their pay is absolutely pathetic, and they would not guarantee a shift (meaning, wouldn't guarantee I wouldn't be working nights and weekends---which with my other jobs I can't do.) There's no way I'm working for 12 dollars an hour and not being able to get supplemental income from somewhere. That is my one big stipulation.