Advice Entries – Page 2

Information Technology – Its a Lifestyle

I often run in to people that are on the prowl for a new career, or maybe they’re just entering the job market for the first time since they worked at the local grocery store as a teenager. They do some research, talk to their friends and family, and eventually hear the buzz that IT is the way to go. Computers, that’s where it’s at. According to some institutions you can earn up to 70k a year as a starting salary after a few months of classes. Hell! It must be the way to go. Right? Yo, don’t believe the hype. Moving forward.

Some people that will read this, or stumble upon it, will realize that this will not apply to everyone within the IT field. I don’t want to insult anyone. Hear me out.

You can certainly attend a college, and I’d encourage it. You need to have the formal background. It’s the society we live in; and our society, sometimes, has standards. Formal education is one of them. However, as stated in the title of this article, IT is a lifestyle.

You can go to college and learn how to do accounting. *rolls eyes* 🙂 You get a job doing Accounts Receivables or Bookkeeping and earn a decent living. If you enjoy it, great! Most people don’t go home and do more accounting or learn how to do accounting better. Their industry may change, specifically around guidelines and new policies such as Sarbanes Oxley, certain practices, etc, but the principles really stay the same. (I may be off the mark, this is my interpretation and I’m not an accountant. Thank Buddha.) Not in IT. It’s the fastest moving industry out there. The speed in which the industry moves defines the word technology. To be on top of that, you have to not only embrace it, but you also have to plug in and immerse yourself in to it.

It is not always the case, but the best programmers out there are ones that do it all the time. The only time they’re not thinking of code is when they’re sleeping, and that’s debatable. It would not surprise me if some actually dream in code. They go to groups, attend seminars and conferences, read books, and code. The programmers that are ‘good’ do it as a job and have an analytical mind. But to be exceptional…you breathe it. The same holds true, in my opinion, for sys admins and support individuals. Sure, the help desk is what it is; but you can still go home, read digg.com, manage your own super-cool home network, and be far above the rest of your peers at work because you’re living it.

Again, I post this topic because I often go to job fairs and come across all kinds of people with all kinds of backgrounds. Some get it and some don’t. In the end, to be an exceptional IT professional you have to have a passion for it. You have to really be fascinated about the different technologies out there and how they work. You will progress in your field. Those that love what they do, and have passion for doing it, will excel. The money will come.

What does ASAP mean to you?

Staffing firms can have a different concept of time than clients. We typically interview 10 to 20 IT candidates a week with all different types of skills and experience. That doesn’t necessarily mean we interview 10-20 .NET developers or 10-20 help desk analysts. Each person is different. Ten percent of those candidates are exceptional. Exceptional is having a great, marketable, skill set, good experience, and someone that can be of value to a company. They can actually save time or money for a client. These people do not hang around on the market forever. Many can be registered with multiple staffing firms to ensure they’re covering ground. These folks may not be as networked as some of the heavy hitters. A ‘heavy hitter’ could have offers in one day from multiple sources and usually doesn’t need a firm to help them find something. Many candidates have many irons in the fire. They are continuing their search even after they’ve registered with a firm, most encourage this. Why? Putting the burden on one firm can weigh heavy on a recruiter that doesn’t deliver. After all, firms are just an additional resource, not a be all end all. I have seen people get jobs because a client drags feet on making a decision. It happens, and it sets the whole process that lead up to the ‘yes, we’d like jane/john to start’ backwards.

We typically ask ‘how soon do you need someone in the role?’ This gives us a sense of urgency. You can’t imagine how many IT managers will say ASAP. ASAP has meant as soon as possible to me for as long as I can remember. It’s not until I ask if we have the right person can they start at 8am tomorrow morning do I find out what ASAP means.

Contract Work-No Guarantees

I mentioned the basic outline of contract work, but there’s other things to consider when weighing contract work. There’s no guarantee.

Some ole IT grognards out there probably know more about this, but back in the day contracts were negotiated and outlined. How much time would someone need a consultant? What’s the cost involved? What are the stipulations with bringing someone in-house to help with a project? Hence ‘contract’. Now it’s equivalent to temp work. In the world of temporary (temp) work, contract work is just the prestigious word on the IT side for ‘temp work’. Contract to hire is the same for temp to hire. No offense to our highly skilled office professionals out in the workforce, but IT seems to require a higher skilled, better trained, temp professional. This is why contractor or consultant is needed.

Now that we’ve defined the term contract what does it mean to those in the field. In short, there’s no guarantees.

For staffing firms, like the one I work for, we’re looking for people between jobs. They could use a hand in their job search. Firms can offer short-term work, with good pay, for those that are spinning their wheels trying to find their next corporate seat. I often have people want a different job so bad that they will take a short-term contract position. I often explain that we don’t do that. The IT professional doesn’t understand, and I literally have to spell it out for them.

“Why would you leave a job, any job, that allows you to put food on the table and pays the bills, for something that may be over at the end of the first day?” Because this can happen, and has happened.

Many people then understand and say “I wouldn’t”.

You see, clients will provide us with their intentions up front. They’ll mention that they’ll need someone for about 3 months and may hire them if it’s the right person, but if they don’t like the plate we serve up, they can make us take it back and provide something better. That’s what many firms do. Oh, and there is usually no penalty to the client should they choose to do this.

Yes, it can go the opposite way. The client could love the candidate so much that they won’t want to lose them to a permanent opportunity and decide to hire the person directly sooner than expected. It happens, and there are fees involved, but it’s not the norm.

This is why it’s difficult to accommodate a move from outside the local market. It’s not right to have someone move across the country for something that might be over in the first week. Yes, clients can impose a process making candidates go through a resume review, phone screen and multiple face-to-face interviews, but it’s not until they see the candidate in action that assures their decision was the right one. Even then, budgets can get yanked, and new management can be implemented that will trim the fat and throw temporary help out the window.

Can this happen with a permanent job? Yes it can! However, the odds are much lower and staffing managers don’t have to worry about hurt feelings and disappointments. I ran in to one such person with excellent development skills. I asked how he ended up from California and in America’s Dairyland and it was because he showed up for his first day of work, a permanent job, and they said they eliminated his position.

As in any situation, it’s good to know what is on the table. We in the staffing industry call it, “setting the expectations” and it’s important to know what’s at stake. It’s when you’re ignorant to the process and aren’t accurately informed that you find yourself disappointed and upset should something fall through.

Communication Skills Needed

I have taken part in a couple advisory board meetings. These meeting are typically held by an educational institution in an effort to get industry advice and what needs to be taught to students in order to keep them up to date with technology and what employers are looking for in a potential candidate so that they can teach what is needed for the work place.

Many technical classes are in place, and it can be quite easy to determine when to implement something new like Windows Vista or Server 2008 in to a class curriculum. Many people on these boards simply provide insight in to their corporate vision. “We’re not rolling out Vista until second quarter 2009”, which can make it easy to determine when to implement a corresponding class lesson.

The one thing that keeps coming up in many discussions is the need for communication skills, both written and verbal. One academic outline had project management listed, but advisory board members insisted on communication taking precedence, especially at such a fundamental level.

Help Desk professionals not only need to be able to convey methodical information over the phone with various users, but they also need to document such calls. Typically done in call-tracking software packages like TrackIT, proper documentation will help with recurring problems and develop a reference database for unique and complex issues. However, it can be frustrating to try and decipher a trouble ticket that is grammatically incorrect and hard to understand.

Not only is communication skills important between support and end users, but it plays an important role between IS/IT departments and their respected personnel. Conveying information from one level of support to the next is key to solving problems. Lets not forget supporting an application and then relaying proper information to the development team in order to resolve problems with the software.

Much of what has been addressed has been applied to the actual role of the IT professional, but what about knowing what ‘tact’ is or being able to get along with fellow team members? Certain topics of discussion don’t need to be communicated to the end user, and blame only inhibits the trust-building relationship between IS and internal/external customers. Some things are better left unsaid.

What’s a supervisor to do? Many IT staff have never been properly coached. Many people, at all levels, have a hard time addressing conflict so they leave things as status quo and let them come to a boiling point when all you have to do is address the issue.

I know a manager that had team members approach her about a problem staff member. He simply had all the answers and was starting to annoy his peers. It wasn’t until the supervisor let him know about the issue that he took it upon himself to fix it. He went and purchased books in order to address his attitude. The change was noticeable and ultimately improved his demeanor thus helping with personal relationships with his co-workers.

We could all use help with our communication skills, but knowing is just half the battle.

Brief Blurb About Certification

Many people have told me that it’s tough to get a job in IT unless they have a certification. However, I have had people that I have met that have 2-3 certifications but can’t seem to land a job. So what’s going on?

The thing that people need, and what employers want, is experience. Nothing comes into play more than experience. You can have 5 certifications, and a BS in Computer Science, and still not be qualified to do a job due to lack of experience.

As an IT recruiter we have plenty of requests for IT consultants and I don’t recall the last time that a client asked for someone with a specific certification. It’s been a preference, but not required. I wonder if employers use certs for screening purposes. When using a firm they have us vouch for the lack of certification.

That doesn’t mean that certifications have no weight. As people apply to the same jobs and have similar qualifications, certifications may help decide which candidate to choose for the role. Not only do they test a person’s knowledge, but it also shows that the person took the initiative and money to take the exam. There is no cash refund if the person fails, which deters many people from taking a certification exam.

Is there a cert that holds more water than others? Not necessarily, but there are some that seem to have a reputation behind them. Take the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) for example. This certification is highly regarded for experts in this specific field of network engineers. One must not only pass a written test, but a hands-on labs portion as well. A six-figure income can be expected from someone that holds the knowledge of a CCIE and the respected certification. Cisco doesn’t even recommend anyone to take it unless they have 5+ years of experience in the field. Cisco certification exams are known to be challenging. They have a vast question and answer base.

The A+ certification is a good foundation for those that are trying to get into the IT industry as a help desk or desktop support professional.

It’s hard not to talk about certifications without mentioning the plethora of Microsoft Certifications. If you take one of the many approved MS exam and you may be considered to be a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP). Taking one exam and becoming MCP does not distinguish one MCP from another. However, Microsoft (MS) does have cert tracks that tests a person’s knowledge of a variety of MS products thus expanding the initials from MCP to others like MS Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) or MS Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE). Many years ago MS would have a question and answer bank that would be randomly taken and inserted in to the exam at the time of testing. Later they implemented the adaptable method of questions. The adaptable way takes into consideration a person’s answer to a question, right or wrong, and based upon that response supplies the next question. This takes the test taker’s knowledge in to consideration. Exams may also have more or less questions as the aforementioned fixed, non-adaptable, exam method.

I mentioned it earlier, certification can be important, but nothing trumps experience.

Job Search-Resume Part 1

I hated writing a resume. I never know what to include or how to convey my work history. I’m sure I’m not the only one that shares the same feelings.

I have reviewed a lot of resumes and I’ll try to provide some useful tips. Mileage may vary. The goal in this post is to spur ideas on content and not physical format. I’ll provide an example to view. Just connect the dots.

Address Line

At the top should be your personal information to include name, phone number, address, and email address. A no brainer, right? I have had people have list wrong phone numbers, and quirky email addresses. Stud69@hotmail.com is not something that should be listed on a professional document. So make sure you have one that doesn’t speak to the personal side of your life. Also, I find people that put everything one line after the other centered in the middle of the page.

Example 1:

Sean Kelley
123 Main St, Madison, WI
Phone: 555.555.5555
email: good_email@yahoo.com

The above is good, but you’re using a couple lines more than you need. Try this for an alternative

Example 2:

Sean Kelley
123 Main St · 555.555.5555 · good_email@yahoo.com

I think you can see the benefits, no?

Objective

I tend to not look at an objective. There hard to write and can be covered with a decent cover letter. You’re applying to an IT job and “you’re seeking an interesting and challenging career as an IT professional” no kidding. Nuke it.

Next

What goes next as you go down the page depends on your experience and background. If you have little IT experience you’ll want to list IT skills, certs, or formal education-if it the area of study is IT. If you have IT experience I would then start with work experience.

Work Experience

Always list experience starting with your most recent. Company name, role/title and dates of employment should be here as well as bullets regarding the job.

The bullets should include quantifyable results. This won’t happen for every job and for every bullet, but it’s something to keep in mind. Anything you can list that either says you saved the employer time or money goes a long way. Many people list duties and responsibilities. Much of that is what people in the IT industry already knows given the role you’ve listed. Think outside the box a bit.

Make sure you make it clear when you relate to numbers or quantity. It’s easy to say you took over 50 calls per day when working a help desk job, but is that good or bad? Some places may think that’s nothing, so make sure you let the person know what that means. You can do that by using comparisons.

Example:

-Handled an average 50 calls per day when the department average was 25 per day.

That’s someone that’s doing more work than the average person. You can word it any way you want, but you get the idea.

So ask yourself “so what?” You managed Windows Servers. Did you manage 50 servers or 5?

I think this gives you a starting point. Next we’ll provide some sample layouts and some additional comments on resume content.