Jobs in IT - what is in demand?

[Chili]

We were planning mid February, but having some problems with the buyer of my house so closing has been delayed 2 weeks. We'll just have to see at this point! Thankfully my buyer is moving due to a transfer in her company (large), so I think she is committed. However, when you throw off closing dates anything can happen.

Thanks for the compliments. If you do the comps for that area, the house should be a lot more expensive

Sweet, hope everything goes smoothly!

[ceyko]

Ya know, with some of the guys on this board, we could build our own consulting company...

My manager, who lives in Flower Mound, and I have been thinking about doing just that.

Tried it once and there are two major things...

1. If you do it, you have to do it full time. When I did it, I spun out of control with LLC work and had to choose. I chose my full time job because...

2. You should probably have 1-2 years of salary financed and enough to float several customers. The biggest problem we had was completing numerous jobs and not being paid until waaay later than our term dates. When you're small you can't get lawyers/etc on them because it'll just eat all the margin anyway.

It sucks, but a customer could love ya and it's rare they will consider you in the same light once you leave the umbrella of a large company. They will but say your rates are 175-250 an hour with the big company (not that you get paid that rate - for those wondering), you'll have to drop it to 85-125 an hour. Which after SoWs, designs and crap is really 40-50 dollars for all the crap you don't charge for...etc.

[GeorgeG.]

Not really. I believe all the VMWare courses/training are conducted by VMWare. Then the standard testing process. Sgt. Beavis will know more or I can ask our resident VMWare rep...etc.

No, you can take the VmWare course with Global Knowledge and it fulfills the requirement to obtain your VCP.

[ceyko]

One point of advise that I've seen people fall for....steer clear of the "take this cert and it's guaranteed 6 figures". It's true to an extent, but experience plays a BIG role in that.

Good point and to me a general rule of thumb is it is sort of 60/40 with the intermediate to advanced certifications.

i.e. say you want to make 100K a year (for easy example). Experience will get you 60K, the certifications will get you in the door and 30-40K.

Applies more as certifications stack.

[Silverback]

Tried it once and there are two major things...

1. If you do it, you have to do it full time. When I did it, I spun out of control with LLC work and had to choose. I chose my full time job because...

2. You should probably have 1-2 years of salary financed and enough to float several customers. The biggest problem we had was completing numerous jobs and not being paid until waaay later than our term dates. When you're small you can't get lawyers/etc on them because it'll just eat all the margin anyway.

It sucks, but a customer could love ya and it's rare they will consider you in the same light once you leave the umbrella of a large company. They will but say your rates are 175-250 an hour with the big company (not that you get paid that rate - for those wondering), you'll have to drop it to 85-125 an hour. Which after SoWs, designs and crap is really 40-50 dollars for all the crap you don't charge for...etc.

And the number one thing you HAVE to have... Sales. Someone willing to go out and hustle for new customers, and relationships. Without it, you're just burning money and have no growth.

I did 5-7 years doing small/medium sized business IT consulting, and at times it was great, and at other times, I was 3 months behind on my bills because our customers were 90-120 days out on payments. As an only source of income, you better hope you have an investor or your own seed money in an account somewhere to get you through the hard times, and to help you purchase equipment and software for your customers, then wait for their payment plus markup.

Honestly I wouldn't do it again, just because I'm really happy with the corporate gig right now, it pays the bills, lets me work from home 95% of the time, I have insurance, 401K, etc. And the biggest thing, I have room to grow with a very large company. When you're the VP of Technical Services of your own company making $X.XX/yr, you don't grow unless the business grows directly.

[ceyko]

No, you can take the VmWare course with Global Knowledge and it fulfills the requirement to obtain your VCP.

That a recent change? It was 2 years ago or so when we shoved some people through and GK SUPPOSEDLY was not an option.

I love GK though, great courses when you can get them.

[ceyko]

Honestly I wouldn't do it again, just because I'm really happy with the corporate gig right now, it pays the bills, lets me work from home 95% of the time, I have insurance, 401K, etc. And the biggest thing, I have room to grow with a very large company. When you're the VP of Technical Services of your own company making $X.XX/yr, you don't grow unless the business grows directly.

All valid points. There is also something to be said about straight up quality of life too. I mean, I could probably make more elsewhere - but with my kids I don't want to consistently work 80+ hours every single week, put on 40 pounds and die at 45 of a heart attack.

I'll take a cut in pay before I do that lifestyle again.

I've been invited to start-ups, but as you mentioned there HAS to be money already there. We've done the hybrid (sales/engineering) approach and it worked, but without money to float stuff it just sucks. Not to mention the initial legal feels as well.

[Silverback]

Good point and to me a general rule of thumb is it is sort of 60/40 with the intermediate to advanced certifications.

i.e. say you want to make 100K a year (for easy example). Experience will get you 60K, the certifications will get you in the door and 30-40K.

Applies more as certifications stack.

I'd say if you want to make 100K/yr, experience will get you 60K, a bachelors will get you 20K-30K, and certs will get you the 20-30K on top of that, depending on the certs, and how they apply to your specific job and company.

I'm not saying you have to have a degree in this field, because I still don't But for growth and when the time to go job hunting comes up, unless you are extremely specialized and the perfect job opens up, that bachelors degree, then certs will open more doors for you than your experience alone will when it comes to getting through the evaluation phase of a recruiter who's staffing a specific job.

[ceyko]

I'd say if you want to make 100K/yr, experience will get you 60K, a bachelors will get you 20K-30K, and certs will get you the 20-30K on top of that, depending on the certs, and how they apply to your specific job and company.

I'm not saying you have to have a degree in this field, because I still don't But for growth and when the time to go job hunting comes up, unless you are extremely specialized and the perfect job opens up, that bachelors degree, then certs will open more doors for you than your experience alone will when it comes to getting through the evaluation phase of a recruiter who's staffing a specific job.

Yeah, there are so many variations. i.e. I don't have a degree, but I'm specialized in more than one high profile technology and am valuable to Cisco partners. Also, what did it for me was getting out of my shell and being able to sell.

However, you have to sleep, eat and breath your technologies. I see a lot of people barely get their certs and rest on that, thinking they are a god. In reality they could not do basic implementations. You have to be able to do this stuff in your sleep, in 30 different variations and have good customer sat to be "good." (Plus, integrity when you f'up goes a long way.)

[ceyko]

Really feel like we should be about 5 pitchers in at a bar having this conversation.

[Silverback]

Yeah, there are so many variations. i.e. I don't have a degree, but I'm specialized in more than one high profile technology and am valuable to Cisco partners. Also, what did it for me was getting out of my shell and being able to sell.

However, you have to sleep, eat and breath your technologies. I see a lot of people barely get their certs and rest on that, thinking they are a god. In reality they could not do basic implementations. You have to be able to do this stuff in your sleep, in 30 different variations and have good customer sat to be "good." (Plus, integrity when you f'up goes a long way.)

Yeah, I've been on the Microsoft side of things since NT4.0 MCSE. With 15 years of experience, even contracting at Microsoft with Sgt Beavis, and a pretty nice looking resume, it wasn't until I went out and updated my certs, MCITP Server Admin, MCSE 2003 + Security, and CCNA, that I started getting call backs for jobs, when I left my consulting company.

At times I wish I had specialized more, but really I enjoy dealing with a lot of different technologies. Currently my position is part DBA work with SQL, lots of Dell/Windows Server work, technical project management, team lead, SharePoint, IIS, DNS, Active Directory, WSUS, MOM, CRM, Project Server, etc. If it's a Microsoft available technology, we've probably been asked to research it, configure it, test it, and greenlight it.

But now, I'm getting burned out on the technology side, either I need to find something new, like virtualization, security, etc. or just wait the two years I have left to finish my Masters in Technology Management, and move on to a people management job. I think at the end of the day I'd rather be a manager and gain that experience, than go any further on the technical side of things.

[Silverback]

Really feel like we should be about 5 pitchers in at a bar having this conversation.

haha, that's how I got suckered into going back to the consulting world after I left the first time...

I see what's going on here!

[Sgt Beavis]

No, you can take the VmWare course with Global Knowledge and it fulfills the requirement to obtain your VCP.

That a recent change? It was 2 years ago or so when we shoved some people through and GK SUPPOSEDLY was not an option.

I love GK though, great courses when you can get them.

Any company can have one of their people become a VMware Certified Trainer. VMware still gets a cut. We have them at HP and offer the training to our customers. Either way, its the same class...

BTW, once you take the class, you usually don't have to take it again for future versions of the cert. For instance, i'm a VCP 4 right now. All I have to do is take the VCP 5 exam before Feb 29 and I'm good to go. It should be the same for VCP 6 in a few years.

Right now I'm studying for that exam. It's a bitch because there are huge changes from vSphere 4 to vSphere 5.

Normally I tell folks that certifications really aren't worth that much money, but I have to say that even a newbie with a VCP can get a job as a VMware Sys Admin with decent money. However the real money is in consulting and design work.

[GeorgeG.]

I agree with the BA/MBA being a necessity when it comes time to get into management. I've been thinking about this alot lately...I shudder at the thought of going to school but I feel there's no avoiding it. Taking classes that have nothing to do with my career (Gov't, English Lit, etc) seems like a waste of time.

[Silverback]

I agree with the BA/MBA being a necessity when it comes time to get into management. I've been thinking about this alot lately...I shudder at the thought of going to school but I feel there's no avoiding it. Taking classes that have nothing to do with my career (Gov't, English Lit, etc) seems like a waste of time.

Honestly, it's not that bad. I had less than 20 hours completed from my first go round in college, but I went back and started again in 2009, and took a couple of online classes at Collin County just to see how I liked them. I took an Intro to Business, and a Computer Business Applications class. Made two A's and thought they were fairly easy, and since I didn't have to go to class, it made it right up my alley.

So in 2010, I took 41 hours all online through Dallas County Community Colleges, since they offer the most courses in an online setting. I finished my AS in Business May of this year, and at the end of this year I'll have completed another 36 hours, and next semester I'm transferring to Texas A&M Commerce to finish the final 36 hours I need to finish my bachelors, also all online through their program.

I should be done with it by Fall of 2012, as long as everything stays on track. Then I'll start their 30 hour, no thesis, MS in Technology Management program and finish that Fall of 2013 as long as everything goes to plan.

Luckily my work pays $3,000/yr in tuition reimbursement, which covered all of my classes each year at community college. Unfortunately it's only going to cover one semester at A&M Commerce. I could always extend my time out, and get them to pay for the whole thing, by just taking 12 hours a year, but I want to be done with school the sooner the better. So I'll just fork out 10K/yr for the next two years out of my own pocket to finish.