Job in US

[spenge]

Hello everybody, I am pretty new here and I have a burning question...

My main question is about employment in the US. I am striving to move to America and was wondering what certification would be best to obtain.

I currently am working for the British government as an IT installation design authority (I make sure all installations are conformant to H&S and security regulations) but I don't really have any qualifications on paper other than a foundation degree.

I am thinking of completing the following to help me on my way.

Prince 2 Foundation and Practitioner (Unless it is better to do PMP as it is more recognised in the US?)
A+
Network+
MCDST

I am just wondering what other courses I should be thinking of doing? I am still at the tender age of 21 and so have the agility to move into any field/speciality in the IT industry. I am just wondering if any one has any experience in the US or could provide me with any info regarding what looks good on an American resume'.

If you need any more info give me a shout.

Many Thanks in advance,

Dave

[greenbrucelee]

Hi Welcome

I don't really know what Prince2 is so I can't advice you an that.

I can't fault you on the other cert choices if you don't know those certs are probably reconised more in the US than here in the UK but thats just because they have been around longer over there.

I'd move to the US too if I had the money.

[BosonMichael]

What job do you want to do here?

I have yet to see many companies asking for Prince2. Do a search on dice.com: Prince2 gets 28 hits; PMP gets 1629 hits.

Without a good bit of IT experience, you might find it difficult to get a job as a project manager, even with the PMP certification. How much IT experience do you have?

[spenge]

Thanks for the quick replies!

I completed a technical apprenticeship in telecommunication engineering through the Ministry of Defence and have been working in my current job (also with the MoD) for 2 years now.

I have experience with the hardware side of IT but not much on the software side and I don't really have the qualifications to back it up.

I am not really looking for project management straight away, I thought it would look good that I have experience in it in my application. I would be more than happy fulfilling an administrator role or technician role. I am involved in a security aspect currently so it may be worthwhile taking that route in the US as well given my prior experience.

Basically I am looking for a 'rare' speciality in the US (if there is such a thing) as I will need things like Visa's and sponsorship.

I really have my work cut out but I am hoping that with the right resume and qualifications aimed at a specific speciality that is in short supply in America I may be able to pull it off! Fingers crossed!

Thanks so much for your replies so far, they have been really helpful.

Dave

[BosonJosh]

Well, you can't even get the PMP certification until you have several (3?) years of verifiable project management experience, so that's probably not an option for you, yet.

The other three certifications (A+, Net+ or MCDST) would all be good starting points to getting an IT job here in the states.

[Phoenix]

There are going to be a few difficulties

firstly your specific job will be very hard to do in the US, you wont likely get security clearance not being a citizen, and even confidential clearance is a pain for PRs to get

A skill based immigration is probably out of the question based on what you have told me, and the direction of the US ecomony isn't going to make it easier for a foreign worker who needs sponsorship unless you have something unique

You could get a H1B if you find a company willing to hire you, but as I said there are plenty of people with your skill set already over there, and a H1B sponsor is required to search 'locally' for the required skill set before sponsoring an immigrant

I think if you do go down the PM route you could get some bites, but even if you do Prince2 here I would cross train to PMP, and if you get a couple of good projects under your belt for the MoD you will be in a much better position

[spenge]

Thanks for the responses, they have been extremely useful and have put things into perspective!

I have heard about project management 'mentoring' where you run projects and create a portfolio for yourself outside of your current job. I don't really know much about it but am looking into it now. Hopefully this will provide me with the experience needed to complete PMP after Prince2 and, well, just the experience in general will be a massive help.

I am also persuing avenues in Cryptographic equipment qualifications, but haven't made much progress so far.

Thanks again,

Dave