MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL! A decent job for Christmas would be nice!

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Hello everyone!
First off, a Merry Christmas to you all!
I am new to the forums. I have an HND and BSc in Information Systems and also am A+,N+, MCSA and MCSE certified. I also have an HND in Business Studies. At the moment I am studying for a postgraduate diploma in Strategic Business IT and hope to top it up an MSc in Strategic Business IT.
I work for a Supermarket and you know what the money's like there. I would love to continue with certifications and do my MSc or PgD in the meantime. But also I have been running on a loan for too long and is bound to be in trouble sooner or later. Oh, and the loan in not a Student loan as I finished my BSc about 4 years ago.
I never really tried applying for anything because it just felt a waste of time when everyone out there is always insisting on experience and a good degree. In all honestly my BSc results aren't so great. Only got a 3rd. The rest is brilliant HND and all I mean).
I always had a flair for programming, web page design etc but didn't think I was good enough so something took me down the MCSE track. I never found enough material on Programming Certs anyway, so I thought it was losing it's market or just maybe the expectations were just too high. So confusion is there too. Am I on the right track? I have a Wife too and two kids, and my Wife isn't employed at the moment. One time I was "Mr cheerful and chirpy" , now I avoid pubs and whenever I can and much of my socialising as I just don't have the money anymore.
Right now when I get time I try to refresh my MCSE 2000 knowledge and prepare for the MCSE 2003 at the same time. I had some eval copies of MS Software to help me with my certs but never put them to use before as my College gave me access to use their labs at then.
I am looking for something to fit my hours around my Msc and Pgd (which is only one or two weekdays a week at most) and I am stuck in London as my University is based in London for my MSc and PgD.
So anyone who wants to be "Santa's little helper" give me some pointers please! I am confused; a bit depressed honestly and badly need to get job in IT even if it means voluntary work for a while. Cheers all!

 

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Hi Panic.
You sound extremely well qualified!
What's stopping you getting out there and applying for some IT jobs?
Word of caution though, this is normally a tough time of year. Lots of people get itchy feet and want a new start in the new year so there's lots of competition.
Employers are winding down and are more concerned with their Xmas parties than reading CVs.

The thing is, there is no easy or gentle way to change careers. Sometimes you've just got to go for it with all you've got, even if that means a few months of uncertanty and possible financial hardship.

 

Ok, first off you seem to have quite a few quals but it doesn't look like you've tried doing anything with them. When you say you work in a supermarket, I assume you mean in a non-IT job. While education is a wonderful thing and I applaude anyone who has the discipline to get advanced degrees and certifications, at some point, you have to put together your CV and start "pounding the pavement" so to speak. Do you have *any* actual IT experience...even volunteer work? You don't say so, but it's hard to believe you earned an MCSE without ever actually touching an MS network. Could you clarify this for us please. Thanks.

BTW. Welcome to CertForums.

 

Greetings

 

Seasonal Greetings, I hope you get sorted in a job you like/want.
I know it can be hard this time of year, but in experience things usually pick up in the new year.

 

Hi. Welcome to CF, glad you found us.

Can't really add to anything. With your list of very good certs and experience that you must have aquired to achieve them i would be appyling for jobs left, right and centre.

All the best, stick with it

 

First off, I really appreciate all the advice and feedback I received from this forum.

I did my MCSE with a College. They had a network of about 15 Computers, 2-3 Windows 2000 Server machines and the rest running Windows 2000 Pro and some Windows XP Pro. We were welcome to the College to use the IT Suite facilities as we please (within College hours of course).
And I personally took quite a long time for my certifications (nearly 2 years) because I didn't quite feel quite ready and Networking was fairly new to me. I haven’t done any voluntary work either.
Not only am I struggling with my finances but I am struggling with my choices. If I to take on a future certification what should I do? I often thought about the MCSD, MCAD, CNWA and CCNA.
Like JonnyMX said I think I’ll just leave the applications until after Christmas. I also would appreciate some pointers on my CV please. How do I make my “non-IT” supermarket job fit into my CV (given what I mentioned about myself)? Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll get a proper Christmas the following year perhaps.
Cheers.

 

Hi,

If i were you i would start looking for jobs right away. You already have an impressive list under your belt.

Best of luck, there is loads of CV advise in our Employment and jobs forum.

All the best

 

We have this link about writing the "killer CV" pinned in the Jobs forum:

http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/thread6029.html

What you appear to have (possibly) is a "paper MCSE". This was a term coined in the last decade when quite a number of people went through various training vendors acquiring MCSEs without having much or any experience working on production networks. What happened to alot of these folks is that they were hired on the strength of their certs alone (thanks to MS marketing) and promptly fell flat on their faces. Passing cert exams alone does not prepare you for the actual job.

What usually helps is getting practical experience as you are working towards certification. Using that approach, by the time you get the full MCSE, you have an equal balance of education and practical experience that makes you a desired commodity.

Of course, you can't go back in time to change this so what's done is done. The trick now is to get some practical experience you can build on. It won't be full "MCSE-level" jobs at first. No IT manager in their right mind would hire a certified person with no hands-on experience to manage a production MS domain.

You might have to settle for lesser roles at first. I know when I was in school and earning my certs, the A+ cert got me a number of very temp jobs that I did while going to school and working my non-IT slave job. Fortunately, my hours were just flexible enough to allow me to take full-day and half-day jobs doing Ethernet rollouts and Hardware and OS upgrades. I put every little job I did on my CV to build it up.

When I first started off and had no actual experience, I put all of my school lab experience on the CV. I mean...if as part of your labs you created domains, managed users, etc, etc...it's still good. One of my class labs was to actually wire a classroom, install a switch and router and install and configure workstations. After we were done, we actually did further work in the classroom we installed.

It was experience and it went on the CV. Eventually the little half and full-day jobs went on to longer temp jobs (I eventually had to give up my "slave job" and take the risk of being unemployed when the temp job expired). It took a long time but it was worth it. I've now been in my first permanent, full-time job for about 18 months now and do freelance work on the side. The thing is that unless you are prepared to take some risks and also prepared to be patient and pay your dues, your education isn't going to get you anywhere.

BTW, taking 2 years to earn an MCSE is not unusual. Look at all of the exams involved. Anyone who rushes through all those exams and passes to get their MCSE in a year or less, I wouldn't trust to shine my shoes let alone to run my network.

Hope some of this helps. I know it's not what you wanted to hear but it has the benefit of being realistic.

 

Can't thank you enough for your input once again. Honest opinions was what I wanted to hear. It's very refreshing.
I'll be jumping to see what more I could pick up from the "Employment and Jobs" forums. Cheers.

 

Hi and welcome, j_p. Glad you found us and that we could offer some ecouragement. Good luck to you - hang in there, it will happen

 

I agree with Tripwire.

The MCSE cert is aimed at people with a year or so experience administrating Microsoft server products. It is only of real value to employers if it is combined with real world experience.

You are missing that vital ingredient. The conundrum for you now is, how to get experience when you can't get a job without it. Offering to do voluntary work for your local schools IT departments is a way, there are others and they usually involve low or no pay.

My advise is to cease studying for a while and go out there and and try to get some hands on.

Good luck!

 

Hi and welcome to the forum.