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Guest
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 Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 5:25 am Post subject: Do you guys like your jobs? |
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I posted a while back asking about Cisco certs.
I have a degree in EE, was a stay-at-home dad for the past 10 years,
and I'm looking to get back to work. I thought I would shift gears
and look into IT.
Looking at the jobs at Monster.com, many of the Network Engineer
positions aren't what I thought they would be. I thought a Network
Engineer was on par with a EE or ME, but many of the positions require
only a high school education.
So I don't know which way to go. I love computers, learned to code as
a kid, networking "black magic" fascinates me.
Is there a specific area of IT I should focus on given my background?
What kind of salary should I expect? |
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CNAP
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:22 pm Post subject: Re: Do you guys like your jobs? |
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On Mar 4, 6:25 pm, Mitch@_._ wrote:
| Quote: | I posted a while back asking about Cisco certs.
I have a degree in EE, was a stay-at-home dad for the past 10 years,
and I'm looking to get back to work. I thought I would shift gears
and look into IT.
Looking at the jobs at Monster.com, many of the Network Engineer
positions aren't what I thought they would be. I thought a Network
Engineer was on par with a EE or ME, but many of the positions require
only a high school education.
So I don't know which way to go. I love computers, learned to code as
a kid, networking "black magic" fascinates me.
Is there a specific area of IT I should focus on given my background?
What kind of salary should I expect?
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Spend less time worrying about what kind of education you have, and
more time worrying about what education you're going to need. There
are many avenues you can take it. So start studying up, because it
might not be as easy as you might think... |
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Ken Teague
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:06 am Post subject: Re: Do you guys like your jobs? |
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Mitch@_._ wrote:
| Quote: | I just don't want to get into the field with the wrong expectations.
I'm trying to figure out what the various career paths are in IT.
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In my experience, deciding which way to go in the IT field is like being
a doctor. You can't specialize in them all -- only one or two. It's
just too complex now days. Sure, there will be people who can
specialize in more than two arenas, and if you're up for that, go for
it. But focus on one and build up upon that.
You'll find that the current job you're doing will require a certain
skill set, and you'll be using that skill set while the others you know
just linger in the back. Good luck. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:31 am Post subject: Re: Do you guys like your jobs? |
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I come from a similar background - degree in EE and came over to
networking nearly 15 years ago where you actually needed some
conceptual background to do this stuff. You are right in that back
then, many "Network Engineers" were actual licensed engineers (people
with a PE license). In those days we are talking about matching
impedence on thin-net segments, 5-4-3 networks, vampire taps, etc.
All of these things are gone today and with it much of the specialized
education requirements. In the dotcom boom, we saw a radical shift in
what is today called a "Network Engineer". Network Engineer's became
nearly anyone who worked on computerized systems (system
administrators, desktop support folks, and generally anyone who could
spell the work 'engineer').
Unfortunately you are going to find that a lot has changed in the 10
years you have been out of work and it is going to be difficult work
to get caught up. I have confidence that you can do it. First, if
you are interested in "coding" you want to look at programming jobs.
Nearly all of that has gone the direction of programming. Today's
programming has some resemblence to ASIC programming so you would pick
it up pretty quickly. Not too many kids coming out of high school
which are proficient with programming. So your degree may open some
doors and you'll find the starting pay is typically higher than doing
networking (there are a lot of kids doing networking).
If you want to do networking, just be aware that any kid interested in
computers in high school probably already knows some networking and
will be stiff competition. This is why the starting salary's for
networking people is around $10 - $15 / hr (adjust for your city &
location, etc etc). A lot of kids coming out of high school today, do
networking jobs while they are pursuing their college degrees (hey -
it still pays more than what their friends are making at Pizza Hut).
If you don't mind EE, you might thinking of blending the two. I know
that Intel (and others) are looking for people with EE backgrounds
with interests in networking. This is huge $$ for them and they can't
find enough qualified people to do the work. If you want to make some
money starting out this might be a good place to look considering your
background. Plus, if you decide to go full-time into networking
you'll build experience at a higher pay rate.
Don't short change your degree. The fact that you know how this stuff
works puts you miles ahead of many people in the industry. Just got
to find the right job.
HTH,
Joe
On Mar 4, 4:25 pm, Mitch@_._ wrote:
| Quote: | I posted a while back asking about Cisco certs.
I have a degree in EE, was a stay-at-home dad for the past 10 years,
and I'm looking to get back to work. I thought I would shift gears
and look into IT.
Looking at the jobs at Monster.com, many of the Network Engineer
positions aren't what I thought they would be. I thought a Network
Engineer was on par with a EE or ME, but many of the positions require
only a high school education.
So I don't know which way to go. I love computers, learned to code as
a kid, networking "black magic" fascinates me.
Is there a specific area of IT I should focus on given my background?
What kind of salary should I expect? |
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