How to get a job in IT
You’r in an interview…beads of sweat start to form on your face as they ask you questions, this is a phone interview and there is a lot of static and background noise. You can hear a youtube video the they are listening to while asking you questions. It’s clear they are more interested in that videos than your answers.
Interviewer “We are looking for an expert in with 15 years experience and we can start you part time contracted but you would have to relocate and work the night shift.”
It’s not going well.
While you are in mid-sentence they interrupt and say “Ok we will be in touch” and they hang up on you.
IT is tough, it takes a lot of talent and brain power to do our jobs. But as Developers, SysAdmins, DBAs, Project Managers, we all have one thing in common — we all eventually end up in job interviews — which is usually a skill we often lack.
Sometimes those interviews go really well and we get the job. But usually, we walk away not knowing, and waiting…and waiting, ultimately giving up hope and looking somewhere else.
Eventually you find yourself in a conference room with people asking questions while preoccupied with their cell phones, or on a phone interview and you can hear the interviewer watching youtube videos in the background while you stumble through questions like
“Where do you see yourself in 5 years”
“What is your biggest weakness”
“How many years experience do you have with this technology that came out last week”
“We want someone with 100 years experience, 2 dozen certifications, a masters degree and we will pay minimum wage”
What if you could sit down with a Hiring Manager and ask them anything?
Being a hiring manager I get asked a lot of questions. Should I wear a tie, is my resume good, why didn’t I get a call back?
I have interviewed and hired literally hundreds of people. They all had one thing in common.
They knew how to interview.
I created an entire course for this out on Udemy called
“How to get a job in IT”
https://www.udemy.com/course/how-to-get-a-job-in-it/?referralCode=90B47840BD56C1A26175
Heres a preview
To sum it all up…
Be the person they are looking for. Be the person they need for the foreseeable future. Be the person they can not lose.
Education vs Experience
Have a good blend of both education and experience. A masters with zero experience is usually not going to land you a high paying job. Instead augment your personal history with a blend of formal education such as colleges and universities, and informal such as Udemy and YouTube. Invest your time in things that add to your resume like building web sites for free (or discounted), helping small business with IT issues like setting up printers, servers, and switches.
Free Education and Experience
The world is full of free things, google, youtube are your best friends. You can get a world of free education simply watching videos. Giving your services away for free also helps build your resume with a group of happy people that will give a potential employer a glowing review about your work experience.
Certifications
Do not underestimate the power of certifications. Personally I love vendor agnostic certs from CompTIA such as the A+, Network+ and Security+, all the way up to certs that can land 6 figure incomes such as the CISSP and PMP.
If you want to really show off some technical muscle, you could consider getting a vendor specific certification such as a MCSA, MCSA, RHCE, CCNA.
Resume
Have a general resume that is generic but still touches on all your skills and education. Include things you are working toward. But every time you apply for a job, make your resume align with the actual job description. And be sure to read between the lines…what is the employer really looking for — a system admin in linux, or someone who can automate their server farm?
Interview
Smile — I mean it! Sure you will be nervous but admit it, smile, and address all their questions. If you don’t know, admit it — but also give your thoughts and ideas on how you would over come it. Practice practice use your friends and family to do practice interviews. And understand the person interviewing you might not know the actual job requirements, they might not even have a clue. Get familiar with different interview questions and how to answer them.
I’ll let you in on a secret — some managers actually download a list of questions from google, they don’t actually know have any real plan other than fire questions at you and see what you come back with.
Google: https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=interview+questions
Whats next?
The course I made really goes much deeper, covering how to treat your first day on the job, how to turn down job offers and the best way to handle moving on to another job.
The best advice I can give you is — learn to be a people person, learn how to read a room and see what they are really looking for in a candidate.
How to get a job in IT on Udemy — https://www.udemy.com/course/how-to-get-a-job-in-it/?referralCode=90B47840BD56C1A26175
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/VoidRealms