Hey all. I work in IT and the job market is terrible. I’m not too sure what to do. I was thinking of getting into dsta science stuff, but I don’t know how to get there or what options I have. Any advice would be great.
Hey all. I work in IT and the job market is terrible. I’m not too sure what to do. I was thinking of getting into dsta science stuff, but I don’t know how to get there or what options I have. Any advice would be great.
I’m in the same boat. I’m trying to go from frontend developer/designer to project manager. My advice is to look for certifications that are respected in the field and then acquire them.
i think this only applies in the us. nobody i know in europe gives two shits about certifications, unless it’s the kind you can’t work without, like electrician.
Certs are really only for HR. Most hiring people understand certs are just taking a test and have little to do with real job skill.
I help in hiring for my company. Most candidates lack communication skills and the ability to apply their knowledge. We have hired people with MS in IT who were totally incomplete, and people with no degrees in the field who were stellar, self-motivating, and were quickly promoted.
The problem that most employees don’t want to hear is that all their experience and degrees mean nothing if they can’t market those skills and demonstrate basic social competence and self-reliance.
Not to mention most resumes/letters we get are schlock and show zero genuine interest in the job or the company and it’s mission. Just taking 5 minutes to read the company history etc can give you a huge leg up in applying and interviewing because it shows you actually gave a tiny bit of a shit.
we’ve started to phase out letters entirely because they also serve no purpose.
I got certifications, communication skills, and I research every company I’m lucky enough to get an interview for. You hiring? I would be a star employee.
Edit:
Question, how do you suggest writing resumes that involve the company mission? I can’t think of something that doesn’t involve having AI tailor your resume or throwing keywords around in the summary (which those never work). I try to tailor cover letters to places I’m applying to.
We are hiring entry level jobs only that pay about 45-50K. People often balk at the starting offer, but we offer fulltime WFH, and everyone who works here has been here for years or decades.
It is very hard to get applicants, because people balk at the starting pay. But what they dont’ realize is our benefits basically offer you an extra 20K+ in total comp and are far more generous than most companies these days. We have gold-plated healthcare package, and retirement matching, which is rare to find.
But anytime my job comes up in casual conversation people balk at me because it’s a no-name small company, and therefore it’s not ‘real job’ like it would be if I worked for a giant mega corp.
The other issue is people’s salary expectations are insane. They think at 22 they should be making 90-120K to start w/ zero experience… there are very few fields in which that is true.
It’s so tough. 45k isn’t enough to cover expenses where I live (I know because we’re doing it, and if we weren’t dual income it just wouldn’t work). It doesn’t matter that my husband gets amazing retirement matching and decent benefits, because without my (admittedly small) income we couldn’t pay rent and utilities. If you want to be independent here and have a yard, you need to make more. A few years ago here you couldn’t even find an apartment with that salary, but it’s calmed down a little.
for a 22 year old it is. more than plenty to live with a roommate or two, afford food, and have some extra for paying off your debt and savings.
but a lot of them are entitled and think they DESERVE a 3-4K one bed apartment in the hottest neighborhoods. no amount of pay is ‘enough’ when you live beyond your means and have unreasonable expectations for your standard of living. And yeah, if you think ‘bare minimum’ is a luxury lifestyle, than a 100K job won’t cut it, you need like 200-300K for that lifestyle.
we aren’t hiring 50 year olds with kids for entry level jobs.
Tell me about it. I’m not in this stuff for the money. If you want, DM me.
I’d add on vendor managers to that list. Most ‘larger’ (read: more than 50 employees) orgs I’ve been at also cared about vendor certifications because it could make or break their partnership level if they didn’t have enough certified employees to make the cut. That’s why I got my ccna a decade ago (and haven’t renewed it since I left there), because my company needed more certs and they gave me a 2k/yr pay bump to get certified.