Can't land an IT job, not even as an voluenteer

[scythiss1]

Been looking for an IT job since september, had a few interviews but never got the job. Currently have my A+, and studying for my network+, other than that no experience. Trying to find places to volunteer as well, like schools, churches, charities and I keep getting turned away. Hold me brahs, Feel like I'm going to give up soon.

[RobParks2M]

26 and can't give your time away

Feelz brah we all gonna make it

[Godfrd824]

Skip Net+, it's worth less, get the CCENT instead. I bet the issue is you're looking for jobs above your experience level. In IT experience is king, and if you have non, you aren't worth anything. look for the bottom of the bottom, jobs that are IT just in name, that experience is what will get you in the door at a real IT job. We've all had to deal with this, it's part of the game.

Volunteering will be tough, they take you in, you destroy their network, then they have to pay me $3k to come in on a Saturday and fix it. It doesn't matter how much you know, you need to have experience, formal experience or no one will give you the time of day.

[scythiss1]

Skip Net+, it's worth less, get the CCENT instead. I bet the issue is you're looking for jobs above your experience level. In IT experience is king, and if you have non, you aren't worth anything. look for the bottom of the bottom, jobs that are IT just in name, that experience is what will get you in the door at a real IT job. We've all had to deal with this, it's part of the game.

Volunteering will be tough, they take you in, you destroy their network, then they have to pay me $3k to come in on a Saturday and fix it. It doesn't matter how much you know, you need to have experience, formal experience or no one will give you the time of day.

I'm applying to help desk jobs

[miscbrah007]

Fukk being a help desk monkey, go for a dev/test job

[TTViper]

Skip those certs and get Secuirty +

Move to an area where there are a lot of contracting jobs supporting the Gov, as it’s the first cert required these days.

[C Project]

Why are you being turned away? Have you followed up to see why you've not been offered a position?

When you say Help Desk, what does that entail? How do you think the interviews went? Do you know the answers to all the questions? If so, it may be a personality fit/customer service issue. I'm not going to ask you if you're arrogant, elitist, or entitled, that is something you are going to have to ask yourself.

When we would interview for Level 1 guys, we would ask questions like:

What's the difference between a ping and a traceroute?

How would you configure a printer to have a static IP address?

What's better, Linux or Windows?

Tell me about a time you've dealt with a frustrated end user.

Tell me about a time you made a mistake.
- If they never said what they did to correct it, or how they made sure it never happened again, I would ask how they made sure it never happened again.

How would you troubleshoot a website being down, if the company owned the site?
- Here, we weren't looking for magic, although that was a plus, we were looking for how they troubleshoot. Starting/stopping services, rebooting, pinging, etc.

What application do you hate working with?
- Bull**** this one all day. You love fixing Outlook issues! Office is soooo awesome!

If you had three tasks that were impossible to complete, what would you do?
- Eventually, you will escalate. Make that the last thing you say. You want to prioritize based on VIP/Networking/Outages and then move down the list.

If it's the technical questions that get you, I would recommend lab'in up and breaking ****. If you have a decent processor and 8GB of RAM you can build a Windows network, with a Domain Controller/DNS server, DHCP, and file server.

If you ace the technical questions... I would try being chummier, if that makes sense? Sometimes people are awkward, or *******s, I get it. We've not hired shoo ins because they dropped the "I'm not here to make friends" line. Yeah, we're not either, but you have to pretend to like people half the time.


As far as certs, or "moving"? Lol not sure on that. If you want to work with networks and move that route, then CCENT and CCNA makes sense. Otherwise, I would get experience with home labs, decide if you want to specialize in Microsoft, Linux, or "cloud". At my old job, very little value was placed on certs, unless they were RHCE.

If you have money, look on Ebay. You can get servers and SANs for cheap on there. Build a router with pfSense. You don't even need a physical box, just virtualize it with two adapters, one Bridged and one Private.

[ThatGuy950]

location?

[Godfrd824]

Why are you being turned away? Have you followed up to see why you've not been offered a position?

When you say Help Desk, what does that entail? How do you think the interviews went? Do you know the answers to all the questions? If so, it may be a personality fit/customer service issue. I'm not going to ask you if you're arrogant, elitist, or entitled, that is something you are going to have to ask yourself.

When we would interview for Level 1 guys, we would ask questions like:

What's the difference between a ping and a traceroute?

How would you configure a printer to have a static IP address?

What's better, Linux or Windows?

Tell me about a time you've dealt with a frustrated end user.

Tell me about a time you made a mistake.
- If they never said what they did to correct it, or how they made sure it never happened again, I would ask how they made sure it never happened again.

How would you troubleshoot a website being down, if the company owned the site?
- Here, we weren't looking for magic, although that was a plus, we were looking for how they troubleshoot. Starting/stopping services, rebooting, pinging, etc.

What application do you hate working with?
- Bull**** this one all day. You love fixing Outlook issues! Office is soooo awesome!

If you had three tasks that were impossible to complete, what would you do?
- Eventually, you will escalate. Make that the last thing you say. You want to prioritize based on VIP/Networking/Outages and then move down the list.

If it's the technical questions that get you, I would recommend lab'in up and breaking ****. If you have a decent processor and 8GB of RAM you can build a Windows network, with a Domain Controller/DNS server, DHCP, and file server.

If you ace the technical questions... I would try being chummier, if that makes sense? Sometimes people are awkward, or *******s, I get it. We've not hired shoo ins because they dropped the "I'm not here to make friends" line. Yeah, we're not either, but you have to pretend to like people half the time.


As far as certs, or "moving"? Lol not sure on that. If you want to work with networks and move that route, then CCENT and CCNA makes sense. Otherwise, I would get experience with home labs, decide if you want to specialize in Microsoft, Linux, or "cloud". At my old job, very little value was placed on certs, unless they were RHCE.

If you have money, look on Ebay. You can get servers and SANs for cheap on there. Build a router with pfSense. You don't even need a physical box, just virtualize it with two adapters, one Bridged and one Private.

This is good, I've got 2 things to add, if you don't know something, don't try to BS it, tell them you don't know but you will figure it out. Also, when talking, don't get to technical, try and explain things with the least bit of jargon you can, remember, you're applying to help end users, most of which don't know anything, so speaking in technical terms will just frustrate them.

[Jax05]

Look for data center/NOC positions in addition to help desk jobs you're looking for. also practice those situational/behavioral questions...that's what gets a lot of people. and like others said don't lie/bs about some skill(s)

get familiar with linux and microsoft Active Directory

Skip Net+, it's worth less, get the CCENT instead

Skip those certs and get Secuirty +

Move to an area where there are a lot of contracting jobs supporting the Gov, as it’s the first cert required these days.

both of those suggestions are shyte for op looking to get the bare-minimum entry level IT position

yeah CCENT is good if you know you'll just work with cisco stuff as a beginner
and Sec+ will make 0 sense if you don't have some networking knowledge

getting a govt. contractor job with sec+ and no experience? yeah, good luck with that.

[Godfrd824]

Look for data center/NOC positions in addition to help desk jobs you're looking for. also practice those situational/behavioral questions...that's what gets a lot of people. and like others said don't lie/bs about some skill(s)

get familiar with linux and microsoft Active Directory






both of those suggestions are shyte for op looking to get the bare-minimum entry level IT position

yeah CCENT is good if you know you'll just work with cisco stuff as a beginner
and Sec+ will make 0 sense if you don't have some networking knowledge

getting a govt. contractor job with sec+ and no experience? yeah, good luck with that.

I live next to the most data centers in the country. He will not get a job in any data center. CCENT includes everything taught in Net+, plus it includes the Cisco stuff, also. there are a ton of entry level tech 1 government jobs, and they all require Sec+, it's a requirement for anyone handling tech within the government, in any capacity. It seems it's your advice which is shyte.

[Tobiasm3]

I live next to the most data centers in the country. He will not get a job in any data center. CCENT includes everything taught in Net+, plus it includes the Cisco stuff, also. there are a ton of entry level tech 1 government jobs, and they all require Sec+, it's a requirement for anyone handling tech within the government, in any capacity. It seems it's your advice which is shyte.

Don't necessarily have to be security plus but its one of the more well known ones. https://iase.disa.mil/iawip/Pages/iabaseline.aspx
Some contractors will pick you up with out the certs if you got some exp. and a clearance.

So OP if you want some experience and a clearance join the military. Its more then likely gonna suck, but they will train you. Could even do the reserves or the guard that way you aren't completely stuck in the military.

[scythiss1]

Why are you being turned away? Have you followed up to see why you've not been offered a position?

When you say Help Desk, what does that entail? How do you think the interviews went? Do you know the answers to all the questions? If so, it may be a personality fit/customer service issue. I'm not going to ask you if you're arrogant, elitist, or entitled, that is something you are going to have to ask yourself.

When we would interview for Level 1 guys, we would ask questions like:

What's the difference between a ping and a traceroute?

How would you configure a printer to have a static IP address?

What's better, Linux or Windows?

Tell me about a time you've dealt with a frustrated end user.

Tell me about a time you made a mistake.
- If they never said what they did to correct it, or how they made sure it never happened again, I would ask how they made sure it never happened again.

How would you troubleshoot a website being down, if the company owned the site?
- Here, we weren't looking for magic, although that was a plus, we were looking for how they troubleshoot. Starting/stopping services, rebooting, pinging, etc.

What application do you hate working with?
- Bull**** this one all day. You love fixing Outlook issues! Office is soooo awesome!

If you had three tasks that were impossible to complete, what would you do?
- Eventually, you will escalate. Make that the last thing you say. You want to prioritize based on VIP/Networking/Outages and then move down the list.

If it's the technical questions that get you, I would recommend lab'in up and breaking ****. If you have a decent processor and 8GB of RAM you can build a Windows network, with a Domain Controller/DNS server, DHCP, and file server.

If you ace the technical questions... I would try being chummier, if that makes sense? Sometimes people are awkward, or *******s, I get it. We've not hired shoo ins because they dropped the "I'm not here to make friends" line. Yeah, we're not either, but you have to pretend to like people half the time.


As far as certs, or "moving"? Lol not sure on that. If you want to work with networks and move that route, then CCENT and CCNA makes sense. Otherwise, I would get experience with home labs, decide if you want to specialize in Microsoft, Linux, or "cloud". At my old job, very little value was placed on certs, unless they were RHCE.

If you have money, look on Ebay. You can get servers and SANs for cheap on there. Build a router with pfSense. You don't even need a physical box, just virtualize it with two adapters, one Bridged and one Private.

1. I am turned away because of lack of experience, when I call them up, that is what they say. However there was one job that I was going to get but they found out my cousin works for a competitor and they also having been trying to pull my cousin for years. My cousin even showed me the texts stating that's what it was.

2. When I say Help desk, I mean help desk in a business environment. Currently you could say I have a help desk position that is helping customers at a consumer level that pays 11.50 a hour. I have almost held it for 2 years now, I don't think it counts as experience to work in a enterprise environment however. The basics are cleaning up computers, wiping viruses, showing people how to use certain things, back ups, reformatting when it comes down to it. Very, very simple stuff things, nothing to do with networking, no using command line, terminal or anything like that.

I get stumped on some questions networking questions that I usually get asked but I am completely honest and say I'm not sure on the answer but it is something I will learn. The interviews usually go pretty well for the most part, the only thing that hinders me is bombing the networking questions, other than that it seems like the people enjoy my personality they could be faking it however. Sometimes I wonder if my personality is too much, every interview I get it's a lot of laughs shared, which probably should not happen in an interview, and it needs to be more professional and serious. Other than that My customer service skills are excellent, I'm not arrogant, elitist or entitled, I'm very easy going, and easy to get a long with. My current job customers absolutely love me, unless you just get one of those bad ones having a bad day of course. I'll def add the questions you put there into my list of questions to be prepared to answer for whenever I get my next interview.

location?

Central California, about 2 hours north of LA. I apply to at least 10 - 20 jobs a week, so there are jobs out there for me.

[wings_unhinged]

Drop CompTIA and go for Cisco or MS. Develop home projects where you can learn things outside of books and videos.

[InstantLoser]

Threads like this make me glad I volunteered at the IT Help Desk while in college...

[C Project]

1. I am turned away because of lack of experience, when I call them up, that is what they say. However there was one job that I was going to get but they found out my cousin works for a competitor and they also having been trying to pull my cousin for years. My cousin even showed me the texts stating that's what it was.

2. When I say Help desk, I mean help desk in a business environment. Currently you could say I have a help desk position that is helping customers at a consumer level that pays 11.50 a hour. I have almost held it for 2 years now, I don't think it counts as experience to work in a enterprise environment however. The basics are cleaning up computers, wiping viruses, showing people how to use certain things, back ups, reformatting when it comes down to it. Very, very simple stuff things, nothing to do with networking, no using command line, terminal or anything like that.

I get stumped on some questions networking questions that I usually get asked but I am completely honest and say I'm not sure on the answer but it is something I will learn. The interviews usually go pretty well for the most part, the only thing that hinders me is bombing the networking questions, other than that it seems like the people enjoy my personality they could be faking it however. Sometimes I wonder if my personality is too much, every interview I get it's a lot of laughs shared, which probably should not happen in an interview, and it needs to be more professional and serious. Other than that My customer service skills are excellent, I'm not arrogant, elitist or entitled, I'm very easy going, and easy to get a long with. My current job customers absolutely love me, unless you just get one of those bad ones having a bad day of course. I'll def add the questions you put there into my list of questions to be prepared to answer for whenever I get my next interview.

What kind of network questions? Do they ask you about outages and what not, or do they ask you about the Transport layer and three way handshake?

There are various sources out there for gaining that sort of knowledge... If you register for the MS Dev thing, you get 3 months of PluralSight for free.

https://my.visualstudio.com/

Sign up with that link and look at all the benefits, PluralSight is on there.

They have a ton of networking, troubleshooting, systems administration, devops, and web dev courses on there.

Do you have a LinkedIn? I did 16 "Easy Apply" applications in about 3 weeks, that's basically clicking on the job, clicking "Easy Apply", and using my resume to upload. Takes maybe 5 seconds.

Over a period of a month I got maybe 10 call backs and 3 interviews. Some of the call backs and interviews were a joke, it happens with any industry. I still get messaged once in a while when I add a cert or change up my "primary skills". I would highly recommend getting a LinkedIn. You can filter your search by Entry Level as well.

A bunch of guys in the IT thread got their jobs through LinkedIn as well.

Hang in there man. It sounds like you're in a competitive area. Take a breath, realign yourself, and get back after it.

[metallicide]

Look into manufacturing... I got a good break and huge recommendation from my teacher and landed a job before graduation as a It/Systems tech and Assist Network Admin.. with just an associates. I would agree with what someone said about getting CCENT or CCNA over Network+ for sure. CCNA and a couple other certs and you will get in at an entry level network position.

[Godfrd824]

1. I am turned away because of lack of experience, when I call them up, that is what they say. However there was one job that I was going to get but they found out my cousin works for a competitor and they also having been trying to pull my cousin for years. My cousin even showed me the texts stating that's what it was.

2. When I say Help desk, I mean help desk in a business environment. Currently you could say I have a help desk position that is helping customers at a consumer level that pays 11.50 a hour. I have almost held it for 2 years now, I don't think it counts as experience to work in a enterprise environment however. The basics are cleaning up computers, wiping viruses, showing people how to use certain things, back ups, reformatting when it comes down to it. Very, very simple stuff things, nothing to do with networking, no using command line, terminal or anything like that.

I get stumped on some questions networking questions that I usually get asked but I am completely honest and say I'm not sure on the answer but it is something I will learn. The interviews usually go pretty well for the most part, the only thing that hinders me is bombing the networking questions, other than that it seems like the people enjoy my personality they could be faking it however. Sometimes I wonder if my personality is too much, every interview I get it's a lot of laughs shared, which probably should not happen in an interview, and it needs to be more professional and serious. Other than that My customer service skills are excellent, I'm not arrogant, elitist or entitled, I'm very easy going, and easy to get a long with. My current job customers absolutely love me, unless you just get one of those bad ones having a bad day of course. I'll def add the questions you put there into my list of questions to be prepared to answer for whenever I get my next interview.






Central California, about 2 hours north of LA. I apply to at least 10 - 20 jobs a week, so there are jobs out there for me.

That's your issue there, your resume is not where it needs to be, my first IT job was literally just guiding old people on how to program TV remotes, and resetting cable boxes and modems. I tailored my resume, studied for tech questions in interviews and was able to land a junior admin position, worked my ass off learning everything I could, never saying no to any project, and either saying I know how to do that, or I don't know but I will figure it out. Need a VPN from the data center to our office on the other side of the state, IDK how to do that, but I will figure it out, and I did, things like that.

So there you have it, in 2.5 years I went from $12 an hour to $70k+.

[Jax05]

I live next to the most data centers in the country. He will not get a job in any data center. CCENT includes everything taught in Net+, plus it includes the Cisco stuff, also. there are a ton of entry level tech 1 government jobs, and they all require Sec+, it's a requirement for anyone handling tech within the government, in any capacity. It seems it's your advice which is shyte.

Doesn't matter where you live. CCENT would be a good start if he was going to get a job at a place that only has Cisco stuff. Net+ is more broad and better entry-level than CCENT. Going Net+ then CCENT and CCNA would be the best choice once he lands an entry level position.

Sec+ is a requirement for security clearance in order to work for govt. contractors, but it won't get you through the door if you have no experience. Not sure why you decided to correct me there.

[Godfrd824]

Doesn't matter where you live. CCENT would be a good start if he was going to get a job at a place that only has Cisco stuff. Net+ is more broad and better entry-level than CCENT. Going Net+ then CCENT and CCNA would be the best choice once he lands an entry level position.

Sec+ is a requirement for security clearance in order to work for govt. contractors, but it won't get you through the door if you have no experience. Not sure why you decided to correct me there.

One more time, CCENT includes everything that you can learn in Net+ and more, so why would you do Net+? If you went to the supermarket to buy a bag of 4 apples, but I told you, this other bag has 4 apples and 3 oranges too, for the same price, why wouldn't you get the second bag?

There are a ton of government positions in IT that don't require much if any experience, they're usually shytty, and they're usually 3-6 month contracts, but they're out there, all you need is Sec+ and a clean record for them.

[latverian41]

One more time, CCENT includes everything that you can learn in Net+ and more, so why would you do Net+? If you went to the supermarket to buy a bag of 4 apples, but I told you, this other bag has 4 apples and 3 oranges too, for the same price, why wouldn't you get the second bag?

There are a ton of government positions in IT that don't require much if any experience, they're usually shytty, and they're usually 3-6 month contracts, but they're out there, all you need is Sec+ and a clean record for them.

OP you just have to keep trying.when I first got into IT I went through the same thing and this was before I got any certs.

Finally got lucky and someone gave me a chance.

Try not to get discouraged and keep trying let them know you will be getting more certs and want the real time experience to back them upon that you will bring a lot to the table in terms of dependability and being a team player.

[TimSobk]

get your cv and motivational letters checked by people who landed a job, make an online port folio about programming projects, work for free for mozilla foundation or wikipedia, visit courses or do a nanodegree, do anything you possibly do and after that you can cry again

[notJamal]

Learn solidity and join a crypto project.

[elterrible987]

One more time, CCENT includes everything that you can learn in Net+ and more, so why would you do Net+? If you went to the supermarket to buy a bag of 4 apples, but I told you, this other bag has 4 apples and 3 oranges too, for the same price, why wouldn't you get the second bag?

There are a ton of government positions in IT that don't require much if any experience, they're usually shytty, and they're usually 3-6 month contracts, but they're out there, all you need is Sec+ and a clean record for them.

lmao dont listen to this goober OP, he doesnt know what he is talking about

[Godfrd824]

lmao dont listen to this goober OP, he doesnt know what he is talking about

Are you so sure you're willing to take a ban over it? I can post proof, you can get banned, it's easy.

[metallicide]

lmao dont listen to this goober OP, he doesnt know what he is talking about

As someone who works a lot with Cisco I think he's right.. CCENT and CCNA is way better than net+.. If they want net+ they will accept CCENT.. if they want CCENT they won't accept net+...etc...

[Couthos]

Why not go for a real job like software engineer.

[latverian41]

Skip Net+, it's worth less, get the CCENT instead. I bet the issue is you're looking for jobs above your experience level. In IT experience is king, and if you have non, you aren't worth anything. look for the bottom of the bottom, jobs that are IT just in name, that experience is what will get you in the door at a real IT job. We've all had to deal with this, it's part of the game.

Volunteering will be tough, they take you in, you destroy their network, then they have to pay me $3k to come in on a Saturday and fix it. It doesn't matter how much you know, you need to have experience, formal experience or no one will give you the time of day.

The net+ as you said will teach ykou the same thing AS the ccnet but tjre net+ can be used as an elective any your MCSE TRACK . depends what you are going after

[theCallout]

Been looking for an IT job since september, had a few interviews but never got the job. Currently have my A+, and studying for my network+, other than that no experience. Trying to find places to volunteer as well, like schools, churches, charities and I keep getting turned away. Hold me brahs, Feel like I'm going to give up soon.

Do you live in the US? If so what city?

[waytoodeep03]

Location matters

There are ton of jobs in Dallas

Whereas there are no jobs in asswipe Kentucky or similar


Whatever you do don't waste your time with recruiters. They are the bane of society. Worst than telemarketers, real estate agents, used car salesmen and the repo man