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...Home ... Editorial ... Columns ..Column Story Saturday: April 5, 2014


 Certification Advisor  
Greg Neilson
Greg Neilson


 This Is Really Starting To Hurt
Go ahead and get angry at the way the IT job market is today -- but don't let that stand in the way of your future.
by Greg Neilson  
4/7/2003 -- Last month, fellow CertCities.com columnist Kevin Kohut covered the issue of braindumps, Robert Keppel and restoring the value of certifications such as the MCSE. I agreed with some of the things he said, but what really struck me was the negative and aggressive tone of many of the comments posted by many of you at the end of that article.

Don't get me wrong: After many years of hearing how a career in IT was a great future, the tables have really turned on us. And it's really starting to hurt. We used to get the big bucks to play with cool technology. It's not much fun now: Many have been thrown out of work, and those left behind are keeping a watchful eye over their shoulder. With little investment in new projects, we're mostly left working on the same old stuff. With employment demand dramatically decreasing along with salaries, things now are not as rosy as we had all been led to expect. At the same time, work is increasingly anticipated to go offshore to low-cost countries, which even further reduces the size of the local job market. There is certainly a shakeout going on right now, and many that had been in the industry before will now likely need to find other career options.

I'm not sure that Kevin was totally serious when he suggested some people hand back their MCSEs, but judging by the feedback he received, that statement sure hit a nerve. My personal view of the worth of MCSE is that it is steadily increasing after being so debased by having so many NT 4.0 MCSEs with little experience with the product. But I don't think it will ever reach the same heights it had in the mid-90s, and the same is certainly true for the CNE as well (although I continue to value holding both for myself). But as I've said before, the value of any certification isn't just about the certificate on the wall, it's all the good stuff we've had to put in our heads to get it in the first place.

I don't think that any of the contributors on this site are reveling in the current situation. It sure doesn't bring me any joy. I'm just as confounded as anyone else and am trying very hard to stay both employed and employable. However, I can understand why some feel infuriated now at how bad things has become in a relatively short space of time. So by all means, call people names and lament how our future is nowhere as bright as we originally hoped it would be. But don't let that anger consume you since it won't actually solve much.

Much of the marketing about certification products (courses, books, etc.) in the past has been to people intending to use it as a shortcut to enter an IT career from other fields. "Use [insert name here] for an exciting $70,000 job in IT," we were told. Today, as even new college graduates are finding it hard to get hired, those with only a certification and no experience are finding it extremely difficult. So no wonder these folks feel cheated and want to scream out loud. Has it really been a couple of years since industry groups were lamenting the skills shortage in IT and the negative effect that this would have on economic growth?

Over time, I do expect things to improve, but until then we've got to do our best to perform each and every day, delivering real business value. Keep our increasing our skill levels and keep up to date. The IT bus is moving on to new destinations. It's our choice: We can either get on it or watch it run us over.

How are you dealing with the stress of today's IT job market? Post your thoughts below!


Greg Neilson, MCSE+Internet, MCNE, PCLP, is a Contributing Editor for Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine and a manager at a large IT services firm in Australia. He's the author of Lotus Domino Administration in a Nutshell (O'Reilly and Associates, ISBN 1-56592-717-6). You can reach him at Attn: Greg.

 


More articles by Greg Neilson:

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There are 34 CertCities.com user Comments for “This Is Really Starting To Hurt”
Page 1 of 4
4/9/03: Robert from KS says: Mr. Neilson, at least you are honest about the way things are right now for a LOT of people out there. I think the thing with Mr. Kohut's article that really rubbed people the wrong way was that it was simultaneously arrogant, wrongheaded, and discouraging for college graduates and other people who got sucked into all this melarkey about what a great field IT is to get into. When you have to compete with hundreds of extremely capable and qualified people just to get a low-paying help desk or tech support position after putting years of effort into training and being involved with technology, it is pretty debilitating and depressing. Personally, I just graduated with my third college degree (major: Information Technology) and hold 6 major certs and have logged countless hours into doing labs, studies and simulated environments with an area technical trainer, and have done lots of work helping others with their computer and networking problems for free. Is this good enough to even "get a foot in the door" nowadays? Evidently not. And no one who is trying for their MCSE or whatever else nowadays really believes that they're going to make even remotely close to what these silly radio ads are saying "earn $60,000 a year with your MCP" or whatever -- trust me, anyone who is into working on these certs and/or college nowadays really loves this stuff or they wouldn't be doing it. I can't afford to wait a year to get another job like some laid off folks who actually got severance packages from their prior technology jobs or who were able to save some money before the economy tanked, so am going to have to get a secretary or admin. assistant job and go to grad school. Why grad school? Because, at least in a lot of government jobs, it can help boost you to a salary that can support you, a salary that is high enough to pay off astronomical student debt hopefully. I know I was probably duped into believing that there was some kind of chance of getting employment in this field along with thousands of others, but regardless of all that, I'm glad I have had the opportunity to at least learn all these things about computer science and related fields because it's definitely good stuff, and let's face it... a lot more fun than "the real world" as it is now. Thanks for reading.
4/9/03: Felix (MCSA, MOS in Word, Excel and Access says: I am the person who informed Mr Koepel he was full of it in his article. I've worked very hard just like my friend Robert before me to have a person like Mr Koepel tell me that my certs aint worth Jack. Its people like him who do not see the hard work we put in to get those certs. Does he think I liked staying up to 4:am studying, then waking up at 6:30am. All this while holding a full time Job and going to school on the weekend. A career in IT I agree is difficult as hell but if you really love the work then you can deal with it. Also when you are a so called Newbie in the field you have to start off at the bottom. I wouldnt care if I had to clean computer screens as long as I was a member of the IT dept. Once you have the opportunity to get in after a few months and a few key friends while working at a company you can break down the door with your knowledge and expertise.
4/9/03: Frank from Indianapolis says: There are so many people looking for work in IT that even screen wipers are required to have an MCSE. We all need to realize that 2003 is not like 1993. I do think things will improve a little once the people who can't even copy data properly go back to waiting on tables and the economy improves. But most IT jobs will never come back, and those that do will have so many candidate requirements that they will be almost impossible to fill. After four months I got a temp job that pays me half of what I used to get per hour. Back to school I guess...
4/10/03: Anonymous says: Talking about having IT certified, I just got MCSE like a month ago and whether i like it or not, win2k3 is coming out later this month. And with all the training for certs and college education (comp engr), i feel that getting a IT job these days is ridiculously hard. I agree that today's IT jobs require the candidate to have so many skills not just know something about it but actually proficient in it. Oh well i hate to admit this but i am sick of doing temp jobs here and there with practically no real IT stuff that I can apply (like from MCSE or college) or simply nothing useless to learn from that experience. Oh also i do somehow agree with the fact the braindumps are reducing the value of certs. I think i know why this is - cos those courseware don't tell you everything in order to pass those cert exams. and i am planning to become a mct and hope to change the teaching style but before that i do need some cushion like getting mcdba or mcsd
4/10/03: Anonymous says: Well, first off, did Mr. Neilsen get a pre-release look at how MS is giving people in India discounts on certification tests? HELLO?!?!?! DOES ANYONE GET IT? There are two factors here. 1. WHo cares what Kohut said. It is half-true. The MCSE has been made worthless thanks to all those MCT's out there scooping up idiots with commercials about the huge promise to make a bundle, even AFTER the dot.bomb fiasco. 2. For those who are feeling it or who do not like Kohut's "tone"... Stop crying. Half the world said we'd get killed in Iraq too while killing a million of their people. There are always two, if not three sides to every story. If you want to have a valuable MCSE, then have the experience. If you want to be more valuable, don't lean on an MCSE alone. Get certified in some specific discipline like development or Active Directory or Cisco. The only thing we can do is MORE. Or we can just sit around and wait while crying about what one guy writes on a cert site.
4/10/03: Anonymous says: To the last poster, why do you say that the people that the MCTs "scooped up" are idiots? If people passed all the MCSE tests legitimately, then it is probably not likely that those people are idiots. Here is the problem: there are more intelligent people capable of filling industry jobs out there than there are positions now, by far. I'm not naive enough to simply dismiss these people as idiots, or to call people who make valid contradictory points to columnists crybabies. And what does the Iraq war or the fact that people in India getting discount vouchers have to do with the arguments in this topic string? Weird......
4/10/03: Phil says: Mr. Neilson, I understand your article. It is quite aggrevating to see how soo many people with certs were led to believe they'd be making a nice salary and have been left with nothing. I have a friend that "was" working as a Help desk technicna in the Philadelphia area for a small firm, layed off shortly after 911. He continued to study for his MCSE , APlus and NetPlus certification. His problem is the same in the sense as soo many others. He has told me he went to school because he believed that computers were the way to go. I think they are, but for someone to pay 12-15k to take MCSE classes and be left with no job and with little or no experience is a shame. The trick here is agression and doing more. I know someone else that is just MCSE and APlus and is a junior level network admin. He thought it was a waste of time and effort to learn another operating system such as netware. Well that kind of mentality today is like getting caught with your pants down in front of your companys CEO! MCSE is the first step, everyone has one now, can everyone do the tasks involved to get the MCSE? only they know. Study more, get more certs and be ready for when the market does open up. Dont worry about what you have no control over. This economy can NOT stay like this forever and companies NEED to upgrade or invest at some point. Get a 4 year college degree, get experience in ANY WAY possible and keep getting certs. That is the only way to survive. If you stop now, might as well bow out of the game all together.
4/10/03: Anonymous says: Microsoft is releasing a new MCSE, 2003 very soon. So do we want to complain and say we can't keep up or attack it? Sure there are financial limitations as there usually are when you are dealing with something like the MCSE certification. It is not cheap. But this is an opportunity to go get it! Even though the differences are quite minor except for security enhancements , companies will look for and require that that individual that they hire knows the latest Microsoft technology or Novell technology. Would anyone hire a junior network admin with just NT experience and no 2k, possibly but unlikely.
4/12/03: Anonymous from Denver says: I switched from the heathcare industry to tech by getting 1 MCP in NT. I got hired by a telecom company working on VoIP and soft switches(the so called next big thing in telecom) which had nothing to do with IT. After lasting 4 rounds of layoffs , I, like many many people were laid off. I do not have a lot of professional IT experience( I do consult on the side)but I have a lot of experience on very specific "Next gen" technology. I have seen tons of people with 4 year and 2 year degrees take 10 buck an hr jobs following over 1 year of unemployment and many going bankrupt. I want to study more IT certs, but why bother? The fastet growing group in Denver applying for unemployment is the ex-tech sector. I know folks in IT and telecom, with over 4 years hands on experience and degrees that are now waiting for the fry guy to die so they can move up. If they cant come back I bet I cant either. I cant see wasting what little cash I have left getting certs that do nothing. Better save that cash to move into a cheaper apartment and start all over from scratch again, just like tons of other folks now. I have been lucky enought to have 3 interviews in 7 months and was able to land a temp contract job....which will end soon. I have a buddy that sent 800 resumes and got 1 interview out of it. The tech industry will not come back to where it was. It was artificially inflated. Thats why most people are working at walmart now. Save your cash. Sevrence goes by fast and unempoyment pays a small fraction of what you made. The more cash you waste now, the fsater you will have to sell your home.
4/15/03: Anonymous says: I agree with the last poster. Come to think of it, certs are about as big a waste of money as you can get right now unless your employer helps pay for it. The almost $1000.00 it costs to pass the MCSE is better spent on back-up funds for living expenses, unless you're one of the lucky few out there with either a) a job, or b) savings.
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