Careers in PC awesomeness?

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aionwannabe

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#75270 15-Jan-2011 14:53

so when i leave school which is really only a year away (or less depending on my NCEA results in conjunction with my school subjects) i need to know what im working towards right now i love making and fixing pcs, what qualifications do the people in places say like Playtech or Computer Lounge have?

My other idea was Ames IT academy which i saw at a careers expo and seemed to be something up my ally also, their descriptions of their jobs are the classic IT guy in an office environment, is this right? If any ones been through them here what jobs do you end up applying for?

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#427711 16-Jan-2011 18:02

aionwannabe:

so when i leave school which is really only a year away (or less depending on my NCEA results in conjunction with my school subjects) i need to know what im working towards right now i love making and fixing pcs, what qualifications do the people in places say like Playtech or Computer Lounge have?

You don't need any specific qualifications to put together PC's.

CL have some job openings posted on their forums but they are looking for people with a bit of experience (which you would probably have to get elsewhere first eg: DSE, Harvey Norman etc):

http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/forum/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=2962
http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/forum/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=2960
http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/forum/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=2963

Personally the pay rate for that type or work isn't great imo and there isn't really a career path in it, other than starting out on your own with your own store (there is already a ton of competition in the space imo).

aionwannabe:

My other idea was Ames IT academy which i saw at a careers expo and seemed to be something up my ally also, their descriptions of their jobs are the classic IT guy in an office environment, is this right? If any ones been through them here what jobs do you end up applying for?

I suggest you go to www.seek.co.nz and change the classification to "Information & Communication Technology" then take a look at the sub classification in the drop down below it...

There are many many many types different types of roles in IT.

aionwannabe

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#427795 16-Jan-2011 22:33

will do some seeking that was next on my list just wondering if there was any one here as that's just so much easier :P

rvangelder

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#427808 16-Jan-2011 22:51

If you enjoy putting computers together then you might also enjoy installing servers into racks. A systems engineer role perhaps?

Geese

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#427876 17-Jan-2011 09:56

I have numerous tertiary computer qualifications, and have not been able to find a job in that area. There does not seem to be many come up. Thats probably due to living in a small hick town. On the rare occasion one does come up, I get turned down without interview as they want experienced people. I suppose if I lived in a larger city, there would be many entry level positions, but here you'd be the only one, and expected to walk into the job and own it straight away.

Dick Smith and Harvey Norman computing have had jobs in last 4 months here, I applied for both, and rudely neither even gave me a "shot down" letter.

A friend of mine has even higher computing qualifications than me, and he has been out of work since 2008. Wasted talent really as he has some amazing skills I have not seen anyone else capable of, or able to persevere with.

Lias

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#427963 17-Jan-2011 12:15

As someone who has previously managed a "local computer store" workshop, hiring techs without work experience is a VERY rare thing.

Far too many people these days pass Comptia & Microsoft certs by rote learning without actually understanding the skills, or being any good at IT, and hiring panels know it. The 90 day trial law will help alleviate this somewhat once the recession is fully over, but right now unemployment levels are high enough they can pick older more experienced workers.

If you want to increase your chances, get some experience on your CV by volunteering at a community group or something like that. You could also try offering to work for free for for 2 weeks to prove you have the skills etc.

FWIW thou working in a local techbay is pretty much a dead end career. It can be a good starting point to get experience to leap into field service contracting with someone like geni/axon/datacom etc thou.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup. Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

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#428012 17-Jan-2011 13:43

I have to make the executive decision by tomorrow afternoon, whether I return to study for another year, studying tertiary qualification #14, or keep plodding along on the dole. I have applied for 5 actual advertised vacancies per week, which involves writing a customised covering letter, etc, and so far had zero interviews in last 5 months. It seems I might be better doing another course to waste away another year of my life while I wait for the NZ economic situation to improve, and thus, stand a chance of getting a job.

Until the age of 24 I didn't even have a CV, I could just walk into any job I applied for, then between 24 and 30 it got harder, but I still had little problem relative to now, but jeez, the last 2 years, especially the last 6 months, its been impossible.

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#428035 17-Jan-2011 14:12

IlDuce: I have to make the executive decision by tomorrow afternoon, whether I return to study for another year, studying tertiary qualification #14, or keep plodding along on the dole.

If studying/dole is acceptable, then you probably have no ties... so move to where there are more jobs.

Naturally I guess AU is at the top of that list, once the water drains away there might be a few network/server type jobs around, water and wires don't mix well so they will all need replacing.

Edit to add: South America looks nice, developing nations, not all of it is drug cartels and involuntary headectomys.

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I sell lots of stuff for electronic enthusiasts...

aionwannabe

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#428072 17-Jan-2011 15:38

IlDuce:
Dick Smith and Harvey Norman computing have had jobs in last 4 months here, I applied for both, and rudely neither even gave me a "shot down" letter.

dude I know what its like i cant get a job filling shelves or flipping burgers and I have a nothing to do all day. Going to try get some work experience this year through school (which might be my only reason for going back to school) unfortunately fixing mates computers isnt a reference :S

Still ill do a CV door to door and try get anything with electronics in its name and keep trying.

thanks for the heads up on the local pc store guys too

Jaxson

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#428075 17-Jan-2011 15:45

aionwannabe: Going to try get some work experience this year through school (which might be my only reason for going back to school)

You'll find High School Maths and English qualifications can go a long way to promoting you above the competition regardless of the position.

j0e90

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#428080 17-Jan-2011 16:03

IMHO Ames and other pseudo academic academies are just not worth it. I have interviewed many people for L1/2 roles, and people fresh out of of AMES could not even tell me hown many hosts in a class C subnet Or had a clue what a subnet was. Or explain in plain terms what Active Directory actually is.

Best bet is to go toa recognised technical institue - AUT , Unitec in Auckland and do a proper NZQA Level 5/6 course.

Bottom line there are no shortcuts to getting a proper Sys engineering job. And it is a dying workspace, hardware and o/s infrastrucure is becoming commoditised.
But go to tech, and try to get a part time gig at the DSE / break fix type places if you can.

Places like paytech etc I am pretty sure are owner operated.

Repairing PCs is not a career path, In 5 years time a broken PC will be as valuabel as a toaseter.

xpd

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#428088 17-Jan-2011 16:26

aionwannabe:

dude I know what its like i cant get a job filling shelves or flipping burgers and I have a nothing to do all day. Going to try get some work experience this year through school (which might be my only reason for going back to school) unfortunately fixing mates computers isnt a reference :S

Still ill do a CV door to door and try get anything with electronics in its name and keep trying.

thanks for the heads up on the local pc store guys too

When I was after fulltime work a few years ago (after working for myself), I just mail bombed every computer/tech store in the area - had a couple bite straight away but they didnt need me fulltime, just casual/part time (which wasnt any use to me with a mortgage and kid). Approx 6 months after starting where I am now, I got a email from one of the stores I had emailed asking me to pop in for a chat.... so approx 8 months later I was still getting places asking to talk to me, obviously told them I had employment so too late.

Which area are you in ?

XPD / Gavin

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xpd

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#428091 17-Jan-2011 16:29

j0e90: IMHO Ames and other pseudo academic academies are just not worth it. I have interviewed many people for L1/2 roles, and people fresh out of of AMES could not even tell me hown many hosts in a class C subnet Or had a clue what a subnet was. Or explain in plain terms what Active Directory actually is.

Agreed........ when I did A+ at AMES, they had a employment agent come in to talk to us about jobs we could get after passing our exams etc... he was really excited that we could get into the IHUG helpdesk!

Pity I was at AMES getting my A+ so I could get out of IHUG.

XPD / Gavin

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#428110 17-Jan-2011 17:21

Jaxson:
aionwannabe: Going to try get some work experience this year through school (which might be my only reason for going back to school)

You'll find High School Maths and English qualifications can go a long way to promoting you above the competition regardless of the position.

Couldn't agree more. I could list a pile of reasons, but as an employer I pretty much always bin the lower 2/3 to 3/4 of applicants for entry level positions based on school grades. Can't be interested in school pretty much equates to won't be interested in work, given that most of what people do at work isn't what they want to be doing.

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#428135 17-Jan-2011 18:37

Being able to speak and write properly would take you well above a lot of people out there looking for work.

Sort your facebook etc out too since I know a few people who have checked out people that looked good on their CV and saw things that made them get a not bloody likly rating.

Richard rich.ms

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#428206 17-Jan-2011 20:48

I don't want to sound like a party pooper but the question is whether this is an interest that you can carry through to a job or something that you can do casually on the side as you hold down a full job in some other area.

I know for me I got out of polytechnic (Canberra Institute of Technology) all bright eyed and bushy tailed thing I'd take on the world and get a job. The reality suddenly hit, however, that a qualification needn't necessarily point to a job and in many cases what I needed was more specialised training and experience to really make my CV stand out where as all I had was a generic diploma that said I was a 'jack of all trades, master of none'. At that point I had to ask myself whether my interest in IT was something I could turn into a job or something that I would end up being the 'IT guy of the family' where I'd pick up odd jobs but work a full time job in some other area.

I've since gone to university and graduated specialising in an area unrelated to IT - what I found was that although I was interested in IT, it was only part of a larger field of interest rather than being the field of interest. So maybe the question you have to ask yourself is where you see yourself in a few years time - that as more of the low end jobs are pushed overseas and hardware becomes cheaper are you able to keep up with the skill requirements - could you see yourself doing some programming too? That is the question I asked myself - sure, I could get a tech support job in IT but eventually that'll be pushed overseas, then I move one step up - do I have the ability and would I want to do it for the long term.

Lots of questions that I think the original poster needs to ask before going down the road of IT and picking which area he wishes to specialise in.

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

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