Many newcomers to Information Technology get an overly-optimistic picture of the field from tech school ads that continually make note that “an average MCSE salary is $80.000 a year!”.
And if someone’s thinking of getting into IT and goes on the internet to do some research, they’re met with the opposite end of the spectrum – complaint after complaint about how much IT is a terrible field, you can’t break in, there’s no room for newcomers, etc.
As usual, the truth lies in the middle. As much as I love the IT field, I’ll be the first to say that it’s often hard to get that first job. Many tech schools have a job placement department, and that can be one big plus in their favor.
What if you don’t have that resource working for you? When you’re breaking into any field, IT or not, you must not make the classic mistake of sending a ton of resumes and waiting for the phone to ring. The odds are that it won’t.
You must get out and talk to people. The term “networking” doesn’t just refer to allowing computers to talk to each other; it also refers to people...