In Ireland, unemployment is over 12%. It’s approaching 10% in the USA. It’s estimated that the real rate (not the propaganda rate) in China is around 24%. It’s global and it is indiscriminate. In Ireland, half of those unemployed were probably in the construction industry. A sizable percentage are office/skilled workers. IT is being hit hard. I checked the jobs pages out of curiosity for Windows admins. Monster and a few of the Irish sites only had around 10-15 recent job adverts. Over half of those were for the same job (that internet gaming company on the southern part of the M50 I talked about before). I saw one looking for a senior administrator for €35,000/year – just over half what it should be. I’m starting to hear from friends and ex colleagues who are losing their jobs. There were two last week.
I know unemployment. I was recruited out of college by a hardware/software/consulting company back in 96. I stayed with them for 4 years. I thought I was doing great. Promoted every year, pay rises every year, etc. I got bored and changed to another company that was a consulting firm – when I joined them. A month after that they decided to become a “dot bomb” and ignored consulting sales for a year. I spent a year surfing the net. Then the inevitable happened. They started laying people off and my team was second to be hit. I got a nice payoff and went to the USA for a road trip. This was the end of 2001. The IT business was in its own little recession and there was zero work. What little there was required skills and certifications.
During those last 5 years I hadn’t really developed the way I should have. I knew products from my first employer. I’d picked up things a long the way but there was no directed effort, no focus. I had no certifications. It was only towards the end of my time with the dot bomb that I’d gotten my first MCP with a plan to become and MCSE. I was now seeing the few job adverts that there were and they all wanted certs. Ask a veteran IT pro is a cert worth anything… is it? Only a little.
- It isn’t everything because it’s book knowledge, not real world knowledge. Often the materials and questions are out of date, e.g. WSUS 2.0 questions in Windows 2003 exams. I’ve seen performance related questions where the right answer was the wrong answer. But I knew to give the answer the pre-programmed test wanted from the out of date book.
- HR people know nothing about what we do. They just want certs because they assume it means you’re an expert.
- There is definitely theoretical knowledge to be gained that helps you with best practice implementations and troubleshooting.
I had my single MCP and wasn’t even getting rejection letters for my applications. When you register for the dole here in Ireland you have to also register with Fás, a state training organisation. They told me thy could do nothing for me. I hit Amazon and ordered my next MCP exam book. I did it two ways: MS Press official books and Exam Cram books. The latter was sometimes better than the former for content. I found their W2K AD design book was concise and superb. Every 2-4 weeks I did an exam. I had all the time in the world. I’d VMware Workstation on my 2 PC’s and worked out every lab. I studied from when I woke up until I went to bed. For 6 months I did that and in the end I got my W2K MCSE. It became an almost OCD thing … I felt guilty on Christmas day for not studying. I found myself refreshing notes at 2 or 3 in the morning.
Finally in Feb 2002 I started to get some traction on my job applications with my recent MCSE. I did some interviews and got a job – which I came to hate. That didn’t work out and one Friday I got the bad news. My first reaction to being on the dole again was to go to a book store. I’d been working with XP, Citrix MetaFrame and ISA. I bought the best books and started studying again. I added those 3 exams to my CV over the next couple of months.
After that I got my big break in 2003 after 3 months signing on. I did a 6 month contract where I proved myself and then landed a job designing, deploying and managing a Windows 2003 network for an international bank. I was able to use everything I’d learned during my unemployment. From that job I learned loads more about the larger IT Pro picture. I got great experiences. I went from asking questions all of the time to answering a lot of them. It’s because of the hard work I put in while I was unemployed that I am where I am now.
It’s pretty crap that people are finding themselves out of work. I’ve been there and I remember the emotions of it. I know we’re all at risk of being there, especially here in Ireland where or economy was mismanaged before the collapse and has made it worse. My advice is simple. If I found myself unemployed tomorrow, I’d hit Amazon.com and order in books on the latest exams. In the morning I’d be running (I actually was running 5K a day a year and a half ago before I got too busy for it). Exercise is supposed to stimulate the brain and aid memory. Then I’d come home, shower, make a coffee and hit the books with virtualised labs with a TechNet subscription. In Ireland, there might even be a way to get Fás to pay for some of this. It’s worth asking. I’d use the free TechNet labs on Microsoft’s site. I’d sit every exam I could and progress up the cert ladder. You’d learn a lot. You’d make your CV more likely to get past the HR people. Importantly you wouldn’t be sitting in the house, getting depressed. But most important, you’d look self motivated – show in your CV that’s what you’ve been doing. It will impress – I promise.
If you are in that boat then I wish you the best of luck. I’ve been there and I’ve felt like s**t. But you can get out of it.
If you have anything to add, please post a comment.