Hey everyone,
I have a story I'd like to share with the aim of getting some career/certification advice. I'd appreciate as much input as any one is willing to give.
I got my CIS degree in 1995 from a State University Business school. I worked as a COBOL programmer for 3 years (1 company), then as a Systems Analyst for 4 years (2 companies) where my programming was minimal, I was watching over vendor applications, writing reports, sometimes an interface or two, etc.
Then I did something that might not make sense to everyone, but its here nor there. At this point in my career, 2001, I was making 70K. I went to Seminary for 3 years and earned a personal enrichment degree. Ok... So, I tried to get back into IT, and I had to take a HUGE pay cut, down to 42K in January of 2004, and was basically a Systems Analyst again but it was entry level, watching over a vendor application, writing reports in SQL/Crystal and creating some very basic ASP.NET/VB.NET, Javascript forms to do some basic HTML e-mail data entry stuff. Not very advanced, I taught myself and I'd never pass an interview with what I learned about .NET.
I decided to leave that job last Summer, and I got a big pay raise to get a Crystal Reports developer role at 68K. Something wierd happened soon afterwards, I had been offered another contract (to hire) around the same time, but I didn't think it was right to leave the contract I just got. Anyway, 9 weeks later that company that wanted me to go contract to hire with them came back to me and wanted me full time permanent.
So, after only 3 months on the contract, I took them up on the offer 68K full time as a Systems Analyst. In all honesty, it was more like a developer who did systems analysis from what I can tell now. So, I start this job and three months in, they tell me my developer skills aren't sharp enough and they let me go.
Why I'm here today is that I have been looking for work for 2 months. I've refused Reporting Analyst CONTRACTS because my wife would like me to have something more stable and recruiters seem very unwilling to give me a Systems Analyst nor a Business Analyst job. Its funny, the recruiters say I'm too technical for the Business Analyst role (and haven't served in it) and I don't know UML or Use Cases and not technical enough for the Systems Analyst role cause I don't know C# or VB.NET well enough to put it on a Resume. So basically I'm only getting offered Data/Reporing Analyst interviews and those aren't very frequent. I don't feel like they are the best career route, and they aren't the most exciting to me, although I might just have to take one depending on how my money lasts.
Anyway... Tonight my brother offered something amazing. I rambled about how I could probably get a certification for $5OOO or so and get a job within a month or so if I had the money and out of the blue he did something I TRULY never expected, he demanded that I take his money and do it! He's got the money to spare, although I never even considered that he would offer it and I think I'll take him up on his offer assuming I can do something with it.
So... If I had to dream something up, I'd love a job where I was in a corner doing something technical and playing all day long like a geek, but certainly no more vendor software package management where my technical skills aren't going to get developed and kept marketable. I want to be a developer again. Everywhere I look I see .NET, C#, some VB.NET or XML and of course Java.
But which direction should I go? What certifications would be best for me? A Microsoft one like MCPD or MCTS? C# windows or web, how would one choose without knowing the job you'd get? Should I try something in Java? Which track is right? How will I know if a company will take a shot with me not having much experience in whatever I get certified in? The only MCTS track I could get certified in that I have experience in is SQL 2005, but I have never been a DBA and a reporting analyst doesn't sound like the best career option, although I don't mind it and enjoy playing with TSQL.
Next: Who has the best training out there? (I think what I'd like to do is spend 1 month studying like a madman in a class and take some tests and then BAMM, get job interviews and be employed by mid May to the end of June.)
Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? I'll provide a resume to someone if they think it will help them answer my question.
Thanks!
Keith
I have a story I'd like to share with the aim of getting some career/certification advice. I'd appreciate as much input as any one is willing to give.
I got my CIS degree in 1995 from a State University Business school. I worked as a COBOL programmer for 3 years (1 company), then as a Systems Analyst for 4 years (2 companies) where my programming was minimal, I was watching over vendor applications, writing reports, sometimes an interface or two, etc.
Then I did something that might not make sense to everyone, but its here nor there. At this point in my career, 2001, I was making 70K. I went to Seminary for 3 years and earned a personal enrichment degree. Ok... So, I tried to get back into IT, and I had to take a HUGE pay cut, down to 42K in January of 2004, and was basically a Systems Analyst again but it was entry level, watching over a vendor application, writing reports in SQL/Crystal and creating some very basic ASP.NET/VB.NET, Javascript forms to do some basic HTML e-mail data entry stuff. Not very advanced, I taught myself and I'd never pass an interview with what I learned about .NET.
I decided to leave that job last Summer, and I got a big pay raise to get a Crystal Reports developer role at 68K. Something wierd happened soon afterwards, I had been offered another contract (to hire) around the same time, but I didn't think it was right to leave the contract I just got. Anyway, 9 weeks later that company that wanted me to go contract to hire with them came back to me and wanted me full time permanent.
So, after only 3 months on the contract, I took them up on the offer 68K full time as a Systems Analyst. In all honesty, it was more like a developer who did systems analysis from what I can tell now. So, I start this job and three months in, they tell me my developer skills aren't sharp enough and they let me go.
Why I'm here today is that I have been looking for work for 2 months. I've refused Reporting Analyst CONTRACTS because my wife would like me to have something more stable and recruiters seem very unwilling to give me a Systems Analyst nor a Business Analyst job. Its funny, the recruiters say I'm too technical for the Business Analyst role (and haven't served in it) and I don't know UML or Use Cases and not technical enough for the Systems Analyst role cause I don't know C# or VB.NET well enough to put it on a Resume. So basically I'm only getting offered Data/Reporing Analyst interviews and those aren't very frequent. I don't feel like they are the best career route, and they aren't the most exciting to me, although I might just have to take one depending on how my money lasts.
Anyway... Tonight my brother offered something amazing. I rambled about how I could probably get a certification for $5OOO or so and get a job within a month or so if I had the money and out of the blue he did something I TRULY never expected, he demanded that I take his money and do it! He's got the money to spare, although I never even considered that he would offer it and I think I'll take him up on his offer assuming I can do something with it.
So... If I had to dream something up, I'd love a job where I was in a corner doing something technical and playing all day long like a geek, but certainly no more vendor software package management where my technical skills aren't going to get developed and kept marketable. I want to be a developer again. Everywhere I look I see .NET, C#, some VB.NET or XML and of course Java.
But which direction should I go? What certifications would be best for me? A Microsoft one like MCPD or MCTS? C# windows or web, how would one choose without knowing the job you'd get? Should I try something in Java? Which track is right? How will I know if a company will take a shot with me not having much experience in whatever I get certified in? The only MCTS track I could get certified in that I have experience in is SQL 2005, but I have never been a DBA and a reporting analyst doesn't sound like the best career option, although I don't mind it and enjoy playing with TSQL.
Next: Who has the best training out there? (I think what I'd like to do is spend 1 month studying like a madman in a class and take some tests and then BAMM, get job interviews and be employed by mid May to the end of June.)
Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? I'll provide a resume to someone if they think it will help them answer my question.
Thanks!
Keith
