Seeking opinions

[Pavel Zaitsev]

> Most businesses will not hire a person without experience and without
> relevant formal education. Holding certifications will help, but it's
> not a guarantee.

Most of the time it depends on judgement and the kind of place you want to 
work at. In the end, it is just like a mortgage, do you want condo or a
house. Fixed or variable. Etc. To work at IBM you need a degree, and
also be able to deal with office politics of not speaking out too loudly
and not being too individualisic.
You have option of working for smaller outfits. Job stability is lower,
but generally you have more air to breathe, but that depends on the shop.
And then you can do contracting.

So far if you can have a blog, and write about things you experiment with
every day, you will accumilate good amount of technical backgrounder
info, to show to a potential employer and allow them to decide wether
you are worthy to do a particular job. Often that implies writing blog
entries with good english, since written communication is often a
foundation of communication in many companies.

If you write code, write it, put it up in VCS of your choice and provide
clear directions how to check out projects anonymously. This may well be
a huge plus, for those technically minded hiring outfits.

> So I think you have three choices: enroll in college or university,
> obtain certifications, or try starting your own business.
> College and university, although very time consuming, is the long-term
> best approach. Coop courses provide needed income and experience.
>
>From what I have seen niversity is useless for young people who graduate,
and often a loss of time and money. I would suggest going to university when you are
mauture enough, and can really gain from knowlege that University gives you. You can do fairly well and forget promptly much of the material as
most of my classmates did.
Education is investment, but you should remember, Bachelors degree 
now usually amounts for your pathway into larger corporations, where
degree is a sign of being able to do work handed down, in processor
mode, not as an individual.

To really guarantee a job you must have Masters or PhD in the field
of sciences, and PhD may well put you over the price range most
companies willing for an engineer, and you will follow into analyst
department, of largers companies. Job market is much narrower for
people who wish to publish their PhD as an achievement.
 
> Certifications are a riskier route. Many of the training facilities
> (like Nexient) and colleges will offer certification tracks that take
> about year, cost more than a three year college course but, if you
> interview well, can get you an entry level position. They are mostly
> based on Microsoft (has anyone seen a Open Source version) but contain
> Novell and Cisco certifications as well. I usually pass over these
> candidates because they are less rounded (usually no programming or
> business skills.)

Certifications are excellent thing to put on a business card, they
only catch the eye of the potential employer. I would venture out to say
certifcations are more worthwhile in grassroots contract finding,
where your card might circulate in places you might have not intended
it to go.

> Starting your own business is another problem. It can take a long time
> to generate enough business to make a full time income and if you
> haven't already worked in the IT industry it can be intimidating
> approaching even medium sized businesses.

You need connections and experience. Mostly connections, which often comes
from experience. It is imperative to have superrior communication skills,
to a point of taking a few courses before jumping into the fray.
[I haven't but I might well do that this semester]
 
> Still, now is a good time. I feel Linux is nearing the tipping point and
> the next few years may see a huge vacuum in the Linux skills market.


> Here is my advice:
> 
> 1. Choose where you want to go. Is it software development, web
> development, system administration, systems integration (e.g. installing
> new systems/services,) support, embedded systems, training, etc.
> 
> 2. Be social. Attend LUG meetings and/or be active on the lists. The
> most successful people usually have very good people skills. Look for
> other groups to become part of (TAUG, PerlMongers, etc.)
> 
> 3. Get more experience. If it's programming, sysadmin, or integration
> look for non-profit organizations that need IT support. Many won't have
> much money and will welcome volunteer work. This may include official
> non-profits as well as community events. Push for Linux and open source.
> It can do everything that Microsoft software does.
> 
> 4. For programming experience pick an interesting software project and
> start donating code. They often have a feature wish list that you could
> tackle.
> 
> 5. Talk to the colleges and universities about courses. This is your
> long-term best chance for a successful career.

Excellent adivce, I wish I had such guidance at the start of my hectic career
:)
 

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