get some experience first, If I had the choice between a 22 years old with a MSSE and 1 years experience or a 35 year old with at least 6 years in a similar enviroment. the older applicant would get it..

Certifications are good on paper but hold no merit against experience

How do I get experience when EVERYBODY says that? WTGAY

Also, I'm 20 in freshman year :\

hey I got a D at GCSE level IT!!! hire me :lol:

you start at the bottom.. get a level one call center job.. you know the really basic shit.. and work your way up... my first real IT job when i came out of the guards was rebuilding crappy old IBM ps/2 workstations.. We are talking 286's and Dr.dos, then I got a job with long extinct company called escom working as a store tech (stone age geek squad). While doing that I went back to school, For 3 years....... while schooling I climbed that job ladder..

now WTF am I.. careers advisor???:D

Yes. Getting a job at a call center might be hard (fucking India), but I'll try.

Yeah :( despite the outsourceing, you can still find them here, Normally Medical insurences places like cigna and bluecross have IT vacancies (check there websites under careers) get on Job Monster with a resume, you may get picked up by an agency, thats not to bad.. you gain experience but you are not tied to one application for training.

The real time to get in to this line of work was around 2001-2002 when the IT/net boom happended, top $$ was being paid for work.. everyone wanted to be in IT.. When the bubble burst, all the nubs who used to flip burgers and got thre A+ or something took the low paid jobs and those with experience were left in the shit cos employed wanted cheap IT. They soon figured out that you get what you pay for when these kids and no idea about NT4, or any of the older kit..

The days of getting 80-90k for IT unless your a oracle or SQL gru are long gone.. you have to keep up with the game and the current trends otherwise there is always some kid trying for your job :)

Wow for once this has turned into a decent thread.. :)

Yeah, well. I'm going to get a degree in Engineering, which right now I'm leaning towards Nanoscale Mechanical Engineering and AI, and I might go for theoretical math and/or physics if I have enough time and money later in life. I think I'll go sell batteries at Radioshack now.

same problem i have :S
i just got lucky and got hired at places where i knew people who worked there