Back in december, I graduated with a double bachelor's of science in computer science and mathematics. It is at the end of February, and I still don't have a job, and it has been a stressful two months of job searching. Unfortunately, my college background was only in the programming side,(Strictly C++), and it seems as if there are few companies who hire entry level programmers. There seems to be a lot companies hiring on the networking side though. So, I guess my question goes to those who were in the same shoes as I. How do I get my foot in the door? I feel lost and that I wasted my time in college. I know the economy is in the toilet and all, but still, this is pretty pathetic. I have been looking into getting some books on networking and teaching myself, but I don't know where to start. Does anyone have any advice on how to get a job or what reading material I should look into to teach myself about networking. Thanks!

 

Try looking into financial institutions for a job. Even though the economy sucks, banks are still doing OK (loan rates have never been so low).

As for networking, start with networking for dummies. You can also find a ton of info on Microsofts site. I have gigs of links and whitepapers that I can either upload to server somewhere, or you can VPN in to my PC and download them yourself. Let me know if you're interested.

 

I graduated with a bach. in comp. sciences too, about 6 years ago. I think I looked at one job, and decided I wanted to be in sales. *shrug*

 

Try looking at/posting your resume on Geekfinder.com

If have a link to an online resume already I can forward it to someone I know who can post a link in a high vis place.

 

Programming and Webdevelopment are kinda tough to get into. Right now most places are looking for the "catch-all" solution to their websites and networking. It would be a good idea for you to learn as much as you can about networking and take a few MS courses as well. That will get your foot in the door. You might also want to look into making some projects on your own to show people the kind of work you can do.
I got my job by starting as an intern. At the time they only needed network/hardware support, but evertime I had the chance to show my stuff on my web skills, I did. Now I'm full time.

 

Over the weekend, I talked to a couple of my girlfriend's family members who are in computers and they want me to send them my resume, so wish me luck. As for now, I think I might try to pick up Networking for Dummies and get some basic knowledge, and possibly take some courses to get hands on experience... I just have to keep my head up high and wait out for the right oppurtunity..... or more like for just AN oppurtunity

 

i'm taking 3 year networking course... and i'm not even gonna bother looking for a job in this country. A white male network specialist with a bachelors and a 3.9 GPA stands nothig in comparison to a "minority" that took a 1 year ccourse and graduated with a 2.0.... it's not about skills anymore. suicide

 

not to be mean... but why take a three year networking course? by the time you're done, the information that you learned three years ago is already outdated...

 

We just hired a new techie at my job here, so let me give you some insight into what we were looking for.

First off, the position we were hiring for was programming with graphics experience recommended.

When we got all the resumes submitted to us, the first thing we did was throw out everybody that didn't have an example of their work. This will vary for you since it isn't a web-related job.

Of those that remained, I found that the candidates we considered the most has "real world" experience. We ended up hiring a guy straight out of high school because he has already done web-application programming for several years, as opposed to those applicants that had bachelor degrees (some even had masters!) and no real world experience.

 

I was hired in @ my current job thru a temp agency to work on the production floor (building the electrical drive we engineer) and then my autocad experience was let know. They created a cad tech spot for me...(became 2nd in charge out of 6 cad operators). Then they posted a job for a person to run dummie level tasks: disk clean-up, defrag, map drives. Which in turn ended up turning into: Net. admin; web design, database admin, security, LAN/WAN support, all printed documents; business cards, brochures...bla bla bla.. these "steps" all happend under 1 year of being with the company. So in short, get a help desk job (liek at a hospital or Ford/GM) and watch for internal job postings. As we like to hire from within (if possible).

Hope that helped.

P.S Oh and yes, im getting screwed on my $$$ too. But then again knowledge/on-the job experience is priceless!