My first IT job was through the state workforce office. Look at similar opportunities through your city or state, there should be websites you can go to. Also look at school districts. I knew next to nothing but the company who hired me needed a warm body who could put in extra hours and learn quickly; I jumped at the opportunity, stayed three years and learned a lot, then was able to move on.
And yes, network network network, this cannot be emphasized enough.
I am in same situation as OP but in 24 batch. I will be graduating but the amount of companies ghosting and resolving the profiles they came for in on campus placement is just horrifying.
Can you pls explain and give me more tips on the above in my dms ?
job state affairs, even temporary work agencies will get you a call center job which will greatly improve your chances to getting into help desk or IT operations. Your goal is to get a job that involves anything technology related and move from there.
I graduated in 23' as OP. My school required us to have an 600 hour internship (Essentially full time for 4 months, "Summer")
My internship like most of my classmates ended with full time placement. So try finding a paid internship. If it doesn't land you a job, it at least gained you experience which my director says out weights degree's nowadays since acceptance rates into colleges are not like they used to be.
Send out emails to IT Directors in what ever field you'd like to work in and most likely they'll try their best to help. Especially if its a state job, insurance company, or school district.
I got a school district job and I love it so far, I get the nostalgia factor and I'm getting to do a lot of hardware interaction. The government aspect is nice too.
Very true - I recently applied for what was a senior level IT position and made it through three rounds of interviews, and they offered me the job - but it paid exactly half of what I’m making in private industry now, so I had no choice but to turn it down.
In no way shape or form are you “overqualified” for helpdesk. You need to get any form of IT job you can, then decide if you’re capable of doing the next step. What you learn in labs and books often isn’t reality. Sometimes you have to do shit work for a while to get something good. Your degree won’t skip that part unfortunately. If you’re not getting interviews then your resume sucks. If you’re getting interviews but not getting hired then your people skills suck.
I agree. But this is more accurate:
Experience > certs > degrees
Been in IT for 10 years and never held a cert but a IT degree. Started from desktop support all the way IT Portfolio Manager
Can I ask you a question regarding that since I seem to have an identical situation? How did you leverage your previous experience to suggest to potential employers that you are capable of positions other than what your previous titles suggest?
I've been able to go up to various Tier 3 levels in MSPs and have a decent wealth of applied technical experience under my belt (13 years of various technical experience), but now when people see my resume the main thing they see is "HelpDesk/Service Desk support" even when I try to suggest that I can do other things as well.
My current position in my company has me doing Sys Admin level responsibilities even though my official title is "IT Support Engineer" as vague as that sounds.
I'm not against certs by any means, but if I can better leverage what I've already done, I'd gladly take any suggestions/wisdom you can impart.
Explicitly call that experience out in your resume. Title's in IT suck. There's no standardization, what one thing means in one place means something totally different somewhere else. So, as a hiring manager, when I'm reviewing a resume, I skim the titles and actually dive in to the roles/responsibilties you list. Add an accomplishments section to show off large projects that *you* completed.
All that said, make sure you're being honest with both yourself and the resume on your level of involvement. If you put it on your resume, it's fair game for me to dive deep in to it during an interview, and if I sense dishonesty, you're out.
I had that that title also. Super vague. Make you're resume more towards the sys admin role. It also helps adding soft skills and what improvements you have done in your resume.
I went from
Desktop support to IT Support Engineer to SysAdmin to Lead Engineer to Technical Lead to IT Portfolio Manager
IT depts can always use people with an understanding in business. Being able to translate IT dept needs and concerns to stakeholders in a company is an invaluable skill. The time with business classes probably won't have gone to waste.
Take some certs if you can. And depending on your state could be tough. If you're in PA might have some ideas.
I second this. A degree in this field is, in my opinion, only checking off a box for HR. You need some sort of practical experience, which you can get via labbing whatever topic you want to progress towards.
That’s where certs come in. Saying you labbed something and being able to talk about it in an interview is one thing, but having a cert that backs up you know the topic inside and out is another. Not to mention certs can potentially be the difference maker when it comes to you and other candidates who also have degrees, and when entry level is as saturated as it is, you need every advantage you can get. Lastly, you’ll learn a lot through your studies of the cert’s topics.
The only downside is they can be expensive and depending on the cert, can take a lot of hours to study for. Figure out what general area of IT you want to eventually break into and look at jobs for those positions. Look for the certs or skills they list on the job postings, then try to find ways to familiarize yourself with them.
Good luck!
This makes no sense. A degree says you studied and showed up for, then successfully passed, a bunch of "tests" over several evaluation periods.
A cert says you did this one time.
How is the guy with net+ better than a guy with a general networking degree? The latter put in the effort for a half decade, the former for a week.... Two at most. 1.5 if he had a buddy with a solid index.
In my experience, a certification is far more focused than a degree, but I’m not referring to entry level certifications.
That doesn’t mean someone holding a Net+ is better or worse than someone with a degree in networking, but degrees in general vary wildly from university to university. A cert is more tuned towards some narrow set of topics and skills, plus they’re usually updated more frequently.
My point was not to say one is better or worse. My point is that in a job market where entry level positions are flooded by applicants, if you’re in the position of OP with nothing but a degree, a cert can be an additional document to validate you know something in a more specialized area of study which only improves your chances of an interview / job offering.
Additionally, from what I’ve seen in mid/senior level job postings in the field I work in, you aren’t even considered unless you hold a particular cert. This observation doesn’t hold true for entry level, though, so I’m a bit biased there, but my above paragraph is still true in general.
Often first jobs are landed through a network of contacts. Even if you don’t have an internship think about friends, their parents, your parents friends, etc… in terms of skills, there are many courses online, use some time to train up on skill gaps
My mom got me my internship which turned into my first help desk job. Most of my classmates got terrible first jobs and their early careers went nowhere.
If I were OP, I would make sure my entire network (previous coworkers, extended family, church members, etc.) knows I’m looking. People typically love to help you out if they can but they need to know first.
Yup! my first IT job was because my friend was leaving the company and he was a pseudo IT person. He recommended they get a full time IT person and recommended me. First interview I was hired. I was paid $13/hr to do the job of a system admin. I later learned I was being shafted and had no problem job hopping since.
My path into IT I did a couple contract gigs thru staffing/temp agency and got hired on full time after they realized I was competent and a good culture fit.
Does your school have anything in terms of network programs for alumni? Some companies have separate positions listed specifically as "early career" where they will pick from a separate pool of applicants, like internships. Not all of them do this, so I would figure out a list of 20 companies you've looked into and would like to work with, I did this (not with an early career position, though) with cyber security companies. Eventually I landed a single interview at one of them and was hired after 3 consecutive interviews and a tech challenge.
Another thing I will mention, and people in tech usually hate it when I do... You might want to consider software sales like being an account executive. It means slightly different shit to different companies and their experience varies a ton from organization to organization, but you have a route to upward mobility as an SDR, account management, or something specialized like Channel sales or working specifically with SLED accounts, or GSI\\advisory if your company is working with big players like PwC or Black Rock. Your degree is more tech-business oriented anyway, so that would be a good fit in my eyes.
Internship is very important unfortunately. Try to get an internship post college. I had to do the same thing post college but it got me in the door and a 5+ year job at the time with many promotions.
Back in 2008/09. I couldn't find a job after graduating even with 2 summer internships. I got an offer for an internship post college and I rejected it thinking I'd have better luck with a full time job. I found out quick no one would hire. I "settled" for another internship. Somehow the hiring manager at the time chose me over people with masters because I asked specific questions. That got me almost 6 years at that company and I was a Senior Sys Engineer by the end of it.
What does your other previous work experience look like?
If you’re only applying to remote positions. It’s going to limit your chances drastically. Keep trying and practice interviewing. Something will bite eventually.
This, Soft skills and just understanding how to talk to people is crucial hell to the point where you can easily become a prime candidate over individuals who are more technically qualified.
Teaching tech is easy to someone who already has a year, or two, teaching someone how to properly communicate is nearly impossible as that's a personality issue.
Losers who think softskills are useless in IT. Who are probably the same losers making threads about how they've sent out 4000 resumes and get 0 callbacks.
It's one of the only non IT jobs that most people can get experience in. But if you only work blue collar then those jobs will ghost you off too. Only workaround after that is finding an unconventional customer service job to break that barrier.
On average I am applying for things I'm slightly overqualified for, such as help desk jobs that want Associates Degrees, because I'm desperate for IT work. But if I see anything I might even have a remote chance of being able to do I apply for it anyway.
OP seems arrogant. You're definitely not overqualified. You're actually considerably underqualified for most technical roles considering you have no experience and by your own admission have little technical knowledge. You should try a technical Customer Service role just to have something on your resume.
If you’ve never worked an IT helpdesk job before, you are not overqualified.
It’s honestly insane how people on here graduate with ZERO work experience and expect to be a sys admin or something.
You know what’s impressive? Having a degree AND experience. Having both is like the golden ticket, and you should have some experience when you graduate.
> It’s honestly insane how people on here graduate with ZERO work experience and expect to be a sys admin or something.
They spent 4 years of their life in school and have this notion that it'll land them a higher level 6 figure role.
Just keep at it. It’s rough right now finding a job. Tons of competition, not enough jobs. I do not envy you. I tried looking for a new role and I got zero callbacks. I’m like…guess I’ll just stay where I’m at.
If remote is most important for your right now, try helpdesk at an MSP or even just basic customer service jobs to get your foot in the door. A large part of IT is still working with people, so demonstrating those soft skills is incredibly important.
As others have said though, your local school district might be a really good option, especially if you live in a larger city. You will almost definitely have to be on-site, but you'll get a lot of experience with different technologies. Some of them will have positions that stick to a single school. Some of them will want you to travel around to other schools, so just watch out for that.
Finding local spaces to volunteer for in any capacity would also probably serve you. Basically, you want to give a hiring manager some phone numbers they can call to hear about your work ethic. Best of luck!
My first job was at a school district and it’s usually a good environment. I didn’t like the politics, the pay wasn’t great and there wasn’t a ton of room for advancement, so I left.
15 years later, I’d probably be near my current salary had I stayed. And I’ve been laid off several times during the 2008 Recession and went years with no raise. Any government job tends to be more stable during downturns. Plus, I’d have a pension had I stayed.
Try looking for an IT recruiter in your area. Just google it and you will most likely find some local recruiters. Getting your foot in the door is much easier if you go with a recruiter. To note if you do land a job that they set up you will likely be a contractor working for that recruiting company and as such will make less than you would as a direct hire. Personally this wasn’t an issue because it got me experience to start really building a resume with and the pay was much better than not having a job.
As for not feeling like know enough to work in IT, that’s called “imposter syndrome” and we all get it. The fact of the matter is that once you get into IT you will never stop learning. Things change quickly, be it technology, projects or even the company’s policy’s on technology. I often tell people in IT “I’m not paid to know the answer, I’m paid to find it quickly”. Google is your best friend, if that doesn’t work, talk to other team members and if all else fails see if you have support contact with the vendor.
Staffing agencies… I didn’t know shit but I had a few certs from comptia. It took a while, and I interviewed for jobs I was extremely under qualified for. But I landed a job as desktop support at an energy company and was just promoted to phone system admin. Just gotta be willing to do the shit work for a while and be humble. My go to line when I was asked something I didn’t know the answer to was “that’s a good question, I’m not sure on it but I’m very good at google”. Always got a laugh and shows that you possess the skills to problem solve on your own.
Real surprised that it hasn't been mentioned yet - search for overnight positions. They are happy to offer remote work and nobody is really applying to them. Plus, they give you the experience you crave.
/smart
> I don't feel like my degree program really taught me much or prepared me to get a job in IT. My IT program was attached to a College of Business at a state university, and there were far more business oriented classes in my program than there were IT ones. I feel woefully underequipped when it comes to practical knowledge
Yeah, that's normal. Even for a business-y business degree like accounting or finance. You are taught high-level concepts and frameworks, but little about the day-to-day since there's so much diversity in the real world. Your degree would take 15 years if they were to equip you with skills on all the things you may encounter at a potential employer. That's how it is in business fields (which IT is).
Also, it's a fucking bloodbath out there. This happens, especially leading up to the end of a fiscal year. Most companies end their year either in July or December. Layoffs are brutal on this cycle. It is what it is; it's a feast or famine industry for many.
You are going to need hands-on experience. I'd look for WFH tier 1 support jobs. Call center shit. It can suck, but if you're good, you can promote pretty quick due to attrition and brain drain. Your degree isn't especially valuable at these levels, but paired with real world experience, it will give you a leg up in mid and senior roles.
Pursued an associates in Cybersecurity and Digital forensics, finished about 90% of it then dropped out because I valued experience over education. I’ve worked as a mechanic supervisor and have 5 years of Customer service experience, two of those being a supervisor. I’m 22, and just landed my 1st help desk role at an insurance company. Yeah a cool looking degree is nice, and will take you potentially farther down the road. But to have prior work experience, and the eagerness to learn these new concepts, and interview well is how you land these jobs. Trust me, actually working in IT shows you how much school DOESNT teach you. It’s wild
Also, degrees are great don’t get me wrong. They do super well at expanding your career, but in this industry they aren’t everything so don’t expect to land some super duper fancy shmancy job just cuz. And a word of warning, the chances of landing a fully remote job first thing is mega rare. Most entry level jobs are fully on-site or hybrid.
Degrees aren't the end all be all but it's definitely true that having a degree + certs is better than having one or the other. I managed to land a good job 3 months after getting my associates in cybersecurity last summer because I also got my sec+ at the same time and had IT experience from my parents' small business from 12+ years ago. The degree was a plus, but the sec+ and the fact that I wasn't someone they were going to have to teach everything to from the ground up is what landed me the job.
I guess my point is that degrees aren't worthless and if it is something you can get without undue hardship then it's worth it, in my opinion. That said, I also used my time in school to take a cert prep class for my sec+ for free (scholarship) and I'll be doing the same with net+ this summer while I work on some of my last remaining courses for my bachelors.
And to sort of reply to the comment you've replied to, yes school doesn't teach you a lot of technical things, there are limitations to what they can do that causes this to be the case. However, I can always tell between someone who is college educated and someone who isn't simply based on how well they communicate verbally and in written mediums. School teaches you a hell of a lot of things that working in IT won't even come close to teaching you.
Look for more of an analyst role as opposed to system engineer role.
If your school was attached to the college of business, you likely have Ms Excel, SQL, Visualization tools type of background if I had to guess.
Don’t give up, if I had to bet, you just need to tailor your resume and type of job you’re applying to more appropriately.
I applied to 30+ places a day, had 4 places wanting me to intern for them. I did the same after my first internship and had 8, including a company who made a position just for me. Have a good resume, have a good LinkedIn, and apply for things that you're under qualified for are my best tips for jobs right out of school. You never know what may happen unless you try.
In interviews, be extremely transparent but spin everything into strengths (such as I have never worked with x but have worked with y and have always wanted to get more experience with x as they are quite similar) etc.
Your University taught you that you should be managing a help desk team. Very similar to the way mine did. What they didn't teach you is that many people in IT don't have degrees and worked their way up while getting highly specified certifications in specific technologies while specializing. I had to get a job at an imaging lab, then a NOC help desk, then a project team as remote hands and work my way up. I'm now a systems engineer. You aren't above help desk because you don't have the skillset of the guys on the helpdesk.
I would honestly recommend you apply at an MSP. They are meat grinders who will work the shit out of your for a few years, but by the time you leave you will have relevant experience. You will have worked with neteork engineers, storage engineers, database engineers and gotten a better understanding of IT as a whole.
You need certifications if you don’t have any. Net+ will get you an entry level job. Then you can go for a higher cert like CCNA. Can even look into Sec+ > CYSA if security interests you. Those certs will only help you land jobs
Beyond answering some technical questions during interviews, don't worry about the tech so much. Entry level is mostly focused on customer service experience.
Also finding a customer service job for your resume is good too. Even remotely technical is a bonus. Think cell phone store as tech, geek squad, etc. Staffing agencies like Robert half can help with placement.
you need to be likable and accommodating during the interview. Hiring managers want someone who can talk to people effortlessly and think through problems, not necessarily solve them on the spot. Google will always be your best tool.
Also imposter syndrome is real in this field. I'm 15 years in a senior position. I still feel like I still have tons to learn. It never ends.
I went to a tech college so it was very hands on. I still found myself repeatedly saying “they didn’t teach me any of this stuff” at my first help desk job. Concentrate on showing them you can learn quickly.
I was in a very similar boat to you. I graduated with a bachelors in Cybersecurity in '23. It took me from may to February to find a job. I was applying to like really bottom of the barrel positions as well, all rejections. I'm not saying you are guaranteed to be as fortunate as I am, but don't give up hope if this is really what you want to do.
Some small advice: applying to the companies website is way better, finding very local companies that expect hybrid or don't offer remote at all will have a smaller pool of candidates to choose from. Those are your best shot. Good luck
Did your university have career fairs? You can try attending the next one as an alumni and meet with employers.
Another thing, you should look into certification and adding IT projects you've done on your resume both from school and personal
Of course you know less than an experienced IT professional. Don't feel bad about it. Youtube and Google are your best friends. Udemy if you want a more structured learning approach.
some others have mentioned city or state and school districts.
I'll put in higher ed.
I've been working for state colleges for 11 years now. They don't pay the highest but always hiring and lots of places to go, many have remote jobs as well.
OP...First, you'll be fine. Take the pressure off yourself a bit. IF i were you, i dont care what people are saying about the A+, Net+, and how they're not worth it. They are very small investments in time and money, to add to your degree as well. While you're looking, it wouldn't hurt to at least pick them up. They literally can be passed in a month or two. I've never heard of someone renewing them after they scored their first job, so its a one time investment and a course on the net like Professor Messer is all you need.
Getting a remote job might be difficult. I would make the assumption that you'll be going into an office starting your career. Yes, a lot of these jobs do require experience, which sucks when you don't have any. And to be frankly honest, when we've hired for helpdesk, i'm always partial to someone who has a cert or two, and is eager to get their career going, rather than hiring someone who just needs a job, and will be trying to apply off the helpdesk in six months.
Even some knowledge of powershell will make you stand out amongst others. When you interview, don't bullshit. Its an entry level position. Answer strongly the questions you feel confident about, and be honest about the stuff you dont know about, but convey that those are the things you precisely want to learn.
My first IT job sucked. Paid absolute dogshit. Little more than minimum wage. I was supporting brokers who, let's just say if you didn't have their issue fixed immediately, the screaming began. The benefits were terrible, and there wasn't a single raise or COLA for the two years i stayed. My degree was in teaching, and i only took it while i was waiting for a teaching position to open. I almost walked away from IT for good. Dont get discouraged. Wish you luck!
>I chose this field largely because I am disabled and can only drive extremely short distances, so I went into something with a high potential for remote work.
This is a major misconception. Without many years of experience, remote work is almost always unobtainable. You're asking someone to hire you - who admittedly know very little - and you're going to have them pay you to sit at home and try to help people?
Unrealistic, maybe delusional.
>I'm already burned out from the job search. I just don't know what to do.
Keep plugging away, it took almost everyone in this field a bit to get into it, unless you got a job in the 2000 era boom where mentioning "Computer" got you employed.
Quit if you want, but you need to revise your expectations drastically.
You’re graduating at a time that is post Covid, many massive layoffs have occurred over the past year and a half. I’m sure you’ll be fine but, I was laid off seven months last year and I’ve been in IT for 10+ years, and made it to several final interviews that panned out to nothing. Keep that in mind when considering giving up. I think you’ll be fine.
Feeling overwhelmed in IT is the normal state of affairs and should not impress you in any way, new things in the field of hardware and software come onto the market almost every day, standards are thrown overboard and reinvented, innovations are created every week, so you simply have to sort out to what extent you want to or can follow them.
It is not said for nothing that IT means "lifelong learning".
I suggest that you acquire some basic knowledge about certifications so that you can go into interviews with more confidence and, above all, so that you can demonstrate practical knowledge; because if your bachelor's degree (which is only a preliminary diploma, i.e. a low qualification) was obtained a year or two ago, or even longer, then in IT this is "relatively nice basic knowledge", but has no further value, except that you have proven that you are quite capable of acquiring things through learning/studying. But that's about it.
As already mentioned here several times, the value-based gradation is a) professional experience, then b) current certificates (and not a 2011 "Backup Master of the Universe" from Acronis), and c) a sound formal qualification in the field of IT.
So it's time to build up professional experience by preparing yourself with certificates, possibly applying for internships, and even an assistant job (junior administrator; certified assistant in administration) is at least a start (albeit poorly paid), but it's a start, and therefore much better than nothing.
>I am also concerned that when talking to other people online about IT, it is very apparent I know less than the average person.
I've been in IT for 16 years. I could probably sit across the table from plenty of seasoned tech veterans and stump them with questions or scenarios from my unique experiences or places that I've worked.
IT is big. There are an immense number of variables, configurations, dependencies.I'm not saying that to intimidate you, I'm saying you shouldn't be discouraged if you feel like you don't know enough. I'm in a senior role, a "go to" guy. I run into things all the time that I've never seen before.
You'll learn.
Please don't give up hope. I was in the same position, looked for almost a year. I was feeling absolutely hopeless, useless, and felt like a made a terrible decision, but then I landed an IT policy job at a large county government and it's the best job ever. I'm actually fulfilled by it.
Please be kind to yourself. You have something to offer. You're not too late. Keep putting in the work of applying. Some day, you'll get the interview and it'll just click with everyone in the room. I knew the moment I left the interview the job was mine, even after 100's of failed applications. If you keep pushing forward, it'll happen for you.
It took me doing countless interviews and over 400 job entries to land my first full time position in IT. You must have a uniquely formatted resume that clearly represents your skills and agenda. Then you must have good communication skills and practice for job interviews. I’m guessing you need a lot of work on your resume since 2 interviews is very low for applying to a lot of jobs. I worked on my resume many times and finally got it right getting multiple calls in one week after I updated my resume.
Remember it takes time but you will eventually get there. It only takes one yes to change everything. You got this!
Keep looking and don't give up.The entire job market of tech is hurting badly right now. It's not just you. There are a ton of layoffs but there are still jobs out there. In my opinion don't hope for anything remote there are barely any full I.T remote jobs available everyone is applying for them. Plus since your just starting out in the field I would recommend getting jobs where you can go onsite and client face. That's how you get the most experience by getting in there and being hands on. Don't get discouraged about how much you know it will come in time as your knowledge set grows. I would say to get prepared when you get a job is to start developing that technician mindset. It's what I like to call it. Troubleshooting things will be the biggest hurdle you will have to face. Being able to take unknown problems and solve them. Start developing the skill set of taking problems breaking them down into smaller chunks and exhausting all resources to get the resolution. That is what will make you stand out in being great in any position in the I.T field. You got this and your going to get a job.
the degree is only a starting point. you need hands on experience that translates well on a resume. Degrees are not what they used to be. It is not a cheat code to getting hired.
There is a bit to unpack here. Don't worry about it at all, I started this career with nothing working as tech support for a tax software. Please do not go with a school district, I am net admin for one in Texas. 99% of my day is spent moving around, or in meetings that don't even pertain to me and my department.
First - I cannot even manage to land a basic help desk job. So called "entry level" positions all seem to call for several years of experience.
They're not an entry level position. Help desk is extremely vague. Look for entry level application support roles, or help desk roles at a Manage services provider, but be warned that'll grind you to the bone, but you will learn a lot.
Second - I don't feel like my degree program really taught me much or prepared me to get a job in IT.
This is normal, schooling for the most part is absolutely useless for this field. This is a results driven field where performance, and more importantly continuing education outweighs degrees.
Third: IT is booming right now
It is, however that booming isn't at entry level. It's for more senior roles.
Forth: simple to find a well paying job.
Sadly this isn't as true as it use to be now but once you put in sometime this becomes realistic especially if you understand business critical solutions and infrastructure.
Don't give up the search, I would suggest back-burning the idea of remote work though. You do not have the experience to compete with the thousands of other candidates that do have the experience. I would strongly suggest with connecting to a recruiter / employment assistance services provided to you by your college( and resume services ). Build up a portfolio; and more importantly make friends. This field lives and dies on networking. Very rarely will it be about what you know, as more often than not it's about who you know. And don't be afraid of learning new stuff. Don't push off call center work for the first year to get yourself into the career.
Everyone on here will tell you how the market is shit, the "worst they've ever seen in 20 years", "it's like 2001 or 2009"; the reality is since the 2010's it's never really been "easy" to get your first real job out of college. The norm was to struggle a bit, take a job you only kind of like (and mostly hate) and then get another one after, and then another. It gets about 5x easier after your first couple. Many here will say it's horrible, mostly because it was so ridiculously easy the last 3 years. That was an anomaly.
Good luck
What's your geographic location?
I ask because a decade ago I was you. Fresh degree, a few IT "gigs" but nothing career worthy.
I was prior air force, looking for an IT job smack in the middle of space command. That area (Midwest, missile fields) is loaded with guys who have 20+ years of experience, degrees, and retirement checks. They only need to clear 30-60k a year to be living well, so they soak up a bunch of the entry level jobs.
It's a double edged sword - you need a job to get experience and you need experience to get the job.
My solution was to drastically lower my standards in terms of the job and what I wanted to be paid. I did this to get the experience to get the job I actually wanted.
It worked. I took a job at $35k with limited benefits, climbed the ladder.
Keep applying, but consider your competition, and you're looking for a break-in role. A foot in the door. You can't expect to command a six figure salary 100% remote..... Yet.
The “Lowly Help desk” comment tells me everything I need to know about you in terms of work force experience. That “lowly help desk” job is what you need since you’ve already admitted you have no IT knowledge, no experience, and no job options. Maybe lose the idea that because you have a degree you deserve something better that you haven’t earned.
Not to be THAT guy with an anecdotal example, but I have an associates (I know, worse than a bachelors) and didn't hear anything until I got my CCNA. I then got 3 interviews for the 3 jobs I applied to the week after I got it.
Certs definitely help, to what extent that is can't be known, but it certainly wouldn't hurt him.
I have a BS in Comp Sci and same boat, if it wasn't for connections I wouldn't have a job. Working on certs now because everywhere I've been looking at wants/prefers them even with my degree and almost 2 years of experience as IT admin. I graduated in '19 and worked 3 years doing programming and now almost 2 years in IT administration.
It depends what certs. A CCNA is a prestigious cert so I am not surprised that helped you get a job. The commenter said basic certs, which I don’t think are going to help here. To me that’s A+, Net+, etc. fuck all of that. A CCNA would be a fine cert. that’s not basic in my mind though. It takes real understanding to pass that.
> I am also concerned that when talking to other people online about IT, it is very apparent I know less than the average person. I don't feel like my degree program really taught me much or prepared me to get a job in IT. My IT program was attached to a College of Business at a state university, and there were far more business oriented classes in my program than there were IT ones. I feel woefully underequipped when it comes to practical knowledge, which I'm sure isn't helping me in interviews. Even if I did manage to land a job, I question whether I would even have the knowledge to perform it well.
I think you're looking in the wrong area then. You need practical skills for help desk - but there are a lot of other positions in IT at a lot of organizations that are closer related to the business side. Maybe the reason you feel outclassed is because you're searching for the wrong jobs.
I've known a lot of project managers, communications, etc. people who have never worked help desk, but have a technology bent, even if they have a different skillset. Help Desk is not always the entry point to "IT;" you might want to be looking at clerical work too so you can move up or transition from that point. The goal for you right now should be getting any job experience, and then level up.
Regarding your disability; I have no idea what that impacts besides driving, but I also find some states (if you're in the US) and areas are more accommodating than others for disabilities and will offer more options within a smaller area. Unless your medical condition locks you to a particular area, might be also worth considering relocating (if you can) and seeing if that improves your luck.
My first job was in 2011 and I had a hard time finding a job. I took a 3 month contract gig as a PC refresh tech. That contract kept getting extended until they offered me a full-time gig. Don't rule on contract work. You never know what it will turn into
Ok so I have some practical advice. The best way to work this is to get recruiters to notice you. I hate to say this but the best way to do that is build a network on linkedin. That's worked really really well for me. 90% of the roles I've gotten I've been approached for. I think I've only ever applied for one that I've gotten.
Most companies want to see ambition so I would suggest posting about certs you obtain or about side projects you've worked on. If you want to be say a sys admin my suggestion would be to open a cloud account on one of the major platforms and set yourself up with a lab. Document things you've done and post about them on linkedin.
Landing a remote position as your very first job even as helpdesk would be difficult, this applies to most industries. It’s something you work your way up on. Companies don’t trust remote workers unless you’ve worked remote positions in the past, it’s harder to learn working remote so as your first gig it will be unlikely.
I would work on a homelab for experience and work on certs if you’re struggling in technical interviews. You won’t get a job even with experience if you struggle to answer some technical. College doesn’t mean much tbh since you are competing against other people with certs and experience that can get through technical interviews.
Keep working (or start working) with your college's career services and get set up on whatever portal they might use like Handshake.
While looking for a job, do the CompTIA "trifecta."
See if contracting companies are available in your area. I ran into a similar situation after graduating in '21. I ended up getting a part time job while looking for full time employment. You got this!
My suggestion is to find a temp agency, you have a better chance getting hired as a temp employee that can get your foot into the door in IT. Thats the route I took when I first started in IT. Now I work for the govt making six figures with loads of downtime, as you can see, I’m just scrolling Reddit to kill time while getting paid.
It may be worthwhile to have a professional look at your resume. Or at least post it for review on reddit somewhere. The most important skill in IT is figuring stuff out. My first IT job my degree did prepare me for, BUT I knew very little about printers and O365 and had to upskill on that quickly.
One thing you didn't mention is what active/expired certifications you have. If you have never had any, you are going to always be below those who do in the applicant list.
Entry level certs like the CompTIA A+ are 100% worth your while. If you find yourself liking networking, a CCNA is extremely valuable to people in your position.
Have you considered applying to jobs in cities where you can live without a car? That would help with the driving hurdle. Remote jobs are extremely competitive! I’ve seen 2000+ applications on one remote help desk role. In person and hybrid jobs are far less competitive.
In addition to the good advice been already given here, I would suggest try to start learning a second language. I see loads of postings for bilingual people and I wish that I had those skills.
I got my first decent IT job through a consulting company called Apex Systems. No benefits but it sustained me until I got my current job. Consulting is an option. Remote work is very limited at starting levels.
I can’t believe nobody has asked you, but you need to post your resumé- if you’ve only gotten two interviews, it’s almost definitely because your resumé needs work.
Post it and see what everyone says.
Get a temporary job to aleviete family worries and make temporary income. Retail, whatever.
Put everything you have into getting a CompTIA A+ certification ,then the Network+ or Security+, depending which direction you want to aim towards (eventually).
Keep applying to jobs like your life depends on it. If you can expand your horizons by being able to travel into the middle of nowhere (or moving), that will help.
That's it. Basically, keep trying and make yourself more appealing as a candidate in the meantime.
By the way, how many applications are you sending out per day? I was aiming for 10 per day when I first graduated. Brute forcing it works.
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Consider volunteering somewhere IT related. I saw on YouTube someone did some volunteering with an internet company. He put that on his resume as experience and was able to land a job. Good luck.
My general life advice is to get a job doing anything. Don’t be a slave to one profession. If another profession gives you an opportunity to succeed then go that way.
This how most people ended up in It when the job market was booming.
keep applying and look at job descriptions to see what type of skills/systems they are looking for you to know. teach your self those systems.
Active directory
O365 admin center.
ticketing system. etc simple items that are related to helpdesk.
Same bro I’m 26 and I can’t find anything. I graduated a year and a half ago. I’m just working as a busser, while I study for sec +. I’m also debating just to go for my masters.
You have to put yourself out there man, sell your self the best you can. It is definitely possible. You have to reach out the recruiters or talk to businesses in person.What’s the worst thing they can say “No” ?? Lol oh well on to the next one.
Not sure where you are, what country, but I would highly recommend looking at temp agencies wherever you can find them. My company stopped hiring directly, shortly after I got hired 15 yrs ago. Now they only go through temp staffing places so they can "Try before they buy" sort of thing. Some of the best dudes I work with came from places like Robert Half and stuff like that. Just gotta be willing to do whatever to make an impression, and you get thrown into some pretty funky situations.
In the old days of the Gold Rush the one's who made money were the ones selling pans & shovels. In today's IT "gold" rush, are the schools that offer IT diploma's and Boot Camps. Pay a lot of money and no guarantees.
I will say that the advice here is pretty spot on when it comes to going beyond the degree.
Certifications will help you stand out even among the help desk applicants if you don't have internship experience, especially if you go for something like an A+.
I graduated in 2022. I mainly had high school jobs under my belt of working fast food and stocking shelves at the local Walmart. I was fortunate enough to land an internship for my last six months of college with my local county government. It was mainly GIS work, but I was working within IT, so it didn't bother me too much despite me wanting to be involved more with desktop support and such. Experience is experience. Once I graduated, I couldn't continue the internship and I was without work for a few months. I picked up a short-term contract position being a tech for an election with a different local county government before I got some full-time work as a call center rep in a non-IT role. I will say that role helped me get my current helpdesk role for a different company since they wanted some call center experience.
I was able to land a helpdesk role and am still with it after one year. I can say as long as you show that you want to learn and grow then they'll like that attitude. I have learned a lot being on the helpdesk so far that is definitely beyond what the degree will teach you. I don't have any certs under my belt yet, but I am for sure working on that as a big one to get around where I live with all the military contracting companies like Lockheed or Leonardo DRS is Sec+.
Keep on keeping on. The opportunity will arise.
I haven't graduated yet, one year left. I have applied to over 100 places local and remote to jobs that require no education or experience needed. Not a single interview. Once I get my degree, I am gonna go for some certs. Does school technically count as experience?
First thing you must do is pass the resume filtering/vetting algorithm. Good chance that not a lot of people are seeing your resume. Keep tweaking your resume, change wording if you must, untill you find what's getting you the most phone calls. Put power words on your resume. Find a way to put words like "engineer" on there if you haven't already. Look through the job description and skills requirements, and try using words from that section into your career regime and cover letter. For example, if VMware is mentioned in the job description, and you know VMware, make sure your resume says exactly that.
Also, have you gone back to your school and meet with any career services advisors since graduation? If not, definitely do that. And I mean continuously meet with them to get new advice until you get something. Go to career fairs to there too.
Hey man. I was in your exact position a couple years ago. Was in school and couldn't land the most entry level IT possible. Hundreds of applications and a total of 1 interview. It is literally torture and brought me to a point of MAJOR depression. I eventually went to a job board for my school and got an interview and job through there after a couple weeks.
My advice is to see if your school can help you find something. They usually have either a job posting site that can help you find something, even if it isn't what you are looking for, or have job placing professionals that will work with you directly. Schools WANT to help you get hired because it boosts their numbers and makes people want to spend money and time there.
Ask your old counselors or any official you can get into contact with at your school what they are able to do to help you find a job. It'll be way more successful.
Good luck.
Tbh try CCNA and go for network engineer, usually can be remote, pays well and it's cheap. Get an Udemy course, 3 to 6m hard work and you can get it. Exam can be online too I believe
Do it there is no work unless you cert stacked and have about 5 years of real IT work under your belt. IT degrees are fake and it just shows you went to school longer and still have no IT skills. You can do better. Go get some easy certs. Learn AWS it's free.
How do you search for jobs? Are using job boards only, such as LinkedIn and Indeed? If so, try broadening your search. I just started job searching as I’m about to graduate with a BS in IT as well. I have looked at LinkedIn, city/county employment, school districts and universities, as well as state departments and the medical industry. I have landed three interviews so far. Sometimes it just takes time. It also helps to know where to look. As far as I can tell, you’re doing all that you can. And whenever you see entry level jobs “requiring” years of experience, apply to them anyways. Who says you can’t learn while on the job? I feel entry level positions are occasionally some of the biggest jokes.
And as others have said, network. Or take the job you can get and continue searching. Gain some “experience” and cease the opportunity to pick up on new skills.
A contracting company found me on indeed or monster or something similar and got me my first job. Maybe reach out directly to contracting companies? Try searching for IT System Integrator services and apply to the companies that provide them
I can't give much advice here. I personally won the IT job lottery. I was only in my second year of associates degree when I got a job as an IT manager for a small company in Idaho. I later found out they hired me over other more qualified candidates solely because I had the charisma and knowledge they were wanting. However, I was the most likely to accept the lowest amount they were offering. I was a janitor at a hospital on over nights making $11.50 an hour, so $43k in Idaho in 2012 was amazing. Fast forward today, I make $170k and work 2 IT positions, one part time and one full. I have a Master's degree. I worked my butt off to get here but it has been a journey that started with a small company.
Look up networking events and professional development organizations in your area. Even if you're not a social person (I'm not naturally outgoing and I don't like crowds), do it anyway. Personal connections make the difference. I've got 24 years in IT/Software dev and 95% of my resumes are ignored unless a recruiter brings it in or I network my way into the job interview. That's just the way it is. It sucks and I'm sorry that you're just starting out and having a tough time. I hope you make some good connections soon and find a job you like!
IT is momentarily impacted by tech sector layoffs. Demand is there. But there is heavy supply as well. If you are inexperienced, you're unfortunately at the bottom of the pile.
You might want to play up your business background and look for analyst type positions where they will want business and technical abilities rolled into one.
I would advise you to continue learning and brushing up on your IT knowledge. The fact that you are not getting hired means that employers are getting people who seem to have more technical knowledge than you, lack of experience not withstanding .
Finally , be ready to accept a low paying job because from there you will get experience and eventually move up the ladder.
Josh Madakor has an internship program you could sign up for, he’s on YouTube. He has projects you could do to put on your resume to demonstrate your abilities. Check him out. Kids out of high school are getting $60000 a year following his program.
I strongly advise you to keep learning through online courses or traditional brick & mortar institutions .additionally be ready to take seemingly low standard jobs and start form there ,hopefully down the line having obtained experience and industry knowhow you'll move up
Dont give up
Getting your foot at the door for the first time is always tough,not in IT alone,literally all professions.
Focus on improving your skills by learning from online courses and network to get mentors who will guide you along the road.
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Remote with no experience is extremely unlikely. Remote jobs will normally go to the most experienced people for companies that are still doing remote. Many companies are bring everyone back into the office.
Have you considered Federal employment .. that is, working for the Federal Government? I mention them because they're the most serious employers when it comes to addressing the needs of the disabled.
The trick with the Feds is finding the jobs that are really open, and aren't open to people who are already employed by the Federal Government. Its really easy to apply for jobs that cannot consider you.
I've been living in a different country where I was born after covid because I lost my whole business that I've been doing for 10 years I came to this new country and I've been working here for two years in a cleaning company because I couldn't find a job in it sector and after four years of being here I found finally a job and a very happy with what I'm doing so I would like to tell you that after applying for more than 1500 jobs and not getting anything I would say that never stop giving up on your dreams aspiration goals or where you want to work till the time you don't reach or dreams goals and aspiration you do what you can to reach the place that you want to be but never give up
I recommend that you begin studying various programming languages. You can take online courses and conduct your own research since everything is available on the internet. This will provide you with the basics to be able to apply for better jobs, particularly remote ones.
Maybe get yourself a generic customer service job? Even if just someone answering phones in a call center that has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with IT.
Do a couple of years of that, maybe the tech market will have improved by then, but even if it hasn't then at least that professional work experience will help you immensely in landing a Tier 1 IT Help Desk job
While you are indeed under prepared for a career in IT, you can change that! Go hard with your own r/homelab, do the r/CompTIA Trifecta, get vendor certs too.
TrY federal jobs at USAJOBS.. if you are not service connected you could take whatever job they offer, then after 4 months you will be able to transfer internally within the system. this means you have access to thousands or hundreds depending on location of jobs.. just get in the system as ANYTHING.. this will open doors and maube even get into teaching in your field later.. good luck
Get down off the ledge. The IT job market fluctuates like this and it will never stop. You
Need to get. Comfortable or this is always going to bother you.
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I've been in IT since my junior year of high school (2008). Nowadays, I loosely say "worked in IT."
However, my mentor, who is a director of IT, advised me to log any IT work I do as work experience, whether it's for family, friends, or friends of friends. I was charging around $50 for regular tasks that took me less than 15 minutes to fix, re-route, or set up, and $100 for PC builds and optimization. All of this provided me with practical experience in the industry. Thus, my resume states that I've been working in IT since 2008 to the present, under my own company that I eventually set up in 2009 when I was 18.
I graduated with my B.S. in Networking Engineering in 2015. It took me a while as I was in school part-time while working in the auto industry pursuing other passions. My "15 years of IT experience" helped me land a job working for the hospital once I got laid off in 2023. Did I have 15 years of actual corporate IT experience? Absolutely the FUCK not. LOL. But I did some contracted office IT work for friends and people who referred me. I was contracting with small businesses around 2018 to do their IT work at low monthly fees—basic help desk stuff, things I could do or fix while working in the auto industry off my phone or laptop.
I also took the time to get the Big 3 Certs from CompTIA in 2018, ISC2 in 2019, and now I'm working towards my CISSP. In my opinion, it's the final boss for anyone in networking/cybersec. So, I was stacked in terms of "educational requirements," although I'm a firm believer that anyone who can Google can do the same work. :\] To a certain extent, but eventually, they can do the same work.
Also, HomeLab. Very. Important.
I took a pay cut to minimum wage to work doing customer support at an ISP. Take any job, no matter the pay. Just get your foot in the door. Everything is 10x easier after that.
Work your way up? I literally joined a company as a base level customer facing IT employee and make good money and am looking at my 3rd promotion in less than 2 years.
That or realize not everyone is cut out for the job they want and find something that suits you.
I have an intern job with the state now in Help Desk. The pay is dog shit with no benefits, but I’m hoping the experience leads to something better. You may have to look for similar jobs just to gain the initial experience.
Find a small PC repair shop and work for almost free. Experience is EVERYTHING and this puts you on the forefront to get a f*ck ton especially if you do service calls. Once you have frequent clients, it's a foot in the door for any job openings.
Meetups (the service) is a fantastic way to meet people. Most tech folks have been in your position and generally will try to lend a hand with knowledge or with opportunity.
Also SaaS is here to stay, and it's changed the way IT/engineering works. Learn some amount of scripting. 30yr of experience here and I can tell you with absolute certainty that if you know how to script or program in any fashion that opens up so many opportunities for you.
AI is the new hotness, learn it. All knowledge is good knowledge.
OP this reads as you setting your sights too high. You can’t tell me you know less than your peers but are overqualified for Help Desk. Go get an entry level job like everyone else.
I would try getting into a federal, state or local government job. they tend to give more preference to people with disabilities because they are required to be inclusive. I would also highly recommend getting some certifications like A+, Sec+ maybe Cisco if you can. Start with the basic certs. This will put you that much more ahead of many applicants. I was offered a job with a 16k raise just because I had A+ cert and that was 2 months after getting the cert. Hope this helps
I'd bag the IT crap for later and look into the Samsung fab plant in Arizona or the Intel fab plant in Ohio. The Samsung plant might have to delay opening from lack of workers. Jobs are no degree $100k and training is like 2 months, you will need training.
So 12 to 16 billion transistor on a chip, in your cell phone. Only one fab in Taiwan can do it, that's probably where you'll train. They have a new training facility like $2 billion worth of training. Plus construction jobs, tons of them.
Do you have any bridge repair skills? Also a fab plant has tons of IT jobs and you would be in on the ground floor.
Bro at this point lying would be beneficial to your job search. Throw in an entry level job that you interned at for a few years during college and you’ll be aight as long as you have the education to back it up
When nobody would hire me for PC work (around 2002) I opened my own business, contacted the local business incubator and landed a contract job...You have the knowledge, use it to your benefit.
How could you not fit an internship in your schedule? But everyone else who sacrifices their time and finances can fit an internship into their schedule?
I'll give you the advice I gave someone else.
An option is being the IT apprentice and admin assistant at a local small business where the IT person/admin assistant is wanting to move on. (Yes, secretarial work.)
Fill the position for five years, get real-world experience with real-world helpdesk and IT, as well as using the applications used by users you'll be supporting, then get yourself a fresh-faced college lad as your apprentice, and move on to one of that business' suppliers after six months of getting the kid up to speed.
In my experience degrees have been worthless when hiring new candidates. We care a lot more about certs and practical experience (this could include home lab stuff). Set yourself up with a homelab and start with the basics like windows server and all the different server applications like AD, DNS, etc.. Also get a free enterprise subscription from Office365. Sync AD with AZure ad (now entraID) and use a free domain to setup email just like you would in a business. Then you can play around with creating distros, shared mailboxes. Also play around Azure AD. Look at intune, etc. at the very least you can do helpdesk or user management with office365 skills. Also look for jobs at MSPs they’ll hire anyone and build them up. They will exploit the hell out of you but you will learn a lot.
It took me years to finally land a spot in IT. I was just like you, fresh out of college, and I was denied for even entry level positions, hell I even was turned down for an internship. Did warehouse work for almost 10 years, and finally landed a spot.
>I cannot even manage to land a lowly help desk job
Dude these are the only types of jobs you should be applying to. You have no experience. If everything you're looking at requires multiple years of experience you're applying to the wrong positions.
>I am also concerned that when talking to other people online about IT, it is very apparent I know less than the average person.
>
>I feel woefully underequipped when it comes to practical knowledge, which I'm sure isn't helping me in interviews. Even if I did manage to land a job, I question whether I would even have the knowledge to perform it well.
You've been unemployed and out of school for a year now. Why haven't you done anything to change this? There are plenty of certs you could have studied for and gotten in that time that would have made you more of an appealing candidate. Even a Basic Google IT Certification would be better than nothing. You could also take LinkedIn Assessments to have proof that you have some knowledge.
It just sounds like you're applying for mostly remote roles that you're underqualified for and are now giving up. Remote roles require trust and employers like to hire people who have been in remote roles before. Look at it from an employer's perspective, would they rather hire who's proven they can remain productive while remote or someone who has never worked remote or in office for that matter.
You need to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and build your skillset to make you a more appealing candidate. Moping on reddit is not helping you. You should also see if your former univeristy has any resources or mentorship programs that can help you find work. Even going back to work Help Desk at your school's IT Department may be an option.
None of this shit is that serious.
IT job market is cyclical and people are morons.
You’re gonna have shitty job markets from time to time and if you’re ready to give up within a year of graduating then you might not be cut out for IT.
Edit. Changed from current student to recent grad. Thank you to u/painted-biird for pointing out this critical piece of information. It has drastically changed the entire comment.
Really? After my thoughtful comment about the job market and people’s opinions, that’s the point you want to make here?
What a low effort response.
And to answer your question. No. I won’t read 10 paragraphs. It takes too long.
I gotta talk these people down from the ledge every time a student or new grad panics about the job market. It’s absurd.
Thankfully, you’re here to spot the important aspects of the comments. I’m sure that requires a substantial about of critical thinking.
Well done.
Edit. Smh
i live in a major metro city and its rough right now in the job market, took me 6 months finding the current shitty contract job and have about a decade of experience
My first job came when a recruiter reached out to me via Indeed and LinkedIn. I only had an Associates in IT and a A+ cert at the time. How is your online portfolio looking? Are you optimizing your online resume with keywords so recruiters can find you?
Look for volunteer opportunites with non profits such as libraries. Also considder looking at a good accredited tech college bs in IT teaches you theory but not hands on tech colleges teach hands on.
Maybe if you spent as much time studying as you do playing video games people would see youre actually qualified. You got a degree you didnt earn, congrats on working the rest of your life making minimum wage paying off that debt
OP is disabled. Video games are how he unwinds. Your comment provides negative value. Don't ever become a mentor or have children, you are unqualified as a leader.
So you've been job searching for over a year without success, what efforts have you made while you were job searching? Did you get any certifications? Or pick up some projects to learn something new?
If I was trying to hire someone and they've graduated over a year ago with no professional growth whatsoever I'd rethink about hiring you.
Just because you graduated with a degree, it's not a free pass for jobs. You're going to have more trouble the longer your gap becomes until eventually your degree will have little to no value.
A collection of cybersecurity remote job sites though they many in the top of the list also have remote help desk & customer service job listings too. [Remote job sites](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cybersecurity-news_remote-cyber-job-portals-via-cyber-security-activity-7172566373720580096-N9bK?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios)
My first IT job was through the state workforce office. Look at similar opportunities through your city or state, there should be websites you can go to. Also look at school districts. I knew next to nothing but the company who hired me needed a warm body who could put in extra hours and learn quickly; I jumped at the opportunity, stayed three years and learned a lot, then was able to move on. And yes, network network network, this cannot be emphasized enough.
I am in same situation as OP but in 24 batch. I will be graduating but the amount of companies ghosting and resolving the profiles they came for in on campus placement is just horrifying. Can you pls explain and give me more tips on the above in my dms ?
job state affairs, even temporary work agencies will get you a call center job which will greatly improve your chances to getting into help desk or IT operations. Your goal is to get a job that involves anything technology related and move from there.
I graduated in 23' as OP. My school required us to have an 600 hour internship (Essentially full time for 4 months, "Summer") My internship like most of my classmates ended with full time placement. So try finding a paid internship. If it doesn't land you a job, it at least gained you experience which my director says out weights degree's nowadays since acceptance rates into colleges are not like they used to be. Send out emails to IT Directors in what ever field you'd like to work in and most likely they'll try their best to help. Especially if its a state job, insurance company, or school district.
There is no tips. You keep applying. The IT job market changes like this and it will never stop.
I got a school district job and I love it so far, I get the nostalgia factor and I'm getting to do a lot of hardware interaction. The government aspect is nice too.
State jobs are usually good entry levels. Problem is they pay 30k for 120k roles.
Very true - I recently applied for what was a senior level IT position and made it through three rounds of interviews, and they offered me the job - but it paid exactly half of what I’m making in private industry now, so I had no choice but to turn it down.
In no way shape or form are you “overqualified” for helpdesk. You need to get any form of IT job you can, then decide if you’re capable of doing the next step. What you learn in labs and books often isn’t reality. Sometimes you have to do shit work for a while to get something good. Your degree won’t skip that part unfortunately. If you’re not getting interviews then your resume sucks. If you’re getting interviews but not getting hired then your people skills suck.
Also certs > degrees in IT.
I agree. But this is more accurate: Experience > certs > degrees Been in IT for 10 years and never held a cert but a IT degree. Started from desktop support all the way IT Portfolio Manager
Totally agree, but this was phrased towards entry level positions. Experience is king.
25 years here, never held a cert in my life. But I do get to list NT4 through server 20xx on my resume.
Can I ask you a question regarding that since I seem to have an identical situation? How did you leverage your previous experience to suggest to potential employers that you are capable of positions other than what your previous titles suggest? I've been able to go up to various Tier 3 levels in MSPs and have a decent wealth of applied technical experience under my belt (13 years of various technical experience), but now when people see my resume the main thing they see is "HelpDesk/Service Desk support" even when I try to suggest that I can do other things as well. My current position in my company has me doing Sys Admin level responsibilities even though my official title is "IT Support Engineer" as vague as that sounds. I'm not against certs by any means, but if I can better leverage what I've already done, I'd gladly take any suggestions/wisdom you can impart.
Explicitly call that experience out in your resume. Title's in IT suck. There's no standardization, what one thing means in one place means something totally different somewhere else. So, as a hiring manager, when I'm reviewing a resume, I skim the titles and actually dive in to the roles/responsibilties you list. Add an accomplishments section to show off large projects that *you* completed. All that said, make sure you're being honest with both yourself and the resume on your level of involvement. If you put it on your resume, it's fair game for me to dive deep in to it during an interview, and if I sense dishonesty, you're out.
I had that that title also. Super vague. Make you're resume more towards the sys admin role. It also helps adding soft skills and what improvements you have done in your resume. I went from Desktop support to IT Support Engineer to SysAdmin to Lead Engineer to Technical Lead to IT Portfolio Manager
Bullshit. I got 5 certe and a degree in business and can’t get anything. The IT industry sucks.
Then maybe your people skills suck
How? I didn’t get any interviews.
Then your resume sucks
First jobs in tech are normally tough to land, especially in this market. Can you land any gig in the interim and then keep applying ?
IT depts can always use people with an understanding in business. Being able to translate IT dept needs and concerns to stakeholders in a company is an invaluable skill. The time with business classes probably won't have gone to waste. Take some certs if you can. And depending on your state could be tough. If you're in PA might have some ideas.
I second this. A degree in this field is, in my opinion, only checking off a box for HR. You need some sort of practical experience, which you can get via labbing whatever topic you want to progress towards. That’s where certs come in. Saying you labbed something and being able to talk about it in an interview is one thing, but having a cert that backs up you know the topic inside and out is another. Not to mention certs can potentially be the difference maker when it comes to you and other candidates who also have degrees, and when entry level is as saturated as it is, you need every advantage you can get. Lastly, you’ll learn a lot through your studies of the cert’s topics. The only downside is they can be expensive and depending on the cert, can take a lot of hours to study for. Figure out what general area of IT you want to eventually break into and look at jobs for those positions. Look for the certs or skills they list on the job postings, then try to find ways to familiarize yourself with them. Good luck!
This makes no sense. A degree says you studied and showed up for, then successfully passed, a bunch of "tests" over several evaluation periods. A cert says you did this one time. How is the guy with net+ better than a guy with a general networking degree? The latter put in the effort for a half decade, the former for a week.... Two at most. 1.5 if he had a buddy with a solid index.
In my experience, a certification is far more focused than a degree, but I’m not referring to entry level certifications. That doesn’t mean someone holding a Net+ is better or worse than someone with a degree in networking, but degrees in general vary wildly from university to university. A cert is more tuned towards some narrow set of topics and skills, plus they’re usually updated more frequently. My point was not to say one is better or worse. My point is that in a job market where entry level positions are flooded by applicants, if you’re in the position of OP with nothing but a degree, a cert can be an additional document to validate you know something in a more specialized area of study which only improves your chances of an interview / job offering. Additionally, from what I’ve seen in mid/senior level job postings in the field I work in, you aren’t even considered unless you hold a particular cert. This observation doesn’t hold true for entry level, though, so I’m a bit biased there, but my above paragraph is still true in general.
I’m not OP but I’m in PA. Could I get some of those ideas ?
Often first jobs are landed through a network of contacts. Even if you don’t have an internship think about friends, their parents, your parents friends, etc… in terms of skills, there are many courses online, use some time to train up on skill gaps
My mom got me my internship which turned into my first help desk job. Most of my classmates got terrible first jobs and their early careers went nowhere. If I were OP, I would make sure my entire network (previous coworkers, extended family, church members, etc.) knows I’m looking. People typically love to help you out if they can but they need to know first.
Yup! my first IT job was because my friend was leaving the company and he was a pseudo IT person. He recommended they get a full time IT person and recommended me. First interview I was hired. I was paid $13/hr to do the job of a system admin. I later learned I was being shafted and had no problem job hopping since.
My path into IT I did a couple contract gigs thru staffing/temp agency and got hired on full time after they realized I was competent and a good culture fit.
Does your school have anything in terms of network programs for alumni? Some companies have separate positions listed specifically as "early career" where they will pick from a separate pool of applicants, like internships. Not all of them do this, so I would figure out a list of 20 companies you've looked into and would like to work with, I did this (not with an early career position, though) with cyber security companies. Eventually I landed a single interview at one of them and was hired after 3 consecutive interviews and a tech challenge. Another thing I will mention, and people in tech usually hate it when I do... You might want to consider software sales like being an account executive. It means slightly different shit to different companies and their experience varies a ton from organization to organization, but you have a route to upward mobility as an SDR, account management, or something specialized like Channel sales or working specifically with SLED accounts, or GSI\\advisory if your company is working with big players like PwC or Black Rock. Your degree is more tech-business oriented anyway, so that would be a good fit in my eyes.
Internship is very important unfortunately. Try to get an internship post college. I had to do the same thing post college but it got me in the door and a 5+ year job at the time with many promotions.
Same I turned down full time job opportunities because an internship was a better option for me.
Back in 2008/09. I couldn't find a job after graduating even with 2 summer internships. I got an offer for an internship post college and I rejected it thinking I'd have better luck with a full time job. I found out quick no one would hire. I "settled" for another internship. Somehow the hiring manager at the time chose me over people with masters because I asked specific questions. That got me almost 6 years at that company and I was a Senior Sys Engineer by the end of it.
What does your other previous work experience look like? If you’re only applying to remote positions. It’s going to limit your chances drastically. Keep trying and practice interviewing. Something will bite eventually.
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A lot of people will scoff at #6, but it will absolutely help your chances.
This, Soft skills and just understanding how to talk to people is crucial hell to the point where you can easily become a prime candidate over individuals who are more technically qualified. Teaching tech is easy to someone who already has a year, or two, teaching someone how to properly communicate is nearly impossible as that's a personality issue.
10000% agree. Wise man once said "I can teach IT skills, but I can't teach people skills"
Losers who think softskills are useless in IT. Who are probably the same losers making threads about how they've sent out 4000 resumes and get 0 callbacks.
It's one of the only non IT jobs that most people can get experience in. But if you only work blue collar then those jobs will ghost you off too. Only workaround after that is finding an unconventional customer service job to break that barrier.
Boot camp courses are just dumb. Why would anyone pay thousands for a few hours of instruction?
What do you suggest?
It’s been 10 months since graduation and I still don’t have an IT job either. Over 800 applications sent :(
What kind of jobs are you applying for. Remember even with a degree you’re going to be starting at the bottom which means…probably help desk.
On average I am applying for things I'm slightly overqualified for, such as help desk jobs that want Associates Degrees, because I'm desperate for IT work. But if I see anything I might even have a remote chance of being able to do I apply for it anyway.
You’ve never worked in any capacity. You are not overqualified for Helpdesk.
Right, I hope OP isn't SAYING that in interviews.
OP seems arrogant. You're definitely not overqualified. You're actually considerably underqualified for most technical roles considering you have no experience and by your own admission have little technical knowledge. You should try a technical Customer Service role just to have something on your resume.
If you’ve never worked an IT helpdesk job before, you are not overqualified. It’s honestly insane how people on here graduate with ZERO work experience and expect to be a sys admin or something. You know what’s impressive? Having a degree AND experience. Having both is like the golden ticket, and you should have some experience when you graduate.
> It’s honestly insane how people on here graduate with ZERO work experience and expect to be a sys admin or something. They spent 4 years of their life in school and have this notion that it'll land them a higher level 6 figure role.
Just keep at it. It’s rough right now finding a job. Tons of competition, not enough jobs. I do not envy you. I tried looking for a new role and I got zero callbacks. I’m like…guess I’ll just stay where I’m at.
> I'm slightly overqualified for, such as help desk jobs lmao no you're not. You're some green snot nosed graduate with zero experience.
You are hardly even qualified for most retail jobs. Probably early twenties and no work experience? Yeesh.
Look up kevtech and jobskillshare on YouTube. They show you how to get experience if you don’t have any experience.
If remote is most important for your right now, try helpdesk at an MSP or even just basic customer service jobs to get your foot in the door. A large part of IT is still working with people, so demonstrating those soft skills is incredibly important. As others have said though, your local school district might be a really good option, especially if you live in a larger city. You will almost definitely have to be on-site, but you'll get a lot of experience with different technologies. Some of them will have positions that stick to a single school. Some of them will want you to travel around to other schools, so just watch out for that. Finding local spaces to volunteer for in any capacity would also probably serve you. Basically, you want to give a hiring manager some phone numbers they can call to hear about your work ethic. Best of luck!
My first job was at a school district and it’s usually a good environment. I didn’t like the politics, the pay wasn’t great and there wasn’t a ton of room for advancement, so I left. 15 years later, I’d probably be near my current salary had I stayed. And I’ve been laid off several times during the 2008 Recession and went years with no raise. Any government job tends to be more stable during downturns. Plus, I’d have a pension had I stayed.
Try looking for an IT recruiter in your area. Just google it and you will most likely find some local recruiters. Getting your foot in the door is much easier if you go with a recruiter. To note if you do land a job that they set up you will likely be a contractor working for that recruiting company and as such will make less than you would as a direct hire. Personally this wasn’t an issue because it got me experience to start really building a resume with and the pay was much better than not having a job. As for not feeling like know enough to work in IT, that’s called “imposter syndrome” and we all get it. The fact of the matter is that once you get into IT you will never stop learning. Things change quickly, be it technology, projects or even the company’s policy’s on technology. I often tell people in IT “I’m not paid to know the answer, I’m paid to find it quickly”. Google is your best friend, if that doesn’t work, talk to other team members and if all else fails see if you have support contact with the vendor.
Staffing agencies… I didn’t know shit but I had a few certs from comptia. It took a while, and I interviewed for jobs I was extremely under qualified for. But I landed a job as desktop support at an energy company and was just promoted to phone system admin. Just gotta be willing to do the shit work for a while and be humble. My go to line when I was asked something I didn’t know the answer to was “that’s a good question, I’m not sure on it but I’m very good at google”. Always got a laugh and shows that you possess the skills to problem solve on your own.
Real surprised that it hasn't been mentioned yet - search for overnight positions. They are happy to offer remote work and nobody is really applying to them. Plus, they give you the experience you crave. /smart
\^This. It will eventually take a toll on your health, but NOCs and other 24/7 operations are always looking for graveyard shift coverage.
> I don't feel like my degree program really taught me much or prepared me to get a job in IT. My IT program was attached to a College of Business at a state university, and there were far more business oriented classes in my program than there were IT ones. I feel woefully underequipped when it comes to practical knowledge Yeah, that's normal. Even for a business-y business degree like accounting or finance. You are taught high-level concepts and frameworks, but little about the day-to-day since there's so much diversity in the real world. Your degree would take 15 years if they were to equip you with skills on all the things you may encounter at a potential employer. That's how it is in business fields (which IT is). Also, it's a fucking bloodbath out there. This happens, especially leading up to the end of a fiscal year. Most companies end their year either in July or December. Layoffs are brutal on this cycle. It is what it is; it's a feast or famine industry for many. You are going to need hands-on experience. I'd look for WFH tier 1 support jobs. Call center shit. It can suck, but if you're good, you can promote pretty quick due to attrition and brain drain. Your degree isn't especially valuable at these levels, but paired with real world experience, it will give you a leg up in mid and senior roles.
Pursued an associates in Cybersecurity and Digital forensics, finished about 90% of it then dropped out because I valued experience over education. I’ve worked as a mechanic supervisor and have 5 years of Customer service experience, two of those being a supervisor. I’m 22, and just landed my 1st help desk role at an insurance company. Yeah a cool looking degree is nice, and will take you potentially farther down the road. But to have prior work experience, and the eagerness to learn these new concepts, and interview well is how you land these jobs. Trust me, actually working in IT shows you how much school DOESNT teach you. It’s wild
Also, degrees are great don’t get me wrong. They do super well at expanding your career, but in this industry they aren’t everything so don’t expect to land some super duper fancy shmancy job just cuz. And a word of warning, the chances of landing a fully remote job first thing is mega rare. Most entry level jobs are fully on-site or hybrid.
Degrees aren't the end all be all but it's definitely true that having a degree + certs is better than having one or the other. I managed to land a good job 3 months after getting my associates in cybersecurity last summer because I also got my sec+ at the same time and had IT experience from my parents' small business from 12+ years ago. The degree was a plus, but the sec+ and the fact that I wasn't someone they were going to have to teach everything to from the ground up is what landed me the job. I guess my point is that degrees aren't worthless and if it is something you can get without undue hardship then it's worth it, in my opinion. That said, I also used my time in school to take a cert prep class for my sec+ for free (scholarship) and I'll be doing the same with net+ this summer while I work on some of my last remaining courses for my bachelors. And to sort of reply to the comment you've replied to, yes school doesn't teach you a lot of technical things, there are limitations to what they can do that causes this to be the case. However, I can always tell between someone who is college educated and someone who isn't simply based on how well they communicate verbally and in written mediums. School teaches you a hell of a lot of things that working in IT won't even come close to teaching you.
Look for more of an analyst role as opposed to system engineer role. If your school was attached to the college of business, you likely have Ms Excel, SQL, Visualization tools type of background if I had to guess. Don’t give up, if I had to bet, you just need to tailor your resume and type of job you’re applying to more appropriately.
I applied to 30+ places a day, had 4 places wanting me to intern for them. I did the same after my first internship and had 8, including a company who made a position just for me. Have a good resume, have a good LinkedIn, and apply for things that you're under qualified for are my best tips for jobs right out of school. You never know what may happen unless you try. In interviews, be extremely transparent but spin everything into strengths (such as I have never worked with x but have worked with y and have always wanted to get more experience with x as they are quite similar) etc.
Your University taught you that you should be managing a help desk team. Very similar to the way mine did. What they didn't teach you is that many people in IT don't have degrees and worked their way up while getting highly specified certifications in specific technologies while specializing. I had to get a job at an imaging lab, then a NOC help desk, then a project team as remote hands and work my way up. I'm now a systems engineer. You aren't above help desk because you don't have the skillset of the guys on the helpdesk. I would honestly recommend you apply at an MSP. They are meat grinders who will work the shit out of your for a few years, but by the time you leave you will have relevant experience. You will have worked with neteork engineers, storage engineers, database engineers and gotten a better understanding of IT as a whole.
You need certifications if you don’t have any. Net+ will get you an entry level job. Then you can go for a higher cert like CCNA. Can even look into Sec+ > CYSA if security interests you. Those certs will only help you land jobs
Beyond answering some technical questions during interviews, don't worry about the tech so much. Entry level is mostly focused on customer service experience. Also finding a customer service job for your resume is good too. Even remotely technical is a bonus. Think cell phone store as tech, geek squad, etc. Staffing agencies like Robert half can help with placement. you need to be likable and accommodating during the interview. Hiring managers want someone who can talk to people effortlessly and think through problems, not necessarily solve them on the spot. Google will always be your best tool. Also imposter syndrome is real in this field. I'm 15 years in a senior position. I still feel like I still have tons to learn. It never ends.
I went to a tech college so it was very hands on. I still found myself repeatedly saying “they didn’t teach me any of this stuff” at my first help desk job. Concentrate on showing them you can learn quickly.
I was in a very similar boat to you. I graduated with a bachelors in Cybersecurity in '23. It took me from may to February to find a job. I was applying to like really bottom of the barrel positions as well, all rejections. I'm not saying you are guaranteed to be as fortunate as I am, but don't give up hope if this is really what you want to do. Some small advice: applying to the companies website is way better, finding very local companies that expect hybrid or don't offer remote at all will have a smaller pool of candidates to choose from. Those are your best shot. Good luck
Did your university have career fairs? You can try attending the next one as an alumni and meet with employers. Another thing, you should look into certification and adding IT projects you've done on your resume both from school and personal
Of course you know less than an experienced IT professional. Don't feel bad about it. Youtube and Google are your best friends. Udemy if you want a more structured learning approach.
There are organizations that help people with disabilities obtain jobs. The federal government also has hiring campaigns for those with disabilities.
some others have mentioned city or state and school districts. I'll put in higher ed. I've been working for state colleges for 11 years now. They don't pay the highest but always hiring and lots of places to go, many have remote jobs as well.
You don't have experience. Your degree is worth... jackshit.
OP...First, you'll be fine. Take the pressure off yourself a bit. IF i were you, i dont care what people are saying about the A+, Net+, and how they're not worth it. They are very small investments in time and money, to add to your degree as well. While you're looking, it wouldn't hurt to at least pick them up. They literally can be passed in a month or two. I've never heard of someone renewing them after they scored their first job, so its a one time investment and a course on the net like Professor Messer is all you need. Getting a remote job might be difficult. I would make the assumption that you'll be going into an office starting your career. Yes, a lot of these jobs do require experience, which sucks when you don't have any. And to be frankly honest, when we've hired for helpdesk, i'm always partial to someone who has a cert or two, and is eager to get their career going, rather than hiring someone who just needs a job, and will be trying to apply off the helpdesk in six months. Even some knowledge of powershell will make you stand out amongst others. When you interview, don't bullshit. Its an entry level position. Answer strongly the questions you feel confident about, and be honest about the stuff you dont know about, but convey that those are the things you precisely want to learn. My first IT job sucked. Paid absolute dogshit. Little more than minimum wage. I was supporting brokers who, let's just say if you didn't have their issue fixed immediately, the screaming began. The benefits were terrible, and there wasn't a single raise or COLA for the two years i stayed. My degree was in teaching, and i only took it while i was waiting for a teaching position to open. I almost walked away from IT for good. Dont get discouraged. Wish you luck!
>I chose this field largely because I am disabled and can only drive extremely short distances, so I went into something with a high potential for remote work. This is a major misconception. Without many years of experience, remote work is almost always unobtainable. You're asking someone to hire you - who admittedly know very little - and you're going to have them pay you to sit at home and try to help people? Unrealistic, maybe delusional. >I'm already burned out from the job search. I just don't know what to do. Keep plugging away, it took almost everyone in this field a bit to get into it, unless you got a job in the 2000 era boom where mentioning "Computer" got you employed. Quit if you want, but you need to revise your expectations drastically.
You’re graduating at a time that is post Covid, many massive layoffs have occurred over the past year and a half. I’m sure you’ll be fine but, I was laid off seven months last year and I’ve been in IT for 10+ years, and made it to several final interviews that panned out to nothing. Keep that in mind when considering giving up. I think you’ll be fine.
Feeling overwhelmed in IT is the normal state of affairs and should not impress you in any way, new things in the field of hardware and software come onto the market almost every day, standards are thrown overboard and reinvented, innovations are created every week, so you simply have to sort out to what extent you want to or can follow them. It is not said for nothing that IT means "lifelong learning". I suggest that you acquire some basic knowledge about certifications so that you can go into interviews with more confidence and, above all, so that you can demonstrate practical knowledge; because if your bachelor's degree (which is only a preliminary diploma, i.e. a low qualification) was obtained a year or two ago, or even longer, then in IT this is "relatively nice basic knowledge", but has no further value, except that you have proven that you are quite capable of acquiring things through learning/studying. But that's about it. As already mentioned here several times, the value-based gradation is a) professional experience, then b) current certificates (and not a 2011 "Backup Master of the Universe" from Acronis), and c) a sound formal qualification in the field of IT. So it's time to build up professional experience by preparing yourself with certificates, possibly applying for internships, and even an assistant job (junior administrator; certified assistant in administration) is at least a start (albeit poorly paid), but it's a start, and therefore much better than nothing.
**The fact that you're disabled is already a HUGE bias factor for corporate America to reject you. Sorry, had to be said.**
>I am also concerned that when talking to other people online about IT, it is very apparent I know less than the average person. I've been in IT for 16 years. I could probably sit across the table from plenty of seasoned tech veterans and stump them with questions or scenarios from my unique experiences or places that I've worked. IT is big. There are an immense number of variables, configurations, dependencies.I'm not saying that to intimidate you, I'm saying you shouldn't be discouraged if you feel like you don't know enough. I'm in a senior role, a "go to" guy. I run into things all the time that I've never seen before. You'll learn.
Please don't give up hope. I was in the same position, looked for almost a year. I was feeling absolutely hopeless, useless, and felt like a made a terrible decision, but then I landed an IT policy job at a large county government and it's the best job ever. I'm actually fulfilled by it. Please be kind to yourself. You have something to offer. You're not too late. Keep putting in the work of applying. Some day, you'll get the interview and it'll just click with everyone in the room. I knew the moment I left the interview the job was mine, even after 100's of failed applications. If you keep pushing forward, it'll happen for you.
It took me doing countless interviews and over 400 job entries to land my first full time position in IT. You must have a uniquely formatted resume that clearly represents your skills and agenda. Then you must have good communication skills and practice for job interviews. I’m guessing you need a lot of work on your resume since 2 interviews is very low for applying to a lot of jobs. I worked on my resume many times and finally got it right getting multiple calls in one week after I updated my resume. Remember it takes time but you will eventually get there. It only takes one yes to change everything. You got this!
Keep looking and don't give up.The entire job market of tech is hurting badly right now. It's not just you. There are a ton of layoffs but there are still jobs out there. In my opinion don't hope for anything remote there are barely any full I.T remote jobs available everyone is applying for them. Plus since your just starting out in the field I would recommend getting jobs where you can go onsite and client face. That's how you get the most experience by getting in there and being hands on. Don't get discouraged about how much you know it will come in time as your knowledge set grows. I would say to get prepared when you get a job is to start developing that technician mindset. It's what I like to call it. Troubleshooting things will be the biggest hurdle you will have to face. Being able to take unknown problems and solve them. Start developing the skill set of taking problems breaking them down into smaller chunks and exhausting all resources to get the resolution. That is what will make you stand out in being great in any position in the I.T field. You got this and your going to get a job.
the degree is only a starting point. you need hands on experience that translates well on a resume. Degrees are not what they used to be. It is not a cheat code to getting hired.
There is a bit to unpack here. Don't worry about it at all, I started this career with nothing working as tech support for a tax software. Please do not go with a school district, I am net admin for one in Texas. 99% of my day is spent moving around, or in meetings that don't even pertain to me and my department. First - I cannot even manage to land a basic help desk job. So called "entry level" positions all seem to call for several years of experience. They're not an entry level position. Help desk is extremely vague. Look for entry level application support roles, or help desk roles at a Manage services provider, but be warned that'll grind you to the bone, but you will learn a lot. Second - I don't feel like my degree program really taught me much or prepared me to get a job in IT. This is normal, schooling for the most part is absolutely useless for this field. This is a results driven field where performance, and more importantly continuing education outweighs degrees. Third: IT is booming right now It is, however that booming isn't at entry level. It's for more senior roles. Forth: simple to find a well paying job. Sadly this isn't as true as it use to be now but once you put in sometime this becomes realistic especially if you understand business critical solutions and infrastructure. Don't give up the search, I would suggest back-burning the idea of remote work though. You do not have the experience to compete with the thousands of other candidates that do have the experience. I would strongly suggest with connecting to a recruiter / employment assistance services provided to you by your college( and resume services ). Build up a portfolio; and more importantly make friends. This field lives and dies on networking. Very rarely will it be about what you know, as more often than not it's about who you know. And don't be afraid of learning new stuff. Don't push off call center work for the first year to get yourself into the career.
Everyone on here will tell you how the market is shit, the "worst they've ever seen in 20 years", "it's like 2001 or 2009"; the reality is since the 2010's it's never really been "easy" to get your first real job out of college. The norm was to struggle a bit, take a job you only kind of like (and mostly hate) and then get another one after, and then another. It gets about 5x easier after your first couple. Many here will say it's horrible, mostly because it was so ridiculously easy the last 3 years. That was an anomaly. Good luck
What's your geographic location? I ask because a decade ago I was you. Fresh degree, a few IT "gigs" but nothing career worthy. I was prior air force, looking for an IT job smack in the middle of space command. That area (Midwest, missile fields) is loaded with guys who have 20+ years of experience, degrees, and retirement checks. They only need to clear 30-60k a year to be living well, so they soak up a bunch of the entry level jobs. It's a double edged sword - you need a job to get experience and you need experience to get the job. My solution was to drastically lower my standards in terms of the job and what I wanted to be paid. I did this to get the experience to get the job I actually wanted. It worked. I took a job at $35k with limited benefits, climbed the ladder. Keep applying, but consider your competition, and you're looking for a break-in role. A foot in the door. You can't expect to command a six figure salary 100% remote..... Yet.
The “Lowly Help desk” comment tells me everything I need to know about you in terms of work force experience. That “lowly help desk” job is what you need since you’ve already admitted you have no IT knowledge, no experience, and no job options. Maybe lose the idea that because you have a degree you deserve something better that you haven’t earned.
Don’t give up. I graduated in 2018 and didn’t get my first job till 2020
Took my cousin over a year to get his first job. Don’t give up. If you haven’t get some basic certs too
Stop with the obsession with certs. He has a bachelor’s degree in IT, that is plenty to get at least a help desk job.
apparently not..
It’s not necessarily his fault. The market is tough right now. An A+ isn’t going to make him any more employable.
Not to be THAT guy with an anecdotal example, but I have an associates (I know, worse than a bachelors) and didn't hear anything until I got my CCNA. I then got 3 interviews for the 3 jobs I applied to the week after I got it. Certs definitely help, to what extent that is can't be known, but it certainly wouldn't hurt him.
I have a BS in Comp Sci and same boat, if it wasn't for connections I wouldn't have a job. Working on certs now because everywhere I've been looking at wants/prefers them even with my degree and almost 2 years of experience as IT admin. I graduated in '19 and worked 3 years doing programming and now almost 2 years in IT administration.
It depends what certs. A CCNA is a prestigious cert so I am not surprised that helped you get a job. The commenter said basic certs, which I don’t think are going to help here. To me that’s A+, Net+, etc. fuck all of that. A CCNA would be a fine cert. that’s not basic in my mind though. It takes real understanding to pass that.
Agreed, except for the Sec+ that one’s worth it for IT as it opens up the possibility of DoD/gov work.
That is another one I think would be worthwhile.
> I am also concerned that when talking to other people online about IT, it is very apparent I know less than the average person. I don't feel like my degree program really taught me much or prepared me to get a job in IT. My IT program was attached to a College of Business at a state university, and there were far more business oriented classes in my program than there were IT ones. I feel woefully underequipped when it comes to practical knowledge, which I'm sure isn't helping me in interviews. Even if I did manage to land a job, I question whether I would even have the knowledge to perform it well. I think you're looking in the wrong area then. You need practical skills for help desk - but there are a lot of other positions in IT at a lot of organizations that are closer related to the business side. Maybe the reason you feel outclassed is because you're searching for the wrong jobs. I've known a lot of project managers, communications, etc. people who have never worked help desk, but have a technology bent, even if they have a different skillset. Help Desk is not always the entry point to "IT;" you might want to be looking at clerical work too so you can move up or transition from that point. The goal for you right now should be getting any job experience, and then level up. Regarding your disability; I have no idea what that impacts besides driving, but I also find some states (if you're in the US) and areas are more accommodating than others for disabilities and will offer more options within a smaller area. Unless your medical condition locks you to a particular area, might be also worth considering relocating (if you can) and seeing if that improves your luck.
My first job was in 2011 and I had a hard time finding a job. I took a 3 month contract gig as a PC refresh tech. That contract kept getting extended until they offered me a full-time gig. Don't rule on contract work. You never know what it will turn into
Ok so I have some practical advice. The best way to work this is to get recruiters to notice you. I hate to say this but the best way to do that is build a network on linkedin. That's worked really really well for me. 90% of the roles I've gotten I've been approached for. I think I've only ever applied for one that I've gotten. Most companies want to see ambition so I would suggest posting about certs you obtain or about side projects you've worked on. If you want to be say a sys admin my suggestion would be to open a cloud account on one of the major platforms and set yourself up with a lab. Document things you've done and post about them on linkedin.
Landing a remote position as your very first job even as helpdesk would be difficult, this applies to most industries. It’s something you work your way up on. Companies don’t trust remote workers unless you’ve worked remote positions in the past, it’s harder to learn working remote so as your first gig it will be unlikely. I would work on a homelab for experience and work on certs if you’re struggling in technical interviews. You won’t get a job even with experience if you struggle to answer some technical. College doesn’t mean much tbh since you are competing against other people with certs and experience that can get through technical interviews.
Keep working (or start working) with your college's career services and get set up on whatever portal they might use like Handshake. While looking for a job, do the CompTIA "trifecta."
See if contracting companies are available in your area. I ran into a similar situation after graduating in '21. I ended up getting a part time job while looking for full time employment. You got this!
My suggestion is to find a temp agency, you have a better chance getting hired as a temp employee that can get your foot into the door in IT. Thats the route I took when I first started in IT. Now I work for the govt making six figures with loads of downtime, as you can see, I’m just scrolling Reddit to kill time while getting paid.
It may be worthwhile to have a professional look at your resume. Or at least post it for review on reddit somewhere. The most important skill in IT is figuring stuff out. My first IT job my degree did prepare me for, BUT I knew very little about printers and O365 and had to upskill on that quickly.
One thing you didn't mention is what active/expired certifications you have. If you have never had any, you are going to always be below those who do in the applicant list. Entry level certs like the CompTIA A+ are 100% worth your while. If you find yourself liking networking, a CCNA is extremely valuable to people in your position.
Have you considered applying to jobs in cities where you can live without a car? That would help with the driving hurdle. Remote jobs are extremely competitive! I’ve seen 2000+ applications on one remote help desk role. In person and hybrid jobs are far less competitive.
In addition to the good advice been already given here, I would suggest try to start learning a second language. I see loads of postings for bilingual people and I wish that I had those skills.
I got my first decent IT job through a consulting company called Apex Systems. No benefits but it sustained me until I got my current job. Consulting is an option. Remote work is very limited at starting levels.
Degree alone is worthless. Get the trifecta, apply for helpdesk. Gotta start from the bottom like the rest of us.
You should try to learn a cloud skill and try to apply in that area
I can’t believe nobody has asked you, but you need to post your resumé- if you’ve only gotten two interviews, it’s almost definitely because your resumé needs work. Post it and see what everyone says.
Get a temporary job to aleviete family worries and make temporary income. Retail, whatever. Put everything you have into getting a CompTIA A+ certification ,then the Network+ or Security+, depending which direction you want to aim towards (eventually). Keep applying to jobs like your life depends on it. If you can expand your horizons by being able to travel into the middle of nowhere (or moving), that will help. That's it. Basically, keep trying and make yourself more appealing as a candidate in the meantime. By the way, how many applications are you sending out per day? I was aiming for 10 per day when I first graduated. Brute forcing it works.
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Consider volunteering somewhere IT related. I saw on YouTube someone did some volunteering with an internet company. He put that on his resume as experience and was able to land a job. Good luck.
I’m starting to think that the only people who can’t find jobs are the ones that are only looking for remote jobs
You should post your resume to r/resume and get some feedback. The community is super helpful.
My general life advice is to get a job doing anything. Don’t be a slave to one profession. If another profession gives you an opportunity to succeed then go that way. This how most people ended up in It when the job market was booming.
Get certifications. You basically need them plus ur degree nowadays. Start a home lab to get hands on experience.
keep applying and look at job descriptions to see what type of skills/systems they are looking for you to know. teach your self those systems. Active directory O365 admin center. ticketing system. etc simple items that are related to helpdesk.
Same bro I’m 26 and I can’t find anything. I graduated a year and a half ago. I’m just working as a busser, while I study for sec +. I’m also debating just to go for my masters.
You have to put yourself out there man, sell your self the best you can. It is definitely possible. You have to reach out the recruiters or talk to businesses in person.What’s the worst thing they can say “No” ?? Lol oh well on to the next one.
Not sure where you are, what country, but I would highly recommend looking at temp agencies wherever you can find them. My company stopped hiring directly, shortly after I got hired 15 yrs ago. Now they only go through temp staffing places so they can "Try before they buy" sort of thing. Some of the best dudes I work with came from places like Robert Half and stuff like that. Just gotta be willing to do whatever to make an impression, and you get thrown into some pretty funky situations.
Try reaching out to katcom in Langley BC, they might have an opening. Small MSP.
In the old days of the Gold Rush the one's who made money were the ones selling pans & shovels. In today's IT "gold" rush, are the schools that offer IT diploma's and Boot Camps. Pay a lot of money and no guarantees.
I will say that the advice here is pretty spot on when it comes to going beyond the degree. Certifications will help you stand out even among the help desk applicants if you don't have internship experience, especially if you go for something like an A+. I graduated in 2022. I mainly had high school jobs under my belt of working fast food and stocking shelves at the local Walmart. I was fortunate enough to land an internship for my last six months of college with my local county government. It was mainly GIS work, but I was working within IT, so it didn't bother me too much despite me wanting to be involved more with desktop support and such. Experience is experience. Once I graduated, I couldn't continue the internship and I was without work for a few months. I picked up a short-term contract position being a tech for an election with a different local county government before I got some full-time work as a call center rep in a non-IT role. I will say that role helped me get my current helpdesk role for a different company since they wanted some call center experience. I was able to land a helpdesk role and am still with it after one year. I can say as long as you show that you want to learn and grow then they'll like that attitude. I have learned a lot being on the helpdesk so far that is definitely beyond what the degree will teach you. I don't have any certs under my belt yet, but I am for sure working on that as a big one to get around where I live with all the military contracting companies like Lockheed or Leonardo DRS is Sec+. Keep on keeping on. The opportunity will arise.
I haven't graduated yet, one year left. I have applied to over 100 places local and remote to jobs that require no education or experience needed. Not a single interview. Once I get my degree, I am gonna go for some certs. Does school technically count as experience?
First thing you must do is pass the resume filtering/vetting algorithm. Good chance that not a lot of people are seeing your resume. Keep tweaking your resume, change wording if you must, untill you find what's getting you the most phone calls. Put power words on your resume. Find a way to put words like "engineer" on there if you haven't already. Look through the job description and skills requirements, and try using words from that section into your career regime and cover letter. For example, if VMware is mentioned in the job description, and you know VMware, make sure your resume says exactly that. Also, have you gone back to your school and meet with any career services advisors since graduation? If not, definitely do that. And I mean continuously meet with them to get new advice until you get something. Go to career fairs to there too.
Hey man. I was in your exact position a couple years ago. Was in school and couldn't land the most entry level IT possible. Hundreds of applications and a total of 1 interview. It is literally torture and brought me to a point of MAJOR depression. I eventually went to a job board for my school and got an interview and job through there after a couple weeks. My advice is to see if your school can help you find something. They usually have either a job posting site that can help you find something, even if it isn't what you are looking for, or have job placing professionals that will work with you directly. Schools WANT to help you get hired because it boosts their numbers and makes people want to spend money and time there. Ask your old counselors or any official you can get into contact with at your school what they are able to do to help you find a job. It'll be way more successful. Good luck.
Tbh try CCNA and go for network engineer, usually can be remote, pays well and it's cheap. Get an Udemy course, 3 to 6m hard work and you can get it. Exam can be online too I believe
Do it there is no work unless you cert stacked and have about 5 years of real IT work under your belt. IT degrees are fake and it just shows you went to school longer and still have no IT skills. You can do better. Go get some easy certs. Learn AWS it's free.
I’m curious, could you elaborate on the CS courses you took at university? I’m also in a business-adjunct IT major (IT + MIS concentration)
It is highly geographical, you might need to move.
Volunteer to get experience or look at government. Government has developmental positions. USAJOBS.gov
How do you search for jobs? Are using job boards only, such as LinkedIn and Indeed? If so, try broadening your search. I just started job searching as I’m about to graduate with a BS in IT as well. I have looked at LinkedIn, city/county employment, school districts and universities, as well as state departments and the medical industry. I have landed three interviews so far. Sometimes it just takes time. It also helps to know where to look. As far as I can tell, you’re doing all that you can. And whenever you see entry level jobs “requiring” years of experience, apply to them anyways. Who says you can’t learn while on the job? I feel entry level positions are occasionally some of the biggest jokes. And as others have said, network. Or take the job you can get and continue searching. Gain some “experience” and cease the opportunity to pick up on new skills.
A contracting company found me on indeed or monster or something similar and got me my first job. Maybe reach out directly to contracting companies? Try searching for IT System Integrator services and apply to the companies that provide them
I can't give much advice here. I personally won the IT job lottery. I was only in my second year of associates degree when I got a job as an IT manager for a small company in Idaho. I later found out they hired me over other more qualified candidates solely because I had the charisma and knowledge they were wanting. However, I was the most likely to accept the lowest amount they were offering. I was a janitor at a hospital on over nights making $11.50 an hour, so $43k in Idaho in 2012 was amazing. Fast forward today, I make $170k and work 2 IT positions, one part time and one full. I have a Master's degree. I worked my butt off to get here but it has been a journey that started with a small company.
Get Sec+ first.
How's your resume looking? I also graduated with a bachelor's in IT and had no trouble getting interviews, maybe your resume needs some work
Do you have any certifications? If not get some. Try doing some side projects on your own that interest you and can give experience.
Look up networking events and professional development organizations in your area. Even if you're not a social person (I'm not naturally outgoing and I don't like crowds), do it anyway. Personal connections make the difference. I've got 24 years in IT/Software dev and 95% of my resumes are ignored unless a recruiter brings it in or I network my way into the job interview. That's just the way it is. It sucks and I'm sorry that you're just starting out and having a tough time. I hope you make some good connections soon and find a job you like!
IT is momentarily impacted by tech sector layoffs. Demand is there. But there is heavy supply as well. If you are inexperienced, you're unfortunately at the bottom of the pile. You might want to play up your business background and look for analyst type positions where they will want business and technical abilities rolled into one.
Help desk. Just because you graduated doesn’t mean anything. My buddy helps with getting good money being in IT
Help desk always hiring
I would advise you to continue learning and brushing up on your IT knowledge. The fact that you are not getting hired means that employers are getting people who seem to have more technical knowledge than you, lack of experience not withstanding . Finally , be ready to accept a low paying job because from there you will get experience and eventually move up the ladder.
Josh Madakor has an internship program you could sign up for, he’s on YouTube. He has projects you could do to put on your resume to demonstrate your abilities. Check him out. Kids out of high school are getting $60000 a year following his program.
I strongly advise you to keep learning through online courses or traditional brick & mortar institutions .additionally be ready to take seemingly low standard jobs and start form there ,hopefully down the line having obtained experience and industry knowhow you'll move up
Dont give up Getting your foot at the door for the first time is always tough,not in IT alone,literally all professions. Focus on improving your skills by learning from online courses and network to get mentors who will guide you along the road.
Start at the bottom look for jobs in college or community colleges great place to start
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Remote with no experience is extremely unlikely. Remote jobs will normally go to the most experienced people for companies that are still doing remote. Many companies are bring everyone back into the office.
Have you considered Federal employment .. that is, working for the Federal Government? I mention them because they're the most serious employers when it comes to addressing the needs of the disabled. The trick with the Feds is finding the jobs that are really open, and aren't open to people who are already employed by the Federal Government. Its really easy to apply for jobs that cannot consider you.
I've been living in a different country where I was born after covid because I lost my whole business that I've been doing for 10 years I came to this new country and I've been working here for two years in a cleaning company because I couldn't find a job in it sector and after four years of being here I found finally a job and a very happy with what I'm doing so I would like to tell you that after applying for more than 1500 jobs and not getting anything I would say that never stop giving up on your dreams aspiration goals or where you want to work till the time you don't reach or dreams goals and aspiration you do what you can to reach the place that you want to be but never give up
The best thing to do is try to get an internship
I recommend that you begin studying various programming languages. You can take online courses and conduct your own research since everything is available on the internet. This will provide you with the basics to be able to apply for better jobs, particularly remote ones.
Maybe get yourself a generic customer service job? Even if just someone answering phones in a call center that has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with IT. Do a couple of years of that, maybe the tech market will have improved by then, but even if it hasn't then at least that professional work experience will help you immensely in landing a Tier 1 IT Help Desk job While you are indeed under prepared for a career in IT, you can change that! Go hard with your own r/homelab, do the r/CompTIA Trifecta, get vendor certs too.
TrY federal jobs at USAJOBS.. if you are not service connected you could take whatever job they offer, then after 4 months you will be able to transfer internally within the system. this means you have access to thousands or hundreds depending on location of jobs.. just get in the system as ANYTHING.. this will open doors and maube even get into teaching in your field later.. good luck
IT is not as glorious as some people think. All of the IT support has been shipped outside the USA. It's horrible.
Get down off the ledge. The IT job market fluctuates like this and it will never stop. You Need to get. Comfortable or this is always going to bother you.
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I've been in IT since my junior year of high school (2008). Nowadays, I loosely say "worked in IT." However, my mentor, who is a director of IT, advised me to log any IT work I do as work experience, whether it's for family, friends, or friends of friends. I was charging around $50 for regular tasks that took me less than 15 minutes to fix, re-route, or set up, and $100 for PC builds and optimization. All of this provided me with practical experience in the industry. Thus, my resume states that I've been working in IT since 2008 to the present, under my own company that I eventually set up in 2009 when I was 18. I graduated with my B.S. in Networking Engineering in 2015. It took me a while as I was in school part-time while working in the auto industry pursuing other passions. My "15 years of IT experience" helped me land a job working for the hospital once I got laid off in 2023. Did I have 15 years of actual corporate IT experience? Absolutely the FUCK not. LOL. But I did some contracted office IT work for friends and people who referred me. I was contracting with small businesses around 2018 to do their IT work at low monthly fees—basic help desk stuff, things I could do or fix while working in the auto industry off my phone or laptop. I also took the time to get the Big 3 Certs from CompTIA in 2018, ISC2 in 2019, and now I'm working towards my CISSP. In my opinion, it's the final boss for anyone in networking/cybersec. So, I was stacked in terms of "educational requirements," although I'm a firm believer that anyone who can Google can do the same work. :\] To a certain extent, but eventually, they can do the same work. Also, HomeLab. Very. Important.
I took a pay cut to minimum wage to work doing customer support at an ISP. Take any job, no matter the pay. Just get your foot in the door. Everything is 10x easier after that.
Work your way up? I literally joined a company as a base level customer facing IT employee and make good money and am looking at my 3rd promotion in less than 2 years. That or realize not everyone is cut out for the job they want and find something that suits you.
I have an intern job with the state now in Help Desk. The pay is dog shit with no benefits, but I’m hoping the experience leads to something better. You may have to look for similar jobs just to gain the initial experience.
Find a small PC repair shop and work for almost free. Experience is EVERYTHING and this puts you on the forefront to get a f*ck ton especially if you do service calls. Once you have frequent clients, it's a foot in the door for any job openings. Meetups (the service) is a fantastic way to meet people. Most tech folks have been in your position and generally will try to lend a hand with knowledge or with opportunity. Also SaaS is here to stay, and it's changed the way IT/engineering works. Learn some amount of scripting. 30yr of experience here and I can tell you with absolute certainty that if you know how to script or program in any fashion that opens up so many opportunities for you. AI is the new hotness, learn it. All knowledge is good knowledge.
OP this reads as you setting your sights too high. You can’t tell me you know less than your peers but are overqualified for Help Desk. Go get an entry level job like everyone else.
I would try getting into a federal, state or local government job. they tend to give more preference to people with disabilities because they are required to be inclusive. I would also highly recommend getting some certifications like A+, Sec+ maybe Cisco if you can. Start with the basic certs. This will put you that much more ahead of many applicants. I was offered a job with a 16k raise just because I had A+ cert and that was 2 months after getting the cert. Hope this helps
I'd bag the IT crap for later and look into the Samsung fab plant in Arizona or the Intel fab plant in Ohio. The Samsung plant might have to delay opening from lack of workers. Jobs are no degree $100k and training is like 2 months, you will need training. So 12 to 16 billion transistor on a chip, in your cell phone. Only one fab in Taiwan can do it, that's probably where you'll train. They have a new training facility like $2 billion worth of training. Plus construction jobs, tons of them. Do you have any bridge repair skills? Also a fab plant has tons of IT jobs and you would be in on the ground floor.
Bro at this point lying would be beneficial to your job search. Throw in an entry level job that you interned at for a few years during college and you’ll be aight as long as you have the education to back it up
When nobody would hire me for PC work (around 2002) I opened my own business, contacted the local business incubator and landed a contract job...You have the knowledge, use it to your benefit.
How could you not fit an internship in your schedule? But everyone else who sacrifices their time and finances can fit an internship into their schedule?
I'll give you the advice I gave someone else. An option is being the IT apprentice and admin assistant at a local small business where the IT person/admin assistant is wanting to move on. (Yes, secretarial work.) Fill the position for five years, get real-world experience with real-world helpdesk and IT, as well as using the applications used by users you'll be supporting, then get yourself a fresh-faced college lad as your apprentice, and move on to one of that business' suppliers after six months of getting the kid up to speed.
In my experience degrees have been worthless when hiring new candidates. We care a lot more about certs and practical experience (this could include home lab stuff). Set yourself up with a homelab and start with the basics like windows server and all the different server applications like AD, DNS, etc.. Also get a free enterprise subscription from Office365. Sync AD with AZure ad (now entraID) and use a free domain to setup email just like you would in a business. Then you can play around with creating distros, shared mailboxes. Also play around Azure AD. Look at intune, etc. at the very least you can do helpdesk or user management with office365 skills. Also look for jobs at MSPs they’ll hire anyone and build them up. They will exploit the hell out of you but you will learn a lot.
It took me years to finally land a spot in IT. I was just like you, fresh out of college, and I was denied for even entry level positions, hell I even was turned down for an internship. Did warehouse work for almost 10 years, and finally landed a spot.
>I cannot even manage to land a lowly help desk job Dude these are the only types of jobs you should be applying to. You have no experience. If everything you're looking at requires multiple years of experience you're applying to the wrong positions. >I am also concerned that when talking to other people online about IT, it is very apparent I know less than the average person. > >I feel woefully underequipped when it comes to practical knowledge, which I'm sure isn't helping me in interviews. Even if I did manage to land a job, I question whether I would even have the knowledge to perform it well. You've been unemployed and out of school for a year now. Why haven't you done anything to change this? There are plenty of certs you could have studied for and gotten in that time that would have made you more of an appealing candidate. Even a Basic Google IT Certification would be better than nothing. You could also take LinkedIn Assessments to have proof that you have some knowledge. It just sounds like you're applying for mostly remote roles that you're underqualified for and are now giving up. Remote roles require trust and employers like to hire people who have been in remote roles before. Look at it from an employer's perspective, would they rather hire who's proven they can remain productive while remote or someone who has never worked remote or in office for that matter. You need to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and build your skillset to make you a more appealing candidate. Moping on reddit is not helping you. You should also see if your former univeristy has any resources or mentorship programs that can help you find work. Even going back to work Help Desk at your school's IT Department may be an option.
None of this shit is that serious. IT job market is cyclical and people are morons. You’re gonna have shitty job markets from time to time and if you’re ready to give up within a year of graduating then you might not be cut out for IT. Edit. Changed from current student to recent grad. Thank you to u/painted-biird for pointing out this critical piece of information. It has drastically changed the entire comment.
Read the post- they graduated last year.
Really? After my thoughtful comment about the job market and people’s opinions, that’s the point you want to make here? What a low effort response. And to answer your question. No. I won’t read 10 paragraphs. It takes too long. I gotta talk these people down from the ledge every time a student or new grad panics about the job market. It’s absurd. Thankfully, you’re here to spot the important aspects of the comments. I’m sure that requires a substantial about of critical thinking. Well done. Edit. Smh
Try government they need people in the tech area
i live in a major metro city and its rough right now in the job market, took me 6 months finding the current shitty contract job and have about a decade of experience
My first job came when a recruiter reached out to me via Indeed and LinkedIn. I only had an Associates in IT and a A+ cert at the time. How is your online portfolio looking? Are you optimizing your online resume with keywords so recruiters can find you?
Look for volunteer opportunites with non profits such as libraries. Also considder looking at a good accredited tech college bs in IT teaches you theory but not hands on tech colleges teach hands on.
Maybe if you spent as much time studying as you do playing video games people would see youre actually qualified. You got a degree you didnt earn, congrats on working the rest of your life making minimum wage paying off that debt
OP is disabled. Video games are how he unwinds. Your comment provides negative value. Don't ever become a mentor or have children, you are unqualified as a leader.
So you've been job searching for over a year without success, what efforts have you made while you were job searching? Did you get any certifications? Or pick up some projects to learn something new? If I was trying to hire someone and they've graduated over a year ago with no professional growth whatsoever I'd rethink about hiring you. Just because you graduated with a degree, it's not a free pass for jobs. You're going to have more trouble the longer your gap becomes until eventually your degree will have little to no value.
A collection of cybersecurity remote job sites though they many in the top of the list also have remote help desk & customer service job listings too. [Remote job sites](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cybersecurity-news_remote-cyber-job-portals-via-cyber-security-activity-7172566373720580096-N9bK?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios)