tortillahead wrote: |
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said it was a waste of time and money because there are no jobs right now, and I'll be stuck working at a fast food restaurant the rest of my life. Is he right? |
tortillahead wrote: |
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Oh, and a girl I work with said that I might as well just look for jobs in construction or something with physical labor. |
Both of them are idiots. There are plenty of jobs out there, granted not as many due to the economy. What type of Comp Science work do you want to do? The first thing you need to remember is to look outside of your city as well. There is an entire country... and world out there with excellent opportunities and it will do you good to move around. Don't give up if you see few jobs, because there are certain areas that are IT hot spots, LA, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Atlanta, Orlando, etc... and certain that are not.
Get yourself that Bachelors at a legit university and you should be able to get an internship toward completion. That's one door in. There are also campus recruiting for large companies. Many software companies also hire entry level grads for implementation jobs that on average pay $50,000, but require travel. Implementation positions are typically the hot way in. Great money, benefits, all expenses paid and you get to see the world. Do that for a year or two to get your 2 years or so if your not a programmer.
Lastly, go contractor. One reason people are not seeing many jobs our there in IT is because most companies are no longer higher FTE. There has been a huge shift to contracting for a number of reasons. These types of jobs are typically not available through campus recruiting and internet job sites. Link up with an agency such as Robert Half Technology, etc...
My last bit of advice... don't take your current job for granted... it's not a loss of experience. It may suck... but think of it this way. Learn everything you can at Hardees about quick service operations from business ops and paper work to the point of sale. Do this while you work on your degree... because you can leverage that experience and work for a point of sale company as a developer, implementor etc... and make big bucks from the start. For example you would be a sure hire at Radiant Systems or Micros Systems, to name a few (both of which I've worked for... I prefer Micros). You can also work in IT for a Quick Service or Table Service restaurant company at the Corporate office. So you see there are tons of opportunities out there, you just have to put in some effort!
Good luck!!