Got Laid Off

[Gadget offline]

Frustration is in the air. This is just mainly for me to vent. So I apologize ahead of time.
Ok before I can go on, First you must know. I am a computer technician. I went to school. I am still going to school, and hope to get a degree in computer engineering. Got my A+, Along with a ton of different certificates. Pretty much I have worked in/on/with every aspect of Information Technology. I love working on and with computers. I love getting called in to a business and told here are all the parts, Build us a POS system, or Windows Network, and when I walk out, there is a system that will allow a business and people to do the work easily. I like the fact that when I am done building a desktop computer for a client, all I have to do is stick the OS disk in and it will fire right up. I have gotten several phone calls from my past computer teachers to help them fix a problem for crying out loud.

Yet I still get laid off. I and 5 other people where I work get laid off. I mean I know I am not the highest on the totem poll, but still. I get called in to the office and my boss just simply says, we are going to have to lay you off, I ask when, and she says today. All I can do is sit there and go ok. I mean there wasn’t much for me to say. No offense to my ex-boss, I mean out off all the bosses I have ever had, she had been the nicest and most easy to work with, But it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t given any warning. It really didn’t effect me when I got laid off to terribly bad, compared to some of the other people who got laid off. A full blown network engineer got laid off to; I mean that was that person’s lively hood. I mean the owner just bought several new cars for the business along with a new “Personalâ€

[TheLQ offline]

As an aspiring 17 year old Network/Systems Technician/Programmer (Have my A+ and going in a week or two for my Net+), I kinda am in the same boat with you. Even though you have a stack of certifications and bounce between a few jobs, experience is really what matters. Certifications are hard to judge a person by because how do you know they know what their doing? You don't know if they can just answer questions or if they can actually do the work. If you don't believe me then let me point you to a question I asked to real Sys admins about certifications:

http://serverfault.com/questions/169501 ... d-a-a-cert

Maybe its your location that doesn't have any jobs. Maybe its because its a collage town and most local businesses are already full with previous students. Maybe your just in a town that is downsizing or going through tough times and businesses only want the best. Maybe the jobs your applying for legitimately need that many years of experience. Who knows.

Why not try and get some of the grunt jobs instead? Look for some IT outsourcing firms and apply for anything they have available. Try anything.

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Either way, it sucks that you got laid off. Its never fun, especially when your my mom who's a single parent supporting two kids. Was off for 9 scary months before being rehired at her old job.

[Tekirai offline]

[quote="Gadget"]Came back a week later and he told me that I had the job. I was very happy to be reemployed. He said come back in 2 days to sign the paper work. I came back and I walked in and he looked straight at me and said, We have decided not to hire you. I force a smile and said ok, May I ask why. And he said “it is none of your businessâ€

[Phoenix Wolf offline]

I feel for you Gadget, I got laid off when I was in High School from a resturant because of all of the cheap labor that they were hiring in from places like Mexico... Not a fun feeling... I am working at the same part time job that I have worked at right out of High School and have been trying to find another part or full time job... Its a tough job but hang in there Gadget and I am sure you will find something you are not alone.

[jym1 offline]

unfortunately, I don't think there is very much job security in anything anymore (except maybe health care). Cheap labor is too easy to find, and with the modernization of India and China, outsourcing is too easy. It's a bad, bad situation...but things will start to look up. Find a job doing whatever you can (you may find that your better off not listing some of your achievements on certain resumes, actually) and hope for an upturn. Did you try looking a bit farther out of town?

[Jazzy Josh offline]

I actually have a feeling that starting in a year or two that companies will start coming back to the US as they see the loss of quality and American consumers start demanding higher quality products. Then again, I may be wrong.

Also, you missed I.T. At the very least you can't outsource good code writing skills, and you can's expect to be able to outsource good SysAdmins.