Got a haircut, and got a new job

[Tigger29]

Hey guys!  I'm excited about this new job I just got.  Money's been very tight since I lost my job about a month ago.  Computer conked out shortly after and I'm stuck on a backup I build out of spare parts in the basement (450MHZ ouch).  Tried aces high.. I can get a whopping 5FPS in offline mode hanger at 640X480 / 128 textures... needless to say not playable

Been frantically searching for work, outside of the auto repair industry.  Actually got a job last week as a car salesman, but wasn't looking forward to 75+hours/week (basically if they are open, I'd be there).

Got a call Thursday afternoon from IBM HR, from an application I put in three weeks ago (and thought I had no chance at, but 'what the heck').

She asked me a few questions.. then arranged a phone interview Friday morning..  Had 5 phone interviews and one on-site interview, pretty much an all day affair... and got HIRED!  I'll actually be working for Pitney Bowes, under IBM contract, being on a crew of THREE people maintaining the networks and systems of two IBM satellite offices in the St. Louis area (empty offices reserved for use of out of town IBM employees).

I'm going to be replacing a support tech who just got a promotion and they need a replacement hired and trained within the next two weeks.  Bankers' hours, no real dress code, I have two bosses, but they both reside on the west coast (WOOHOO), AWESOME benefits which start immediately, and weekends/holidays off!!!

I'm still in a bit of shock about it.  My "Pitney Bowes" boss liked me so much, he threw away the technical question sheet and asked me only one question, "how do you find out the host name of a printer hooked up through the network?"  I said "I believe 'nslookup' is the command you are talking about" and he said "welcome aboard"!  I told him my main priority would be to make sure we never have to meet, and he laughed and agreed with me and actually said "I wish everyone had that attitude."

We talked about pay and I mentioned that I didn't actually expect to make what I was making as an auto technician and he actually asked "well how about more?"  I didn't go into details about my previous salary, but he offered me two dollars an hour more than the highest range amount the IBM HR woman told me to expect, and not much less than I was making working on cars.

I am just completely amazed at the whole ordeal, and I really do feel as if the employment gods (and AH gods as well) have blessed me.  Drawbacks?  25 mile each way commute on the busiest section of highway in the area, and driving from one office to the other several times a day, however the guy I'm replacing told me their mileage reimbursement plan pays for all of his gasoline, and he lives twice as far away as I do.

And above all that IBM just renewed their contract with PB until Feb, 2007, so I'm guaranteed the job for a year and a half, and even if it ends then at least I'll have some REAL office/IT experience in my resume, a great reference, and a LOT more confidence in what I want to do.  I'm also an ACTUAL EMPLOYEE, not a contractor.  I'll be starting next week, just as soon as they get the results of my "pee in a cup test", of which I have no fear of any problems (I actually just got a call from the car dealership telling me their drug test came back clean, and I'll have to 'let them down' monday)

I just really want to thank you guys.  Your words of support on my "NO MORE AH2" thread helped me through a very rough time, financially and mentally.  I've been unemployed before, but at that time wasn't in this kind of financial hardship.  I'm very happy for my wife, her father, and my father for their words of support and for NOT allowing me to go back to automotive repairs, for my landlord for allowing me to let rent go late a little bit,  and for EBAY who is helping me get a good chunk of change for my automotive diagnostic scanner (which has been in storage for the last two years) and that money will be just enough to get us by until my first paycheck.

Again guys, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.  I really do feel like we are one BIG FAMILY here, and it shouldn't be too long before I can finally afford to repair (and upgrade) my REAL computer, and I'll be shooting down my AH brothers and sisters just like nothing ever happened!  OK OK  you caught me in a lie, you'll be shooting me down, but at least I'll be having fun!

Have fun guys, I'll see you in the air!!!

[Magellan]

Originally posted by Tigger29
I said "I believe 'nslookup' is the command you are talking about" and he said "welcome aboard"!  I told him my main priority would be to make sure we never have to meet, and he laughed and agreed with me and actually said "I wish everyone had that attitude."

Congrats Tigger, welcome to the wonderful world of IT. Sounds like you did better than the last guy I interviewed for an Oracle DBA position. When asked about the details of recovering a database his response was "I can Google with the best of them." Needless to say, he didn't get the job.

[Tigger29]

HAHAHA that's just great!  Well there isn't a WHOLE LOT of IT involved in this.  From what I can tell there isn't much in the way of servers on-site.  The IT portion of the jobs will mostly consist of helping the out-of-towners get their print jobs to work half way across the country (almost always an IP issue from what I've been told).  Doesn't seem especially difficult, and definately not out of my realm of experience, albeit mostly classroom experience.

It's got a small enough involvement that my position will also include mail-room type duties... getting mail into and out of the facilities and keeping their office supply "cubbies" full.. small office type stuff like that.  Really good news, though, is that I'll have access to both IBM and Pitney Bowes online training programs, and I've been encouraged to take advantage of those when my work is slow, and of course I will!  The guy I'm replacing told me that's what got him his promotion... well that and also having contact with people from both companies.

Looks like I'll make a lot of friends and contacts from all over the country here.  The more people I can impress, the better!

[E25280]

Originally posted by Tigger29
. . . of two IBM satellite offices in the St. Louis area . . .

Drawbacks?  25 mile each way commute on the busiest section of highway in the area . . .

64/40 between 270 and 170?  

Ask for flex hours and start early (7 or so) if you can.  Traffic is lighter.  Why more STL employers don't allow that is a mystery to me.

And almost forgot . . . WTFG!  No more blue-collar backpain - Welcome to white-collar brainpain!  Hope you enjoy the new career.

[Dichotomy]

Congrats man  

[nirvana]

Congratulations Tigger!

[Tigger29]

haha E25280.. close.. try Eastbound Manchester to Northbound 270 to McDonnell.

Hours are the same as office operation.. 8am to 4:30pm M-F

I can deal though... there are plenty of alternatives if 270 is backed up... can take Olive to 141 or even to clarkson (I'm in Wildwood)... or 70 to earth city... or 40 to Spirit then over to 109... (I love driving by that airport anyway).  Traffic is going to suck no matter how I look at it, but there's worse things in life one can deal with.  Looks like traffic going home is going to be worse than going there.

Still nothing compared to the traffic we used to have down in Houston TX years ago.  HWY 10 used to be a parking lot.. at 2 in the morning.  I've heard it's a little better now though.

[Grits]

<---Lived in Edwardsville and Collinsville, IL over on the East side from '91-'96 and my Sister still lives in Edwardsville. I went to school at SIUE.

[MIShill]

Tigger, nice to hear good news for a change. I hope this is just one step for you in a climb to many better things.
-MI-

[xbrit]

Makes a change to hear good news
Congrats Tigger

[E25280]

Originally posted by Grits
<---Lived in Edwardsville and Collinsville, IL over on the East side from '91-'96 and my Sister still lives in Edwardsville. I went to school at SIUE.

Edwardsville is a nice city.  Good schools. I am right next door in Glen Carbon.

They resurfaced the Poplar Street Bridge this summer.  That was some bad traffic trying to cross it everyday.  Kicker is, the finished resurfacing job is almost as bumpy as the old surface with all the patches.  But at least you can't see through the bridge to the river anymore.

Congrats again, Tigger.

[Tigger29]

Thanks guys!!!        

I've been waiting close to ten years for an opportunity like this!

Now I get to play catch-up on my bills, just as soon as I start getting paid.

Anyone going to catch the replays of 9/11 broadcasts on MSNBC tomorrrow?

[LEADPIG]

After messing around with home pc's for awhile installing things and tweaking things. How'd you get training with this, sounds like you were working in automotive career before? What were your qualifications, how'd you learn, did you get some type of training from some school so they'd hire you. I'm in college (mech engineering) and need a better paying job i can get quick with some already basic knowledge i have in computers and being a civilian pilot (aircraft are getting increasingly computerized nowadays) i'm already mechanically and scientifically inclined. How'd you learn so they'd hire you?

BTW Congrats

[Clifra Jones]

Congrats tigger, and as Megellan said, welcome to the IT world.

It's not unusual for companies to hire people who have what I like to call "At home experience". I've hired several guys that I knew from various associations that had no real IT experience but had a lot of hands on PC time doing other things. For the most part all of them have worked out great. Far better than some of the "College Edumacated" guys I've hired.

LEADPIG, if you are looking to get into the IT field there are several ways to get training for minimal cost. There is a lot of IT related training CDs available for various prices. If your in College now see what IT related courses they have. There are also many on-line resources available for training.

I used to have a lot of windows training stuff but it is now fairly out of date.

If you are willing to spend a couple hundred $$s on materials and taking the Microsoft Certification tests this will go a long way. Cost to take the tests is usually $125.00 /test.

Check this out if your interested. http://www.microsoft.com/learning/training/default.mspx

If you are looking for a job, check with your local computer stores. A lot of the small dealers who have small business customers are always looking for people who can troubleshoot and fix your basic Windows PC chit. And because cost is a big factor to them they are more willing to hire entry level people.

[Tigger29]

I have five microsoft certifications as a result of a one year IT program I attended.  2000 Server, Network Infrastructure, Active Directory, SQL, and Access.

I had two more planned in order to obtain MCSE (2000 Professional and Security) but my last month of college was a nightmare.  I had just started a new job working 65+ hours/week.  Boss made me work a lot more to compensate for the 12 hours/week he so kindly "allowed" me to go to school.

On top of all that my school had changed ownership, and our "teacher" turned it into a glorified work study, whose orders were "read braindumps until the end of the program... i'll see you at graduation".  That was during our "security" segment which was what I was looking forward to... trying to build "bullet proof" servers, then learning how to hack into them haha.  Unfortunately that never happened.

So here I was... penniless.  Had lost my job halfway into my course because of a meeting I had arranged with a labor union to "get more information" as my boss after 5 years employment had become unreasonable.  I ate up my savings trying to find an IT job during college and eventually hit the point where I had to work.  No time to use my last two "free micosoft test vouchers" from school, and in all honesty no motivation.  I was simply.. burned out.  Took the first automotive repair job I could find and stuck with it until I found a better job as a Firestone Service Manager.

By this time my IT career desire had become a thing of the past.  Fortunately at this time the love of my life had come back into my life and although we've had the "perfect" relationship (and now 1 1/2 years of marriage), it's been a rough road financially.

This last unemployment period of mine came right after my wife finally found employment, so we were still struggling from her being out of work, and MY being out of work just made matters that much worse.  As soon as I start making money we'll be filing bankruptcy.. I'm currently fighting a lawsuit from one creditor, and I'm sure more will follow, regardless of the outcome of this one.  It's just not worth it to pay them anymore.