[Sussex] An odd question....

[John Crowhurst]

My experiences have been interesting. Left school and went to college, got
my HNC, about the same time I got a job in London working technical
support for an ISP.

After 3 months, I had left them and went to a different ISP as tech
support, then became their Systems Administrator, with my first exposure
to Linux.

After working for them for 15 months, I was laid off as the ISP started to
fall apart at the seams.

I then went to Demon Internet and stayed with them for 3.5 years before
leaving them (mainly due to working 12 hour shifts, but also I fancied a
change)

I made the mistake of changing field and going into telecoms (they lured
me with VoIP training, which I never received). When I say mistake, it was
an American company that refuses to give references for employees in the
company. This of course makes it impossible to get a job.

Looking at the job searches, it seems you need the following skills:
* Experience in everything (even the prehistoric server types)
* A Degree
* Certification with everything
* A clean driving licence

It does seem that there is a widening gap between those with the
"Certificates" and those who can't afford the courses. Employers seem to
have the attitude that if they train you in house, then its cheaper (and
without the certifications, you won't have the option of going elsewhere)

Be aware that every jobsearch puts you in touch with bean counters in
clueless Employment Agencies, who simply look at your CV and pattern match
very poorly - if you don't have all of what they are looking for, you have
no chance of a job.

--
John