1

Dear Spiceheads,

I have joined the wonderful community of Spiceworks and the world of IT almost 7 months ago now. Which may seem very little to you, but for me it was huge and still is. As of now I came to a point where I need the help of you guys and gals.

Little background story, so everyone will understand the situation a bit better:

I have joined Helpdesk as a Technician with no previous certificates, but previously I have done troubleshooting and most of the IT stuff outside of work as a hobby. Mostly networking and troubleshooting, so helpdesk wasn’t that big of a surprise. Given these circumstances a job opening came up and I have applied. I got the job with the requirement of acquiring 2 certificates under 6 months of employment. Which I have chosen Comptia A+ 801 and 802. Which is more than enough for this role. Little did I know what the role truly requires beforehand. They have asked me to do a second certificate so that I can end my probation, which will be Comptia N+.

There are several problems with all this, starting with my salary which is compared to any other place with the same position is a minimum of 3K less a year, but still requiring a very expensive set of certificates for a role which they just hired a person with none of the above mentioned as a pre-requirement.

The other problem is my shift timing which is 13:30pm to 22:30 pm with 1 hour unpaid break. Slowly I have started to go insane for the past ~7 months. This was said to be on a rotation, but still no change as of now and will not be any for the upcoming month or so even though I have brought it up multiple times.

I have been applying for every single position for the past month that came up in London, to try and find a better place, with no luck whatsoever.

tl;dr: I want to change my job, but can’t seem to find one.

My questions are to you guys and gals is: What am I doing wrong? Where shall I continue my search? What should be my next step?

I can’t do this anymore as I have no life working like this.

Thanks for reading!

40 Spice ups
2

So they hire you for less than they should and you are required to pay for the certs yourself? Did you go into the job knowing that?

8 Spice ups
3

  1. Instead of looking at jobs out there, go approach companies that you want to work for directly. ** How to do that .**

  2. Tell everyone that comes within 3 feet of you (~1 meter) that you are in IT and looking for your next gig. Maybe even your current boss.

13 Spice ups
(Kurt_Z) 4

Yes, I did know that. Back then I wanted to join IT very badly and thought I must take the opportunity regardless of the certs and costs. Maybe it was a dumb decision, but at least I learned from my mistakes and have a few certs and some experience.

4 Spice ups
5

Thank you for the great idea, I will look into this method!

3 Spice ups
6

Sounds much like you are quietly suffering a quality of life issue that your current work place doesn’t know about.

Since you say you are on probation, have you had any kind of conversation with your boss or hr, at like three or four month mark, about how its going, so that you could bring this up?

From the story here, I can’t tell if that ship has already sailed or is yet to arrive in port.

2 Spice ups
7

Wow, that sucks. I agree that the A+ (though there are 2 parts to it) should not count as 2 certs.

However if they hired you, knowing that you do not have those certs, they should at least pay for them.

While they seem expensive, they are really not. Look at the MCSA, it’s $150 per test ( think they just raised their prices too, ugg) you need to pass 3 test to get the MCSA , which is $450.
They are basically expensive for what you get out of them as they are entry level certs.

Eitherway, crazy they did not pay for them.

I’d keep doing what you do and meanwhile as mentioned, start looking again, I’d try especially hart to get your foot into an MSP job, that will boost your IT knowledge quite a bit.

Good luck!

3 Spice ups
8

Sounds to me like he’s still in the ‘getting started’ phase, you know like the ‘3 months’ in the US or whatever until you are ‘officially’ enslaved, um I mean hired.

2 Spice ups
9

I don’t know how London’s laws and work force differ from the United States, so I’ll just throw out some observations and suggestions:

3k less than what the industry standard is for the position you applied for, is not terrible, considering you don’t have the training for it yet. Working 2nd shift is a bit painful however, and usually there is a pay differential here for working that kind of schedule

It sounds like your first 2 certifications should cover what you were required to get for the position. If you have that in writing, I would ask them to pay for the costs of the extra certification they are asking you to get, since it was not a part of your hiring conditions. (A business requesting you get certifications however can be standard. We required it of a new hire at my last job)

If you have completed your 2 certifications and have that term in writing, ask for the probation period to end, or ask for a review of how you are performing in the position, and what do they see as weaknesses in your position, so you know what you need to focus on.

This one seems obvious, but have you talked to your manager(s) about your situation. If you have a good manager, they will try to work with you, if they can, and can be a great resource.

Aside from that, have two people double check your resume / CV. First a technical person to make sure your details are good, and then a non-technical person so they can tell you if the average non-techy can understand what’s on your resume. Try not to use family or close friends for this, so you get more honest feedback.

Hopefully your situation improves and you can grow in your position, or find a new position that you can grow in.

Best of luck

6 Spice ups
10

I did have a chat with HR and my manager as well. Mentioning all of the above. The only answer I got out of it is that I MUST get another certificate and they just extended my probation by another 3 months.

I am not suffering quietly, I did open my mouth multiple times and got told I have to do what is in the contract and that they will not change it.

Apart from all this I had the overall best performance.

(Wanderer) 11

Wait, they require you to get certs and they want you to pay for training AND tests out of your own pocket? No thanks.

7 Spice ups
12

Given that I live on my own and have to pay my bills and rent with the current salary… trust me it is very expensive.

Will definitely give Hart a try, thanks!

13

There is no difference in pay for the 2nd shift sadly. If there was any, I might re-consider to stay.

The talk with the manager didn’t help as HR has given an ultimate.

I will revise my CV once again, thank you very much for your suggestions!

14

It’s frustrating, isn’t it. You keep getting told that there are all of these jobs out there, but somehow, you never seem to get anywhere with applications.

So here’s my key points.

  1. Know what job you want to do. Apply only for jobs that are relevant; so don’t just apply for anything that comes up. Keep track of what you apply for and analyse results.

  2. Tailor your CV to the job (without lying). They want “knowledge of TCP/IP” then that has to be one of your skills. Yes I know that’s stupid, but if it isn’t on your CV, then you’ll get rejected.

  3. Quantify and qualify everything. How many users do you support, what standards of governance do you work to, have you saved any money?

  4. Call the recruiter, the day after they should have got your CV. If they offer advice, take it. Even if not, you should try and get your name known to them; but don’t spend hours telling them your life history.

  5. Go with what works. If you find a CV format that starts to generate interest, that’s the one to use

  6. Remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time, so you have to stay interested.

Best of luck!

32 Spice ups
15

So, essentially, you were unqualified for the job (cert-wise) and they offered you the chance to complete the requirements while employing you. That sounds reasonable. And because you were technically unqualified, you and they agreed to a reduced salary.

You agreed to have your two prerequisite certificates within six months. You are now 7 months into the job and have not met your part of the agreement - correct?

The company has now approached you and has offered to extend the time you have to meet the requirements three additional months.

You are now unhappy with your work schedule and your salary. You complained to your boss and to HR. And they again reminded you that you have yet to meet the terms of your initial hire.

Do I have that correct?

47 Spice ups
16

One item I’d add to the article is to consider (strongly) tailoring each resume to the company you’re applying to. It sounds like work but it really isn’t as much as you’d think. The tailoring would impact maybe 5% of the resume but that 5% can make all the difference.

Also, write a cover letter. Sounds trite but a solid and meaningful cover letter matters to hiring managers. Companies (that don’t suck) are looking for people who will make a positive impact on their business. This is your opportunity to make a case. It also lets you show that you’ve done your homework and you’d be amazed at the number of people who won’t bother. A nice bonus (to doing homework) is you can start to weed out companies that sound cool but really aren’t that much fun to work at.

2 Spice ups
17

That is all correct.Thus the reason I have asked if I should stay or go.

Firstly my manager approached them with my 2 separate certificates which they did not accept as the deal, so I could end my probation as he did not feel like I need another cert. They have refused.

Thank you for your comment!

1 Spice up
18

Then the first lesson here is that you need to check before you assume something. In retrospect, you could have gone to HR and said, “Will these two certificates complete my agreement and get me off probation?” No matter what they said, the answer would have avoided this situation.

Now, if the problem is that you cannot afford to pay for the second certificate, this is something you could make an argument with HR about. It might not gain you anything, but you could say that the cost of this third cost is a hardship. And then you two can figure out a way past it.

But, until you have met their requirements, I would expect much more slack from them regarding salary or schedule.

9 Spice ups
19

Don’t we all?

I emigrated ( From Germany to the US ) with 21. Very little savings, no job history, no credit history ( that’s a b#$% in the US…) had no real connections, it was tough, but what can you do but the best out of it?
Certs are usually investments in yourself, that help in an 1:1 battle to possibly beat out someone else and might lead to a better job.
Again, MSPs are usually better with paying for certs as they like showcasing how ‘their’ company has all those certs and as technology changes quickly, they want to show they have people who are current with stuff, that’s one of the reasons MSPs are great to start out.
On the downside… the pay will still stay crappy and you are selling your soul to work. lol
Really, it sounds just like you are just getting your feet wet in the adult live. Nothing is free (but spiceworks? haha), you gotta work for it.

Maybe also see if there is a spicecorps close to you, there us usually always someone who knows someone who’s hiring.

12 Spice ups
20

intern-slave-cartoon.jpg

11 Spice ups