IT Professionals

So, are there any other people here working in the technology field? I'm a network engineer for New York City Transit. I have a valid Cisco CCNA certification and currently going for my CCIE.

I worked in the IT Industry for roughly 8+ years. Mostly contracts, worked with large pharmaceutical companies, mainly just performing refresh projects.. replacing/upgrading PC's/Laptops for companies with teams.. unfortunately I switched fields, or industries.. as I am currently working in the "technology" section for a small construction company that installs and services hollow doors and garage doors, it is really just small electrical work and occasional updates. I'm lucky to have sort of learned so much from bouncing around, but finally found my home.
As sloppy as our company is when it comes to efficiency, I am trying to train our "Senior Techs" in regards to electrical work, as we install electric strikes (basically just door locks connected to swipe card systems/ease of access buttons) hehe.
I love IT, I've been building my own computers since I was 12, I'm now 33.. I just finally upgraded to a new AMD Ryzen CPU, 16GB G.Skill DDR4 RAM, and another ASUS motherboard, ASUS makes the best boards, it's a ROG (Republic of Gamers) motherboard... this system flies, I have an "older" Graphics card, it's a eVGA Nvidia Geforce 960 GTX, but it plays all the latest games just fine.
I had previously had a 10 year old AMD Phenom 9850 on an ASUS Motherboard, 8GB G.Skill DDR2 RAM, and the same Nvidia Geforce 960 GTX card. Unfortunately when I purchased the Resident Evil Biohazard game that recently came out last year, then No Man's Sky, and THEN Destiny 2... which all supported AMD Phenom 9850 CPU's during the Beta, Intel had to go ahead and toss some of their nonsense into the games which kept making the games crash... they worked great during Beta, but come release nope. Eventually each Developer of each game patched the game, but I knew it was time for an upgrade... and I tossed my 9850/ASUS M4 series MB into a spare case and gifted it to a family member who was stuck on an i5 laptop hehe..
Sorry I'm not a professional or really know much about the certifications besides Microsoft Certifications. NYCT sounds awesome, we do a lot of work for the Port Authority, nothing really technical. I live in Northern, NJ... we are always working around the Meadowlands, rarely go into NYC... You probably know 100x more than I do.. hopefully I would think that they will pay for your training and certs. Good luck!

I am a software application programmer. I'm old, and have been doing this about 35 years now (yes, before they had personal computers). I've worked with a large number of languages, platforms, and variety of applications over the years (everything from game programming (Hello Activision), to business applications). I have had my own business for the last 7 years, and most of my work in that time has been custom applications for the transportation and trade show industry.
I've never been certified anything really. So I really applaud your success in obtaining official Cisco certifications. You can go far in the network engineering industry. I've programmed my share of switches and routers over the years too, when the job required it.
If I was getting in to the IT industry right now, I think that Intelligence and Security would interest me. I've always been around hackers, code breakers, and it seems to me that they have a lot of fun doing their jobs.
I hope you are still having fun doing your network hardware work.

As much as I love IT, the industry, environment, technology itself.. I would recommend an old school trade.. The past few years I have been working in a metal machine shop part time, a few months ago I begun working as a technician for a large construction company, now I am NOT an electrician, but the stuff we do is simple, just use a meter like a Fluke or I personally have a Vici, we check the volts/watts for certain hardware we have... mostly electric strikes (basically locks on doors activated by FOBS, Keycard Swipes, buttons, etc..) A lot of security companies install this type of stuff and we are moving into that part of the industry doing the equipment installs and maintenance. It's come quite easy to me, I work with hollow metal and glass doors, I am basically a glorified carpenter/repairman lol.. but this industry will NEVER die. We repair doors, hinges, docks, levelers, I don't see those trailers ever getting safer (the drivers rather) as they CRACK into docks and bend/break the docks at shipping warehouses, etc... it's a never ending business, so many warehouses all over, especially upstate NJ/NYC.. so we do well.
Some of our guys stick to simple contruction, to be honest.. me with an impact gun (electric screw driver lol!), or a power drill was where I struggled the most the first few weeks... we focus on a lot of door stuff, closers, making sure weather stripping and brushes are present, repair/replace, etc.. I really enjoy it. I get out everyday, get to meet new people, have lots of positive experiences, we do our best, if we can't do it we admit it.. some electrical stuff, especially the security stuff connected to IT.. like how many times or what times people swipe in... we do not have access to that section of the industry.. in fact it's a completely different industry, most likely the one you just mentioned 🙂

Yep, until they replace everyone with robots, most all of the old school trades are absolute necessities.
Even around the house, it is really a big money saver to be handy. I can only imagine how much I have saved over the years by doing the auto repairs and home maintenance like painting, plumbing, landscaping, and limited electrical work, etc, over the years. It really adds up!
But, I like doing the work. It is a refreshing departure from my 'Mind' work during the day.
I have a neighbor that is retired now. He can only operate a screw driver! He and his wife actually spend hundreds of dollars each month on maintenance stuff.
I was lucky because my parent(s) were patient enough to teach me stuff like cooking, sewing, typing, and some of these old school trades.
Not to derail this thread, but think of all of the kids these days that don't get taught anything. In my parts, at 5:00p there are huge lines at all of the fast food drive through's, long lines in every restaurant, and such. Nobody cooks any more! With two parents working full time jobs every day, who has time to teach the kids anything (trades), let alone help out with homework.
Leave a reply
Latest Post: 💿 In Sense Botanicals 📀 CYBER MONDAY SPECIALS Our newest member: Harrykevin Recent Posts Unread Posts Tags
Forum Icons: Forum contains no unread posts Forum contains unread posts
Topic Icons: Not Replied Replied Active Hot Sticky Unapproved Solved Private Closed