#ITCareerQuestions #BlameGame #CareerAdvice
🤔 Have you ever noticed how quickly people on IT career forums jump to blame the OP for not trying hard enough to break into the field? It can get pretty negative and unhelpful at times, right?
💡 Here’s a thought – instead of pointing fingers and making snide remarks, why not offer constructive advice and support to those seeking help? Let’s make these forums a positive and educational space for all aspiring IT professionals.
✅ Possible Solutions:
– Offer actionable tips and suggestions based on your own experiences
– Encourage networking and mentorship opportunities
– Focus on building skills and knowledge rather than tearing others down
Remember, we’re all in this together to grow and succeed in our IT careers. Let’s lift each other up instead of bringing each other down! How do you think we can create a more supportive and encouraging environment for IT career discussions? Let’s discuss! 👩💻🚀
” I have seen people saying this on posts where OP has a degree, a job, multiple certifications, and 500+ applications that they must not really be trying”
I spend a lot of time on here as well and have never seen THAT take. Usually it’s someone that comes on saying “I’m making 90k in marketing right now and got a wild hare up my ass that I want to be in IT. I built my own gaming PC back in 2012 so I think I’m qualified. What do I need to do to get a 100% remote 150k/yr cybersecurity job and never have to talk to anyone else in my life ever again.”
That and people who are “interested in doing IT” but so disinterested that they couldn’t be bothered to do a google search. I don’t really care, but I definitely understand when people get called out for it.
Yeah, I have to agree. I mean, I don’t see too many condescending responses, but I see a ton of, “your resume needs work, you’re not applying to enough places, you need to get those numbers up!”
There are jobs out there, but it’s a shitty market – like, worse than I’ve ever seen and I lived through the dot-com crash. Today, more people are applying than there are jobs available. Anyone who’s taken economics knows that this means that worker requirements go up, salaries go down, and some people simply don’t get hired – even if you do everything exactly right.
So you are the kind of guy that wouldn’t tell your friend that their zipper is open… But instead give some fakeass positive reinforcement to try better next time. People need to hear the truth in order to git gud.
Sorry but there are tons of lazy posts in the sub – and lots of us that legitimately want to help. I’ve tried to put it nicely but many of the folks who use hyperbole when they are looking for a job actually do need a wake-up call to the bait they use and how they are using it.
I’m a little guilty of this but it does get pretty repetitive
My thing is how many times can you say the same thing? I’m sure for frequent visitors like myself it gets tiring seeing the same post about wanting advice to break into IT. They all say the same thing with slight differences. The answers are all same as well. Have the answers been negative? Not from what I’ve seen, mainly a couple of the same dudes giving advice. Not really seeing the negativity you are talking about.
I’ve been on this sub for years and haven’t really come across what you’re describing. Generally people here try and give solid advice to those looking for help (despite the fact the same question has been asked thousands of times prior). I’ve never seen someone shamed or discredited for asking for help.
I think a lot of actual solutions and good advice are missing from this sub.
**Expectations**: Nobody should submit 500 applications in their lifetime. High volume means low effort. Apps and resumes should be tailored to each job listing. Resumes should be reviewed by professionals if they aren’t receiving responses. It takes a tremendous effort.
Apply for fewer jobs by looking at listings that make sense. If one has no experience, the apps should go toward the very entry-level jobs, or even sub-IT jobs that build customer service and basic troubleshooting skills. It is very unlikely somebody will get a remote job and make over 45K to start. I see that expectation a lot.
**Networking**: Knowing people always helps, and everybody can do this. I know so many people that find jobs in their network, and we always reach out to each other when positions open.
Find a niche, if possible. I am fairly confident that I will be interviewed for every job I ever apply to if it is within my niche. This is because there are few of us in this niche, and anybody with experience here is highly valued. I have mentioned here before that, at a minimum, new IT job seekers should be getting to know the IT staff where they work (or study) and expressing interest in working with them.
**Social skills:** They are skills that have to be developed. I suspect some need a lot of help here. In my real experience, those that have struggled in social skills and advancing in IT are often unaware that they lack social skills, or are actually smug about it.
I find it interesting that a fair number of individuals don’t seem willing to acknowledge it’s a really tough market and that the onus is completely on the candidate. I agree you should do all you can to help yourself, but the least we as a community can do is recognize the market is incredibly bad currently to the degree that there isn’t much we can do. In which case, its worth investigating how it can recover (I’ve heard once interest rates go down)
Tough love is still love brother.
Helpful, positive answers in /new/ also get downvoted immediately, a lot, for no reason.
I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone call another a loser on this sub… but I’m also not watching 24/7. I think people just offer their genuine input because, as we all know, the job market is saturated and everyone wants to get in. No one’s situation is special, there are probably another 1,000 people in that exact situation and they’re saying “hey I have/don’t have x, y, x too and I can’t find any entry level roles”.
I’ll put it in this analogy, think of xyz stock in the stock market. Before a stock takes off there are people that do their research, decide to invest, and buy in. Then all of the sudden the stock takes off and you get flooded with people saying “oh I made this much of the stock and I bought early” and others saying “I just got in and already made this much!”. Anyone seeing that is going to want a piece of the pie, so naturally they will be drawn to invest. Now you see people asking “should I invest in this stock”, “This stock is really good, should I switch to it after I’ve invested x amount in a different stock”, or even “I just completed an investment bootcamp by some random jackass saying I can make $100k after 3 weeks, why can’t I find a stock with that return?”. In the end, people who bought into xyz stock will tell them “well the price is high, maybe it’s not the greatest time to invest” or “you should probably start with a smaller stock, because the investment may not be worth the return”.
You cannot fault people for giving someone a reality check. People get lucky, people started ealier, that’s literally just life. In no way am I saying that anyone should call someone a loser, or to give up hope, or to tell them they CANT to do it (I literally got called a failure in the school system out of college) because thats just wrong and everyone should at least try. But when people in a similar situation or people actually in the field tell you “hey, that’s probably not the best approach” you can’t chalk that up to someone tearing another down.
Sometimes the juice isn’t worth the squeeze and all of that.