Lotta job threads today, here's another (international telecommuting vs. retraining)

So I've survived many, many rounds of layoffs at my current job, including one earlier this year. But the biggest one ever is coming up in March: my office is moving back in with its parents in an attempt to make some redundancies. Chances of me surviving this round are lower than ever, although still pretty good since I have the widest variety of IT skills among the two companies and small pay makes me a small target.

I've been thinking about what I can do if I get laid off, or can work up the willpower to make more attempts at getting a grown-up job again. There are easily less than a dozen IT job openings a year here and most are crappy helpdesk stuff, I've only ever seen one that would be outright desirable (running a climate modeling cluster...had no supercomputer/cluster experience though ). That brings me to the next problem of my skills vastly exceeding my certifications. I'm only well-certified to bag groceries.

Does it make any sense for me to continue pursuing a career in IT or programming like this? I think I might have already been influenced too much by outlier success stories of people in similar situations doing well. Even my boss tells me all the time that I should get bits of paper to prove my skills or I won't make it through any front doors. Right now I've done most of a BSc in IT degree program from way back when (starting when I was 16 probably wasn't smart), got a diploma in IT as a backup when that program wasn't looking doable, then I have a few industry certs and courses, and that's it.

If it does make sense, how can I get a job telecommuting to work in another country? I've heard of a few people who do it, so it's possible, but I've been either circle-filed or thwarted by the spam filter every time I apply for such a thing. Never heard back from any.

If not, I'm thinking something engineering-ish might be worth getting into. Building robots would be a lot more interesting than IT or coding typical business stuff, and it will be the world's last job one way or another I'd think that jobs in that industry would be pretty scarce right now, am I right?

Any other ideas for someone who's good with computers and cars? Today I was the de-facto building maintenance manager and I like that I got to move around a bit

BTW here's the stuff I do now: Linux sysadmin, VoIP admin, programming including web dev, DB admin, photo editing and some graphics design, video & audio editing.

If anyone needs spelling and grammar, I can do those too. Seems nobody wants those skills these days, but they still hire COBOL coders, right?

Can you or are you willing to relocate? I can't imagine there are that many robotic engineering jobs on the islands (Barbados?). Also, it would seem like you could really open up your IT/Web-dev options if you could be on-site somewhere. Lot of those positions available in Atlanta it seems. It was easy enough for me to go through a contracting agency for a couple of years before I found a full-time position doing front-end UI/UX work in app development. My company regularly uses international contractors who are on a work visa so it isn't out of the question.

I would and should be able to relocate to Canada, have citizenship and everything...that's where I've aimed all my long-distance job hunting.

Edit: Should probably be more specific...South Ontario, GTA ideally.

Ah, well that makes it a bit easier then. I guess my main advice would be to not count out working for a contracting agency. You would want to be in a big city for ongoing job availability, but my last contract gig was basically indefinite so there's possibly some stability there. You may not want to do it forever, but it could be a good way to get a job quickly. They're making a pretty penny off of every hour you work so it's in their best interest to get you placed right away.

My Brother in law has a pretty similar background to you - never finished a degree, worked as a sysadmin and eventually security advisor to some small IT companies, and then ended up getting hired by Mandiant outside of DC to do some secretive hush hush IT security stuff.

Seems like that's a growing field, if you have any experience there.

I have plenty of computer security experience, but again no certification.

GameboyRMH wrote: I have plenty of computer security experience, but again no certification.

So get in with a reputable company on any level you can, even if it is helpdesk. Perform well, they'll move you up even without the certifications. Unfortunately, that is the about the only way to get into a new company without the certifications/degrees.

If you like the field and want to stay in it, and there are ample job opportunity on the island (if thats where you want to stay) get certified in whatever is cheapest and will get you jobs the easiest.

If you want to stay on the island, I'd advise getting into the ground level of a large growing company that has lots of jobs you might be interested in. The entry level job could get you in the door, allowing you to transfer internally once your in the company.

Thats my job hunting stragety now. Step 1) apply for jobs I am directly qualified for, if that doesn't work Step 2) apply for entry level jobs doing low paying, cool stuff, with the hopes of moving up into higher paying cool stuff.

Have you thought about getting into hotels, entertainment (concerts with lots of computer involved), etc?

CGI is HQ'ed in Toronto. They made the Obamacare web site, so they must need coders. Well, maybe not. But Toronto is a big IT area, I think. Lots of banks and stuff around there. The lack of a degree in anything is going to be a drawback today. Everyone has a degree and no one has a job. If you could ride out what you have and get a degree from your local university or a major university's online program, that would help you in the long run.

PHeller wrote: If you like the field and want to stay in it, and there are ample job opportunity on the island (if thats where you want to stay) get certified in whatever is cheapest and will get you jobs the easiest.

I don't like working with computers that much. No kind of job opportunity is "ample" here

PHeller wrote: If you want to stay on the island, I'd advise getting into the ground level of a large growing company that has lots of jobs you might be interested in. The entry level job could get you in the door, allowing you to transfer internally once your in the company. Thats my job hunting stragety now. Step 1) apply for jobs I am directly qualified for, if that doesn't work Step 2) apply for entry level jobs doing low paying, cool stuff, with the hopes of moving up into higher paying cool stuff.

There are companies here that are large, but none with the other two Also low pay around here means you'll barely break even over the costs involved in going to work, if you take public transport. Owning even one car would put you deep in the negative. Sadly what I'm making now is better than average and I'm trying to keep it that way.

PHeller wrote: Have you thought about getting into hotels, entertainment (concerts with lots of computer involved), etc?

If anything unusually high-tech is needed at a concert, the staff and gear would be flown in. Hotels open once or twice a decade but they don't need much IT staff, and competition for other jobs at hotels is fierce.

So that's why I'm looking at telecommuting or straight-up getting a job elsewhere, possibly in a different field.

I'm not big on degrees, but they won't hurt. At a minimum, though, you'll need extensive IT certifications to get in the door. Joining user groups for the technologies you're working in is a great way to network locally.

You seem to have plenty of knowledge/skill/experience, would would make Microsoft(and comparable) certification relatively cheap for you. While certification is not always important to potential employers, it's usually very difficult to pass the certification exams without extensive real-world/hands-on experience. So it could be a good way to demonstrate your abilities, and probably much quicker/cheaper than pursuing a degree(which you could always do later).

I think that without a degree (which I also agree are not all that great, but the lack of one is even less great) that a pile of cert's is probably a good thing. MS Certification is big. Whatever flavor of coding you do, having a cert in it should get you at least an interview.

I also think you'll have to move off the island. Can you still say "Eh?" Do you like white ice crystals falling from the sky?

Have you looked at clinical coding? not writing programs, but reading a chart and filling out the clinical codes for billing and other documentation purposes.Wiki

I think that you can take short and cheap online courses to get the certs needed to start. Most of these people are managed very simply by how many 'charts' they close in a day, so if you are dedicated you can knock out 2x what someone in an office with distractions can (or work half the time...). Not exactly 'exciting', but I believe that most US healthcare organizations will let you do it on a remote basis, esp if you can work odd hours and are ok with a slightly-smaller-than-white-collar-US-job salary.

Dunno if its vastly more or less (don't mean to insult if so) than what you make now, but it seems to me it might be a perfect thing for someone with EXCELLENT english skills who lives in another part of the world.

I would be looking at different skills like bartending and coconut bra making before I moved back to somewhere with cold weather.

That clinical coding is interesting, if it's a job that lets you work at your own pace, that's something I could do on the side at the very least. I might be ninja-coding some medical charts right now Average US white collar pay is positively ballin' by local standards.

I actually missed getting an MSCA by 1% on one exam before I decided to stop throwing more money after it. The problem is that passing the exams requires extreme rote memorization and I have a terrible memory. For example you have to know the exact titles of various buttons and menus in the UIs of different programs. I can't remember that for the programs I use every day. Most other exams I'll get through fine.

The weather around here isn't all puppies and rainbows. It's uncomfortably hot almost all the time. There isn't much daylight - at this time of year, it feels like barely 12 hours, the sun rises not long before I leave for work and sets just after I get home. In the middle of the year you might get another 2 hours at most. That sucks. Then there's a whole season of rain. You can't shovel that E36 M3 away or brush it off of things. The only sport it enables, on rare occasion, is wakeboarding or kayaking in the street.

Winter's not a terrible price to pay.

Oh and I'm not cool enough to be a bartender, and coconut bras are woefully underutilized

I would keep working on the certs. I work for a very large company and the certs definitely help set you apart.

In Canada, you aren't getting a job without certifications or degrees. You need paper to back up your experience skillz. At least, this has been not only my experience, but what I've seen from hiring/HR.