Get the experience you need

Let’s review a bit; you have your college degree in IT, or maybe you went the certification route, took your classes and passed your tests. Now you are ready to interview for your dream job and what do they tell you? “These degrees and certifications are all very nice, but we are looking for someone with a little more experience”. So if they are not willing to give you a chance to show what you can do how do you get the experience you need? The answer to this is a temporary job. According Break into IT with Temporary Work from Monster.com, temporary jobs offer a number of advantages for the person that is looking to break into the IT field. Number one, temporary jobs give you the ability to ‘test the waters’ to see what you like (or don’t like) about different job environments before you commit your entire life to a company. Maybe you don’t work well in a cubicle farm because you long for the wide open spaces that a team environment may offer. Working ‘Project’ or ‘Contract’ jobs (another name for temporary) give you the opportunity to experience different facets of the IT world. Another advantage to a short-term job is that you get the opportunity to see how things work for real, not just in the academic world. I don’t want to shock everybody; some of the methods described in books are not what you may end up using in the ‘real world’. This is the kind of experience that companies want you to have. Of course all of the good news has to come with a touch of bad news as well. If you need a steady income, or need to be making a certain amount of money, temporary jobs may not be for you. If you have some experience and like the constant change that a contract job gives you then you could stand to make $40 to $150 per hour for your services; without the experience, your going rate may be much less. If you are still interested in seeing what is available in the way of contract work you can talk to you friendly neighborhood staffing agency to see if they have anything that you may be interested in. if you are one to do things yourself, look into a website called www.sologig.com and see what projects are available in your area. However you approach the situation, temporary work may get you the experience that companies are looking for and you never know, you may find that perfect job along the way.