I wanna know how to get one of these damn jobs; I currently play with shit like Proxmox and high availability clusters at home just for a laugh, and because I enjoy it; but with no formal education - and I’m making peanuts at work rn. I wish I could break into this somehow.
Find a decent MSP and grind there for a few years. It’ll suck but you’ll touch a ton of different environments in a short time, and get exposed to all sorts of broken things.
Are even MSPs hiring? Seems like everyone everywhere is getting laid off without respite.
The one I work at is, but it’s a smaller operation with about 250 clients, from 4 separate offices.
These guys claim to want a degree, but really will take a warm body:
https://careers-tierpoint.icims.com/jobs/2572/operations-technician-i/job
The pay is still peanuts, though.
Find someone (online) that can guide you. Make sure you do all the work though, and just let the senior put you KB the right track and only help you with things you’re really stuck at. That’s one way to get the experience you really need
How do you go about finding the mentor sort of person? I’ve never been able to develop a relationship like that online.
One way is LinkedIn, another would be to ask for a mentor in a small online community where everyone have a shared interest. I think the most safe bet however is to do this through the people you already know, they might know someone who knows someone who could take on the role of a mentor.
First, was the layoff WARN compliant? The tldr is if 500 or 33% (whichever is less) people were laid off then you were required to receive either a payout of at least 60 day’s wages or a 60 day notice. Second, assuming you weren’t completely fucked by your company with that barebones requirement, what is the separation package? That is a major factor in how I would proceed.
If the package is substantial enough to live on for a while, try to slim up your budget a bit overall and treat yourself a little in the moment before looking for work. Keep a consistent schedule, and pick up some interests and active hobbies. Set aside at least 2 hours per day for submitting applications, and at least another hour per day on other tasks related to job searching.
Don’t let this time be miserable though. Make sure to find ways to relax, get outside, volunteer to a cause, get involved with community organizing, work on a personal project, whatever you feel is worth your extra time. There are a lot of ways to enjoy yourself without a lot of money, like going to your community library.
Not a mass lay off. Our department had 7, now they will be down to 2 or 3. I did get severance, they want me to sign a don-bash-the-company agreement. I really don’t blame them, I know they were struggling. They did give us paperwork for unemployment.
probably thats just the department not the whole company, because he said our department.
A few tools that I’ve seen come up which look interesting:
I’d recommend running your resume through ats tools.
Everyone is telling you to take a week off but I have never really had that option myself. I do think you should prioritize making sure you are signed up and jumping the hoops for unemployment. I would like to prioritize the job search right away but again the hoops you have to jump for benefits make it unfortunately a secondary concern. After that primary is resume and professional online prescence. That whole time sending resumes should have been secondary and now it becomes primary. I like to sorta prioritize contract positions because I can keep the search up during them for what I really want and extend my unemployment if its a bumpy ride. I find tech to littered with serial unemployment myself so if this is your first time you are either very young or very lucky.
Don’t panic.
Take a moment to re-asses yourself, your wants, your needs, and why you’re persuing your specific niche and whether or not you want to change it up.
Take your time in this, or at least as much as you can afford to.
Be kind to yourself, and be honest with yourself if you want more from your personal life and less demand from work.
You as an individual matter more than a job. Your connections with your family and your friends matter more than a job, too.
I wish you all the best and hope you find a new, better job as soon as will benefit you the best.