I will be retiring a little over a year and thinking about going back into IT. Anyone have first hand experience of the job market in Fort Worth, TX? I got Microsoft Certified in 1999 (MCP, MCSE) and have an associates in computer systems. Although I have not been an administrator since 2002 I have been involved with computers since then. Any military friendly employers in Fort Worth?

I thought I would give this a bump. I would also like to hear from anyone that works in IT that hires former military.
Thanks

When I was running our company, I made a point of trying to hire ex-military. I also had several people placed via a voc rehab program for the VA, and our guardsman. Our company was a computer reseller.

quote:

Originally posted by NavyDental:
I thought I would give this a bump. I would also like to hear from anyone that works in IT that hires former military.
Thanks

I live in Dallas but work in the Mid-Cities area in IT. I am not in a hiring influential position right now but have been before for IBM and EDS and I can give you some quick insight into what you posted so far. Dave_M has my EMail if you want to talk offline about this.

My quick read of what you posted:

MCP - Nice to have but by itself and from 1999 doesn't stand out. In fact, your problem with that date & IT is hoards of less than qualified folks entered IT in 1999 and 2000 for the Y2K bug and your competing against their old resumes and old resume bullet points in part.

Administrator post 2000 - This is good but still kind of far in your past.

What I would do if I were you? You need to pick a field to emphasize. I see Navy Dental in your profile, do you have any Medical IT experience? If so can you add to what you have via community college courses? Medical and IT is hot right now.

You have to demonstrate to a employer that your serious about civilian job force re-entry even as a recent veteran you need to do this. The biggest way you can demonstrate this is shelling out a little money and attending a community college to brush up with one or two courses. If Microsoft is your forte, your in luck they have Computer Based Training you can buy at most bookstores for your home PC and it is self paced. This is how I learned Excel Macros and Visual Basic for Applications and how I started to learn VB.NET. Learned it from books I bought locally and uploaded a training compiler to my PC. Then took a Microsoft Certified course at Community College here. I CANNOT emphasize this enough. If you have no record of recent training or learning on your own, a employer looks at that as a lack of motivation or a sense of entitlement on your part that you'll want the company to train you.

This is what you have to do even if your Active Duty. On the Microsoft side....what interests you? Administration? Then SQL Server, IIs, or something similar. If programming then I recommend C#, or VB.NET.

Point is that you have to research this yourself by attending Microsoft conferences and talking to folks employed currently (networking), attending a Community College (more networking), floating your resume now and interviewing now even if your Active Duty. It does not hurt to interview now over the phone just for the practice or to obtain information from perspective employers.

Use the Dallas Business Joural Book of Lists to find contact info, call or Email a contact and setup a informational interview. Be polite and spend 3-5 min on the phone or write a brief Email informing them what you want to find out about what skills are marketable, etc. Research how to do a informational interview on your own. Lots of employed people willing to help you out here.....trust me. I was laid off in 2001-2002 and was shocked at all the people that were willing to help me just by me being humble and asking.

Here is the thing with Veterans, most are passive and wait for the job market to come to them or wait until they have left the service to start the job search. You've expended a lot of valuable time by that point. You have to put forward effort here. Think of everyone as caring about you as a service member (this is true) BUT at the same time extraordinarily busy and worried about their own employment (also true at the moment). So approach the job search with those two assumptions when you ask folks in class or at user conferences, when conducting informational interviews, etc.

So hope this helps you out.

Another good source for IT input, local Java Users Groups, membership is free and you can Google them on the Internet to see if any in your local area. Good FREE way to learn about Java and network with people that are employed.....and ask them questions. Dallas has a kick azz Java Users Group.

Also, stay away from the contracting firms that try to hire new people at these events, stick with the plan of trying to find a steady job. Contracting is only something you should consider as a very last resort.....very last resort.

Thanks for the reply. I actually forgot about this post for a month or so. Lots of good info here.

I think once I retire I am just going to go to school and work on upgrading my MCSE and use up this post 9/11 gibill money.

quote:

Originally posted by NavyDental:
Thanks for the reply. I actually forgot about this post for a month or so. Lots of good info here.

I think once I retire I am just going to go to school and work on upgrading my MCSE and use up this post 9/11 gibill money.

Thats good because IT is becoming more and more age neutral. It's getting to the point where they actually prefer older folks to folks just out of college.

Still you need to offer experience or certification to differentiate yourself from a new college undergrad. Even if your in the Armed Forces you can work part time on small projects to get experience.