This has to be stated. I must say, I never thought I would have this much disgust for what I see being done in an industry. There is corruption in all works and walks of life to be sure, but what I just went through is a different animal. Maybe I've been shielded being in the healthcare industry my whole career. I've been heavily involved and interested in technology since childhood. It wasn't a new passion by any means, nor was it something I stayed away from. This is the tail end of this journey.
As a teenager, I was always into modifying and fixing my computers and gaming systems and peripherals. I had an old Dell PC in the late 90's that I got for free and began to use game making software on. I eventually got rid of the PC but didn't salvage the hard drive, as I didn't realize that was something to do back then. I went on to own Sega Saturn, Sega DreamCast, and XBox 360, all of which I repaired and enhanced on my own, and for others who had system failures. Broken disc drives, and faulty controllers, I was able to restore. I even got CD's that were severely damaged, to work again and made it a hobby of restoring some abandoned games. I was proud of that kind of work.
Years later, I got the Chinese Dingoo Unit, which was a portable emulator, and I downloaded 3rd party firmware onto it and modified the operating system with the help of a friend. I was then able to play all types of games on it. Moving onto my biggest project, I began taking training in game programming in my spare time and learned some coding. I programmed 3 games with the help of tutorial classes while working on my Magnum Opus album. They were included in the massive project, along with other content on an enhanced CD.
It was some time before I got back to that kind of work, but throughout the years I was working with networking and software troubleshooting at the various jobs I worked at hospitals. Then, all these years later, I decided that I wanted to fully immerse myself in the IT world. I put it off various times due to the cost of school. It was by chance that a program was advertised early in 2021 for a Google sponsored program that would take you through an entire IT course with no tuition attached. It only required a membership to Coursera. I was very intrigued and started the course. It was quite involved and I put the work in to pass the exams and get my certificate in April of 2021. Before, during and after the course, it was advertised that upon completion, you would receive college credits, assistance in job placement from Google, and the ability to merge that certificate with the CompTIA A+, if you go on to achieve that. It all sounded like a tall task, but I was game.
After completing the course, I spent the bulk of my money on review books, getting ready to take the CompTIA A+ exam. In the meantime, I had completed an AWS CCP course, and passed the certification exam, which many people fail time and again. At that point I had 2 certifications, but I knew I would need my CompTIA A+ to solidify my efforts. I looked for jobs, but got no traction. All the while, I was hearing about people who were coming from off the couch, or labor careers, with no IT knowledge at all, beginning to work for AWS, Google, and in hospital IT departments. I was very curious about this, and that's what made me apply early, to get something entry level. I noticed that I would see many jobs require certification, and a few that required nothing, but preferred experience. I already had a leg up on the average person coming in from scratch, yet I received rejection letters incessantly. I focused on my exam, and after taking the 2 difficult cores to the exam, I got my certificate for CompTIA A+. I went to Google to ask about my credits and my dual certification that was promised. Crickets......No one at Coursera, Google, or CompTIA knew what I was talking about. After several service calls, I was directed to a page that stated exactly what they said in the beginning- that the dual certificate was to be given upon completion of both tasks. There were no instructions, and no leads. The service rep even told me to go to the class forums and ask around there. These forums were abandoned and for classwork. I was extremely insulted. I opened a ticket with Credley, the company who hosts the certificates, and got no response at all. After sending a letter to CompTIA as instructed, I was given more dead end assistance. Then I was told by an IT associate of mine, that the CompTIA A+ means nothing. He stated it's just something for you to be a help desk worker at a base level job. Yet, what I find funny, is that most IT professionals, including him, are petrified of the exam, and how difficult it is to pass, and avoid it like the plague. And at the same time, many people still flood into the field with nothing more than interest, while I have knowledge and credentials and am walled out.
Apparently, this field has a great deal of favoritism, that has seen numerous people with no skill enter into the field, while certified workers such as myself are told we don't qualify for these exact same positions. This really disappoints me, because the field is appearing to cheapen itself for the sake of alliances. It really shows you the world we live in. I just value the knowledge I've learned and take this as a lesson. It's a bitter pill to swallow nonetheless. If there is any takeaway, it is to be warned about pursuit of higher learning, if you expect it to be as advertised. Often, to get where you want, it's about who you know.
To give further context, I'll share an example. I applied for several positions, including some in the medical imaging field, where my credentials are specifically tailored, and in those few instances, I got a call from a recruiter promising an honest look and a call back regardless of the outcome, followed by an eternal silence and refusal to respond to emails. In the other positions, they were almost all listed as base level, and requiring no skill-set, willing to train, but viewing technology credentials and skills as a plus. I have those skills and credentials and experience to back it up, yet I was emailed one or two days after applying to each and every one of those positions, and thanked for my interest, but told they'd be looking elsewhere. The verbage of the emails seemed to state that they would rather go without than consider my application at this time. That is more than just being beat out by other applicants. That's a hard stop based on something that clearly has nothing to do with my credentials. They should be ashamed.
All in all, to be straight up, I love technology, and I always will, and I mean it when I say I love solving technical issues and building projects from the ground up. I truly feel it is a rewarding area of study, and it should pay off monetarily. You just have to be prepared to make your own path these days, as I am in the process of doing. The law of reciprocity is dead.
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