Job suggestions

[ballerzinc]

Hello OS, I remember being on here in middle school reading about MVP 2004 but here I am graduating from college in May. I go to Temple University, and am graduating with a degree in MIS. I should have a pretty decent overall GPA (3.4 - 3.5) and even better in-major GPA (3.75 right now). I've interned and worked with social media over the past year with a non-profit and a consulting firm. I would love to continue to work with social media in the future but don't need to. I'd also want to work for a midsized or small sized company rather than a corporation.

Although I really love living in Philly, I'm feeling more and more I want to get out and take a chance while I'm young living somewhere new and exciting. I 've been thinking about California, Las Vegas, or even a small city like Portland. I'm just having problems going about this. How do you I land an entry level job in a different city.

I have a decent network to reach out to, but would also appreciate input from you guys. Where in the country are IT people in need the most? Is living in Los Angeles as good as its cracked up to be, is Portland as hip as it seem? Any help/feedback is welcome and any suggestions on career paths is welcomed aswell ( I have a good technical foundation as my major continues to evolve with new trends in information technology).

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Job suggestions

1. IT field is a dying field in the USA, good number of IT jobs are being outsourced over seas to India. But the place to look would be the Austin,Texas area or around the DC, Northern Virginia area or Seattle, WA area. Don't go to California looking for an IT job, they are over flowing with unemployed IT people.

2. L.A is very expensive city to live in, heck the whole state is expensive. 3 of the major cities in California are in the top 10 for highest unemployment rate in the USA.

3. Las Vegas also is in the top 10 for highest unemployment rate in the USA.

4. Where ever you choose to move to, make sure you have some serious money in the bank. Mainly because the odds of you landing a good paying job in a new city straight out of college is going to be pretty darn low.

So don't move somewhere with only $2,000 in the bank thinking you going to land a good paying job within the first 2 weeks you moved somewhere.

Good luck to ya, make sure you have a very good plan, a VEHICLE and some money in the bank.

[ballerzinc]

Re: Job suggestions

1. IT field is a dying field in the USA, good number of IT jobs are being outsourced over seas to India. But the place to look would be the Austin,Texas area or around the DC, Northern Virginia area or Seattle, WA area. Don't go to California looking for an IT job, they are over flowing with unemployed IT people.

2. L.A is very expensive city to live in, heck the whole state is expensive. 3 of the major cities in California are in the top 10 for highest unemployment rate in the USA.

3. Las Vegas also is in the top 10 for highest unemployment rate in the USA.

4. Where ever you choose to move to, make sure you have some serious money in the bank. Mainly because the odds of you landing a good paying job in a new city straight out of college is going to be pretty darn low.

So don't move somewhere with only $2,000 in the bank thinking you going to land a good paying job within the first 2 weeks you moved somewhere.

Good luck to ya, make sure you have a very good plan, a VEHICLE and some money in the bank.

Probably didn't clarify myself well enough in the first post haha. Don't worry I obviously wont just move somewhere on a whim and hope for a break. I'll land a job somewhere and move after the fact. And also, my degree is not really an IT degree, its a BBA , so its more along the lines of jobs like business analyst, project manager, data analyst, digital marketing, and database architect. It's basically the bridge between IT and Business. So I would be open to businesses that aren't strictly technology firms. Thanks for the input.

[Hassan Darkside]

Re: Job suggestions

You actually shouldn't have that hard of a time finding a job in that field. That's what my major is as well and most of the firms are really looking to hire a lot of folks like us. I'm BIT (Business Information Technology), but the field seems to have many different names for the same thing.

You should look at financial firms/banks as well. Does Temple have any job fairs or anything like that? We do here at VaTech and usually have a large turnout, from the big 4 (KPMG, PWC, Ernst & Young, Deloitte), to IBM to Capital One to Neilsen to smaller, upstart places.

I'm not sure about the west coast but I know that a lot of the main offices are on the east coast. Certain places will have you traveling all over the country to work with clients if that's what you want to do.

But if I was you, I wouldn't look to move in hopes of finding a job. I'd find a job first and then move.

[ballerzinc]

Re: Job suggestions

You actually shouldn't have that hard of a time finding a job in that field. That's what my major is as well and most of the firms are really looking to hire a lot of folks like us. I'm BIT (Business Information Technology), but the field seems to have many different names for the same thing.

You should look at financial firms/banks as well. Does Temple have any job fairs or anything like that? We do here at VaTech and usually have a large turnout, from the big 4 (KPMG, PWC, Ernst & Young, Deloitte), to IBM to Capital One to Neilsen to smaller, upstart places.

I'm not sure about the west coast but I know that a lot of the main offices are on the east coast. Certain places will have you traveling all over the country to work with clients if that's what you want to do.

But if I was you, I wouldn't look to move in hopes of finding a job. I'd find a job first and then move.

Yeah have done the job fair thing in the fall and will again come the spring. Definitely a good place for big corporations and accounting firms, which I'll definitely be pursuing and am in the process of pursuing. It's pretty crazy all the different names they have for our major haha, it seems like I always have to explain exactly what it is. Like you pointed out the whole relocation thing may be a moot point if I can find a job that requires a lot of travel, which is something I'd definitely be interested in.

[p_rushing]

Re: Job suggestions

If you want travel, look at consulting. I got a MIS degree and I've loved consulting. When first starting, I knew some people who where "living" at home with their parents and going some where different every weekend. If you want a job where you do something different or work with new people every few months, consulting is great.

Any mid-size or larger company will need MIS majors. The smaller companies though will usually only hire experienced people as they don't have the money or time to train you.

You can go on linkedin and search for the HR department for companies you might be interested in working for. Then start up a conversation from there.