Before Leaping Into a Tech Career, Open Your Eyes

Ijaz Hussain recalls the day with a mixture of relief and exhaustion.

After 17 years in the retail industry--the last bit spent managing a Giant Food store in Northern Virginia--Hussain realized he was no longer satisfied. So late one summer afternoon in 1997, he took a personal inventory and decided that he was ripe for a move into the technology sector.

Unlike many people who leap into the IT workforce without computer experience, Hussain eventually found a full-time position. But, for three years, Hussain and his wife and daughter scraped by without health insurance and other benefits while he took courses and learned on the job.

Hussain used to get up mornings and drive to an unpaid internship where he installed and repaired computers, eat his lunch in the car on the way to a part-time job in the computer labs at George Mason University, and then stick around to take night classes. A few evenings a week, when he didn't have courses, Hussain would pick up a four-hour shift, then go home and jog.

"It is doable but it was very difficult," says Hussain, who now works as academic computing labs coordinator at GMU.

@Work talked with Hussain and other career shifters about getting a foot in the door in the IT industry. Despite the job seekers' diverse backgrounds and interests, a few common threads emerged from their experience.

* Make sure you--and your family--understand what you're getting into. Moving into the high tech arena frequently involves a pay cut, at least until newly minted techies work their way back up the career ladder. The sacrifice involves more than just money. The long hours spent in class, at an internship, or practicing new skills eat away at time that could be spent with friends and family.

"I don't think you should just jump into a technical career because you see lots of money and everybody else is doing it," says Christina Fredette, who studied English in college and then worked at a law firm before jumping into the technology field. "Talk to as many people as possible. The more you talk about it, the more you realize what's important to you."

* Figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are; then, find a job title that suits you and your experience. Decide whether you're fueled by interactions with other people or if you prefer to work alone. Computer technicians and network analysts can spend an entire day without contact with others. But people who sell or market hardware and software products, or who manage IT projects, thrive among large groups.

Remember that if you're moving to technology from another career, one of the easiest ways to sell potential employers on your transition is to use the skills you already have.

"If they've been in retail, they could try looking in the retail organization they're working at to see if if they can get some experience in IT and trying to transition within their company," says Ellen Fancher-Ruiz, a career counselor at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale.

* Be aggressive in pursuit of your goals. It's not enough to talk about your plans, or even to absorb the lessons in an introduction to computing class. The most successful career shifters find their own internships or cooperative education programs, persuade professors and more experienced colleagues to serve as their mentors, and present themselves in job interviews as polished communicators.

* Understand that finding an entry-level technology job can be a long haul. The rhetoric about labor shortages in the IT industry does not extend to starter jobs, says Trentwell "Pete" White, marketing coordinator at the Northern Virginia Regional Partnership, a technology training group. It can take months to persuade a hiring manager to take a chance on a candidate without much hands-on experience. Plus, chances are your new job will have more to do with the work you've already done for other employers than the pricey certifications you've spent years attaining.

Sending out electronic resumes and posting to online job boards are reasonable job search strategies, but most candidates find jobs through personal connections with former co-workers, friends, and people they've met at networking events and technology conferences.

And be prepared to bounce around a bit until you find a secure job. Consider the path of one @Work reader, who spent thousands of dollars on training before landing a job at a local outpost of Qwest Communications International--only to get a pink slip a few months later, when the broadband telecommunications firm merged with U.S. West.

"Now I'm back to square one," he writes.

Flow Chart

Washington Gas Light Co. has created a pipeline for its 140 information technology staffers.

The utility company is putting the finishing touches on a new chart that shows entry-level staffers the kinds of experience and knowledge it takes to move ahead in the organization.

For instance, the chart advises help desk specialists, who are hired with about six months of experience, that they'll need to spend a year in the job plus snag some certifications to move up one level in the company and collect a fatter paycheck. Top-level help deskers need to pass Cisco Systems networking exams under the new framework.

"This gives us the opportunity to sit down with people and say, 'This is where you are. Where do you want to be? This is how you get there,' " says Wilma Kumar-Rubock, the company's chief information officer.

Kumar-Rubock says the program will help Washington Gas be more flexible in how it responds to high-tech employees. But just as important from a worker perspective, it lays out a clear path for promotions and salary hikes.

Send tips, gripes and your impressions on punching the virtual time clock to Carrie Johnson at johnsonca@washpost.com.