Macwire,

I blame the "Cheap-O" Software Companies for a lot of this!
I am referring to the companies that brought in a whole bunch of "Green" Software Nerds, threw them into positions where they had to write stuff as quickly as possible (to get the finished product out the door and on the shelves ASAP) - else they would be replaced; and these poor EEs never really got the structured internship they needed!

All apparent (or hidden) bugs were simply ignored (no Beta testing, or very limited beta tests) with the idea of making patches when the problems arrise (an effective but hinky method of beta testing - using the general public / purchasing customers to find bugs!).

Since the "Mad Dash" for the general public to have a computer has been reduced ("I Need A Computer, NOW!!!"), it's time for the sweethearts in the HR department to downsize!

I really feel bad for many of the IT persons that jumped into the field between 1998 and 2001! They never realized what they had instore, or just how much more training they needed!
Now they are either jobless, or trying desperately to keep from being part of downsizing - all while trying to pay back the tuition fees for learning 1/2 of what they needed!!!
[Linked Image]

One very common example would be people taking the MCSE course.
Not very much mentioned to these people that they need more than just the certificate of lab completion ("Paper MCSE"), so they leave the course with ideas of landing a good IT job and making at least $15.00 / hr to start. Instead they end up formatting hundreds of H.D.D.s each day, or entering data to spreadsheets (if lucky!).

Can you tell this is a touchy subject for me??? [Linked Image]

Anyhow, with your abilities you should be OK in the Electrical Construction field. Again, you will need to start at the bottom and learn as you earn (for at least 5 years), by which time you will be confident enough to tackle stuff on your own!

If your IT training / experience includes anything relavent of Net Geeks (Administrative, A+ / MCSE "Paper and Hardware", CNA / CNE, Cisco geek, etc.), that would be a good benefit for LAN / WAN system design and installations!

You can also help tweek a few workstations, and make some friends! (if you have any hands-on experience with computers, you already know that! friendships increase proportionally as computer errors increase! A very Linear relationship between friend and faults!).

Scott35 S.E.T.

Scott " 35 " Thompson
Just Say NO To Green Eggs And Ham!