'General Geek' Seeks Employment?

March 28, 2008 7:54 AM

I'm a general geek. I.e. I can do basic HTML, CSS, JScript, PHP, etc. I'm proficient in Photoshop, but by no means an expert. I'm the hardware troubleshooting guy for my family, and a few others (oy). What kind of job am I looking for? There is, of course, more to this...

I'm a current college student. I could go the gas-pumping or table-waiting route (I am by no means denigrating anyone in the service industry), but I feel like I have just enough skill to possibly do something that will give me a bit more money per hour to put on my school loans.

I have been using computers, in some form or another, for 16 years. With the skillset I listed above, and all the skills that true geeks have but would never put on a resume (MS Office, anyone?), what kind of position should I be looking for? Part time, of course.

Thank you.

posted by aleahey to work & money (19 comments total)

Forgot to add, working knowledge of Linux, basic network troubleshooting.
posted by aleahey at 7:55 AM on March 28

You could be a junior developer at an internet company, most likely related to advertising. I was very much like you years ago, except I knew some flash too, and I randomly got a job through a forum (dreamless.org for the old timers) for a start-up agency. My knowledge was good enough to get the job, but I felt it wasn't that strong. But, let me tell you, getting a job doing this stuff will teach you more in a month than any school course would in a semester.
posted by mkn at 8:07 AM on March 28

If your college is of a reasonable size, the first place I would look is at the student jobs. A lot of them are low stress and have flexible hours.
posted by demiurge at 8:14 AM on March 28

aleahey, I would second looking at the student jobs. They usually pay fairly well and understand that you're a student first, and a worker second.
posted by adamwolf at 8:21 AM on March 28

You could also circulate your resume (or even just have a simple business card printed up with a slogan like "no job too small") to small businesses like real estate agents and car dealerships who might want occasional computer problems fixed. Lots of places would probably like to have help setting up a website, or just figuring out why their printers don't work.
posted by thomas144 at 8:24 AM on March 28

Any small office that does internet marketing such as banner ads, email blasted newsletters, or similar can use you. I work at a small publishing office where the IT and marketing dept. positions were moved to a parent corporation in a different state. I don't monkey with CMS systems or anything too advanced, but I can do any of the million cosmetic site/graphic changes which aren't worth bothering an off-site specialist with. I find that most older workers don't have the geeky breadth of lightweight web-authoring skills, so you can really fit into a secure niche in a small office without nimble design/IT/marketing depts. Putting that in a resume and communicating it in an interview would be your challenge, though.
posted by cowbellemoo at 8:26 AM on March 28

I'm going to counter others' suggestion, and propose not bothering with the student jobs at all. The original post implies aleahey's looking for something that will generate decent money and use his skills; student jobs are, yes, very understanding of student status and are low-stress, but also tend to pay poorly and involve very little actual skilled work.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:38 AM on March 28

... understand that you're a student first, and a worker second.

This can be pretty important, especially around finals time. Definitely try to find some job on campus. It can still be one that leverages your tech skills; I spent a semester doing web programming for a student organization that built and launched satellites.
posted by Nelsormensch at 8:40 AM on March 28

Approach someone on the faculty in the computer science/information systems/network systems department at your school and explain your situation. We usually have contacts in the community, and might know of something, or at least someone to call. (But remember that students in the cs program might get first dibs on open positions.)

Also, you could hire yourself out to help students with their computer issues. You'd have to find some marketing angle that would make paying for your service more enticing than calling the school's help desk.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 9:46 AM on March 28

Marketing Coordinator
posted by rhizome at 9:52 AM on March 28

Sounds like what you need is a paid internship.

We have been intern hunting lately and if someone with such qualifications submitted a complete, good application, I think we would give it a serious look. Make sure you make a coherent case to the employer: if you are mainly creative, showcase that, if mainly a web developer, showcase that.

We pay our interns [not well mind you, but better than waiting tables], but I suspect that is the norm in IT. If a great candidate came along who could do 40 hours in the summer and 10-12 in the school year, I know we would find that attractive.

Contact Career Services at your college, look through their listings, go to a job fair on campus (or better yet, if there is a spring fair off campus, go there). Tell your profs that you are looking for an internship and watch craigslist. That place has lots of jokers but a few good opportunities.

Above all, when you get in touch with an employer, make sure you both agree on how much work you are doing. Make sure you do more than just work. Make sure you learn something new that you wouldn't get in class.
posted by mrbugsentry at 9:56 AM on March 28 [1 favorite]

"...skills that true geeks have but would never put on a resume (MS Office, anyone?)" - aleahey

Really?.. why not? Proficiency with various common office software suites IS a skill employers look for.

I also would stop thinking of yourself as a "general geek". For one thing, I dont believe in such a thing (I've got about the same number of years experience you do, but I cant write a line of HTML or CSS). Secondly, describing yourself as a "general geek" stigmatizes you as having "general skills". What employer wants to hire a general/average person?.. nobody. When you are applying for jobs, the product you are selling is yourself. I'm not saying to lie, but also dont overly generalize your skills. Highlight the things you are great/passionate about.

Getting back to your question. Personally, I think you are going about it entirely backwards. Instead of asking "What kind of job should I be looking for?"... you should be asking "What kind of job do I WANT." My suggestion would be to look around your local area and look for companies that you WANt to work for, and then figure out if you can customize your resume or skills to fit a need they might have. If nothing else, walk in and show interest in their company, ask to talk to someone and see if they will tell you about their industry. Some will say "no".. but some will say "yes". At the very least you'll learn things. Impress them by doing something creative for them (create a custom webpage for a fictional product release,etc)
posted by jmnugent at 10:08 AM on March 28 [1 favorite]

System Administration is a catch-all job type for folks like you. I took a job in it right out of school and really helps you try your hand at all kinds of technology and really find your niche.
posted by joshgray at 10:13 AM on March 28

I worked at my college's help desk. Constant demand for competent people, and never enough of them (CS majors would NEVER stoop so low.) Ditto computer lab admins, techs in the libraries, etc. etc. etc. Obviously they are very accommodating to college schedules, and you can defray the cost of your education more effectively with work study than with cash (they tend to pay you at a higher wage for work-study credits than for cash). That said, I just took the cash. :)
posted by ChasFile at 11:53 AM on March 28

I'm going to counter others' suggestion, and propose not bothering with the student jobs at all.

BTW, for anyone who thinks along these lines, studies conclusively show that students who have jobs do better in school than those who don't.

Even if you don't directly apply your skills, even if you are "just" waiting tables or pumping gas, having a job teaches you many, many things that will make you a better student: time management, teamwork, public speaking, how to prioritize, how to juggle several tasks at once, and on and on.
posted by ChasFile at 12:00 PM on March 28

Call center!!

Get a gig working part time at a technical call center. The hours are generally flexible, and the pay is usually better than the generic service industry type jobs. These places usually hire via temp agencies, so get your resume together, print out a few copies and spend an afternoon or two visiting the temp agencies in your neck of the woods.
posted by terpia at 12:30 PM on March 28

You could do freelance web development. You would have to do a bit of self-marketing, but in my experience there seems to be no shortage of people needing websites made/updated!

Or, like others have mentioned, student jobs are a good place to look. As a college student, I had a job doing web development in a small department and a job making the online edition of the school newspaper.
posted by geeky at 12:45 PM on March 28 [1 favorite]

I second university jobs.
like 'ChasFile' said help desk, routine workstation maintenance (OS installation, etc...) for a department or a web master position for a department.
Try career development center (or equivalent) where they might advertise student position. some times they even post them on Facebook.
posted by WizKid at 12:50 PM on March 28

Print a bunch of business cards, and give ten to each of the people whose computers you've fixed in the past six months. There is an endless supply of misconfigured Winboxen, and each of them will make you an easy $100.
posted by flabdablet at 8:39 PM on March 28