tfg4k

I apologize but browsing first thing in the morning, was I the only one who assumed this was a joke?

Any ideas on making a visualization?

Thanks! I really appreciate it.

Yes, and point taken.

Thank you

I want to thank all of you for the great comments and advice.

I had absolutely no idea that this would get so much traction. Some of you have given me invaluable insight and I hope to see more of it. A few comments I have even lifted just to put into a note to use as reference later. I think this is awesome.

Again, I appreciate you taking the time to comment. It seems though that some of the "tough love" comments are just beating up on me for whatever reason. It's really not necessary or helpful to anyone.

Yes, Chainsaw did give me some good advice. I thanked him for his candor immediately as well.

Why do you assume his advice was ignored and assume that I am one of those "I'm awesome, why won't people hire me?" types?

I understand that, after getting responses assuming I still did low level end user technical support work for example, I should have been more clear about my little back-story.

That's on me. Maybe I am not coming across well. Even so, comments like these that are full of assumptions are making you come across just as badly.

It's alright. I don't mean to come across as ungrateful for the advice, I have just never posted here before. I slapped that in there just because I had to put something in. I didn't give it any thought.

Not because I am careless or think that I am somehow the "smartest man in the room". I was really intimidated when writing the OP. I have a lot of respect for this site and the people who are regular contributors.

That being said, I think that those of you who have been critical without being constructive have done so, albeit unintentionally, due to your own preconceived ideas and assumptions. Perhaps due to your own negative experiences in the past with people you didn't like in your own careers.

All I can really say when responding to negative comments: "first time caller, long time listener. Sorry about the sloppy OP. I had no idea that it would get noticed, much less be this active."

My description on the profile doesn't look good because I didn't know what to put in it as I have been lurking here for a long time but never posted.

I appreciate you all taking time from your lives to try to contribute. Had I known this OP was going to generate this kind of activity, I would have actually put some thought in to this stuff. Please, don't take that the wrong way. I mean all of this with respect.

Cool. I have no idea what that means but, yeah

A hiring manager from a job I had for a year in Tampa back in 2005 got me my last two interviews. So, I have been attempting to tap my rather small network, It isn't that large though.

No, the financial situation is complex. It isn't about patience. Quick example would be having the opportunity four years ago to work for Rackspace as a Linux Admin but I couldn't afford to move to San Antonio on my own at that time. That's the kind of stuff I am talking about. And no, you are not making too many assumptions. It's my fault for writing such a sloppy OP.

Right-Right. I don't know what it was in the OP that gave people the idea that I am still working help-desk stuff. It was my first technical job.

Planning to.

>if you don't actively participate in a community nobody is going to give a shit about you, much less hand you a career with a pretty bow on it.

Nope, obviously. They sure will post on a comment thread about it though.

Sorry, This struck me as a bit over the top with the presumptions, tone, etc..

I appreciate you being blunt. I'm not going to get anywhere if people tip-toe around any issues they may be able to bring to my attention. I'm not easily offended. I appreciate the last point. Career vs. Job. Yeah, I could go answer phones like I did when I was sixteen but that would just be stupid.

Thanks for that comment!

Sorry, Did I say something negative about coworkers? And again, the talent I am referring to is the ability to learn quickly because of a great mentor I had when I was much younger. Not a superpower.

Absolutely! I really appreciate that.

Yes, I am aware of and use some of these. I have an ex co-worker who is still a close friend and a developer who is always giving me advice and helping me find these kinds of resources.

The financial thing was more about certification training, as I was (mistakenly) under the impression that they carried more weight and would open more doors for me. Especially in the Security realm.

I had also looked at things like bloc.io but who really has that much money for that kind of training on their own? Thank you for the response!

Thanks much. The 'bluffing' was how I got the tool-belt. Again, my apologies for such a sloppy first post. LinkedIn, while up to date, has never done anything for me but spam me about things like endorsements and birthdays.

Well, and get my contact info into the hands of every spambot posing as a headhunter on the planet. It's there though. Former coworkers are hard to track down but all have written recommendations for me in the past. Some are on the LinkedIn page. I have no project portfolio. I don't really know how to put one together.

I like asking random people on the internet because my former managers and co-workers can't figure out why I have been unemployed for so long either.

This is rather unsettling as I have never asked for an employee record from anyone before.

I have thought to run a background check before. However, I didn't know or have the time to find out back then where to request one. I know there are a lot of sites out there who apparently generate a report for you for a price. I just didn't know if any were particularly reputable.

I meant to reply to this first. I didn't expect so many responses. I am located in Upper East, TN. The Tri-Cities to be more specific.

I speak well and make a great first impression, honestly. I have always understood how important that is.

Having said that, I just realized that what I started considering as the problem (my resume) may not be what needs work. In another comment, the statement was made that companies are willing to overlook certain things for the right candidate.

Perhaps my garbage resume is being overlooked I make it past the first telephone or face to face interview. I make it far enough to get that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when you finally get the news that someone else was selected anyway. I'm sure I am not the only one here who gets that, right? Sorry, to your question, that is my basis for that statement.

I have considered all of this.

Most likely, what few interviews or solicitations for resumes, then interviews that I have had have been from companies who are willing to overlook my crappy resume (again, I made it this far and never had to really write one before) to interview me. What happens after that is anyone's guess. I just do my best, follow the processes the company has in place and just haven't had any luck as of late. Thank you again for all of your input. I realize I need to update my format and rewrite it. Maybe I have been using an unusual style? I'll have to look in to this tonight. [edit: because I didn't know how I accidentally formatted that text.] Oops.

I have worked for large companies before. Defense Contractors and in Operations for very large retail organizations.

Am working as a contractor now. Thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it!

I actually do well in this part of what has regrettably become the norm in the industry for "interviews".

I don't really know what I am doing wrong other than needing to refresh my resume. Still, even in its abominable state, it gets attention and I do get solicited. I just always seem to lack something that, while insignificant on paper as it may be, makes the difference.

For example, I was very recently put in touch with a group in Tampa. I was contacted by them because an old manager in town had told someone who told someone about me. Long story short, great interviews and 3 weeks later, I was passed over in favor of an internal promotion because of the time it would have taken me to move my family from TN back to Tampa.

Sorry for all the edits, I'm still getting the hang of the formatting in commenting and posting. I didn't expect a response like this. I appreciate everyone who took the time to comment!

Thanks a lot. Bookmarked. I really appreciate the response to the OP from you and everyone else. I didn't expect it to get noticed at all.

You're totally on-point here. My resume is a disaster because I'm bad at writing them. I think I just filled in the blanks on an old Word template the first time I made one. Lets just say that I haven't gotten better at it.

I do get contacted for interviews and solicited for resumes on a semi-regular basis. I interview well and am quite easy to deal with on an interpersonal level.

Thing is, there seems to always be another person out there who gets in after several weeks of consideration due to a number of reasons (relocation, having no professional experience and another candidate may have done an internship, etc.)

Before you say it, because were this the other way round, I'd say it: It has much less to do with 'me' than it does with a combination of my geographical location, and being a semi-self employed consultant/contractor/whatever they call it anymore, as opposed to having had a regular day job for the last few years. [edit due to being a n00b on how to post here]

I enjoy it all. It isn't a situation like some I have read about here before where people who want to become programmers can't decide on a language. Since I have always pursued my "passion" for just about anything to do with Security, it has always been in my spare time. So, what I was looking for in that part of the OP was just a little guidance. Like, if I thought Fortran was dope, it still wouldn't do me much good to master it right now when I need work.. (trying a joke) Thanks!

Noted and thank you for posting it. It just is a bit more complicated than that. I have been working on a Security focused startup to provide free training to the public as well as Risk Assessment, Pen Testing, etc. to the local small business community because no one else is doing it. Also, about the talent thing: The talent is being able to adapt quickly. It doesn't really help when you're broke and there just isn't much of anything other than becoming a nurse to adapt to in your area.