Hi all,
I'm a 1st time poster in the group. So for context that was stated in the title. I just recently tested for a promotion for my company. I work for local government in my state (CA) but it was long and arduous before I even got there.
I've been working in the IT field for about 12 years now (6 with my current job and 6 in the private sector.)I hold various IT certifications as well (CCNA, CompTIA A+, Net+, Server+, Linux+, MSCA windows 10 and Server) I came into the position after I've had enough with private companies and their downsizing or “restructuring” or just plain old being bought out by another company who have their own people they wanna bring in. This was back in 2017.
First I want to say I'm absolutely grateful for the job I have but I feel like I've regressed so far as my skillset. In 2016 I used to work at a datacenter and I loved every bit of it. It was primarily focused on webhosting and building servers based on the client's needs. I didn't get much but I thoroughly enjoyed it. We were a small tight knit team of 4 and we all knew our stuff but if there was something that we didn't know, our manager would always take the time and shed some light on it.
Fast forward a year later and we get the news that the company was being sold and we were being let go due to the buyers wanting to bring in their own people. This was the case as to my previous jobs as well.
When it came to lookin for a new job, I came across the local gov jobsite and saw that they had many IT positions so I just thought screw it might as well. I applied for many positions and to my suprise I got selected and tested out for them. I wound up scoring in the 90 pecentile and I got interviewed the following month. The position was for level 1 tech support for one their offices and I was supporting about 300 users in that office.
Flash forward about 6 months and I saw that some networking positions opened up, so I applied. I got rejected to my surprise. I couldn't even test for it. Fast forward another year and L2 and Sr Tech support positions open up. (This is where the post starts to come in.) I score in the 90 percentile for both and Interview for both positions but for different departments.
I literally remember the guy sayin, we think you would better suited for an L2 tech support position. I just politely rejected and walked out. But I eventually had to bite the bullet because there were “no senior position that needed to be filled.” (A nice way of sayin we found who we wanted so better luck next time.) I then figured out interviews are just a formality but certain depts. Already have someone who they have picked for the job.
My current position as an L2 tech requires me to travel alot and diagnose, troubleshoot and fix user issues. We lost a person due to a transfer of depts. So now I'm taking over his sites and I'm already stretched thin.
Another netwok position opened up some time later and apllied for both L1 and L2 Network administrators positions. I scored in the 90% percentile with these too. I've interviewed for different depts for the L2 network admim and I've been answering all of their tech questions with relative ease. But I've heard a few that were sayin i'd be more “suitable” for the L1 position. And to be honest its fuckin infuriating to know the skillset you have just to have someone say fuck you you're only worth this much.
Any advice?
Sorry for the long rant.