top 5 degrees that pay

I just read an article at msn.com that listed the top 5 degrees that pay. Amazingly enough, IT was at the top. Amazing because I have applied to just about every company in the Philadelphia Tri State Area and I haven't gotten a call back for one interview! I have a bachelors in an unrelated field, but I'm a SCJP who also knows C, C++, VB 6, SQL, Html, ASP, Java and VBScripts, Flash 5 and some other stuff. I'm pretty upset because I just got back from a walk in Open house thing for an IT consulting company that I read about in the Sunday's classfied ads, they said they needed java developers, I went to their web site and the OO Java job opening link had a "HOT" animated gif next to it, which none of the others had, so I went to check it out. The woman who interviewed me only seemed interested in a little billing program I wrote in VB with MS Access for an Auto Parts Company I used to work for(We went out of business in May) and didn't seem to care at all about my Java Certification or all the other Java stuff I know(RMI, JDBC, ect...). I'm good with VB, but I'm great with Java, but just because I wrote that little VB program, she seemed to think I was only qualified in VB despite what I said about my Java abilities. Isn't the Certification supposed to prove you know how to program in Java and your a capable Java programmer? I studied my ass off for that test because I wanted to pass it the first time(which I did) and I thought it would be a great help in finding a java job. I guess not. She told me they weren't hiring at this time(a load of Crap) and that she would put my resume in the company database(of we are never going to hire you, but the law says we need to keep your resume on file for a year if you apply with us). Another thing I hate about those IT Open House/Job Fairs is that no one from the IT department is there to interview prospects, its only these Company Recruiters(who are the appendix of any company, what the hell do they do besides read off "what are company is" and "What are Company does" speech that they memorized), this one knew the IT lingo, but I doubt she could have written a "Hello World" program in any language. Whew, I feel a little better venting, I wanted to punch a wall, but I can't afford a broken hand.

Don't worry your not alone.
Last Nov we were all layed off, and co went under before xmas.
Had to return to traditional co I did work for. Given the market I would suggest getting a job doing anything using current skill sets. You can continue looking or wait until the market starts recovering. My expectations are that a real recovery will not being for another year.
Dealing with HR has always been a problem, and usually are just an obstacle. Many are not even able to properly evaluate a technical resume. That is why networking has always been important. You can deal with someone technical who may be able to pass your resume to a technical manager directly.
Dan

I don't think a SCJP proves you are a capable programmer any more than a BS in Comp Sci does. The only proof of ability to program comes from projects you have worked on, in other words experience. Not to defend the HR person, but your VB program showed that you took your knowledge and used it to produce a concrete result, which is probably why she was more interested in that.
But how do you get experience if no one will hire you because you have no experience? Well, often times you get a job using the experience you have, in your case VB, and hope to jump to a Java project once you've proven yourself.
Best of luck in your job search.
[This message has been edited by Jason Menard (edited September 21, 2001).]