Category: Information Technology

I have an Associate in Technical Arts in Web Application Development degree, as well as certificates in:

  • Business Systems Analysis
  • Requirements Analysis
  • Database Theory and Design
  • Cisco Networking
  • And I’m one class away from a Desktop Support Certificate

I have a deep knowledge of technical systems and have solved a variety of problems.

The Challenge of Finding a Tech Job Right Now

Carl Setzer3 Comments
man in white shirt using macbook pro

At the beginning of the pandemic, I was laid off (yet again). Growing weary of being the first let go when a company’s finances get tight, I started looking for a new direction. As I’ve long loved technology, I explored options to finally move into tech roles professionally. I discovered that Washington State’s Worksource program would let me collect unemployment while I pursued a Associates Degree in Technical Arts. So, a few weeks before the world locked down, I found myself enrolled at Edmonds College to pursue Computer Information Systems.

I finished that program last summer, and I found myself looking to land that first tech role. Right around the time that hundreds of thousands of unemployed tech workers were starting their searches. A few days ago, I came across this article in Wired that validated my perceptions: “Finding a Tech Job Is Still a Nightmare“. My favorite part? “The tech job market “doesn’t show any signs of turning around just yet,” says Julia Pollak, chief economist with online employment marketplace ZipRecruiter.” Man, I opted for this career path because of the significant career growth! I have been feeling frustrated and disheartened.

Reading the article, I see I’m not the only one. Actually, I’m in good company. When the Grace Hopper Celebration, a career fair targeting women and nonbinary tech workers, got slammed with huge lines and, well, men, it’s easy to see the desperation in many a tech worker’s life.

I’m lucky. Currently, I work roughly half-time with two different organizations. So, I’m pretty much full-time. I’m pulling in money, enough to pay the bills. And one of those half-time roles is in IT. So, really, I’ve met the goal of transitioning to IT.

I am not done, though. I still want to land a full-time role. And I still want to grow, to learn. I am in a place to keep growing, even if I’m not in a place to take more classes. Coursera offers some good options. Currently, I’m pursuing their Google Technical Support Fundamentals Certificate. It’s mostly review, but my son is pursuing the same certificate. It’s fun to do this together. I think I’ll go after their Data Analytics certificate next, to finish out 2023. I’m still exploring options for 2024. Perhaps I’ll go after my A+ and Network+ certificates. I also want to get AWS and Azure certified. And I want to continue to grow my coding skills. In particular, Python.

Are any of you finding the current tech job market challenging? What are doing to navigate these new situations? I hope you’re not feeling too frustrated or frightened.

Updated 10/24/2023: Karina Chow, who I follow over on Twitter, shared this Tech Crunch article which I think is quite germane: A comprehensive list of 2023 tech layoffs. Makes me think that the job hunt toughness will continue for a while.

Anyone Remember OS/2?

Carl Setzer

Ah, OS/2! In the early 90s, I worked on a project for a Seattle stock brokerage, where we were digitizing key records. And, to be clearer, scanning them. This project’s systems needed OS/2, and it was my first introduction to this operating system.

It wasn’t well known at the point, but I was aware of it’s existence. I was intrigued and interested in exploring it. As I think back, my main takeaway: the system was quite stable. I spent very little time dealing with issues, blue screens, or other bugs. It seemed, in retrospect, to be a solid OS.

I have no recollection of using it anywhere else, even though I spent the 90s working myriad projects with many Seattle area companies. Odd, looking back. Odd.

YouTube’s algorithm served this video up today: “The Fall of OS/2”.

It provides lots of insights into how the product failed. And, the story doesn’t paint IBM of the 90s in a good light. It seems the main factors are marketing and leadership incompetence, exacerbated by some petty internal politics. These seem to have been larger factors that Microsoft’s efforts.

I haven’t thought about OS/2 in years. After watching this video, I lament its loss. What would the modern OS environment look like if we’d had a viable non-Microsoft OS on x86 systems? Sadly, we’ll never know.

Learnings from spending the evening troubleshooting Microsoft Office on a new MacBook

Carl Setzer
abstract apple art black and white

A friend of mine has one of the latest MacBook pros. It is a rather lovely machine! But it had a weird glitch when we tried to install Office. It threw this error:

“The installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance.”

A remarkably unhelpful message, if I say so myself. First guess: corrupted download file. So I deleted the pkg file (it’s the Mac software installation package), redownloaded it, attempted to reinstall it, and got the same error.

Ok, delete the pkg file again, empty the trash, rebooted, downloaded it again, started the installation, got the SAME error message. Now I’m puzzled. So, time to google it. And, bless the google gods, I found this quickly.

Solution for “The installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail”

I was a bit suspicious, though, when the answer was a link to another site.

Control access to files and folders on Mac

However, this was spot on. It was a rather simple issue. I needed to grant access to the download folder to the Installer. Just a few commands to enter and, boom, Office was able to install.

  1. Choose Apple menu
  2. System Settings, then click Privacy & Security
  3. In the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down) click Files and Folders.
  4. For each app in the list, turn the ability to access files and folders in specific locations on or off. In this case, “Installer”

I hope you don’t have this issue, but if you do, may this grant you peace after your frustrations.

Happy New Year! I finished the Drag N Drop Project

Carl Setzer
person holding smartphone while using laptop

Well, Happy New Year everyone! Today, I completed another project in my 50 Projects In 50Days series. This one, Drag N Drop, grabs a random photo from Unsplash, then move it between different boxes. And I created effects styles for the different elements (drag over, etc) . A pretty neat feature/ability.

So, more this is another exploration into JavaScript, which is where most of the functionality of the project comes from. Though I’m not sure I want to be a coder, career-wise, I do want to get better. And I’m not sure how much more JavaScript I want to study. Perhaps I’ll dive into Python soon. It nothing else, it’s more data for my Github page.

On another note, my current contract has been extended to the end of January. Additionally, the plan is to make the role permanent after the next Congregational Meeting. However, it’s only part-time, so I am looking for a full-time gig somewhere. I’m open to a range of roles, from exec support/admin work to project management to web development. My main goal is to have a continuing education budget. Let me know if you hear of anything.

Finished, and Next Steps

Carl Setzer1 Comment
information sign on shelf

I just finished my final in Enterprise Architecture. By successfully completing this class, I’ve completed the requirements for some additional certificates:

I also have applied for the following certificates:

I’m done being a student for the near term, but I think I’ve accomplished a lot during these past 2.5 years. I’m proud of all I’ve done and look forward to finding ways to implement all I’ve learned.

Another goal is to land a full-time role with a company that will pay for me to continue my studies. There’s so much more to learn! I plan to start a new role sometime around the end of this year, and then be able to start classes with that company in 2023.

Status Update: July 5, 2022

Carl Setzer1 Comment
selective focus photography of man facing computer

So, a lot has happened since my last post in May (so much for posting more often!). Last month, I completed the last of my coursework for a Web Application and Cloud Developer Associate in Technical Arts degree at Edmonds College. This is in addition to completing the coursework for these certificates:

  • Systems Development
  • Systems Architecture
  • Database Systems
  • Cisco Networking

Currently, I’m taking a class in Enterprise Architecture (first day is today). Upon completing that class, I will that have earned these additional certificates:

  • Business Systems Analyst
  • Requirements Analysis
  • Database Theory and Design

So, I’m rather pleased with the results of the past two years of study. I feel well suited for my goal of moving into an IT career.

Another thing that happened: in April I accepted a role at Trinity Lutheran Church, where I’ve been involved for years. I also have worked there covering for the communications coordinator’s paternity leave a couple of years ago. This role is as the Pastoral Administrative Assistant. As it’s part-time, it gives/gave me room to continue studying while earning some income (my unemployment benefits have expired). It is also a contract position (until December of 2022), which will work nicely for me. I plan to find a new, full-time position this fall. Once I’m in my new role, I plan to continue with my technological education. More about that soon.

That’s the status and plan for the next few months. Do you have any advice or guidance? Or, even better, lines on IT roles in the greater Snohomish County/Seattle area? Let me know!

Winter Quarter Recap

Carl Setzer
crop female freelancer using laptop at table at home

As spring break is nearly done, I thought this would be a good time to recap my prior quarter. It was interesting and challenging.

Courses

My class load consisted of:

Career Planning

Career planning was mostly about creating resumes and completing >=1 MTA exam. I did Windows Operating Systems Fundamentals. I wanted to do a couple, but my workload was so full that I couldn’t fit another one one in. Of course, Microsoft is retiring the MTA certs in June of this year, so I won’t be renewing it.

CSS

Introduction to Cascading Style Sheets was fun, and core to my studies. Hindsight being 20:20, I think it would’ve been better to take that before JavaScript. So, if you’re thinking of pursuing the same program, I highly recommend taking HTML first, then CSS, then JavaScript. HIGHLY recommend that order!

Anyway, it’s amazing what can be done with CSS. Besides simply configuring colors and fonts, the ability to create vector graphics within CSS blows my mind. This course covered a lot, and I still have so much more I want to learn.

Cisco Networking II

Lastly, Cisco Networking II. I survived the class fine. Ok, I more than survived, but I didn’t do as well as I would’ve like. The causality? A tactical miscalculation. I took the first quarter (CIS 171) LAST fall. Not as in fall of 2021, but, rather, fall of 2020. So, over a year between I & II. DO NOT DO THIS! I forgot so much. Also Cisco, bless them, added stuff to quarter 1. I had to do a TON of re-learning and, well, new learning. Fortunately, I have the internet and great Google skills. Also, I have a an amazing group of fellow students. And this course is in-addition-to my main coursework, which helped me keep things in check. The main lesson: if I decide to I want to get my CCNA certification, I need to review. It won’t truly be learning from scratch. I just need to refresh things like subnetting. But that’s in the nebulous future. So, we’ll see….

All-in-all, a fine quarter. I had to work hard, and take a mind-boggling number of notes. But it worked out well in the end. Now I start the last quarter towards this ATA program. And, more specifically, my last required class. But that’s another post.

Cybersecurity Podcasts

Carl Setzer
person in black hoodie hacking a computer system

Cybersecurity is not a main focus of mine, but it is something that I have an interest in: it impacts my work as a web developer and project coordinator. Earlier today a friend and I had a brief discussion about the news. We both stated we get much of our tech news via podcasts. Then we had the idea of creating a list. So, here is the summation of our brief discussion.

If you have ideas or additions, please let me know. I’ll update this list as I discover more.

Some Thoughts On Accessibility

Carl Setzer
high angle view of man with laptop on lap and phone in hand

Last week I joined a webinar: “Why We Need More Accessibility Designers“. The presenter is Anna Cook, an accessibility designer. I’ve long had an interest in accessibility and its impacts on technology. Technology can be a powerful solution for accessibility issues, and, of course, can create a whole set of new ones. I appreciated the discussion on the gaps that exist when it comes to addressing accessibility during design education (for my studies at Edmonds College, we have hit on the subject several times. Not with huge depth, but definitely greater than zero). 67% of accessibility issues originate in the design phase, and, of course, correcting issues during design is monumentally less expensive. We also touched on some specific elements, such as color.

Fortunately, this was recorded so you can watch it at your leisure.
https://youtu.be/dQVrfS74xyM

As is the case with these sorts of events, there were many things referenced during the discussion. I think most of them were added to the notes section of the YouTube video. I’ll drop my key links below, though.