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I'm still attending a community college, and I'm wondering if my current path is helping me to become a standout applicant someday.

I'm looking to practice in tech law (not sure which exact sub-field). My college major is Political Science, however I'm also going to earn my Associates in Information Technology before I transfer to a 4-year.


Questions:
1.) Would it help me at all to earn an Associates in IT from a CC?

2.) Does it look good if I work in the IT department of Big Law firms, and superior court? I've worked 9 months at one of the biggest law firms in the nation (based in Palo Alto and starts with a "W") I also have an interview at my local superior court.

3.) Or is it better to work in misc tech start-ups (I live in the Silicon Valley) as opposed to supporting legal environments?



Below is my current resume.


My Name
123 fake st. San Jose, CA 95555 | (408) 555-5573 | example@example.com

SUMMARY
Accomplished computer technician with both helpdesk and hardware support experience in a corporate environment. Early adopter of cutting-edge technology. Emphasis of knowledge in networking, end-user support, system backups, mobile application development, and customer service.

CERTIFICATION
Apple Certified Associate - Mac Integration 10.9, CompTIA A+, Rackspace Cloud-U, Veeam Virtualization Backup Academy Certified Professional.

PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
Deployment Helpdesk Analyst, Big Law Firm 4/14/2014 — 11/14/2014 Palo Alto, CA
- Promoted to Helpdesk position after one month of working in Hardware Department.
- Provided daily technical support for e-mail, network, connectivity, telecommunications, and system maintenance in a high intensity law firm environment. Supporting a population of over 1,000 attorneys and administrative staff in a 24/7/365 environment with locations throughout the world.
- Supported both PC and Mac environments including: Windows 7, Windows XP, and Mac OS 10.7 through OS 10.10.
- Backed up user data utilizing Box cloud storage and custom in-house backup utility for a deployment project of over
1200 local and regional users.
- Navigated over 130 users with changing their password for a companywide Active Directory project.
- Drafted and revised step-by-step knowledge bases for end-users on configuring and using software.
- Trained Document Possessing department new download & upload procure for a special mass file project. Files were downloaded from a private storage server, and then uploaded to Box in their exact corresponding file structure.
- Supported executive, VIP level personnel.

Deployment Hardware Technician, Big Law Firm 3/12/2014 — 4/14/2014 Palo Alto, CA
- Imaged and performed configurations on the host and virtual Moka5 environment on new Lenovo T440s, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air laptops.
- Configured software such as Cisco Jabber, WebEx, AnyConnect, Zscaler, Sophos, Microsoft Outlook and Computrace.
- Advised imaging and user configuration instruction changes.

Deployment Macintosh Technician, shitty small tech company 5/1/2014 — 6/20/2013
San Jose, CA
- Troubleshot software and hardware issues on new Apple iMacs, MacBook pros, MacBook Airs, and iPads.
- Worked as part of a team that imaged hundreds of new Apple products.
- Wiped hard drives conforming to the Department of Defense 5220.22-M standards.
- Helped create an inventory database.

TECHNOLOGICAL EXPERIENCE
Operating Systems: Microsoft Windows: XP, 7, 8(.1). Macintosh OSX, iOS, Android, Debian/Ubuntu Linux.
Software Applications: Microsoft Office Suite, Cisco: WebEx, Jabber, Agent, MDM AirWatch, AnyConnect. Adobe Creative Suite, Citrix Xenapp, VMWare Fusion, Oracle Virtual Box, and Moka5 LivePC virtual machines.
Networking: LAN/WAN, TCP/IP, VPN, remote access. Programming Languages: JavaScript, HTML, CSS.

Admissions to good schools is a numbers game (GPA/LSAT)

Your resume needs a ton of work (not talking about format). Try to concentrate on getting good grades now and worry about the LSAT later.

younggbon wrote:1.) Would it help me at all to earn an Associates in IT from a CC?

2.) Does it look good if I work in the IT department of Big Law firms, and superior court? I've worked 9 months at one of the biggest law firms in the nation (based in Palo Alto and starts with a "W") I also have an interview at my local superior court.

3.) Or is it better to work in misc tech start-ups (I live in the Silicon Valley) as opposed to supporting legal environments?

Looks good? maybe. Does it give you an edge? no

None of those soft factors really matter. Just get as high a GPA and LSAT as you can.

I wonder if with law school students having a hard time getting jobs that law schools may start to prefer students with work experience

If you want to work in "tech" law aka IP law, get a bachelor in STEM field like computer science/engineering.

younggbon wrote:
I'm looking to practice in tech law (not sure which exact sub-field). My college major is Political Science, however I'm also going to earn my Associates in Information Technology before I transfer to a 4-year.

I'm not sure what is usually considered "tech" law, but if you are referring to IP/patent law then you need a bachelors in a science or engineering degree. It is possibly without a bachelors in a STEM field, but you would need to prove that you took so many hours of physics, chemistry/science, math, etc.
See http://www.uspto.gov/ip/boards/oed/exam/grbpage.jsp for requirements to take the patent bar exam. (You can even self study and take the patent bar exam without going to law school and work as a patent agent)

And like what was said above, a high GPA and LSAT matter more than softs.

As one techie to another who elected to NOT get a STEM degree, don't listen to them. I've gone on multiple interviews for schools by alumni at firms and school staff and have been told that I'm the most exciting and interesting candidate they've interviewed--so I'm sure I'm employable. If you're interested in patent, yes, get a STEM degree. Otherwise, doesn't seem necessary. In fact, I was commended for getting a BA in a writing-intensive major to overcome the stereotype that STEM types can't read & write.

And yes, you should focus on keeping your GPA as high as possible. If I were you, I'd get more marketable certificates: CISSP and CCNA if you don't want to get a STEM degree. A+ and some others are more "starter" certs.

PM me if you want to chat.

Bump for more interaction.

younggbon wrote:Bump for more interaction.

We don't know what you mean by tech law

Anyway, as said repeatedly, GPA and LSAT is really all that matters for law school admissions

withoutapaddle wrote:I wonder if with law school students having a hard time getting jobs that law schools may start to prefer students with work experience

Is this not the case already? I mean, we hear about NU valuing work experience...but I thought that many law schools have started placing a bigger emphasis on work experience as well?

It sounds like you don't want to be a lawyer

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MistakenGenius wrote:

scottidsntknow wrote:It sounds like you don't want to be a lawyer

Agreed. Why do you want to go to law school? Also, tech law is extremely vague. What do you actually want to do?

To answer your other questions, no, your resume needs work, but I see nothing there that will help you outperform your numbers. Focus on getting a high LSAT and GPA, and worry about the resume afterwards. I also do not think a IT associates will help you at all in getting accepted into law school or hired by firms. Experience in a law firm does not hurt you in any way, but it also isn't going to help you get admitted.

In law school admissions, besides Yale, Stanford, Berkeley, and to a smaller extent Harvard, softs take a back seat to numbers. If you are above both medians at all but those 4 schools, then you're extremely likely to get in. If you are below both medians, only a handful of softs can save you (we call these super-softs, ie: Rhodes Scholar, Decorated Veteran, URM, celebrity or child of celebrity, close relative of a big time donor). Now, if you're in their range, there are softs that can distinguish yourself from the pack, and if you're interested in learning more about them, feel free to PM me.

I imagine there has to be some kind of connection with the IT world and the legal world. There has to be. Privacy Law?

Also I feel the legal industry is one that will never replaced by robots, or outsourced to foreign lands.

So yes, you don't want to be a lawyer. Don't go to law school.

I'm not sure if legal zoom is run by robots but the outsourcing is happening on some level

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