FAO people in the IT Industry

[Ev0]

Doing it all again if I'd stayed in IT I'd have probably jumped on the security train a little sooner, and also got out and contracted a bit earlier than when I did to get a bit more experience.

Saying that I'd also have quite liked to do something around accounting/audit as well.

 

[Fr0dders]

no idea but the IT industry is awful these days, far too many peiople chasing the decent jobs resulting in employers holding the upper hand

this

reed just sent me an e-mail with the latest jobs

Job at the top of the list ...

91 applications already. For a not particularly good job with not particularly good prospects (working as a sole IT support person in a <100 person company)

No chance of getting time off to go study in that job. And you can forget having holidays. You'll be on call all of the time as they wont have anybody else to turn to.

yet 91 people have applied Since the job was up saturday morning.

 

[Vanilla]

I lucked out. I went straight into IT Pre-sales.

Best.move.ever.

 

[kefkef]

I lucked out. I went straight into IT Pre-sales.

Best.move.ever.

This. It's where the money is and the least hassle (as long as youve got a good installations team etc). I'm thinking about moving into this area now away from senior management.

 

[malachi]

Seems like most people here would start over again, avoid IT and pick a less demand job in the market. But wouldn't you feel the same if jobs roles such as image processing, biomedical informatics, signal processing, RAF etc. Everyone started heading towards those job roles and the market/demand valve dropped, wouldn't it be the same like it currently is with IT?
Or is it because some of you don't like IT, everyone seems to be doing IT now, so you feel less appreciated in your roles?

 

[citizen0100]

I'd probably try my hand at Developing again, dot net etc. Has to be better than IT support!

 

[Casdawer]

I lucked out. I went straight into IT Pre-sales.

Best.move.ever.

What do you do in that job?

I keep getting emails from Reed, Monster etc.. with loads of IT pre-sales roles which offer a lot of money, but have never applied for them as i don't know what my job will consist of!

 

[Vanilla]

What do you do in that job?

I keep getting emails from Reed, Monster etc.. with loads of IT pre-sales roles which offer a lot of money, but have never applied for them as i don't know what my job will consist of!

I'm what's called a Pre-Sales Technology Consultant. I work for a large, well known IT company with a large product set.

I work with a salesman in a set of named accounts to assist him in selling basically. I'm the techie side kick. Sometimes i'm dealing with crap back at the office, sometimes i'm presenting, in meetings, explaining how things work, etc.

I go on all the jollys, racing days, fine dining and so on.

 

[Casdawer]

I'm what's called a Pre-Sales Technology Consultant. I work for a large, well known IT company with a large product set.

I work with a salesman in a set of named accounts to assist him in selling basically. I'm the techie side kick. Sometimes i'm dealing with crap back at the office, sometimes i'm presenting, in meetings, explaining how things work, etc.

I go on all the jollys, racing days, fine dining and so on.

What technical skills do you need to be able to get that kind of job?

Also, got any jobs going?

 

[Dj_Jestar]

I don't get the fascination/name-dropping about working in IT for large companies. It utterly sucks. Small companies is where it's at. Much more fun, and better rewards.

This is coming from someone who has worked in/for 9 large IT companies, all the them sucking so hard they throat, to having worked in a few small IT companies and all of them brilliant.

 

[steve-h]

I'm currently doing Software Engineering at University aswell. I'm currently sitting in my final year. All that keeps going through my head now is 'You picked the wrong career path'.

Id blabber on about how I've come to feel over the last few years at uni but its boreing so I'll save you from it. Basically OOO something new and exciting was turned into something dull and boreing rather quickly. I love creating things but seeing how things have gone I just cant see myself doing it 9-5 every day I'd rather be in a position where I have a chance to do something different now and again.

Currently looking at going into the RAF, a Masters (but this is getting less and less the more I think of it), a different degree such as business management

I have also been looking at post grad schemes, however most of these seem to be bombarded by applicants and you must do something spectacular to stand out but I'm giving it a shot as it may be the thing i need to get back some enthusiasim into what seems a stagnant career path.

Can I ask if you were interested in programming before taking this course?

 

[Relentless81]

I regret getting into IT, totally regret it and wish I went into a proper trade with proper graft, not sitting on my arse all day waiting for something to go wrong and when it does it usually sorted in a matter of minutes. Boring job is boring

 

[Gilly]

I'm quite happy with the way things are panning out. Next step up is a pretty senior role. Everyone in the company at my level that I know are quite a bit older than I.

I worked in support and paid my dues, I'm now in management and can draw upon those years spent garnering experience. I feel that an ex-techie has a head start on managers that don't fully understand what is going on. Certainly at the start of the managerial career.

 

[britboy4321]

If I'm young again then the world has rolled back as well -- I'd go join a really small start-up internet company and buy a 5% share.

A company called 'google'.

 

[NathanE]

I'd probably try my hand at Developing again, dot net etc. Has to be better than IT support!

It's this attitude that will doom you to fail. "Trying your hand" at software development is a bit like waking up one day and deciding you're going to go work for NASA on the next manned spaceflight programme. Software development is something you need to be constantly on-top of and well aware of where it has been in order to not get shunned off by companies as just another wannabe software developer. This is why the "unemployment" rate is so high. Because, actually, they were never employable in the first place for the role that they "trained" for.

 

[Gilly]

If I'm young again then the world has rolled back as well -- I'd go join a really small start-up internet company and buy a 5% share.

A company called 'google'.

You'd be changing the course of history, and probably **** things up.

 

[DJMK4]

I started off in Desktop support 6 years ago, progressed in to the field of VoIP and Networking but was limited in the first job, so progressed to a company which specialises in Networking and VoIP.

This is the field I want to stick with (for now anyway) and have no intentions of moving away from this sector of IT.

 

[citizen0100]

It's this attitude that will doom you to fail. "Trying your hand" at software development is a bit like waking up one day and deciding you're going to go work for NASA on the next manned spaceflight programme. Software development is something you need to be constantly on-top of and well aware of where it has been in order to not get shunned off by companies as just another wannabe software developer. This is why the "unemployment" rate is so high. Because, actually, they were never employable in the first place for the role that they "trained" for.

Not really, several friends of mine are now full time software developers because they decided to give it go!! I started programming in 2000 in a object orientated language and the concepts are still very much the same!

 

[Mr^B]

Not really, several friends of mine are now full time software developers because they decided to give it go!! I started programming in 2000 in a object orientated language and the concepts are still very much the same!

I bet their code is awful.

The concepts of OO have remained the same, everything else has changed dramatically since 2000. Agile and XP being the driving force behind most of the changes. And the rate of change is accelerating.

 

[citizen0100]

So what are you saying, a career change into a development job is impossible if you haven't been trained from the word go? I don't think so, I agree it wouldn't be easy and yes there is an awful lot of change but I think its all down to the individual and their motivation to change career!!