Soldato
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Few IT education questions
- Thread starter Cat_In_Pyjamas
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Soldato
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Like I said, I'm no expert in IT courses, but my fear would be that the course wouldn't be that relevant to what I wanted to do, and also might be boring. I find learning IT stuff for the sake of it very boring, when it's for a specific on the job goal it's easier.
I think the advice about looking at job roles and then working out what kind of qualification you need was good advice. I would find the roles, then make some phone calls and ask how they assess people. You may find you don't need a college course and they take into account other things.
Personally I feel a good interviewer should be able to suss whether someone is good at IT, regardless of qualifications.
Rgds
If you're going to go for a 1-2 year college course then do a 4 years on a sandwich degree then you're looking at 5-6 years during which time you could complete an OU degree and have 5-6 years work experience.
Tis perhaps worth considering - get a support job now (don't let it put you off too much) and study for a technology or computing degree with the OU. If its support you're into then the 'Technology' BSc looks fairly practical - you can cover CCNA sylabus and count it as 60 credits towards your 2nd year for example.
If you're more likely to want to go into development then consider the computing degree.
Registration for courses starting early next year ends late Dec I think.
[J.D.C];17963564 said:Really worries me so many people suggest doing anything but IT and the like.
I'm quite excited about getting my placement sorted out, hopefully in some sort of developer/testing role and on the flip side, I keep hearing it's definitely the wrong way to go.
I love working in IT as a developer, but it has taken me a while to find the perfect job for me. I've worked for startups, multinationals and have now landed in a FTSE100 company with a fairly small IT dept and great benefits. I'd imagine the people who say "don't get into IT" are either
a) Support
b) Developers who haven't found the right job yet (there a lot of really crappy dev jobs out there)
Don't bother with a degree qualification, they're a big fat waste of money. Pick up some good programming books and READ them. Self teach. After a few months try and land your self a contracting role working from home. It'd prob only pay £100 a day, but once you fill your CV that'll quickly go up.
anyone saying don't go into IT doesn't know what they are talking and/or is just stuck in a boring job which they are too lazy to do anything about. If its what you really want to do then do it.
anyone saying don't go into IT doesn't know what they are talking and/or is just stuck in a boring job which they are too lazy to do anything about. If its what you really want to do then do it.
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Any advice on how to know if it's a good job? I've worked with one sme, but it felt like a bunch cowboys when i arrived I.E No source control, no process, crappy code allowed etc. It really annoyed me.
Don't bother with a degree qualification, they're a big fat waste of money. Pick up some good programming books and READ them. Self teach. After a few months try and land your self a contracting role working from home. It'd prob only pay £100 a day, but once you fill your CV that'll quickly go up.
anyone saying don't go into IT doesn't know what they are talking and/or is just stuck in a boring job which they are too lazy to do anything about. If its what you really want to do then do it.
where are these contract roles working from home after 'a few months'?
Sounds like crazy talk.
Rather than live with it, that's the type of opportunity that lets you make a difference where you work. Source control is a no-brainer really... It shouldn't be difficult to sway people around to using it.
Personally, I love working in IT (i'm a .NET developer) but the downsides are that you can't be idle with your education. You always have to keep on learning to keep up with technology otherwise you can quickly left behind, even in the same job!
I ended up setting up a subversion server myself since the I.T support guy doesn't know how use linux, but the crappy code is hard to change.
I agree with this. You get anything from £14-£18k p/a for a first support role. If you do a good job and keep the systems running nicely, the boss will wonder why he needs to pay for a full time support team when things never seem to go wrong, and outsource the support to the lowest bidder.
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30 posts on, I'm still none the wiser =/ Aside from people who are advising against an IT career altogether the options presented are:
- self taught with a freelancer job experience that may or may not lift off the ground
- uni that, while may provide qualification, may turn out not being useful in the long term
- specialised course
So of them three - which one would you agree, to be the best choice?
- self taught with a freelancer job experience that may or may not lift off the ground
- uni that, while may provide qualification, may turn out not being useful in the long term
- specialised course
So of them three - which one would you agree, to be the best choice?
The majority of people who get really good jobs i know, get a degree, then get a graduate job as a software engineer/consultant.
It's not the only way, but it's the most travelled way.
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Thanks for the tips mate
Obviously it depends what type of programming you want to do Im mainly a front end developer and would recommend the 'Missing Manual' books. The Javascript and CSS ones are very good.
Do the exercises in the book and then make them your own - improve the widgets you make by adding additional functionality and creating new skins for them. You can then use these as part of your portfolio.
where are these contract roles working from home after 'a few months'?
Sounds like crazy talk.
Nothing crazy about it. Granted I have friends in IT who were happy to sub contract work to me to help bulk out my CV. Ths ranged from jQuery widgets, to embedding flash videos etc
It doesnt come along on a plate, you have to work hard. But after a few contracts you will get repeat business from clients adding a little bit of new functionality here and there. I do all this in the evenings whilst having my main contracting job during the day.
Contracting is all about networking with people. Go in and visit agents, put a face to your CV. Go along to open events (recently went to a Samsung smart TV forum) and hand your CV out.
It's a numbers game. Dont drop your head if you hear nothing. Recruiters are scumbags.
Utter nonsense. Do you live in a hole?
No, 1st line -working in a call centre for near minimum wage-yum! Zero chance of promotion or raise as IT workers are two a plenty plus they need you on the phones. When all is running well, the call centre will transfer to India, and you are out of a job in months. Worked 2nd and 3rd line too, for different companies - same result. Friend opened a computer shop, shut in 6 months because Joe Bloggs values a bottle of milk and a packet of crisps more than a network card. In fact, network card, graphics, sound - all built in, why buy separate if you can get a branded laptop from your local supermarket for 250 quid which will last a few years until the great MS launch another version of their software. Did selling too, would you like an extended warranty with that laptop sir, as that's the only way we make any money (hoping you forget to cancel your direct debit for 5 years) Home support? Removing viruses, installing software and networking for a couple of quid. You'd probably get more on your local paper round as these days warranties take care of the support side to keep you hooked. Web sites/programming? Unlimited potential if you know how and know every language out there.
Not bitter, just happy that I got out in time and am now on target to hit a 6 figure turnover in 3-5 years after being unemployed for some time. In short, I wasted my time and money with my computer science degree and just use it as a paperweight.
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Firstly, and apologies if I've missed it amonst all the don't bother replies, what specific part of 'IT' do you want to get into?
'Wintel' support (desktops, servers..)
Networking
Developing
Other stuff like security etc
That will largely dictate whatkind of path to go down, but ultimately imho the first step is to get en entry level role as near to the area you want to be in.
So if it's windows support you want to do, sadly 1st line/desktop support is the first step for most in that area. And despite what the people here who don't like their jobs say, there are decent roles in this area around.
As for courses for support roles, I personally would try to get an entry level role before giong on courses. Things like the MCITP Microsoft courses expect you to already have some experience of working with the products.
My first job was in a desktop support team, was a cracking first IT job and I loved it. Only moved on as after specialising in a partcular area I got offered a good contract that turned into a perm role for me. Money seems to vary quite a bit, one place near me starts their 1st liners on 22k.
Out of your 3 options I'd not choose either, option 1 will be tricky with no experience behind you, option 2 won't be bad but a lot of time and money and not really be much more of a help with an entry level role, and option 3 isn't worth much without experience to back it up.
So in summary, think about the area you want to work in, find entry level job
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Not exactly sure how I'd do in developing to be honest, networking and support sound like something I could do, though security does sound intriguing as well. You suggest getting entry level roles before signing up for anything but then, wouldn't I need some knowledge to be able to perform what's required of me in that role to begin with? I don't think IT is the kind of industry where 'no experience is required as training will be provided' =/