Career Decisions (IT Professionals please read!)

Job Title/Description: Support Analyst (Grad scheme at a large multinational)

Typical day-to-day work: Development, testing, speaking with the client to ascertain needs, planning, delivery

Highest qualification (GCSE/Diploma etc): BSc CompSci 2.1

Job satisifaction (do you enjoy your day-to-day work): Yeah, very much so. I've only been there 4 months, but it's my first "real" job and I really enjoy it.

Job security(do you feel you are at risk of having your job outsourced to india?): The department I'm in is being expanded over the next few years, with a focus on increasing our UK presence, so no. Also, as I'm on a Grad scheme, if my job is outsourced offshore I can just move roles :)

Salary(optional): £28k~
 
Ev0 said:
I'm not doubting anything you've done at all, it's all good, was just agreeing with Morba that a contractor and a temp are different things really. And one of those differences is generally the level of pay.

The way you started is a good way to go, but not what I'd label as contracting as such.
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Well that is contracting for you, I was working on a 3 month rolling contract basis and getting extensions as time went by, working on projects and signed a contract. It isn't and wasn't temp work. It completely depends on what projects Head office is bidding on and whether they win them. It's not like I was just covering reception when someone was on holiday. :confused: :p
 
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You are not 'contracting' in the accepted definition of the term when you are doing temp jobs for £10 an hour. If you are, then you are doing it very, very wrong. You are working short term contracts - contracting is being self employed and taking on contracts for the provision of support and services over varying terms, and typically taking home a much larger pay packet as a result.

Contracting is a term which, like 'consulting' and 'engineer' is being more and more diluted as people crave the 'prestige' associated with it to make what they really do seem a bit better.

Consider this example. A tender goes out for somebody to re-wire a new office complex. A qualified electrician bids for the tender and wins. He is then given a contract to complete the work in 6 months. He hires a helper for a 6 month short term contract to help him do this. In this example, the electrician is a contractor but the helper is a temp.
 
Blackhawk47 said:
It's not like I was just covering reception when someone was on holiday. :confused: :p
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I didn't say it was :)

For instance at my previous place we used temps to work on the service desk for periods of time when main members of the team were off on project work. They were hired and employed by a temp agency who had a desk within our office as other areas of the business regularly required temps.

Longest period someone did this for was 2 years when I was there, they were originally signed up for 12 months but got extended a few times.

We also used temps for project support roles.

That's the kind of temp work I'm talking about, I'm not talking about holiday/sick cover :)

The one and only time I contracted it was a 3 month term, brought in to implement a specific system. They used me as I had a skill set that was not currently present within the business that was required for the work.

As fox says it's just one of those terms like consultant that gets used generically. Consultant is one that winds me up, to me a consultant is someone who is absolutely expert in their field, how you can do this right from the word go I have no idea :)
 
[TW]Fox;17983138 said:
You are not 'contracting' in the accepted definition of the term when you are doing temp jobs for £10 an hour. If you are, then you are doing it very, very wrong. You are working short term contracts - contracting is being self employed and taking on contracts for the provision of support and services over varying terms, and typically taking home a much larger pay packet as a result.

Contracting is a term which, like 'consulting' and 'engineer' is being more and more diluted as people crave the 'prestige' associated with it to make what they really do seem a bit better.

Consider this example. A tender goes out for somebody to re-wire a new office complex. A qualified electrician bids for the tender and wins. He is then given a contract to complete the work in 6 months. He hires a helper for a 6 month short term contract to help him do this. In this example, the electrician is a contractor but the helper is a temp.
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In the corporate world bidding is done by different teams/offices. The projects I worked on were for network rail and I easily assisted with the competition of 10+ projects over the year and a half I was there with a couple more senior engineers who were also contractors.

Yes it isn't a run of the mill office job, took me 2-3 months to learn everything which was required.

Fed up people questioning everything I do just because I chosed not to go to uni.

Edit: if your that bothered, read this:
http://www.ndcconsultants.co.uk/webpage.asp?pid=351&page=FTN Route Survey and Design
 
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[TW]Fox;17983138 said:
You are not 'contracting' in the accepted definition of the term when you are doing temp jobs for £10 an hour. If you are, then you are doing it very, very wrong. You are working short term contracts - contracting is being self employed and taking on contracts for the provision of support and services over varying terms, and typically taking home a much larger pay packet as a result.

Contracting is a term which, like 'consulting' and 'engineer' is being more and more diluted as people crave the 'prestige' associated with it to make what they really do seem a bit better.

Consider this example. A tender goes out for somebody to re-wire a new office complex. A qualified electrician bids for the tender and wins. He is then given a contract to complete the work in 6 months. He hires a helper for a 6 month short term contract to help him do this. In this example, the electrician is a contractor but the helper is a temp.
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Yeah, I call up to get a car quote and i'm put through to an 'Insurance Consultant', a guy wants to talk to me about a new job and he calls himself a 'Recruitment Consultant'.

I'm just as guilty. When I started out I was an Associate Technology Consultant and I felt quite embarassed about my title as I didn't feel it justified. The job was right for carrying out actual consulting; it's just I lacked the experience. All this has changed with experience and I do feel the title is justified...........but not back then :)

Agree with your definition of a contractor. In essence it's someone who is very good at a particular area, such as Databases, and is being brought in for a specific set of tasks or activities. I work with contractors all the time and they are generally of a high quality in their particular field. In IT they can command anywhere from 80k-180k+.

--They are paid for what they know, not what they don't know.
--They are brought in for a specific task for which they do not need to train. Likewise they will likely not train permanent staff ('Permies').
--They are paid very well but bear in mind they have to maintain their own training, benefits, pension, etc.
 
Vanilla said:
--They are paid for what they know, not what they don't know.
--They are brought in for a specific task for which they do not need to train. Likewise they will likely not train permanent staff ('Permies').
--They are paid very well but bear in mind they have to maintain their own training, benefits, pension, etc.
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In theory that's true, but there are a lot of managers who treat contractors effectively as permanent staff.
This has up sides and down sides, I've had the opportunity to do proofs of concepts using new technologies and train up on the job (obviously training myself up), but I've also been expected to show new graduates the ropes and do support at 5am.

Generally I try to keep the client sweet by being reasonably compliant, though sometimes it's good to remind them what the contract does and doesn't say.
 
Haircut said:
In theory that's true, but there are a lot of managers who treat contractors effectively as permanent staff.
This has up sides and down sides, I've had the opportunity to do proofs of concepts using new technologies and train up on the job (obviously training myself up), but I've also been expected to show new graduates the ropes and do support at 5am.

Generally I try to keep the client sweet by being reasonably compliant, though sometimes it's good to remind them what the contract does and doesn't say.
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To a manager a contractor is, effectively, permanaent staff and rarely treated any differently. He takes the same orders, does what's asked and follows the same processes and procedures as the permies.

No contractor is overly obtuse in their work criteria. being on call at 5am is fine - but the customer will be billed for that time. Commonly they draw the line at training others in their field. They are paid for what they know and to train others in his/her own field is to give away his liveleyhood!
 
Blackhawk47 said:
Fox seems to just think I plug Ethernet cables in /out all day...
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I dont know what you do, but aged 19 you are not an 'IT Contractor' in the same way that the other people in this thread are. You don't get 3 months of training if you are a contractor, you simply dont get a contract if you dont know what you are doing already.

Seems like you are a temp who thinks the contractor title is more glamerous.
 
Job Title/Description: Infrastructure Development (Projects)

Typical day-to-day work: Design/Implementation/Development of new technology and solutions on desktop and servers internally and for external contracts. Design and testing of new SW and HW. Pre-sales, quotes.

Highest qualification (GCSE/Diploma etc): CCNA, MS Certs, GNVQ.

Job satisifaction (do you enjoy your day-to-day work): Mostly, job involves a lot of travel.

Job security(do you feel you are at risk of having your job outsourced to india?): No

Salary(optional): higher than a lot in this thread.
 
Job Title/Description:

Typical day-to-day work:

Highest qualification (GCSE/Diploma etc):

Job satisifaction (do you enjoy your day-to-day work):

Job security(do you feel you are at risk of having your job outsourced to india?):

Salary(optional):
 
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Job Title/Description: Technical Design Authority

Typical day-to-day work: Work on bids for perspective take overs. Design platforms for new applications. Work along side senior management to define strategy.

Highest qualification (GCSE/Diploma etc): GSCE's. MCITP, VCP, CCAA, NCIE.

Job satisifaction (do you enjoy your day-to-day work): Yes - very different day to day and get a lot of flexibilty.

Job security(do you feel you are at risk of having your job outsourced to india?): Me personally - no? Others in the dept - yes.

Salary(optional): 55k basic.
 
Job Title/Description:

Typical day-to-day work: 1st, 2nd 3rd line IT support

Highest qualification (GCSE/Diploma etc): BTEC

Job satisifaction (do you enjoy your day-to-day work): at times

Job security(do you feel you are at risk of having your job outsourced to india?): not at the moment

Salary(optional): 30kish
 
[TW]Fox;17988991 said:
I dont know what you do, but aged 19 you are not an 'IT Contractor' in the same way that the other people in this thread are. You don't get 3 months of training if you are a contractor, you simply dont get a contract if you dont know what you are doing already.

Seems like you are a temp who thinks the contractor title is more glamerous.
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lol, harsh but true...
 
Job Title/Description: Network Manager

Typical day-to-day work: Internal server maintenance, administrating network, external server maintenance, web server (windows/linux) support and administration.

Highest qualification (GCSE/Diploma etc): AVCE I.T / MCP

Job satisifaction (do you enjoy your day-to-day work): It's ok, much less stressful than my lost job which is the reason I took my current placement.

Job security(do you feel you are at risk of having your job outsourced to india?): Not a chance, however the company has shrunk considerably since I started, but as long as the company remains, I shall have a job.

Salary(optional): Not enough.
 
Snobbery aside, to me 'contractor' implies someone who is self employed and who sells their own skills and services for short-term contracts. It does not imply how much someone earns, how good they are at their job, or how much experience they have. It is different to being a temporary employee.

NathanE said:
That URL just proves without any doubt that it isn't your contract therefore you're not a contractor.

You're a temporary employee to that company. Bottom rung, I'm afraid.
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He could still be a contractor working on that project. I think the confusion might arise because Network Rail will refer to him as a contractor when he visits a Network Rail site, which is technically correct because his employer is the contractor.
 
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Job Title/Description: EMEA Partner Enablement Manager

Typical day-to-day work: GTM creation, strategic enablement, business planning

Highest qualification (GCSE/Diploma etc): BSc(Hons) in a computing related subject

Job satisifaction (do you enjoy your day-to-day work): Very much enjoy

Job security(do you feel you are at risk of having your job outsourced to india?):
Very secure (high client touch-rate)

Salary(optional): £65k+
 
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