Career Decisions (IT Professionals please read!)

[aproctor]

For christs sake, look at job adverts on the job websites, there's a choice of temp, contract or perm. Course I didn't bid for the work and then do it all on my own. Thats just daft...

It isn't daft if you are a contractor. It is if you are a temp.

As your English is quite poor, i will translate in smiley speak so you can follow.

LOL LOL LOl ROFL

 

[Blackhawk47]

I missed your edit.

All i can say is, of course you are.

Please do a print screen, save it and look at it in 5 years.

You will have this expression.....

When I started at siemens I was on £6 per hour doing the same exact job but obviously it takes time to get used to things I don't have experience of.

Maybe I should quit my job now, go to Uni for 3 years to do comp sci get 9k debt when I get out and buy bmw while I claim off the dole?

 

[[TW]Fox]

You do realise I was only 17 when I started there.... I am 19 and at the second company I was taking home £500 for 10 hour day, 5 days a week. 2 grand a month at my age... @OP/Anyone else DON'T GET A JOB JUST GO TO UNI AND DO A DEGREE IN MCDONALDS FOR 3 YEARS.

You are taking home £2k a month because you work 50 hours a week not because you've done super uber without an education. I'm sure your situation suits you well and it's great you are happy but:

a) You are not an IT contractor like most of the others in this thread
b) You are not exactly better off than people who've chosen to get a degree.

 

[Blackhawk47]

You are taking home £2k a month because you work 50 hours a week not because you've done super uber without an education. I'm sure your situation suits you well and it's great you are happy but:

a) You are not an IT contractor like most of the others in this thread
b) You are not exactly better off than people who've chosen to get a degree.

No of course I am not better off. Most of the people I went to school are at uni now and when they finish at 21 you really think they will be in a as well paying a job as me? Who's mum and dad are paying for everything because they are rich...

I am actually looking for perm work, I need to gain more experience but job searching is hard, I suggest you try it when you get made redundant. My old jobs I have been told that I will be made redundant, obviously different to the perm staff as its just a weeks notice for contract people.

 

[[TW]Fox]

No of course I am not better off. Most of the people I went to school are at uni now and when they finish at 21 you really think they will be in a as well paying a job as me?

Probably, yes? Remember, your earnings are high because you work 50 hour weeks. On an average 37.5 hour week you'd be earning £18k a year on your hourly rate. This is easily acheivable as a new graduate

 

[Morba]

For christs sake, look at job adverts on the job websites, there's a choice of temp, contract or perm. Course I didn't bid for the work and then do it all on my own. Thats just daft...

Fox, enlighten me, what is it you do, you haven't even added what you do to this thread?

Ah now this is where you show you are a temp. Contractors go and get their jobs, the umbrella doesn't do it for them. The umbrella is purely an income processing service.

If the people paying you find the work and send you off then you are a temp

 

[Blackhawk47]

Ah now this is where you show you are a temp. Contractors go and get their jobs, the umbrella doesn't do it for them. The umbrella is purely an income processing service.

If the people paying you find the work and send you off then you are a temp

I was told by the company when they called me that I had to arrange my own payroll/umbrella company. So I used the same agency and then a recommended umbrella company.

Christ I am fed up explaining now. The job I just started is £10p/h and is a 35 hour a week (set hours). Whats your point Fox?

 

[Morba]

Then explain it properly, so that so many people (including contractors here) don't have to ask questions?
The contracts i have done have been 'see contract advertised then apply myself' the umbrella / my own company were not involved until I secured the work.

 

[Tetsujin]

Whats your point Fox?

I believe his point is that Contractor has a specific meaning with specific implications and were you to tell someone of standing in the industry that you were a Contractor they'd expect you to be one.

 

[[TW]Fox]

The job I just started is £10p/h and is a 35 hour a week (set hours). Whats your point Fox?

That you are not an IT Contractor in the sense of the word everyone in this thread is using, and that you are not 'better off' than people who went to Uni instead either, as you seem to think you are.

You are trying to put across the point that Uni is pointless because you have a temp job paying £10 an hour. You then go onto express doubt that anyone who has just finished Uni could do as well as your salary (Which seems to change every 30 seconds, now suddenly its a 35 hour week..)

You are in a worse position than most people in that you are working in temporary positions where they can at any point simply bin you, but you are being paid the going rate for a permanent member of staff without getting any of the benefits!

Way to totally miss the point.

Your average grad finishing an IT degree and going into IT would be earning between £18k and £32k (Depending on role - £18k for entry level stuff, £32k if you are elite enough to join the grad scheme of one of the multinationals following a succesful placement). Quite how you think that working in a temp job for £10 an hour makes Uni pointless is beyond me and probably the rest of the posters in this thread.

There are people in this thread who HAVE demonstrated that for some people, Uni is not required nor is it the best route.

You are not one of them.

 

[Blackhawk47]

That you are not an IT Contractor in the sense of the word everyone in this thread is using, and that you are not 'better off' than people who went to Uni instead either, as you seem to think you are.

You are trying to put across the point that Uni is pointless because you have a temp job paying £10 an hour. You then go onto express doubt that anyone who has just finished Uni could do as well as your salary (Which seems to change every 30 seconds, now suddenly its a 35 hour week..)

You are in a worse position than most people in that you are working in temporary positions where they can at any point simply bin you, but you are being paid the going rate for a permanent member of staff without getting any of the benefits!

Way to totally miss the point.

Your average grad finishing an IT degree and going into IT would be earning between £18k and £32k (Depending on role - £18k for entry level stuff, £32k if you are elite enough to join the grad scheme of one of the multinationals following a succesful placement). Quite how you think that working in a temp job for £10 an hour makes Uni pointless is beyond me and probably the rest of the posters in this thread.

There are people in this thread who HAVE demonstrated that for some people, Uni is not required nor is it the best route.

You are not one of them.

Yeah thanks for the pep talk bro but I have always been looking for perm its just harder to get interviews, especially more entry level positions. I am not just going to turn down "temp" work which at siemens lasted 1 year and 6 months, in Coventry lasted 2 months (was suppose to be about 3) and now this job, at a bank, which is different entirely to telecoms but you cant just hold out for ever sitting at home doing nothing. Id rather get some experience in a few low end roles than be applying with no experience after coming out of uni.

I would like an IT position (its what my qualifications are in which I did at college) but helpdesk is not for me personally, my first post in this thread was just saying that you don't have to do support to use your IT/computer skills.

Never said Uni is pointless of course it isn't - but my situation doesn't mean I can't do a degree one day, I just did not want to have so much debt at such a young age, it just seemed to me like the OP wasn't definitely going to go the uni route anyway.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Id rather get some experience in a few low end roles than be applying with no experience after coming out of uni.

The sensible ones do a Sandwich degree at Uni - you work for a year during the course.

This means you finish Uni with a years experience *and* a degree, not just a degree.

 

[Blackhawk47]

The sensible ones do a Sandwich degree at Uni - you work for a year during the course.

This means you finish Uni with a years experience *and* a degree, not just a degree.

I just felt that when I was 16, I'd rather go to college and study before working then go to sixth form, and then uni. OP also doesn't seem sure what he wants to do in terms of courses.

It was only my two cents, didn't mean to offend anyone.

Lucky for me my dad has worked for siemens for years and managed to get me work experience which then lead to a "temp" job. I would like get into the rail industry, but when talking with colleagues in my past jobs the only qualification/certification worth having is this:

http://www.irse.org/

Most of the people I worked with even came from completely different backgrounds in terms of what they did at uni.

 

[Mr^B]

Back on track (hahah, I said "track"...get it??)

Job Title/Description: Senior Software Engineer (I think they ran out of developer roles to promote me into). I'm a developer, aged 38, graduated at 24 (took two years out before going to Uni to travel and work)

Typical day-to-day work: Pair programming with other developers, investigating production issues that go beyond 3rd line support, working with the business to put together long-term plans for systems (sometime I get called an architect, but I'm not really), mentoring other developers, working with other development teams on common problems. I spend 1 week a month in Switzerland working with the developers based over there.

Highest qualification (GCSE/Diploma etc): Graduate BA Hons Systems Analysis (with a gap-year spent as an Analyst Programmer at a well-known retail bank's life assurance section)

Job satisfaction (do you enjoy your day-to-day work): Yes, it's always challenging and I never EVER find myself clock-watching. There's not enough hours in the day to do what I need to do. I work long-ish hours (7:00am-5:30pm) but the day never feels long to me.

Job security(do you feel you are at risk of having your job outsourced to india?): No chance, I have 11+ years relevant financial experience and double that amount of experience in implementing systems. You can't get that from India.

Salary(optional): Depends on the years profits (I work for a Hedge Fund). Base is £70k+

I could probably do what I do today without having gone to Uni, but it wouldn't have opened the initial door to me (working for a consultancy) and it's off the back of that first job that I got into Investment Banking (Jap Bank), then Asset Management...hard to tell if I'd have done as well otherwise...but the gap year of experience was more than enough to land me my first job, and it kinda snowballed from there.

 

[Ev0]

I am actually looking for perm work, I need to gain more experience but job searching is hard, I suggest you try it when you get made redundant.

It's not that easy at the moment is it My post is up for redundancy albeit in about 15months time.

Am looking for a new job and have got some interviews lined up for perm roles, but will likely need to take a pay cut to go down the route I want to.

Keep getting calls about contracts but am saying no at the moment, however in 12 months time if I'm still there it'll be tempting depending on the rate

Of course I could just wait it out and get my nice government funded redunancy payout

 

[Pants]

Job Title/Description: Systems Developer

Typical day-to-day work: Develop business applications / SCRUM master projects.

Highest qualification: Some mediocre A levels.

Job satisifaction: I enjoy it mostly but can be stressful sometimes.

Job security: Secure.

Salary: Started on 21K in support. This went up a fair amount when I started developing / scrum mastering. I think the pay has been more than fair.

 

[Blackhawk47]

It's not that easy at the moment is it My post is up for redundancy albeit in about 15months time.

Am looking for a new job and have got some interviews lined up for perm roles, but will likely need to take a pay cut to go down the route I want to.

Keep getting calls about contracts but am saying no at the moment, however in 12 months time if I'm still there it'll be tempting depending on the rate

Of course I could just wait it out and get my nice government funded redunancy payout

Yeah it is, in between my last few jobs there have been about 2-3 months out of work and it is depressing. Luckily I haven't got a place of my own yet so have a roof over my head but I do need a perm job before I start moving out. I kept applying for just about anything I could do when I left college at 16, things did get better though after 18.

If the time comes and your definitely not going to a have a perm job to go straight into, I see know no reason why somebody would turn down a contract job. There are perks and it pays the bills.

You have way more experience then me and looking for more specific job roles. Nearly all the perm jobs I have applied for in the past year get up to 100 applicants from 12-24k jobs. In fact I only managed to get through to interview stage for perm jobs on a handful of occasions - and those weren't ideal jobs in terms of location/at the time.

We are trying to move house down to Leicestershire because my dads job was in jeopardy up in yorkshire - company requested him to move down or redundancy, ie with an house allowance etc but at the moment he is doing at least 170 miles a day, 5 days a week. Can't keep it up for ever and we have had the house on the market for 6 months (1 viewing...).

 

[Bassmansam]

Job Title/Description: IT Support

Typical day-to-day work: Dealing with hardware and software faults, Active Directory administration, testing and installation of new equipment, minor programming (though this is not something I should really be doing - I just want to) etc.

Highest qualification (GCSE/Diploma etc): BTEC Level 3

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

Job security(do you feel you are at risk of having your job outsourced to india?): Quite high and the team leader for our area seems to have plans for me, so it looks good on that front.

Salary(optional): < £10,000.

Isn't this below minimum wage?

 

[Bassmansam]

Thanks for the advice, one of my biggest worries actually was that after getting a degree or whatever, would I even get employed without prior experience.

Upon leaving school you would have no experience either? Correct me if im wrong. Therefore a degree can only boast your chances of landing a job?

 

[Xez]

Isn't this below minimum wage?

Depends on age, I think the minimum is 11.5k now...