Career Decisions (IT Professionals please read!)

Mr^B · 15 Dec 2010 at 09:01

I wouldn't worry about it.

Blackhawk47; £27k *is* good money, but not unreasonable for a graduate with a relevant/good degree going into a blue-chip graduate scheme. The usual progression for that is

Year 1: £25-30k
Year 2: £30-40k (depends what grad. scheme you are on and what you end up doing after a year of rotation, and if you're actually any good...)
Year 3: Head-hunted for between 25-50% salary increase (40+50% = 60k)

I started on £14.5k (back in 1996 when that was a lot of money) working for a consultancy, within 3 years I was working for a Japanese Investment Bank earning just shy of £50k (back when bonuses were good, so between 100% and 150% annual bonus).

That's why I didn't bat en eyelid...or anything else...

Morba · 15 Dec 2010 at 10:18

Ev0 said:
Wish I'd gone into something like that, kind of IT and kind of a 'trade' like a sparky or plumber, but more engineeringy

I think Wardie (on here) is a submarine techy engineer

Blackhawk47 · 15 Dec 2010 at 10:35

Basher said:
Excuse me? Just because I have done pretty well over the past few years you automatically assume I am lying?

There are plenty of recent (<3 years) grads earning more than I am. I was offering proof than you can exploit the opportunity University can give you to earn good money.

Where did I say I had a car costing £20k

The point everyone seems to miss is that in 6 years time I dont intend to be working for £10 ph still doing "temp work"...

I only gave the OP an insight into what you can do if your not interested in going to Uni. I'm not saying you haven't worked hard i still don't know many people earning that sort of salary below the age of 26.

Basher · 15 Dec 2010 at 10:41

Blackhawk47 said:
The point everyone seems to miss is that in 6 years time I dont intend to be working for £10 ph still doing "temp work"...

I only gave the OP an insight into what you can do if your not interested in going to Uni. I'm not saying you haven't worked hard i still don't know many people earning that sort of salary below the age of 26.

But you were questioning it's truth. Do you believe me yet?

Also, what do you expect to be earning in 6 years time?

Blackhawk47 · 15 Dec 2010 at 10:46

Basher said:
But you were questioning it's truth. Do you believe me yet?

No one believed me no matter how much detail I put in.

You haven't even said anything about what you do which is what OP is interested in.

Mr^B · 15 Dec 2010 at 10:52

I don't think anyone didn't believe you, you were just pulled you up on the concept of "temp" vs "contract". We believe that what you say you did, you actually did. But what you did was "temp" work, not "contract" work.

It's just semantics, I really fail to see why it's such a big issue.

Basher · 15 Dec 2010 at 10:53

Blackhawk47 said:
No one believed me no matter how much detail I put in.

You haven't even said anything about what you do which is what OP is interested in.

I meant did YOU believe ME (as you didn't originally).

And yes, I have detailed what I do.

Blackhawk47 · 15 Dec 2010 at 11:11

No reason why I couldn't be doing this in a few years time if I manage to get another job in rail. http://www.railwaypeople.com/rail-job-vacancies/project-engineer-signalling-york-82307.html

8of9 · 15 Dec 2010 at 11:14

Job Title/Description: 1st Line Analyst

Typical day-to-day work: AD, Server/Hardware Issues, Office, Exchange Servers, Multiple Domain Management etc.

Highest qualification (GCSE/Diploma etc): GCSE's

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

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

Salary(optional): 16k

Morba · 15 Dec 2010 at 11:31

Blackhawk47 said:
No reason why I couldn't be doing this in a few years time if I manage to get another job in rail. http://www.railwaypeople.com/rail-job-vacancies/project-engineer-signalling-york-82307.html

£300 a day is quite low, you would really want to consider a perm job with a decent renumeration over it imo.

Blackhawk47 · 15 Dec 2010 at 11:51

Morba said:
£300 a day is quite low, you would really want to consider a perm job with a decent renumeration over it imo.

Of course there are higher paid jobs, in london and the like.

Oh and sure i would say NO to £36000 for a 6 month contract. Don't you realise how daft you sound? :rolleyes:

Shicky · 15 Dec 2010 at 11:56

Blackhawk47 said:
Don't you realise how daft you sound?

Pot...kettle....black

Ev0 · 15 Dec 2010 at 11:57

Morba said:
£300 a day is quite low, you would really want to consider a perm job with a decent renumeration over it imo.

Disagree personally, £300 isn't to be sniffed at, might not be high compared to some of the contracting gods on here but it's still a decent wage.

And the difficulty in finding a decent paid perm role could make this a very attractive proposition.

You'd need to be on about £70k a year in a perm role to get that much.

Also the ad highlights the whole point we've been trying to make about the temp/contractor divide

Your expertise as a Project Engineer ( Signalling ) will enable you to implement systems and procedures to maintain a cost effective, high quality, safe and environmentally responsible approach to a programme of relevant projects .

See, not we'll have you in to train up for x months, you need to already be expert in the field

Basher · 15 Dec 2010 at 11:59

Blackhawk47 said:
Of course there are higher paid jobs, in london and the like.

Oh and sure i would say NO to £36000 for a 6 month contract. Don't you realise how daft you sound?

But what you have to bear in mind is that the £36k will have to support you until you find your next job - and cover sickness, holiday etc.

Blackhawk47 · 15 Dec 2010 at 12:08

Basher said:
But what you have to bear in mind is that the £36k will have to support you until you find your next job - and cover sickness, holiday etc.

I do all that now and on less money so what is it that you can't understand?

There's benefits to being a contractor the same as there are being perm.

Basher · 15 Dec 2010 at 12:10

Blackhawk47 said:
I do all that now and on less money so what is it that you can't understand?

There's benefits to being a contractor the same as there are being perm.

I do understand, but you'll (I would imagine) have a lot more to worry about, financially speaking when you're 6 years older ... car, mortgage, bills etc.

I appreciate the benefits of being a contractor, but in a tough economy, I know where I'd rather be.

Ev0 · 15 Dec 2010 at 12:14

All depends if it's the choice between no work or a contract, or a perm job and a contract.

Yes I'd probably pick perm over contract 8 out of 10 times, but if a perm job isn't even in the equation at that point then it's a no brainer.

Anyway it's too far in the future to know what would be the best thing to do, if it were a choice that had to be made tomorrow then it'd be a bit more relevant

[TW]Fox · 15 Dec 2010 at 12:18

Blackhawk47 said:
No reason why I couldn't be doing this in a few years time if I manage to get another job in rail. http://www.railwaypeople.com/rail-job-vacancies/project-engineer-signalling-york-82307.html

There is every reason why you couldnt be doing that in a few years time. They are after an experience signalling engineer with SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCE not a 21 year old who's done some temp work.

Blackhawk47 · 15 Dec 2010 at 12:18

Basher said:
I do understand, but you'll (I would imagine) have a lot more to worry about, financially speaking when you're 6 years older ... car, mortgage, bills etc.

I appreciate the benefits of being a contractor, but in a tough economy, I know where I'd rather be.

There are less perm jobs available let alone entry level perm jobs. I didn't even qualify for JSA until I was 18 and I really don't see how a office job paying 8-12 pound an hour and full time is so bad for someone in my situation.

Ideally I was hoping for the apprenticeship at siemens where you work but do a day release to college to gain a relevant qualification. But they didn't do it that year because the York office was downsizing/making people redundant/terminating contracts.

Blackhawk47 · 15 Dec 2010 at 12:23

[TW]Fox;18006763 said:
There is every reason why you couldnt be doing that in a few years time. They are after an experience signalling engineer with SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCE not a 21 year old who's done some temp work.

Fox can't read?

To be considered for this role you will have successful relevant experience of Signalling Engineering Projects