IT Career Progression...
- Thread starter Teledude
- Start date
Please elaborate then
Employers are employing a member of staff, not a machine. If they don't like you they won't hire you.
Associate
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 940
- Location
- Manchester
2007 - Graduated Computer Science
2007-2010 - Worked as a programmer for a software company in the clinical trials industry. It was a bit mundane, too specialised to that firm only. It was a get out early or stay there forever type place.
2010-2011 - Moved to a small software firm, took a pay cut in the hope I could gain more industry standard skills. Mostly .Net and SharePoint Dev work.
2011-Now - Realised after 6 months the small firm was going nowhere and I was relocating to Manchester, put my CV out there and got loads of interest. Now working for a larger firm as a .Net/Web/SharePoint developer for ~£15K more.
2007-2010 - Worked as a programmer for a software company in the clinical trials industry. It was a bit mundane, too specialised to that firm only. It was a get out early or stay there forever type place.
2010-2011 - Moved to a small software firm, took a pay cut in the hope I could gain more industry standard skills. Mostly .Net and SharePoint Dev work.
2011-Now - Realised after 6 months the small firm was going nowhere and I was relocating to Manchester, put my CV out there and got loads of interest. Now working for a larger firm as a .Net/Web/SharePoint developer for ~£15K more.
1992-1996 - Uni, 1995 year out in industry
1997 - started at big software consultancy doing a big energy project as dev then team lead.
1998 - moved market within consultancy house into mobile telecoms as team lead/dev, progressing as consultant, senior developer/architect etc.
2005 - still in the same consultancy, moved into technical presales as a specalist (they were insourcing workers so I knew what was going to happen later..)
2007 - the consultancy sold off the division with me going with it. I moved to being a technical product manager (responsible for the product in it's technical entirety).
2009 - Wanted to move into solution architecture in new exciting areas, myself and the company knew it wasn't going to work.. so I left. Looked at new technologies etc.
2010 - Took a contract as a junior product manager because it was a VoIP operator doing product but also business and enterprise architecture as well as solution etc. (was 3 months initially.. became 18 months). Basically they got me for cheap and I got to re-use old skills but after 18 months I was ready to move on..
2011 - Just taken permanent job at a new 'startup' division as "Technical Consultant" that is basically a technical product manager. Supposedly it's the fastest they've ever seen someone hired. Job is going to be interesting, pay good and the people are interesting and motivated.
1997 - started at big software consultancy doing a big energy project as dev then team lead.
1998 - moved market within consultancy house into mobile telecoms as team lead/dev, progressing as consultant, senior developer/architect etc.
2005 - still in the same consultancy, moved into technical presales as a specalist (they were insourcing workers so I knew what was going to happen later..)
2007 - the consultancy sold off the division with me going with it. I moved to being a technical product manager (responsible for the product in it's technical entirety).
2009 - Wanted to move into solution architecture in new exciting areas, myself and the company knew it wasn't going to work.. so I left. Looked at new technologies etc.
2010 - Took a contract as a junior product manager because it was a VoIP operator doing product but also business and enterprise architecture as well as solution etc. (was 3 months initially.. became 18 months). Basically they got me for cheap and I got to re-use old skills but after 18 months I was ready to move on..
2011 - Just taken permanent job at a new 'startup' division as "Technical Consultant" that is basically a technical product manager. Supposedly it's the fastest they've ever seen someone hired. Job is going to be interesting, pay good and the people are interesting and motivated.
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I'm a software contractor working from home with decent pay, going to university to do a masters within a few months. I have agreed to do small part time projects for companies while at university. Nothing like working in bed...
Seems perfect at the moment. After i get my masters I will probably join a company, or try expand the contracting business into a company of my own.
Long term future, possibly an MBA at the best b-school i can get into.
When contracting, you are treated as another company/business they interact with. They don't treat you badly, its just that you agree to work and they expect you to complete it for the price agreed. Thats it, I like the simplicity and i get to avoid office politics.
The good bits with contracting is as long as the work gets completed they don't care about anything else.
Seems perfect at the moment. After i get my masters I will probably join a company, or try expand the contracting business into a company of my own.
Long term future, possibly an MBA at the best b-school i can get into.
When contracting, you are treated as another company/business they interact with. They don't treat you badly, its just that you agree to work and they expect you to complete it for the price agreed. Thats it, I like the simplicity and i get to avoid office politics.
The good bits with contracting is as long as the work gets completed they don't care about anything else.
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2001-2003 - 1st Line Helpdesk/Tech position for local legal firm. Was lucky enough to have an excellent mentor here who had a huge impact on my skillset and allowed me a lot of slack to develop.
2003-2004 - 1st Line Helpdesk/Tech position NHS Trust
2004-2008 - 2nd/3rd Line Network Support/Sys Admin - Made redundant in 2008
2008-2011 - Self employed ICT support tech/Sys Admin/????? supporting 4 local clients on a day to day basis, generally dealing with whatever is thrown at me. Best work I have ever done to date. Majority of my work is carried out from the comfort of my own home
2003-2004 - 1st Line Helpdesk/Tech position NHS Trust
2004-2008 - 2nd/3rd Line Network Support/Sys Admin - Made redundant in 2008
2008-2011 - Self employed ICT support tech/Sys Admin/????? supporting 4 local clients on a day to day basis, generally dealing with whatever is thrown at me. Best work I have ever done to date. Majority of my work is carried out from the comfort of my own home
Hi guys,
Im 18 run a small pc business at the moment, now ive just finished my second year BTEC NAT DIP in ICT, and am now thinking of going on for HND and then Honnors degree,Whats your best advice, im really liking this contracting business. Plus i love working at computers and technology .
Any advice is appreciated.
Im 18 run a small pc business at the moment, now ive just finished my second year BTEC NAT DIP in ICT, and am now thinking of going on for HND and then Honnors degree,Whats your best advice, im really liking this contracting business. Plus i love working at computers and technology .
Any advice is appreciated.
No you don't even need a degree.
My degree is in Economics & Maths and I work in IT, had I not gone ot uni I could have got where I am now 3 years sooner.
One thing I notice from this thread is how often people seem to change jobs/employers, seems quite common to only do 1-2 years at a company.
One thing that rings true with me is the comment about some roles being 'too specialised', one of my regrets career wise is that I took a job after leaving uni with very limited transferrable skills, using a lot of relatively proprietary software that nobody would have heard of, basically I ended up stuck there for 4 years earning a pittance. I then finally moved into a different role within the company with more transferrable skills and within 8 months had landed a job elsewhere. When I left my boss said she thought my problem had been that I stayed in my initial role too long - no **** Sherlock! - but it really opened my eyes to the importance of how a job title/role is viewed by other prospective employers.
Maybe the secret for competent people is to blag your way into a good job early in your career (since competent people can probably pickup things quickly and thus handle the job), then once you've got those roles on your CV you are set for life, rather than trying to work your way up and being looked down on.
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Associate
- Joined
- 7 Oct 2008
- Posts
- 912
- Location
- Guernsey
From what I've heard the stuff you learn in your first year is out of date by your 3rd year. The reason IT firms look for degrees is because it is proof they can work.
That's what the local education department told me earlier this year.
If your learning specific vocational technologies in your degree your doing it wrong. I.e Most CS degrees have a foundation course in programming, not to teach you java but teach you to program in general, so you can go on to implement algorithms & data structures and real cs.
2008-2011 - Self employed ICT support tech/Sys Admin/????? supporting 4 local clients on a day to day basis, generally dealing with whatever is thrown at me. Best work I have ever done to date. Majority of my work is carried out from the comfort of my own home
This is sort of what I should do
...Or work for atleast...Much rather just support a load of local clientsThat or run my own workshop
In short: large companies suck as employers.
It completely depends on the company. I contracted for a large pharmaceutical and it was like that, but I've also worked for other large companies and they have been great, for example Compaq (in Munich). I currently work for a large company and it's my facourite job I've ever had. I've also worked/contracted for small companies and they have been a mixed bag as well.
That sounds like 'freelancing' rather than contracting. A subtle, but important distinction. If people reading this think that IT contracting is about knocking up websites from the comfort of your bed, you're in for a shock.