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Bes

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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7,318
Location
Melbourne
Hi All,

I am currently fishing for a new position in IT....

I just wanted to get an idea of people's career paths (with timings) and maybe an idea of salaries too.... Also comments on what you think of your current role

I am currently looking at pre- sales or project architect/ lead consultant roles with various co's. I have about 6 years in PS under my belt with the same co. and a first class hons degree (Albeit not from the best uni).

I would also welcome any comments from people who have worked both pre-sales and on sold projects- about which side of the business they prefer.

Thanks!
 
Pre-Sales with an architecture focus would generally command 70-90k dependent on firm and location - a lot of adverts I've seen want the relevant technical experience (MCITP/VCP/CCA/CCNA etc) as well as TOGAF etc :)

My career path without earnings -

Helpdesk - 3rd line wintel support - field and project engineer - 3rd line contractor - 3rd line wintel support - 3rd line contractor - pre-sales/vmware consultant - lead infra architect - infra tda contractor - now where I am a lead architect for HP Enterprise Services on contract :)
 
At 17 - IT paper round - £5 p/h
At 22 - IT Suppport Officer - £6 p/h
At 23 - IT Guru - £7 p/h

Steady career progression id say
 
Oct 2002 (aged 22): Started my first job as a junior developer
Oct 2004: Got promotion more senior level
Jun 2006: Left first company to move to a more senior role and move industries into investment banking, so got a reasonable pay increase for this one! In the end it didn't work out too well as the project I was working on didn't really go anywhere due to various political reasons, so I chose to move on fairly quickly.
June 2007: Left to move into consultancy and did several things in banking, telecoms and government. Even though I wasn't here too long either I gained masses of experience, especially with some of the pre-sales stuff - pitches to CEOs, CIOs and the like.
Oct 2008: Decided that in reality I preferred being a techie that trying to go more senior down the pre-sales route so went into contracting. First contract was in the Oil & Gas industry and went really well, unfortunately they decided to outsource development to an Indian company and so my contract got terminated after a year!
Oct 2009: Found a new contract on the last day of my previous one, back into investment banking again so a bit of a rate increase here! Contract was OK, but decided to leave after a year
Oct 2010: Took a few months off to do some stuff with the guys in my first contract who had set up a start-up developing some software. Worked from home on a few bits and it was a nice break from the monotony of office life! Hasn't made me my fortune yet though.
Feb 2011: Took another contract and am still in this one. Doing technical lead stuff for another bank.

I'd rather not discuss specifics in regard to salary, but I'll say that I've gone from struggling to pay my rent initially to being pretty comfortably off now.
 
Are you ok living in London? If so perhaps consider contracting.

If not then I guess you are looking at a position within a partner company.

Do you want to keep the techniness or go more down the business side of things?

I'm 27 and went 1st line generic - 2nd line generic - Network Admin Enterprise - Ski Bum - Network Admin service provider - Network Design Consultant @Vendor
 
I live in London already.

I thought about contracting, but I hear the market is a bit dead at the moment.

I think I will be permie for a couple more years and try and get into more of a niche

(My skills are a bit too broad and shallow right now- and my current co does a lot of proprietary stuff which is not the best for getting going in contracting).

I have had a LOT of calls from agents in the last 2 weeks though (Probably got about 8 decent sounding jobs where I will have or have had initial talks/ interviews with the companies). Also due to being underpaid right now, I am coming in at the bottom of the budgets of the jobs I am applying for :( which means I get a decent salary jump, but also means I still might be selling myself short. At the same time, I don't want to price myself out (I tell agencies I am aiming for about 55K in a new role).

Is going all through agencies OK or should I be applying myself too? Are the agencies going to hurt the salary I end up with much?
 
Bes said:
I thought about contracting, but I hear the market is a bit dead at the moment.
Click to expand...

It's starting to pick up a bit now, at least for the stuff that I do.
Getting more calls from agents and definitely seeing more stuff around over the last week or two.
 
I followed a fairly traditional path from 2nd line to sys admin/project work. However for the last few years my career has been languishing. I just don't have the love for it. I'm attempting to use my current position to train up and move into SAN Administratation.

However I'm also working at working for myself out of IT (but still involved with IT) as I'm even more tired of working for the man than I am tired of IT.

Took a little pay cut for my current position but it's worth it as the job is, at least at the moment, cushy. Still a nice enough salary to keep me and the wife more than comfortable and triple what I started on.
 
Haircut said:
It's starting to pick up a bit now, at least for the stuff that I do.
Getting more calls from agents and definitely seeing more stuff around over the last week or two.
Click to expand...



That's interesting... Would you say someone with 6 years in PS working on mainly proprietary software for telcos (Messaging, mediation of TCP/ IP traffic) but with no specific certs under his belt would be a decent candidate for contract stuff? I have spoken to a couple of people, and as I said before I just feel like I need to have a few more strings to my bow first...
 
2007 - Taken on as trainee consultant for IBM Tivoli software - 24k
2008 - Continue as consultant for same company - 30k
2009 - company bought out by bigger company, continue to gain exp - 35k
2011 - Switch over to running IBM support for company - 50k

At 26 I'm quite happy where I am, running support from home 4 days a week on my salary can't be sniffed at. Future plans are uncertain.
 
1) Start out as contractor. Make huge money.

2) Peform exceptionally; get hired directly into company; take paycut but better benefits.

3) Get steady 3% payraises (barely enough to cover cost-of-living increase) for 10 years; still perform above and beyond expectations.

4) Wait for IT business to go downhill. Take 5% paycut but at least you still have a job.

5) Company is bought out by bigger company. Take 20% paycut in new "cost-saving" structure, but at least you still have a job.

6) Wait for company to downsize too much, now has job openings, slide into new position and hope for the best.
 
You should try specialising in something like IT security, still massively in demand. Something I'd love to go more in to.

My path over the last few years was as follows...



SharePoint Project Consultant & Support (contract)
Novartis
October 2011 – Present (4 months) Basel - 400pd

IT & SharePoint Consultant (contract)
Medical Research Council
May 2011 – September 2011 (5 months) Cambridge, United Kingdom - 200pd

SharePoint Project Consultant / Field Support Engineer (perm)
Syplex Ltd
July 2010 – April 2011 (10 months) Cambridge, United Kingdom - 26k

ICT Helpdesk Analyst (perm)
*** Police
March 2009 – July 2010 (1 year 5 months) 17k-22k (pay rise in that time, hustling)
 
I should add, that isn't all my career, but the support role was my first in IT. I was in a different industry prior to that and wanted to change in to IT.


It was what I was aiming for really. So, did what I could to get up to that, and had bosses that were great in helping me climb (and presented me with a contract as well, which was great). I'm now on another 12months here, negotiating a rate change to 520 a day.

You say about certs, but when you're in a contract doing the job, it's what says it all really.
 
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My progression so far has been:

National Diploma IT Pracitioner at college for 2 years

Went to Uni for 3 years and got a degree in BSc Computer Game Technology with a 2:1.

Worked at a game studio doing QA, wasn't for me so moved to my original home.

Got a job as a 3D CAD Modeller, been here since August last year.

Just handed in my notice as I got a job as an Search Engine Optimisation Executive, starting soon and very excited :)

My career has taken many random tangents but my salary has always been increasing each time. Deffo sticking with SEO now as it has a very bright and lucrative future!
 
Started out in a desktop support and projects role, left for a contract as an SMS consultant after 4.5 years.

The contract turned into a perm role after a month so took it, was in the insfrastructure support team but specialising in 2 areas, security and software asset management (including SMS/SCCM still).

Made redundant after 4 years there, took a role as a senior consultant at a large highstreet financial in information security, primarily looking after pen testing.

Left after 6 months for another info sec role in a large IT services co due to personal reasons and still there now.
 
18 - IT apprentice
20 - Landed an I.T role, promotion in which time, with decent annual yearly raises
23 - Team outsourced, same role, good pay increase as part of the TUPE

Rather not say salaries, but I'm doing well for myself at 23! Not quite upto LiE's financial haul annually, but good none-the-less :)

Will definitely be looking into contracting in the next couple of years. Plenty of contracts available in my particular area, along with my combination of experience and qualifications.


Some of the best advice you can take, is if you're working for a company, grab as much funded training as you possibly can out of them.
 
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LiE said:
2007 - Taken on as trainee consultant for IBM Tivoli software - 24k
2008 - Continue as consultant for same company - 30k
2009 - company bought out by bigger company, continue to gain exp - 35k
2011 - Switch over to running IBM support for company - 50k

At 26 I'm quite happy where I am, running support from home 4 days a week on my salary can't be sniffed at. Future plans are uncertain.
Click to expand...

Man, I envy you. Thats some nice progression.
 
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