Advice: IT support career in the NHS?

[HangTime]

Google can explain it better than I but in simple terms I think of it as being architecture that isn't specific to a given application or technology, but is looking holistically at the overall organisation ecosystem and how various domains interact with each other e.g. applications, data, processes etc.

 

[Sheff]

Not necessarily because the band 8 positions will be even more dead end and be paid relatively poorly compared to the private sector.
I've seen a few interesting band 8 roles in the past but the pay has always been a stumbling block. I mean say you are in the private sector doing the equivalent of a Band 6 role, looking for a step up. You're talking maybe Band 8d or whatever before it gets feasible on the money side, but those tend to be quite senior in the NHS. It's a bit weird really, they don't pay enough to attract much talent from outside the NHS but presumably it is also rare for people to 'jump' bandings i.e. go from 5 to 7, 6 to 8 etc, so it must be quite a slow road for some people.

I don't think you can jump from 6 to 8. 5 to 7, yes in rare circumstances (usually agreed at the time of recruiting and certainly not for the service desk). When I worked on a service desk for NHS Digital, the structure was:

Band 3 - trainees/apprentices
Band 4 - analysts
Band 5 - senior analysts
Band 6 - coordinators/leaders
Band 7 - service desk managers
Band 8a - department manager

So you'd be expected to work your way through the various roles.

 

[Cyber-Mav]

ITIL foundation (v3) was easily studyable in a very short time (less than a week, part time) and the test is online. If I'm interviewing you and you don't have the cert for ITIL when we've stated you need it... I'm going to be wondering why you haven't just got it. That isn't to say that everyone's like me or that it's the best use of your time, mind. Also the move to v4 may have changed things but I don't think it will have made too much of a difference.

then there are those that have loads of certs but for some reason are still clueless about how to do things.....

 

[Deleted member 651465]

@VeNT , yes that is the band. Interesting to hear about how the progression works. In my current post I will be unable to earn any more and although there are banded pay scales there has not actually been a proper pay progression system for a number or years so a firmly structured progression system is better than no progression system!

You'll start at the bottom of the band and get an annual band increment in April until you hit the top of the band. Once you hit the top of the band, you're effectively stuck on the same wage which is why you'll see people jumping around for a promotion. I went from 6 > 7 > 8a in the 4 years I was there (non-IT) because opportunities came up because of retirement and restructure, although it depends on the size of the department.

Pay rises are usually on top, although when I worked in the NHS it was frozen for the entire 4 years I was there . Best case scenario is getting your band increment + 2% .

My boss had been in the NHS from the age of 16 (40+ at the time) so knew nothing of the private sector. He asked me to get a qualification, and was absolutely not interested in bumping my salary when I got it. YMMV.