That is nowhere near as bad as graduate barristers and solicitors. They don't make much more than that when you consider the hours they work and get charged out at over £100 per hour. However they know that if they work at it there salary will sky rocket whilst Engineers, and IT techies doesnt.
am i in the wrong job?
- Thread starter paradisiac
- Start date
That is nowhere near as bad as graduate barristers and solicitors. They don't make much more than that when you consider the hours they work and get charged out at over £100 per hour. However they know that if they work at it there salary will sky rocket whilst Engineers, and IT techies doesnt.
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yeah i guess. well if its the same sort of wages for everyone then maybe im not soo bad off, just you hear stories of pcworld engineers on £10-£15 an hour, and i know i am probably as good if not better than a lot of them, and in an ideal world, maybe a mobile engineer would be a better bet, but with a family i need stability so self employed isnt really an option.
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dont think im built for manual labour
thinking maybe back into sales, horrible job, hate ripping people off, but seems to be a lot better paid than pc repairs 
I work at the University for Creative Arts (UCA) as an ICT Technician and I get paid 21K a year.
My job includes primarily Desktop support for both PCs and Macs. I also work with AD, VLANS, Remote Installs and Server/Switch Maintenance.
My job includes primarily Desktop support for both PCs and Macs. I also work with AD, VLANS, Remote Installs and Server/Switch Maintenance.
Yup, was on £14.80 for the first 7.5 hours then £22.20p/h after that as a heating installer
A similar role where I work was advertised internally at £55k.
But we've always been a bit low on the salary side due to getting very good bonuses (hedge fund).
Which shows that it depends very much on who you work for, rather than what you actually do, that matters.
Caveat: "...working unpaid overtime on occasions"...for a given value of "on occasions".*
*the given value being "quite often".
But we've always been a bit low on the salary side due to getting very good bonuses (hedge fund).
Which shows that it depends very much on who you work for, rather than what you actually do, that matters.
Caveat: "...working unpaid overtime on occasions"...for a given value of "on occasions".*
*the given value being "quite often".
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Get the hell away from desktop PC support ESPECIALLY for a small company, messing around with virus killers etc. as sorry to say it but the impression is EVERYONE can do that (and install Microsoft Word, and install an extra 2gb of memory). The truth : 'Gary that makes my laptop mouse work if it goes funny' is the absolute bottom of the IT foodchain. and screwing around with PCs generally is the lowest paid of the low as basically all the kiddies want to do it .. and are prepared to do it for peanuts. It's seen (perhaps incorrectly) as easy work, the kind of work that the directors 15 year old cousin does for his home PC - so of course not worth paying any good money for.
Go for Unix Admin, or Oracle DBA, or 'C' programmer. That (full time) will at least get you to the low £40,000 levels minimum.
Don't even think about net development either. All the kiddies want to do that as well -- so competition means it's back down to a very cheap paying job. The impression rightly or wrongly is also that anyone can hammer out a website, because there's thousands of very young men that can, and will, for peanuts!
Basically don't be scared of 'big bad corporate computer systems'. That's where the real money is. They're not more complex than PCs but all the kiddies (read under 24 year olds) are scared of them .. so the people who know how to do them can command at least 40K .. snd you don't even need to be particularly good. My client thinks I'm wonderful because I know about databases and unix, and 'Gary that fixes your mouse when it moves funny' is basically a neccessary evil - an annoying little geek which they'll be very pleasent to because he knows why your hard disk is making a wierd whining noise, but he's totally expendible, there are 2000 kids waiting to take his place that will require no training, will walk straight into the job, and are currently unemployed, so hell, keep him on no money. Why not?
Where as 'If Britboy leaves we're truly screwed because he's really good with our invoicing system which sounds hard so keep him sweet'!
Yes there is a lot of money in computers, but there's also a lot of money in stock room trading. You ask the guy in the trading room that makes the tea and fills up the printer with paper how much of the wodja he's seen... Yet they'll call him a 'trading room assistant' because job titles are free to dole out and it makes him feel better so why not?
Go for Unix Admin, or Oracle DBA, or 'C' programmer. That (full time) will at least get you to the low £40,000 levels minimum.
Don't even think about net development either. All the kiddies want to do that as well -- so competition means it's back down to a very cheap paying job. The impression rightly or wrongly is also that anyone can hammer out a website, because there's thousands of very young men that can, and will, for peanuts!
Basically don't be scared of 'big bad corporate computer systems'. That's where the real money is. They're not more complex than PCs but all the kiddies (read under 24 year olds) are scared of them .. so the people who know how to do them can command at least 40K .. snd you don't even need to be particularly good. My client thinks I'm wonderful because I know about databases and unix, and 'Gary that fixes your mouse when it moves funny' is basically a neccessary evil - an annoying little geek which they'll be very pleasent to because he knows why your hard disk is making a wierd whining noise, but he's totally expendible, there are 2000 kids waiting to take his place that will require no training, will walk straight into the job, and are currently unemployed, so hell, keep him on no money. Why not?
Where as 'If Britboy leaves we're truly screwed because he's really good with our invoicing system which sounds hard so keep him sweet'!
Yes there is a lot of money in computers, but there's also a lot of money in stock room trading. You ask the guy in the trading room that makes the tea and fills up the printer with paper how much of the wodja he's seen...
Yet they'll call him a 'trading room assistant' because job titles are free to dole out and it makes him feel better so why not?
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Get the hell away from desktop PC support ESPECIALLY for a small company, messing around with virus killers etc. as sorry to say it but the impression is EVERYONE can do that (and install Microsoft Word, and install an extra 2gb of memory). The truth : 'Gary that makes my laptop mouse work if it goes funny' is the absolute bottom of the IT foodchain. and screwing around with PCs generally is the lowest paid of the low as basically all the kiddies want to do it .. and are prepared to do it for peanuts. It's seen (perhaps incorrectly) as easy work, the kind of work that the directors 15 year old cousin does for his home PC - so of course not worth paying any good money for.
Go for Unix Admin, or Oracle DBA, or 'C' programmer. That (full time) will at least get you to the low £40,000 levels minimum.
Don't even think about net development either. All the kiddies want to do that as well -- so competition means it's back down to a very cheap paying job. The impression rightly or wrongly is also that anyone can hammer out a website, because there's thousands of very young men that can, and will, for peanuts!
Basically don't be scared of 'big bad corporate computer systems'. That's where the real money is. They're not more complex than PCs but all the kiddies (read under 24 year olds) are scared of them .. so the people who know how to do them can command at least 40K .. snd you don't even need to be particularly good. My client thinks I'm wonderful because I know about databases and unix, and 'Gary that fixes your mouse when it moves funny' is basically a neccessary evil - an annoying little geek which they'll be very pleasent to because he knows why your hard disk is making a wierd whining noise, but he's totally expendible, there are 2000 kids waiting to take his place that will require no training, will walk straight into the job, and are currently unemployed, so hell, keep him on no money. Why not?
Where as 'If Britboy leaves we're truly screwed because he's really good with our invoicing system which sounds hard so keep him sweet'!
Yes there is a lot of money in computers, but there's also a lot of money in stock room trading. You ask the guy in the trading room that makes the tea and fills up the printer with paper how much of the wodja he's seen...
Nail, head.
Associate
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some people will be very well paid its just finding the right places
Get the hell away from desktop PC support ESPECIALLY for a small company, messing around with virus killers etc. as sorry to say it but the impression is EVERYONE can do that (and install Microsoft Word, and install an extra 2gb of memory). The truth : 'Gary that makes my laptop mouse work if it goes funny' is the absolute bottom of the IT foodchain. and screwing around with PCs generally is the lowest paid of the low as basically all the kiddies want to do it .. and are prepared to do it for peanuts. It's seen (perhaps incorrectly) as easy work, the kind of work that the directors 15 year old cousin does for his home PC - so of course not worth paying any good money for.
Go for Unix Admin, or Oracle DBA, or 'C' programmer. That (full time) will at least get you to the low £40,000 levels minimum.
Don't even think about net development either. All the kiddies want to do that as well -- so competition means it's back down to a very cheap paying job. The impression rightly or wrongly is also that anyone can hammer out a website, because there's thousands of very young men that can, and will, for peanuts!
Basically don't be scared of 'big bad corporate computer systems'. That's where the real money is. They're not more complex than PCs but all the kiddies (read under 24 year olds) are scared of them .. so the people who know how to do them can command at least 40K .. snd you don't even need to be particularly good. My client thinks I'm wonderful because I know about databases and unix, and 'Gary that fixes your mouse when it moves funny' is basically a neccessary evil - an annoying little geek which they'll be very pleasent to because he knows why your hard disk is making a wierd whining noise, but he's totally expendible, there are 2000 kids waiting to take his place that will require no training, will walk straight into the job, and are currently unemployed, so hell, keep him on no money. Why not?
Where as 'If Britboy leaves we're truly screwed because he's really good with our invoicing system which sounds hard so keep him sweet'!
Yes there is a lot of money in computers, but there's also a lot of money in stock room trading. You ask the guy in the trading room that makes the tea and fills up the printer with paper how much of the wodja he's seen...
This..
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My (somewhat biased) view is that computers are ceasing to matter now. They're just a client for accessing mostly web based applications and the applications themselves are just a commodity now, switching from hotmail to gmail isn't a big deal. In my opinion it's the network which matter now, because everything's connected and it needs to be reliable and scalable.
This may of course just be wishful thinking designed to justify my exorbitant salary to myself.
This may of course just be wishful thinking designed to justify my exorbitant salary to myself.
Forget IT if money is what you're looking for. Bar the inspiration and perfect timing of becoming the next creator of the next social networking site you will be earning significantly less than other graduate professions. It is significantly less challenging than eg. hard sciences, medicine to get into however. An example of the disparity? The least qualified type of doctor - a GP gets 80-100k base just for qualifying - and yes, there is always huge demand for more doctors.
My advise? Go for something you are passionate about, it is easy to put in the effort if you enjoy it. Do not bother just being a wage slave, you will hate it and just wont put in the effort that people who enjoy it do (coasting along doing a mediocre job, not getting anywhere). Don't be afraid to retrain or regret the time you could have spent better, only regret what you have not done. Life is short it isn't worth wasting time on something you don't enjoy.
My advise? Go for something you are passionate about, it is easy to put in the effort if you enjoy it. Do not bother just being a wage slave, you will hate it and just wont put in the effort that people who enjoy it do (coasting along doing a mediocre job, not getting anywhere). Don't be afraid to retrain or regret the time you could have spent better, only regret what you have not done. Life is short it isn't worth wasting time on something you don't enjoy.
Soldato
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I have worked in IT for about 5 years, it is not bad but not my ideal job either. I want to start my own business really. It's the only way.
I don't have a degree so 25k isn't bad but if I were to do a degree there are probably higher paying jobs but compared to other professions it isn't amazing.
I don't have a degree so 25k isn't bad but if I were to do a degree there are probably higher paying jobs but compared to other professions it isn't amazing.
No money in IT for most people, don't bother.
Starting a business in IT is difficult too, unless you have some rather specialised skills with enough of a basis to start consulting or similar. Just don't bother in repair, there's no money in that, people just buy new ones or are quite happy to get ripped off by the big boys of the industry than go to some smaller business. There's an unfair rep that small business can't be trusted and are often con artists for some reason. In actuality, I've found PC repair (with a small number of exceptions) to be quite the opposite.
Starting a business in IT is difficult too, unless you have some rather specialised skills with enough of a basis to start consulting or similar. Just don't bother in repair, there's no money in that, people just buy new ones or are quite happy to get ripped off by the big boys of the industry than go to some smaller business. There's an unfair rep that small business can't be trusted and are often con artists for some reason. In actuality, I've found PC repair (with a small number of exceptions) to be quite the opposite.
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That's garbage, I earn that much in IT/Telecoms and I'm only in my mid twenties still. If you're talented the earning potential is huge but that's a big if.
Soldato
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I bailed out of a career in computing about 4years ago and its probably the best move I've ever made. Best to keep it as a hobby tbh as only the best of the best get a decent salary.
and another thing, afaik the "computing trade" as a whole, is swamped with geeks with no social skills when what they really want is somebody who can work in / lead a team - mind you thats a huge stereotype
and another thing, afaik the "computing trade" as a whole, is swamped with geeks with no social skills when what they really want is somebody who can work in / lead a team - mind you thats a huge stereotype