How to get into the IT Industry
- Thread starter tidusjar
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 4 Apr 2003
- Posts
- 8,116
See my comments on your CV but what do you want to do? Answer phones all day, fix PCs in a small network with minor hardware or software issues or; install multi million £££ servers and networks into some of the largest organisations in the world.
If it is the first 2 then fair enough, if it is the latter then you need to get into one of the larger IT/Tech companies, preferably on their graduate schemes. For that you will need to get a good computer science / engineering degree at a decent uni, work very hard during the course and pick a year out in industry wisely.
If it is the first 2 then fair enough, if it is the latter then you need to get into one of the larger IT/Tech companies, preferably on their graduate schemes. For that you will need to get a good computer science / engineering degree at a decent uni, work very hard during the course and pick a year out in industry wisely.
I spent 10 years doing 2nd line support. Wouldn't go back to it. The job in and of itself would have been OK, but management are utter dickheads. By management, I mean upper management. Useless pen pushers that wouldn't know a stick of RAM if you shoved it up their big fat noses. Making decisons about things they haven't got the faintest idea about, and even when told something won't work, they insist it has to 'cos it's in the SLA. Well you shouldn't have put it in the SLA then you ****stick!
Anyway, I'm sure you'll enjoy IT. Go for it
Fully star out all swearing in future. Thank you.
Anyway, I'm sure you'll enjoy IT. Go for it
Fully star out all swearing in future. Thank you.
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 28 Nov 2004
- Posts
- 16,024
- Location
- 9th Inner Circle
Exactly why does management need to know what a stick of RAM is? I smell somebody with a chip on their shoulder.
To be fair ten years doing second line would be enough to drive anyone mental.
First and second line imho should be treated as stepping stones to get you on to other IT roles.
Management don't need to know what a stick of ram on, they are there to manage the people who should and run the business
If its support the op wants to get into then start hunting around for any entry level roles in first/second line or desktop support as these are the roles that generally you can start off in support wise.
Nowadays there's massive competition for these roles so a lot of the time it's either down to who you know or being in the right place at the right time.
First and second line imho should be treated as stepping stones to get you on to other IT roles.
Management don't need to know what a stick of ram on, they are there to manage the people who should and run the business
If its support the op wants to get into then start hunting around for any entry level roles in first/second line or desktop support as these are the roles that generally you can start off in support wise.
Nowadays there's massive competition for these roles so a lot of the time it's either down to who you know or being in the right place at the right time.
I spent 10 years doing 2nd line support. Wouldn't go back to it. The job in and of itself would have been OK, but management are utter dickheads. By management, I mean upper management. Useless pen pushers that wouldn't know a stick of RAM if you shoved it up their big fat noses. Making decisons about things they haven't got the faintest idea about, and even when told something won't work, they insist it has to 'cos it's in the SLA. Well you shouldn't have put it in the SLA then you ****stick!
Anyway, I'm sure you'll enjoy IT. Go for it
Fully star out all swearing in future. Thank you.
This. I done IT support for 9 years. It is soul destroying. I done support via the telephone. The targets are a joke.
To the OP without qualifications or experience it may be hard getting into IT. I got into IT via an IT course. I did the ECDL and a City & Guilds in computer building, repairing, upgrading, troubleshooting and networking. As part of doing the City & Guilds the course company would aim to get a job once you passed. So maybe look for courses to take.
Exactly the same in any industry tbh.
Exactly why does management need to know what a stick of RAM is? I smell somebody with a chip on their shoulder.
Chip? I left food laying around? Where?!
But in all seriousness, you're right, upper management shouldn't need to know. But when you constantly tell them something isn't going to work no matter how much you massage it, and they completely ignore you and tell the customer no problem, it gets a tad irritating.
This was a three letter company starting E and ending S, that is now a two letter company starting H and finishing the letter before Q.
They decided that Citrix was a good idea, which I have no problem with. Until the point, that is, that they decide to use a farm of three servers to host Oracle development tools that about 80 developers are going to use to compile applications simultaneously on.
We kept getting calls saying it was really slow. I was shocked (not), as were my colleagues (not). E something S told us we had to make it work. We said "sure, put the Oracle tools back on the developer machines and it'll be fine".
"Can't do that ... licences etc"."
"Don't expect it to get any better then".
"You HAVE to FIX IT".
*cough*
They even brought in H letter before Q specialists. They were their brand of servers after all. Strangely enough they couldn't make them work any quicker either.
Anyway, rant rant rant, apologies for derailing the thread
Soldato
- Joined
- 4 Apr 2003
- Posts
- 8,116
You need to know what you want to do. If you want to be a sucker who gets walked over, you'd quite happily join the company mentioned above.
If you apply yourself, you could hit the consulting route (most large IT company grad schemes will offer this) and end up designing systems, UCC, AD, etc and get paid a stonking salary without the fear of contracting. Make a career of it before the age of 30, don't have 8 jobs in as many years and you'll even be able to retire on a decent pension, something a lot of people don't seem to care about paying into until it's waaay too late. You'll also be able to fully support a family and generally have what you want in life
One piece of advice I can give you, try to get the job you would want to make a career out of as young as possible and try to get a sensible pension plan underway immediately. I didn't until I was 27 (although I had a transferable pension from previous employer), I've had to overpay by almost a £1000 a month in order to bring my pension back inline (or slightly higher) as my peers who were 23 odd when they started the same job. If I was starting that pension now at 32, I'd never be able to put enough money away for retirement.
If you apply yourself, you could hit the consulting route (most large IT company grad schemes will offer this) and end up designing systems, UCC, AD, etc and get paid a stonking salary without the fear of contracting. Make a career of it before the age of 30, don't have 8 jobs in as many years and you'll even be able to retire on a decent pension, something a lot of people don't seem to care about paying into until it's waaay too late. You'll also be able to fully support a family and generally have what you want in life
One piece of advice I can give you, try to get the job you would want to make a career out of as young as possible and try to get a sensible pension plan underway immediately. I didn't until I was 27 (although I had a transferable pension from previous employer), I've had to overpay by almost a £1000 a month in order to bring my pension back inline (or slightly higher) as my peers who were 23 odd when they started the same job. If I was starting that pension now at 32, I'd never be able to put enough money away for retirement.
Last edited:
![[FnG]magnolia](/styles/overclockers/avatars/9.png){kind=avatar}
Caporegime
- Joined
- 29 Aug 2007
- Posts
- 28,767
- Location
- Auckland
I spent 10 years doing 2nd line support. Wouldn't go back to it. The job in and of itself would have been OK, but management are utter dickheads. By management, I mean upper management. Useless pen pushers that wouldn't know a stick of RAM if you shoved it up their big fat noses. Making decisons about things they haven't got the faintest idea about, and even when told something won't work, they insist it has to 'cos it's in the SLA. Well you shouldn't have put it in the SLA then you ****stick!
Anyway, I'm sure you'll enjoy IT. Go for it
Fully star out all swearing in future. Thank you.
This is remarkably inaccurate but I'd love to hear more of your stories.
Went down the route:
College: IT & Business
Uni: IT/Networking
Little work experience, self-studied, lab work
Stuck CV on CWJobs, Landed a job interview few days later
Offered job as a 1st/2nd line guy on Helpdesk
6 Months Later moved to 2nd line team
7 Months later Team Leader for 2nd line team
12 Months Later 2nd/3rd line position.
I work for the UK leading Clothing Retailer, needless to say opportunities are there.
I lied to say i had previous work experience in a help desk role but knew the key words and common knowledge to a IT helpdesk. As long as you know what your talking about and have a good understanding you can get away with most things in a interview just be sure to live up to expectations. Key is to self study and keep up with latest techs and apply yourself.
It baffles me how people spend years in 1st line or 2nd line, as someone said these roles are stepping stones, When you hit 3rd its certainly a fresh breathe of air. System administration and project work
College: IT & Business
Uni: IT/Networking
Little work experience, self-studied, lab work
Stuck CV on CWJobs, Landed a job interview few days later
Offered job as a 1st/2nd line guy on Helpdesk
6 Months Later moved to 2nd line team
7 Months later Team Leader for 2nd line team
12 Months Later 2nd/3rd line position.
I work for the UK leading Clothing Retailer, needless to say opportunities are there.
I lied to say i had previous work experience in a help desk role but knew the key words and common knowledge to a IT helpdesk. As long as you know what your talking about and have a good understanding you can get away with most things in a interview just be sure to live up to expectations. Key is to self study and keep up with latest techs and apply yourself.
It baffles me how people spend years in 1st line or 2nd line, as someone said these roles are stepping stones, When you hit 3rd its certainly a fresh breathe of air. System administration and project work
[FnG]magnolia;22725685 said:
From my perspective, with a decade listening to the idiots in charge, it's not even remotely inaccurate.
I'm sure there are companies that have upper management that aren't thick as pigs droppings, but they're a bit like an honest politician .... flipping rare
OP, you'll see many people bashing IT support. I've spent 15 years doing 3rd line support and enjoyed it. I'll be quitting it in just over a month but only because I got what I consider the opportunity of a lifetime which I simply couldn't ignore.
It's as enjoyable as you make it, oddly enough the less effort you put in the less rewarding it is, which is why many of the "experience dedicated" people on here will bash it, they've become lazy, complacent and frankly stuck in a rut due to having no motivation to move to another company.
Get your foot in the door, show a good attitude and if you have a good troubleshooting/analytical mind you'll move from first, second into third line support quickly.
Lucero offers good advice, I'd add to it that you must be prepared to move employer if a better post comes up, even if it means a temporary drop in salary or higher costs/longer traveling times. Look at it long term, but don't jump ship too often and don't get involved in office politics within the IT department or you'll end up like half of this forum.
It's as enjoyable as you make it, oddly enough the less effort you put in the less rewarding it is, which is why many of the "experience dedicated" people on here will bash it, they've become lazy, complacent and frankly stuck in a rut due to having no motivation to move to another company.
Get your foot in the door, show a good attitude and if you have a good troubleshooting/analytical mind you'll move from first, second into third line support quickly.
Lucero offers good advice, I'd add to it that you must be prepared to move employer if a better post comes up, even if it means a temporary drop in salary or higher costs/longer traveling times. Look at it long term, but don't jump ship too often and don't get involved in office politics within the IT department or you'll end up like half of this forum.