IT Jobs - The best?!

[SiD the Turtle]

I found my graduate scheme (with a very large multinational IT outfit) was an excuse to under pay me and take advantage of me, which little to no prospect of training or progression.

The main use for it was I moved on and was able to put 1.5 years of experience in a large multinational on my CV, which helped a lot. I was not unique, about a third to a half of the my grad scheme lot have moved on to bigger and better things.

 

[Royal Fleet]

Are graduate schemes really the best route into the IT sector anymore then? I graduated with a 1st Class degree in IT last year, and spent most of my final year applying to graduate schemes. I managed to get into one of the big blue-chip companies, and have been there for almost 6 months now, and to be honest I'm really disappointed with my experience so far.

I shan't bore you lot with the reasons why I think this particular graduate scheme is pants, but I'm interested to know whether people in the sector feel it's important to get onto and complete them? I'm working outside London in Hampshire and getting paid around £24k for this, so to me this isn't too bad for a first job out of University. That's part of the reason I'm sceptical about leaving it, because I think I'd struggle to get an "ordinary" job with the same kind of salary. I'm looking to get into the non-technical roles such as Business Analyst / Project Analyst (which is actually the sort of roles I'm doing for my current employer) but I'm finding the experience I'm getting is minimal and pretty worthless so far.

So are graduate schemes important for those coming out of University? Or is it more about gaining experience in the sector, getting paid potentially less money?

Whereabouts in Hampshire?

As asked elsewhere - Comparing Temp to Perm is difficult as the decision is often more than purely financial. Contractors get paid more, often quite a bit more, but don't get the other benefits, which with the right employer can add up.

e.g. Someone in my position as a Senior BA, can get £500-700 contracting in London. This easily equates to 6 figures plus. But out of that you pay all the NI (Employers and Employees). You then need to think about Pension, Life Cover, PMI, PHI etc, and contingency fund. When you do this the difference against a perm salary of £70k is not so great.

Don't get me wrong there is a financial advantage to Contracting but it is as much a lifestyle choice as anything.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

Consultancy isn't for me, and won't be for me in 10 years. I like the pension schemes, health options, share options, paid holiday, job security and yearly bonuses that large companies offer. All of this tot up and basically are comparable to what I would be earning overall as a consultant... not for me.

Job Security is certainly something that should not be considered when deciding the full-time or contracting options.

In this day and age if you work for a large company there is no such thing as job security. You skills, time in the job mean nothing, when cuts are needed the only thing considered is the numbers. If it makes financial sense for you to go then you will. And in some cases being a contractor means you stand a better chance of retaining a role a position over those that are full time.

 

[Rotty]

And in some cases being a contractor means you stand a better chance of retaining a role a position over those that are full time.

That can often be the case as contractors usually don't count towards head count figures

 

[KoolMoD]

I found my graduate scheme (with a very large multinational IT outfit) was an excuse to under pay me and take advantage of me, which little to no prospect of training or progression.

The main use for it was I moved on and was able to put 1.5 years of experience in a large multinational on my CV, which helped a lot. I was not unique, about a third to a half of the my grad scheme lot have moved on to bigger and better things.

Did you actually "graduate" on the scheme then SiD? This is where I'm a little bit confused, as I don't know whether you actually have to stick the graduate scheme out and "graduate" for it to be worthwhile on your CV.

Otherwise I'm fairly satisified like you to simply put it on my CV as experience with a multinational.

 

[KoolMoD]

Royal Fleet:

It's in Hook, Hampshire.

I won't give the company name out for obvious reasons, but I'm sure if you know the area you might have an idea of who I'm talking about

 

[Vanilla]

Are graduate schemes really the best route into the IT sector anymore then? I graduated with a 1st Class degree in IT last year, and spent most of my final year applying to graduate schemes. I managed to get into one of the big blue-chip companies, and have been there for almost 6 months now, and to be honest I'm really disappointed with my experience so far.

I shan't bore you lot with the reasons why I think this particular graduate scheme is pants, but I'm interested to know whether people in the sector feel it's important to get onto and complete them? I'm working outside London in Hampshire and getting paid around £24k for this, so to me this isn't too bad for a first job out of University. That's part of the reason I'm sceptical about leaving it, because I think I'd struggle to get an "ordinary" job with the same kind of salary. I'm looking to get into the non-technical roles such as Business Analyst / Project Analyst (which is actually the sort of roles I'm doing for my current employer) but I'm finding the experience I'm getting is minimal and pretty worthless so far.

So are graduate schemes important for those coming out of University? Or is it more about gaining experience in the sector, getting paid potentially less money?

I think so. Pay is low wherever you start. Graduate schemes give you good experience with (often) well known companies. Get the experience for a year or two, get it on your CV and if they don't stump up some money go elsewhere for an instant pay increase.

After being in IT for so long i'd never go into a different field, I love it. You can get good pay (comparable to IT) doing jobs like business analyst but you'd have to work in the finance industry and likely in London.

 

[SiD the Turtle]

Did you actually "graduate" on the scheme then SiD? This is where I'm a little bit confused, as I don't know whether you actually have to stick the graduate scheme out and "graduate" for it to be worthwhile on your CV.

Otherwise I'm fairly satisified like you to simply put it on my CV as experience with a multinational.

Some you do, some you don't. I'd ask whoever is responsible for your scheme. Mine didn't have a graduation day, and I left about two months before the scheme 'finished'. When it did there was not change to the status of those that stayed behind so there was not effect on leaving early on my CV.

 

[SiD the Turtle]

That can often be the case as contractors usually don't count towards head count figures

Yup, my old company was daft. They had a round of 'headcount reductions' to save money but kept on a load of expensive contractors. Then they realised that they fired the people that were actually useful and weren't just good at blagging their way through the 'justify why I shouldn't fire you' interview and had to hire them back as contractors, thus negating the whole point of the headcount reductions in the first place.

 

[Topgun]

Who is going to pay a contracting rate to somebody with a years experience in the industry, tops? Neive people?

I would rather not say who I will be contracting for but I was contacted about the role by Hays after putting my CV on cwjobs. The interview wasn't even especially challenging; i was asked to explain a three-way-handshake plus a handful of questions on checkpoint, alteons and some rudimentary Solaris root level tasks.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Are you sure you've not confused yourself into thinking you are going 'Contracting' becuase someone has offered you a job as a temp?

 

[Topgun]

Fox, do you ever consider how patronising you sound? I am an employee of my own LTD, which I do not believe is standard practice for temps.

 

[[TW]Fox]

It just seems rather against what all the seasoned IT people here reckon if you can go more or less direct from Uni into contracting. Uni is great but.. surely people who pay a contractor expect practical, realworld experience?

 

[Bes]

Hi Bes, got any openings... Im bored of Leeds now lol....

If you're being serious, drop me a mail/ MSN (In trust)

 

[Vanilla]

Who's that then, I'd imagine you could prolly filter it down to HDS/EMC/NetApp?

There's only one player in that list.

The others are just tin shifters

 

[Stolly]

It just seems rather against what all the seasoned IT people here reckon if you can go more or less direct from Uni into contracting. Uni is great but.. surely people who pay a contractor expect practical, realworld experience?

There are exceptions to every rule, and a 1st line support contract can be done with basic knowledge. As a rule though the £300 per day+ roles are inaccessible to people with no experience.

The exception is if the muppet doing the interviewing knows even less than the candidate a good blagger can land himself a peach, and may not even get found out.

 

[Stolly]

There's only one player in that list.

The others are just tin shifters

Yeah, i've heard people from all those companies say that about all the other companies. You should hear what Fujitsu-Seimens storage people say about all the people on that list !

 

[Fr0dders]

It just seems rather against what all the seasoned IT people here reckon if you can go more or less direct from Uni into contracting. Uni is great but.. surely people who pay a contractor expect practical, realworld experience?

its entirely possible fox

there's 1 of 2 things going on

1) Topgun in fact managed to blag his first job straight out of uni. A lot of lieing gets you in there, and if you're talented, you can wing it once you're there

2) the IT manager in charge of the hiring and firing was a numpty, and was probably not in the slightest bit technical. As a result only asked a few technical questions and went with how impressive the interviewee sounded.

which of the 2 it was, i cant tell, but its not impossible

 

[Stolly]

Ah to be young and full of BS again....

 

[Vanilla]

Fujitsu-Seimens

Who?