Job in IT

digitalwolf

digitalwolf

digitalwolf

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Joined
27 Mar 2004
Posts
3,589
Location
England
Ok, in Feb I'll be looking for a job in IT.

At the moment I am at an IT Academy and have IC3, A+ & Network + along with 2 A levels, one in Computing, the other in Geography and of course my GCSE's.

I will also hopefully gain ADITP, Microsoft MCDST and NVQ Level 3.

It'll be my first year in the IT industry, what kind of wage will I be looking at?

I'm thinking of going into networking.
 
I started on £13,400ish, but I work at a smallish college in the south of england so it would probably be more in a city or large town. Get regular pay reveiws though \o/
Edit: To compare, qualifications I have are BTEC NC ICT System Support and City & Guilds ICT System Support + GCSEs
 
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Your looking less than 16k.

You have a lot of academic achevements, but no experiece - IT is all about experience.

Expence to work at the bottom for a few years.

Plus networking is massive - look for a general IT support job and then find out what you enjoy. And after a year or 2 of experience move on.
 
My friend who came to the academy last year said potential employers offer you peanuts because they think you are just desperate to get a job.

He's on 10k a year as a trainee computer programmer.

I can earn £12k a year shelf stacking @ Tesco.
 
digitalwolf said:
My friend who came to the academy last year said potential employers offer you peanuts because they think you are just desperate to get a job.

He's on 10k a year as a trainee computer programmer.

I can earn £12k a year shelf stacking @ Tesco.
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Yes, but he's speculating (quite correctly in my opinion), that once he has done his stint as a trainee, that his wage will increase sufficiently.

There isn't much room for improvement stacking shelves....



Look at tomorrow, not today!


Just get your foot in a doorway, and get some experience. Any experience immediately rises you above the rank and file coming out of the education conveyor belt.
 
Good luck with the job hunting!

I started on 12K as a 1st Line Service Desk Analyst. could have got 14K if I had been a bit more savvy though, depends on the organisation you work for.

I'm now on 19K as 2nd Line Remote Desktop Support - in IT, I've found if you simply work hard, undertake opportunities as they come and ask for pay rises yearly (with evidence to back up why your worth it) your pay will sharply go up from basic.

HtH.
 
Yup you will probably be starting off on peanuts. I started at around £12k as a first line support and within 4 years in the same company I had gone up to £35k (before overtime, lots more after \o/). This is in the NW so its not a bad wage at all.

Also although you have a lot of qualifications, if your application is screened by someone in IT, they won't mean squat really. I had to replace myself recently (strange thing to say but I left the company) and all it meant to me when someone had an MSCA was that they can read books and regurgitate it on command. I don't think its bad to have them, but experience is what gets you the job.
 
started on £11k on a helpdesk 3 yrs ago, moved to 2nd line, then systems and now on 28k junior dev :) (only 23 so hopefully a way to go yet :D)
I did degrees and courses part time tho to get into other sections within the organisation,
BTEC national diploma in IT, then moved onto a BSc Comp Science (last year atm) so hopefully another pay jump when i finish my degree.
Possibly moving onto a MSc or maybe a specialised qualification like MSDN or some such
 
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I started at £16k as a helpdesk analyst about 2 years ago, its depressing work but once you've done a year i reckon it's time to move up to the next level as that experience, as has been said, is key to earning good money.
 
with IT the qualifications mean nothing

you need enough to get you that first job, once you've got that you can then start moving up the ladder. I got my first job as 1st line support @ 13k and stayed there for about 8 months. I went in with zero experience and A levels and a good employers reference having spent 4 years previous in call centres (IT was really thin on the ground so i took what i could).

Ive since changed to my current job which is 15k and a bit more technical, doing systems support. Once you get off the helpdesks, and start actually physically repairing and looking after stuff rather than being on the phone, is when you'll move to 20k +

what others are posting here is typical of what you've found. sp00n probably got higher wages being that bit further south. You can easily add 2k to your salary for being near london.

tonym said:
Just get your foot in a doorway, and get some experience.
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seconded. You just need enough to get you that first job. Once you've got 6 months + experiece on shelf stacking money move on to something more advanced. Rince and repeat as you work your way up the ladder. Or get promoted if your company has sufficient room, but most call centres dont. And IT support call centres are where most support staff start.
 
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I'm looking for jobs now. :)

Anybody got any tips for finding an IT Technician / Network Technician job? Any specific agencies I should be approaching?


Thanks
 
As most others have said I started on 1st line support at 13k a year. It was actually my previous experience in a call center that got me the job rather than my HND in computing. As I would be on the phone dealing with people the 3 years I had done in the call center was an asset to the local council. And there was me thinking I'd wasted three years of my life.

A year later I got a job at an oil company as an application admin on 17k a year (23 after shift bouns) I was a contractor then. Got made staff last april and moved up to 23k (28 after shift allowance) and recently got a payrise to 26k (34 after shift allowance)

As others have said it's as much about experience as qualifications. What you learn in the classroom is all under ideal and perfect conditions. Something you don't really find in the real world.
 
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