Move away from I.T?

wyrdo said:
Heh ok I'll let you off!

I either need to get out of IT or find a new job, I think the latter. In the last couple of years I've taken a pay cut and a step backwards in the type of work I do and to be honest I can't see it getting any better where I am now, really need to get out of this place.
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A really good thing to get into at the minute are HP's OpenView Solutions such as Operations for Windows and Network Node manager, the pay is excellent, and theres a shortage of people out there who are certified to use the stuff.

Good Luck dude.
 
The job I took has its head office in Manchester but I have a desk in an office in Birmingham, the work is based from home where possible. Though I still have to goto customer sites and report to the office for project work on occasion, theres quite a bit of work in London but they chuck me up in a hotel so I don't mind that - my contract also says I'll be abroad for a month a year.

As for experiance Ive done a training courses in various things, got a degree, ccna, and the other stuff most of the cool kids have these days.

Of the other jobs 1 was london then the others are split between Birmingham, Milton keynes and places in between.
 
Freefaller said:
30k for London is a pretty poor wage for a specialist in IT with experience and a few decent qualifications.
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and then some, depending on qualifications and experience I'd expect 40+ (in my case CCNP/MCSE/JNCIA/RNCP, 3 years experience, ~47k)

that said I often think about getting out, the money and free time aren't enough to justify the stress a lot of the time and the role isn't superb. Best bet for enjoying a career in IT is either to work for a small specialised company which treats it staff well and lets you do stuff you enjoy or work for someone incredibly big where there is no work ethic.

Or the government (i know a guy at GCHQ, 50k, 30 hours a week, flexitime...i hate him)

My only get out thought was photograpy, but thats not going to happen because being a pro means shooting what other people want in the style they want and thet'd disillusion me fast.

My solution, grin and put up with it, then go travelling for long period on the obscene amount of cash you have got.
 
bigredshark said:
Best bet for enjoying a career in IT is either to work for a small specialised company which treats it staff well and lets you do stuff you enjoy
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I think this is why i'm not enjoying it here @ kroll, the company is just too big and it feel's really impersonal.
 
Hmm am I underpayed then? I work not in London but South West outskirts of London earning 23k and Im a combination of 1st/2nd line support but we do administer servers and do some network troubleshooting and work closely with 3rd line support who maintain the network and servers.
I personally have not many qualifications in terms of IT ones but have done a fair amount of training just need to pass exams.

Example of things I do:
Anything from a password reset right through to assist in Exchange and Active Directory migration from novell and Lotus Notes systems. Patching, backups, restores, deskside support, builds, projects, application support at low level. Real misc stuff, but bottom line is we are still a "deskside support".
 
I'm very much into programming but I don't really want to end up in the IT industry. The games industry is more up my street. Possibly harder and more stressful than a "normal" programming job but I'd find it more satisfying intellectually and creatively and it's nice to know that you're working on something interesting that will be be enjoyed by people rather than just being a boring business app.
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If you absolutely love computer games then go for it. I used to work with a guy who went to work for Criterion and he absolutely loved it.

However, remember that not every video games programmer is writing the next Grand Theft Auto or Halo. Most are involved with projects that will fail or on games that might not interest you (porting Tomb Raider to Pocket PC, anyone?). There's a lot of bad management in the video games industry and wages are relatively low. There's also the hours. You may not mind working 8am-6pm 5 days a week, but come crunch time you could be working 12 hours a day for 6 or 7 days a week without any real reward. Another friend of mine doesn't even get a free copy of the games that he creates!

I'm happy being a programmer working on non-games projects. Sometimes the stuff being programmed can be a little dry, but the money is good, the hours are flexible and the atmosphere is relaxed.
 
sniper007 said:
Hmm am I underpayed then? I work not in London but South West outskirts of London earning 23k and Im a combination of 1st/2nd line support but we do administer servers and do some network troubleshooting and work closely with 3rd line support who maintain the network and servers.
I personally have not many qualifications in terms of IT ones but have done a fair amount of training just need to pass exams.

Example of things I do:
Anything from a password reset right through to assist in Exchange and Active Directory migration from novell and Lotus Notes systems. Patching, backups, restores, deskside support, builds, projects, application support at low level. Real misc stuff, but bottom line is we are still a "deskside support".
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Umm, I'd say it was on the low side, it doesn't sound really advanced stuff but technical enough. You're not being ripped off considering you have few qualifications you said but it is on the low side. We pay more for helpdesk (essentially 1st/2nd line) but we're in the city so it's difficult to match up.

I think the bottom line is it's desktop rather than server or network support, which would probably pay more, look and see if you can make the move!

Regards size of company, in my previous rile I worked for a small company who were very specialised and good at what they did. I was the senior network engineer and had a lot of freedom, I discussed projects with the MD etc. I also knew everyone well and we'd frequently all go to the pub to celebrate a big contract win.

I now work for a bigger ISP in the city, I'm in a (on paper) very similar role but i have less freedom to take decisions, less access to management etc. On the other side I'm wrking on much bigger kit, have a larger team baking me up and earn a fantastic amount of money. We do sometime go out but it's only ever a few of us and before it felt just like being out with friends, this is different.

I'm not as happy in this role as a result, but it pays better etc and looks better on my CV. It's a tough call.
 
Tunney said:
However, remember that not every video games programmer is writing the next Grand Theft Auto or Halo. Most are involved with projects that will fail or on games that might not interest you (porting Tomb Raider to Pocket PC, anyone?). There's a lot of bad management in the video games industry and wages are relatively low. There's also the hours. You may not mind working 8am-6pm 5 days a week, but come crunch time you could be working 12 hours a day for 6 or 7 days a week without any real reward. Another friend of mine doesn't even get a free copy of the games that he creates!
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I'm aware of all the problems with the industry but it's not enough to put me off. I realise I'll probably start off on handheld ports or crappy tie-ins to the latest disney film, but eventually I'd like to end up on projects that I actually care about.
 
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