Starting a career in IT

Think about it carefully, most of us enjoy it as a hobby, I also know most of us would hate it as a job. Do you really want to spend all day behind a computer, or on the phone, solving problems for numpties. Obviously it depends what area you wnat to get into.
 
AcidHell2 said:
Think about it carefully, most of us enjoy it as a hobby, I also know most of us would hate it as a job. Do you really want to spend all day behind a computer, or on the phone, solving problems for numpties. Obviously it depends what area you wnat to get into.
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That is true, I think the best thing is to ask if I can defer for a year as well...
 
Here's another one for the pot.

By virtue of the fact you're posting on an overclocking forum, you've obviously got a talent for computers therefore you can enter the industry at any time.

If you persevere with medicine and fail, you should still be able to jump straight into a low level IT job and work your way up by building experience, you don't even need a degree. At least that way you'll have no regrets and spend no time wondering about what might have been.

I'll STFU now as I'm not really giving you the advice you asked for ;).
 
Adz said:
Here's another one for the pot.

By virtue of the fact you're posting on an overclocking forum, you've obviously got a talent for computers therefore you can enter the industry at any time.

If you persevere with medicine and fail, you should still be able to jump straight into a low level IT job and work your way up by building experience, you don't even need a degree. At least that way you'll have no regrets and spend no time wondering about what might have been.

I'll STFU now as I'm not really giving you the advice you asked for ;).
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No not at all fella, I need as many ideas as possible thrown at me :)
 
Adz said:
Frankly, IT is boring as hell. As Penski said, it will destroy your interest in computing. If you're good at it, you'll be bored and unfulfilled
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I would have to disagree with that. I still love IT (after over 4 years in the industry). It's had its ups and downs, but most jobs do. Also have several friends in IT who still love what they do.

If you are "bored and unfulfilled", move to a more challenging position (maybe move in to contracting), I love the fact that there's always more to learn, and things are always changing (just got some new text books for Server 2008 and Exchange 2007).
 
I started as an IT graduate on about £14.5k (approx. 11 years ago).

I moved to work for a Japanese investment bank about 9 years ago and now work for an asset management company as a development manager, doing team leading, project management, product evaluation - quite a wide range of tasks, all of which I find really interesting to be involved in.

Like any job, if you sit on your bottom doing nothing/coasting, you'll end up in the aforementioned £20k a year for doing ASP websites. You get out what you put in. You need to keep up to date with both the technology you are using, and the industry you are in.
 
I have been doing IT Administration for over 10 years - started as basic desktop support, now I design, plan and implement networks/systems, support everything from Firewalls, Servers, to desktop stuff. Still enjoy it, especially when it comes to working with new stuff.
 
There is a MASSIVE shortgage of ASP .NET web developers full stop and we know from experience trying to recruit 3 of them has taken ages and we still arent happy with the applicants. There was an article in one of the tech papers just today about a UK wide drout of .NET developers, imo get into it as its becoming massive.
 
My IT career started from administration of MS SQL Server 6.5 database, to Visual Basic development, evolved to .Net, then eventually drawn into eCommerce and all it's tangents. I'm now an eCommerce Consultant and spend more time studying and analysing business markets than anything else. The workload is immense, the skills supply short and the pay is great.
 
I can certainly vouch for the fact that it WILL destroy or at least affect your interest in computers (from a hobbiest point of view).

I went from doing Windows desktop support, to Linux/Netware administration in a year-out from Uni, and now I'm a new graduate at Hewlett Packard, supposedly doing Security consulting, but I'll see ;) I certainly expect to do a little bit of everything tbh.
 
I been doing IT properly for 5 years now and still enjoying it. I'll admit I am a geek and my company does keep thoughing cool stuff at me like Citrix farms, Linux clusters, Visualisation rooms with 64GB ram workstations and Barco 3D projectors so it keeps things interesting.

The money ain't too hot for the most part in IT although if you also keep up with your medicine training and get IT qualifications you can be ideally placed for a great career.

For example in the oil and gas industry an IT consultant who also is a trained geologist can basically write their own cheques. I have no doubt medicine is the same and someone who can talk shop with both doctors and IT will be valuable.
 
penski said:
Don't bother. It's gash, the pay is average and it will complete DEMOLISH any interest you have in computers/computing.

*n
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Adz said:
Frankly, IT is boring as hell. As Penski said, it will destroy your interest in computing. If you're good at it, you'll be bored and unfulfilled if you're bad at it you'll be constantly chasing the faults in whatever system you've set up.
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I work in IT and I still love it as a hobby... lots of people I work with in IT still havr it as a hobby. At the end of the day if you're not into anything heavily you will not find a career in it fulfilling. I love IT, I learn new things every day, and I have an idea of where I want to go in one of the biggest companies in the world. As Nathan said, to say "IT" as though lumping each and every area unde rone banner is silly and shows a lack of understanding of the market. IT is a diverse and for many interesting and fulfilling career, just beacuse you either had bad experiences or weren't particularly good at it doesn't mean the entire breadth of IT-related jobs will a) suck or b) kill your hobby. That's just generalised rubbish. :)

As for the pay being average... well yeah any job is average when you don't specialise or rise to the upper ranks. Push yourself, excel, and you'll see the moolah, and IT can rise to very big bucks if you do it right. Same with most things in life.
 
Just to bump this thread again:

I have two (possibly) options here in Liverpool.

Either I transfer courses within my (University of Liverpool) and do their three / or four (you get a mEng) year degree. Here I believe is a course that is one of the few which is accredited. However they state that they need math's A-level, which I didn't take all those years ago, though they might view me differently.

Or I switch Universities and go to the ex-poly here which is John Moore's university. Their four year degree has clearing places left, and contains a sandwich year out in the real world.

I'm thinking that even if I have a year's experience, a degree from a redbrick uni might be worth more on paper.
 
Could always start up your own PC repair 1-man business, if you have a car that is, and if your knowledge of fixing machines is good. Do a no-fix-no-fee thing and just get a works mobile. Plus you can claim working tax credits if your income is low initially to help bump up the cash (think WTC is about £50per week?). Could even do it in your spare time whilst learning at University to make some extra cash, although you wouldn't be able to claim the WTC.
 
The company I work for is always expanding and looking for C++ developers. As long as you live in a major city, there's plenty of programming work around at the moment.
 
Greenlizard0 said:
Just to bump this thread again:

I have two (possibly) options here in Liverpool.

Either I transfer courses within my (University of Liverpool) and do their three / or four (you get a mEng) year degree. Here I believe is a course that is one of the few which is accredited. However they state that they need math's A-level, which I didn't take all those years ago, though they might view me differently.

Or I switch Universities and go to the ex-poly here which is John Moore's university. Their four year degree has clearing places left, and contains a sandwich year out in the real world.

I'm thinking that even if I have a year's experience, a degree from a redbrick uni might be worth more on paper.
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Both have thei merits, check job sites for ideas about what recruiters are looking for. I know from experience that experience, for the most part, is placed in higher regard than grades, but there are plenty of companies around that as you say, go for the'red-brick' degree - most notably the larger hedge funds, law companies etc in London. Speaking of which, if money is what you are after, you might want to focus on the finance/trading sector of IT as the money is ludicrous, almost double in all other sectors if you find the right company.
 
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