Starting out in I.T??

The_One

The_One

The_One

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I currently work for Local Government in Administration and have decided to finally pursue a career in I.T after being interested in doing so since i was about 14. (I'm now 22)

I work full time and don't really have enough time out of work to study at college and i believe I.T at college isn't all that relevant in the real world and people want to see industry specific qualifications such as the Microsoft ones etc???

Whats the best way of me getting into I.T

Do many people advertise for Trainees etc or should i write to some big companies.

Anyone here start off as a trainee?
 
You will get everyone reccomending you don't do it, the industry is extremely saturated, especially at the lower echelons.

If you want a cert, the "one to have" atm seems to be CCNA, it's what all the cool kids have.
 
What do you mean by "IT"?

Network admin? Support? Working in a store for the purple shirts? Consulting? Web design?

You need to narrow it down a lot more.
 
wyrdo said:
Don't do it, become a plumber or electrician.
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I thought they were pretty over rated? Especially within the past 5 years all the schools have been drumming in 'omg!11! become plumber, earn more than barrister!" I know loads who are doing it, doubt they'll earn much.
 
jidh007 said:
I thought they were pretty over rated? Especially within the past 5 years all the schools have been drumming in 'omg!11! become plumber, earn more than barrister!" I know loads who are doing it, doubt they'll earn much.
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Become a barrister then, bricklayer, mechanic...

Anything but working in I.T. :p
 
jidh007 said:
Hehe, I think becoming an engineer is the 'hip' thing to do, I think the government are giving grants and stuff that undertake that area of study
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pfft must have changed since I did my eng degree, I'm stuck in boring IT lol.

But it is easy...
 
Ok well i didnt want people to post saying don't do it become a plumber or electrician,

I wouldnt of asked about I.T if it wasn't something i wanted to do.

How is it over saturated anyway by 2010 the UK is meant to need thousands of more IT professionals. Gone are the days of heavy industry, hi tech industries are the norm nowadays,

Anyway.........

Well im interested in support, networks, servers.

I wouldn't say there was one specific area......
 
If you want to do it then go for it, no point doing a well paid job you detest. I quit one to move into IT 7 years ago with NO qualifications. Earn a similar amount now and actually enjoy my work.

You spend a lot of your life at work, if you find it boring or hate it then TBH your wasting your life.
 
The_One said:
I wouldn't say there was one specific area......
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Theres your problem, too many in IT are a jack of all trades, master of none. Find an area you enjoy, and specialise in it. Be prepeared to start of on low pay, as it is over saturated and people from places like Computeach and that are willing to do the same job as you, for less cash. Once your in, you have to stand out from the crowd (not hard, as you will find some truly 'average' people at floor level) and understand that at 5pm your day hasnt stopped, you have to go home and read and learn more.

Afaik, no other job expects that much out of you, at such a low level. Last bit of advice, contracting seems to be the easiest way to get your foot in the door - without having to do helpdesk roles.
 
average at floor level?

good lord if only some of them at my old work were as GOOD as that. Seriously if you've got some common sense and can wipe your own bottom then you're better than some of them already.
 
The_One said:
Ok well i didnt want people to post saying don't do it become a plumber or electrician,

I wouldnt of asked about I.T if it wasn't something i wanted to do.

How is it over saturated anyway by 2010 the UK is meant to need thousands of more IT professionals. Gone are the days of heavy industry, hi tech industries are the norm nowadays,

Anyway.........

Well im interested in support, networks, servers.

I wouldn't say there was one specific area......
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If you want the lowest pay of all the professions available, the longest hours, no prospects. Then IT is for you :)
 
Skyfire said:
If you want the lowest pay of all the professions available, the longest hours, no prospects
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I'm assuming you work in IT :D

Or you allowed your bum to type that post for you :p

IT is a career with great prospects if you have the ambition, motivation, and ability to further yourself. Specialising is the key though, you have to excel at whatever you're good at.
 
Whitewater said:
I'm assuming you work in IT :D

Or you allowed your bum to type that post for you :p

IT is a career with great prospects if you have the ambition, motivation, and ability to further yourself. Specialising is the key though, you have to excel at whatever you're good at.
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I have loads of experience but private companies just don't want to pay you anything, I am trying everything to get out of it. Every man and his dog are earning more than me, I refuse to let myself and my wife die paupers. Even working in Tesco has better propects and better pay. :)
 
its true they want your blood, IT isnt a 9-5 its more like a 9am-11pm job, they expect you to stay behind for no extra pay, work over the week ends jobs are being ported over to india, the personnel treat you like crap, every 2 years you have to take a new cisco test every 4 years a microsoft test, IT is learning forever. Companies just dont want to pay you.

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Try and get a helpdesk job - probably one of the best (and easiest) ways to get into I.T imo.
 
i did IT support and i hated it i prefer not to work than do IT support not only that but working under IT managers that did nt have a clue about IT. I did a few contracts and the first day the guy expected me to know all the share folders, i remember doing an image onto a laptop i had to go back to the senor guy every few mins for passwords because he was to busy to write them down and didnt tell me when i needed them ie the board was password protected i need to change the bios to allow boot up of disk then i needed the password for local admin then i needed password for domain access he could have given it all to me in one go, another issue when you work at large companies they dont like you to spend 10 mins or over looking at problems, just re image it.
 
+1 for specialising.

Knowing most things about everything will get you far, but knowing everything about one specific area will get you even further in a job that requires that area.
 
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