Who said finding a job in I.T is hard work

[locutus12]

I would say 'grats', but I hate IT more then I care let on and feel that you are wandering into something really really really dull.

ive been doing I.T. for ten years, small networks and stand alone systems mainly, its become more and more difficult to find I.T. work these days despite my experience as i have no qualifications in that area (and quite frankly cant afford to go to uni to get them)

the jobs that i used to get are now all filled with uni graduates and whilst i mean no disrespect to the O.P. many of them dont know their arse from their elbow which makes me quite annoyed at times.

still, i wish the O.P. good luck!! and remember, people with qualifications learn from books, people with experience write the books they learn from,find the balance and your in a good position to go forward!

now im off back to my boring Finance job...

 

[triggerthat]

Slightly OT, but what is the difference/Description of First/Second/Third Line support?

Normally depending on the organisation there are different tiers of technical support. When you first call, it would go straight towards the 1st line support team. If they cannot solve the problem it would go to the 2nd line. Normally the tiers represent how complicated the problem is. 1st line might be something straight forward like forgetting your password. 3rd line might be a glitch in an application preventing you from doing something.

 

[glitch]

Slightly OT, but what is the difference/Description of First/Second/Third Line support?

Helpdesk/Deskside Support/Application Support or Development.

 

[ben_j_davis]

Looking on JobsInKent.com for IT jobs there are literally dozens of IT Help Desk jobs going. I think the reason for it is that the job has a really high turn over rate, i.e. its so frustratingly bad that people quit after a few months.

1. All calls have to be dealt (closed) with within 10-12 minutes
2. Closing lots of calls is more important than how many customers actually have their problems fixed.
3. Dealing with the computer illiterate public day in day out.

Of coarse i could be wrong.

 

[richieboy]

1. All calls have to be dealt (closed) with within 10-12 minutes
2. Closing lots of calls is more important than how many customers actually have their problems fixed.
3. Dealing with the computer illiterate public day in day out.

Where abouts is that?

Our helpdesk is bloody awful, i had a log come through to me the other day because someones "printer was broken", so rather than trekking all the way over the other side of the county (waaaay out of the way place) i phoned them up (i was feeling lucky, thought i could probobly sort it over the phone, but also thought that the helpdesk would have done the "over the phone" type basic stuff), and it was just the freakin' print spooler getting stuck, "can you reboot your machine" would be all it would have taken for our helpdesk to sort it rather than coming through me. Its more of a call forwarding centre than a helpdesk!

Sorry ive just realised that was slightly ot, but i wanted to rant dammit!

 

[Richdog]

Congrats to the OP, there's no feeling quite like getting a job you really want.

My first I.T. job with a well-known anti-virus company has got me a 16k starting wage... closer to 17.5k with bonuses. I have no official I.T. experience, just years of using computers on a regular basis. Now my boss is sending me and a mate off for some Cisco training, and we should be getting an MCP out of them soon (minor qualification, but who cares, i'll try and get an MCSA out of them).

The I.T. industry is on the up now after the past recession, in fact I personally reckon I.T. is an industry that is guaranteed to stay consistently busy with technology booming as it is.

Yes, it's easy as hell to walk into a support job, hence the term "monkey", but that first job is merely a stepping stone onto greater things. As long as you do your homework, get yourself some qualifications, and keep aiming to better your knowledge and make yourself more marketable then you can't fail.

Almost any field of regular work has boring and mundane aspects, Media, PR, Admin roles etc are no different in that respect. Obviously some aspoects of I.T. are boring... but anyone who says ALL I.T. is boring either has zero knowledge of the industry or simply isn't "into" computers.

Technology is a very cool thing and it is making the world go round, people who understand it and keep abreast of these changes are the ones who are going to be rising to the top of the company ladder, those who sit there at their computers needing their hands held at the slightest thing not only cost a business up to 5x more than an I.T. trained employee, but their future is going to be very limited.

A good knowledge of I.T. even if you're not going to stay in the field forever, can really help with making money if you find ways to apply it.

Just my opinions.

Good luck mate.

 

[PaulStat]

Oooh that pay sucks , I managed to walk into a 21k job straight after uni, admitedly (sp?) not IT as such more development work. Two years there now and i'm looking for work that pays £25k +, any less and I won't consider it

But yes congrats anyway

 

[Saberu]

This thread makes me think I probably won't get this job in 2nd line support i'm applying for because I've only just finished my first year of my degree course!

I did this crappy half an hour IT test which wasn't difficult, although everyone laugh at me for not getting GPS in acronoym matching part of the test. I realised afterwards "oh yeah global positioning system"

 

[atomiser]

congratulations!

its nice to see someone whos just out of uni excited about their first job!

i still know people who did full degrees who are bumming around as 'sales assistants' in either computer games shops or book shops, and some other people who aren't even doing anything!

so, credit to you for a) getting a job and b) getting one that could actually lead to a decent career! as others have said, do try and keep it fresh though as it can become a bit monotonous!

i started off as a trainee in I.T. when i was 19 earning £13k, now im 25 and earning closer to £25k (through performance and responsability) and i have experience in helpdesk, building/preparing/installing machines (desktop and server), supporting machines (desktop and server), comms (voice, lan and wan), project management and now security.

ok so the money could be better considering my experience but i work in the public sector... so that means 37 hours per week, flexi-time, 30 days holiday (you get an extra 5 when you've got 5 years service under your belt!) and a decent pension.

don't get me wrong, sometimes i hate my job - and im always looking for new challenges but you've got to start somewhere, so good luck to you!

 

[Elitejungalist]

Well done

You might as well get some experience, out of the new job even if the money isn't the best.

 

[Tom|Nbk]

grats on getting the job

im going to college in september im 17 and didnt go in straight from school but im doing my a level computing and applied ict then i hope to go straight into an I.T role as soon as i finish when im 19

 

[HighlandeR]

Man tbh I think thats an insult in terms of pay packets....

I think whats happen is the industrys just said right everyones computer experts so lets pay them same wages we would to tesco staff !

Theres the I and the T in front and imo any computer type based job should start at no less then 18-20k especially if its computer technical/product support.

Btw took me a good couple of years to land my 1st job properly in PCs, mind you PurpleWorld just about qualifies! techys there are on about 18-20k which is still 2x less then what it should be imo.

Id love to time-travel back in time and find out when this "Lets pay I.T staff peanuts occured" and shoot em

 

[Richdog]

Man tbh I think thats an insult in terms of pay packets....

I think whats happen is the industrys just said right everyones computer experts so lets pay them same wages we would to tesco staff !

Theres the I and the T in front and imo any computer type based job should start at no less then 18-20k especially if its computer technical/product support.

Btw took me a good couple of years to land my 1st job properly in PCs, mind you PurpleWorld just about qualifies! techys there are on about 18-20k which is still 2x less then what it should be imo.

Id love to time-travel back in time and find out when this "Lets pay I.T staff peanuts occured" and shoot em

From a business point of view Why should they pay top dollar when there are 50 applicants to almost every tech support job? Also, I think some I.T. jobs definately don't deserve 18-20k... especially product support... some are very, very basic.

 

[Bloodshot]

Not necessarily. Ive got a 2.1 for my degree, and it took me 9months or so after graduating to find the job im doing now. I must have sent off 200-300 job applications to my chosen industry(Computer Games/Animation) and hardly got anywhere. Ive now landed a part time (6k ish) IT support job, going to full time in August(13K ish), and its certianly not for a lack of trying. A few people are lucky and land themselves 30k a years jobs straight out of uni, and good on them. But not everyone who start at the bottom are there out of lazyness. It seems that people bitch at graduates for expecting to land good jobs straight out of uni, and then also bitch when they start at the bottom rung of the ladder. I say well done to the OP, and good luck with wherever the path of life leads you.

While slightly off topic - just thought I’d ask if you have considered going into games testing to get your animation job? Testing is an excellent stepping stone in the games industry to getting a role in your area of expertise.

For example: While I was at Lionhead one of the testers there went onto become an animator at Lionhead itself, and then left to animate at Free Radical. He didn't even have a degree if I remember correctly!

If you're willing to relocate then it may be worth considering.

Oh and gratz to the OP. I decided to leave uni after my first year and know how hard it is to find a job .