Jobs in IT

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Discussion

V8Matthew

Original Poster:

2,675 posts

165 months

Monday 9th January 2017
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Hi all. I am currently in rail engineering and qualified in railway electrical engineering, but looking for a move towards IT. At present we use numerous computer systems for asset monitoring/data acquisition and would like to specialise further. Can any of our resident PHers who work in IT give me an insight into what they do and how they got into it? (Apologies as I know 'IT' is such a non specific term).

Thanks, Matthew

RikJonAtk

202 posts

94 months

Tuesday 10th January 2017
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Left uni in 2004 and started as a Junior Project Manager for a small IT company.
Moved to Cisco Wireless Network Engineering in 2006ish and promoted to Wireless & Security Consultant by 2010.
Moved in to Technical Pre-Sales (still doing Wireless & Security) around 2012.
Moved in to a Pre-Sales Team Manager role around 2014.
Moved in to PM Team Manager role about a year ago, my team and I deliver around £25m in projects (ie, Kit & Services) every year.

My advice to you is to identify what you want to do and what your transferable skills are (Technical and soft skills), what experience you've got, then market yourself. Write a good cover letter and CV for a start and make sure you tailor it to EVERY job you apply for. Pick up the phone and actually talk to some recruiters instead of relying on websites too - be honest with them about what you want and the good ones are worth their weight in gold.

It's all about who you know, so get your foot in the door somewhere half decent, build up your skills, experience and network of contacts, then move up/sideways as you see fit.

RTaylor2208

178 posts

160 months

Wednesday 11th January 2017
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It all really comes down to whether you want to be a hands on technical person in IT or more of a managerial \ project management type role.

Personally I started out at 17 in what was an old government scheme called "Skill Seekers" back in 1997 as a Junior systems administrator straight out of school which was suppposed to be a stop gap over the summer before going to UNI, the job was basically a bit of everything for a aircraft engineering firm called Woodward, from application support, networking, server admin etc.

After 6 months my then boss left and took me with her to work for the NHS as a product support analyst. This was a 2nd line support role supporting the in house built general practice health care software, so was pretty basic supporting the customers with product knowledge, investigating issues etc. The database back end to that product was Microsoft SQL Server 6.0 and databases was something I was always interested in.

I did that for 2 years and was promoted several times over the 10 years I was with the NHS through various roles of software and database development before officially becoming a database administrator (DBA) for many ehealth NHS systems.

10 years was enough though and I left and took another DBA role at a private software house that also developed healthcare solutions, stayed a year and didn't really like the way the company worked, then jumper to my current employer which is a Global online technology company.

Been there nearly 6 years and have been promoted from DBA to Snr DBA and now Principal DBA and its been the best career move I ever made. I'm very hands on and always have been, I've found over the years that many people work in IT that are not that technical, but for me at least the best opportunities have always came up because I can code well in various languages such as T-SQL, pl\sql, python, C#, VB, powershell etc which allows me to automate an awful lot of things that would generally always have been a manual exercise for those not that keen on programming.

During all these years I also made sure to continue my education as it can be a barrier to gaining some positions, so I did my NHC, HND and BSC Hons. all in computing science at Night School \ Distance Learning and have gained quite a few Microsoft certifications as well in the field I work.

P.S. Tech Salary's can easily exceed non tech IT Salary's, certainly for me I earn substantially more than any non-technical role in our organisation such as project \ and program managers.

V8Matthew

Original Poster:

2,675 posts

165 months

Wednesday 11th January 2017
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Thanks for both your replies. Hands on is good for me - I enjoy fault finding and maintenance work. I hadn't considered qualifications - I'm definitely up for doing something around my work hours (keeps me from getting under the Mrs. feet biggrin)

I still have my railway safety competencies so there's also the option of doing that on weekend nights for an agency if I need to supplement my income if I start in a junior position.

Pieman68

4,264 posts

233 months

Wednesday 11th January 2017
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RTaylor2208 said:
took another DBA role at a private software house that also developed healthcare solutions, stayed a year and didn't really like the way the company worked
Not based in North Leeds were they?

RTaylor2208

178 posts

160 months

Wednesday 11th January 2017
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Pieman68 said:
Not based in North Leeds were they?
No, Glasgow close to the airport

Pieman68

4,264 posts

233 months

Thursday 12th January 2017
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RTaylor2208 said:
Pieman68 said:
Not based in North Leeds were they?
No, Glasgow close to the airport
Fair enough, can probably guess from that and the sector they are in. One of the ones in North Leeds has a bit of a reputation (I used to work for a company that did document management SW that linked into the clinical systems)

Too Late

5,090 posts

234 months

Thursday 12th January 2017
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IT is changing so much. Its hard to say whats good to invest time in.

I am a VMware consultant. Now i am investing time and money into AWS and Azure with some Automation. Its the only direction i see IT moving over the next 5-10 years

98elise

26,364 posts

160 months

Thursday 12th January 2017
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My career path has been

RN Weapons Engineer
M&E Supervisor
Regional Maintenance Manager (Real Estate/Asset Managment)
IT Support (Asset Management Systems)
IT Support Manager
IT Business Analyst
IT Contractor

My transition from Engineering to IT was made easier as I started supporting the systems I previously used. I understood what they did, and how they could be better, I just needed to learn how they worked.

rxe

6,700 posts

102 months

Friday 13th January 2017
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Did Chem Eng at uni, and what this taught me was that I wasn't as good at maths as I thought I was. On the positive side, I turned to Fortran to solve the problems and realised that this is what I enjoyed doing.

Started out programming COBOL, did database work, DBA, data architecture, environment management (anyone who says devops is new should have seen what we were doing in 1996...), wider technical architecture, infrastructure, and now specialise in performance and availability of what they call "mission-critical" systems. That rather over glamourises it - the system doesn't have to be particularly important, but if 10,000 users get binned for a day, people tend to notice.....

My advice? A career in "IT" involves a huge amount of change. You cannot say "i'm a programmer" or "I'm an AWS consultant" - because those technologies will change, they may get commoditised, or they may become unfashionable. You need to understand the principles, even if you don't understand the precise details. I've never coded Java in my life, but I've coded, so I can help people with algorithms, understand the estimating process etc.

Is it a good place to be? I think so - technology becomes ever more capable, but then people are ever more demanding. The more complex stuff is (and it is way more complex than it used to be), the more we need smart people who can make things happen.

Demand is huge right now - I've got 8 unfilled slots in my team, 30k - 150k. Can't get the right people through the door fast enough.

Edited by rxe on Friday 13th January 09:09

4x4Tyke

6,506 posts

131 months

Sunday 15th January 2017
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I got into IT by having a degree in Computing Science.

However every few, 2-4 years, I take a sideways move into new areas of IT. I do this by leveraging the additional skills around my core technical skill. Accounting->financial services software. OO in C++ to OO in Java. Client Server software -> Web Development. Web Development into e-commerce. Etc.

I recommend you look for something in IT that is also using your business domain expertise and existing skillset.


Edited by 4x4Tyke on Monday 16th January 18:20

Carl_Manchester

12,101 posts

261 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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V8Matthew said:
Hi all. I am currently in rail engineering and qualified in railway electrical engineering, but looking for a move towards IT. At present we use numerous computer systems for asset monitoring/data acquisition and would like to specialise further. Can any of our resident PHers who work in IT give me an insight into what they do and how they got into it? (Apologies as I know 'IT' is such a non specific term).

Thanks, Matthew
I know its not what you asked for....

There is a shortage for qualified, decent electricians who can deal with high-capacity electrical systems used in Datacentres and not kill themselves or other people in the process.

I would imagine that railway expertise would be transferrable.

I don't work in the field myself but all the higher level electrical guys I have met with in the Datacentre business drove 911 Turbos.

V8Matthew

Original Poster:

2,675 posts

165 months

Wednesday 18th January 2017
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Carl_Manchester said:
I know its not what you asked for....

There is a shortage for qualified, decent electricians who can deal with high-capacity electrical systems used in Datacentres and not kill themselves or other people in the process.

I would imagine that railway expertise would be transferrable.

I don't work in the field myself but all the higher level electrical guys I have met with in the Datacentre business drove 911 Turbos.
Well, I go up to 25kV at the moment so I'm up for a challenge. I would prefer a Camaro though (sorry, I'm not a classy person) hehe

Carl_Manchester

12,101 posts

261 months

Thursday 19th January 2017
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Turbos were the weapon of choice as datacentres tend to be in the sticks and 4wd required as well as motorway ease smile

Can't imagine the commie being good in the wet or good mpg.

Practicalities kidda, practicalities wink