IT Career Path.. Where have you ended up?

[haventahybrid]

Hi all,

First time poster here

Would be very interested to hear about your own personal experiences in relation to your career path. Where did you start? Where have you ended up? How many blind corners along the way.

How many stuck to their original plan and how many veered way off in another direction?

Cheers

[pherlopolus]

Started in 1991, so quite a long path, I didn't have a plan and I followed it

Mainframe ops Perm then Contract
Helpdesk (contract)
2-3rd line (contract)
Installation Team Lead (contract)
Site design (contract)
Regional site design manager (contract)
Business Analyst (Large Scale Deployment)
Architect (pre-sales - Large scale Deployments - Goverment/secure systems)
Architect (delivery WPAAS)
Back to BA (Contract)

[haventahybrid]

pherlopolus said:

Started in 1991, so quite a long path, I didn't have a plan and I followed it

Mainframe ops Perm then Contract
Helpdesk (contract)
2-3rd line (contract)
Installation Team Lead (contract)
Site design (contract)
Regional site design manager (contract)
Business Analyst (Large Scale Deployment)
Architect (pre-sales - Large scale Deployments - Goverment/secure systems)
Architect (delivery WPAAS)
Back to BA (Contract)

25 odd years! Has the frequency of contract work been an intentional thing or maybe never finding a company that truly felt right... Or just the wage that you can command?

One noticeable thing is you have stayed fairly technical in those roles. Thanks for taking the time to share.

[danpalmer1993]

Joined as an Apprentice in 2011 so had a shorter career than most on here but still with the original company

Functional and Integration Tester (18 months)
24/7 Infrastructure Support Technician on shifts (18 months)
WebSphere Infrastructure Admin (3 years)
Junior Infrastructure Architect (2 years and ongoing) started during the WebSphere role
DevOps and Automation Admin (2 years and ongoing) started during the WebSphere role

[Munter]

Get Degree
Junior Consultant
Consultant
Client Support Executive
<exit IT>
<return IT>
Pre-Sales Consultant.
Pre-Sales Consultant + Senior Consultant
Pre-Sales Consultant + Senior Consultant + Product Manager
Pre-Sales Consultant + Senior Consultant + What do you want doing...just tell me...come on, out with it, let's get it done.

(Some days I dream of a job where I actually know what I'll need to know tomorrow)

[haventahybrid]

Interesting to see other peoples experiences. So far it seems that those who have posted have gone from support esq to technical to "yoda" technical. Any moved from technical into non tech / financial / managerial but still within the sector?!

[sc0tt]

Service desk
do it all IT person in small firm
Rinse and repeat.
Dabble with service desk management. Failure.
Desktop Support contracting
Infrastructure Analyst contract - Now perm.

[madcowman]

Night Shift Helpdesk (2001)
Problem Management
Server Operations
Small Outsourcer
DBA
Virtualisation Specialist
Infrastructure Architect
Project Engineer
Solutions Architect
SE Manager
SE Director

[haventahybrid]

madcowman said:

Night Shift Helpdesk (2001)
Problem Management
Server Operations
Small Outsourcer
DBA
Virtualisation Specialist
Infrastructure Architect
Project Engineer
Solutions Architect
SE Manager
SE Director

Good on you, 16 years is efficient.

[tuffer]

Left the Airforce in 2001 with some rudimentary IT Skills and an interest in Security, used my savings to pay for a couple of industry courses such as Checkpoint Firewall, ISO27001 and CCNA. Managed to get a job as a Security Analyst in Managed Security Services for a leading name vendor. I started around 1st Sept 2001 and 10 days later the world changed, all my mates in the forces spent the next 10 years on Ops, some good some bad. The IT market was in a bit of turmoil so not many opportunities to change but I used the next 4 years and the time provided by shift-work to study and get several more industry qualifications such as CISSP, CISM, CISA and many vendor quals. I then managed to get a job working for a large Utilities company with a decent pay rise but I hated it, no real chance of progression or buy in from the company to actually make a change. Big break, got offered a role at Clueless & Witless, network security manager, another good jump in pay and I felt like I had caught up slightly on years wasted in the RAF. Great team, lots of autonomy and some interesting projects, lots of business class travel to the Caribbean was a bonus. Couple of great years but the company was headed down the pan and despite an offer to transfer to another part of the company I decided to move on and join a vendor. I had been working with a leading security vendor and they offered me a Security Engineer role and this got me interested in the Sales side of things. 7 months was great fun but the commute was a nightmare and when I got an offer to join another vendor (same one as I had joined when I left the RAF) on their internal security team working with the CISO and running multiple projects , I jumped. New role was ace, lots of global travel with teams on the East and West Coast US, India, Singapore, UK and China, 2 good years.
At this point I was approached by some friends of mine that I had met in the early part of IT Career, they had another start-up and wanted me to join as a Sales Manager for the UK, first person outside the US. Loved it, stayed 4 years and ended up running Sales for EMEA, the company sold to a major Security Vendor so good exit. Then joined another start up and pretty much the same thing, sold to a another vendor, kerching.
Then got a call from a headhunter, UK based start-up. Hey, I've done this before how hard can it be........
This was much earlier, 7 people including the founders, an idea and a slide deck. 4 years later it is the best job I have had, love it.
In summary, I picked IT Security as IT is a pretty big area and I had an interest in security from my RAF days. I built a solid technical knowledge and then when I moved into Sales I was able to talk too security teams as a peer rather than a shiny suited salesman, always seemed to help. Qualifications help you get initial roles, contacts and reputation help you build a career.

Edited by tuffer on Tuesday 11th July 06:19

[toon10]

1997 Qualified with a degree in business computing and became a software developer at Siemens.
Worked for a few companies doing the same role.
2005 started at my present company as a senior software engineer
2010 Qualified with an ILM in Management and became Deputy IT Manager
2015 Org changes meant there was no deputy position so took up a role as a Collaboration Consultant mainly using SharePoint
2016 The role I'd been working to since 2010 became available and now I'm IT Service Manager for the UK & Ireland. I have 9 sites, 7 staff and the whole range of areas to deal with including sales, service, production and R&D.

Along the way I also picked up a few certificates. Certified Agile ScrumMaster, ITIL foundation (don't we all!), Lean 6 sigma (greenbelt level) and a change manager (not as in ITIL change management but the CM role within projects)

I've now lost my technical edge as I haven't coded for some time and the current more up to date younger generation won't command my wage so I'm kind of stuck in the middle management role now. It's much more stressful and I can't say I'm loving coming to work any more but the wage, bonus and benefits keep me and the family in a certain lifestyle. Be careful what you wish for

[pherlopolus]

haventahybrid said:

pherlopolus said:

Started in 1991, so quite a long path, I didn't have a plan and I followed it

Mainframe ops Perm then Contract
Helpdesk (contract)
2-3rd line (contract)
Installation Team Lead (contract)
Site design (contract)
Regional site design manager (contract)
Business Analyst (Large Scale Deployment)
Architect (pre-sales - Large scale Deployments - Goverment/secure systems)
Architect (delivery WPAAS)
Back to BA (Contract)

25 odd years! Has the frequency of contract work been an intentional thing or maybe never finding a company that truly felt right... Or just the wage that you can command?

One noticeable thing is you have stayed fairly technical in those roles. Thanks for taking the time to share.

I am Business side of software development currently, which was a nice change 3 ish years ago. I got to the stage where the tech didn't grab me, and I like the stakeholder management side of things.

Contract up until children came along, 11 years permie, then back contracting it's a lifestyle / attention span thing

[bigweb]

Grad Uni with degree in Software Engineering (2005)
worked in lending for large bank
Sold cars for various marques
Digital sales
Digital marketing sales\ Ran PPC campaigns
Sales Director for app company
Sold Business consultancy (medical)
Sell Practice management Software
Started my own Digital Marketing\Business consultancy

Edited by bigweb on Monday 10th July 23:56

[AndStilliRise]

Started as a coder in 2000.
2017, still coding, still loving it.

Found it was the only thing i could do (well). Did try team leading and being a consultant, but realized that once you leave the code behind, it is very difficult to start again with it.

[juice]

My brief potted history is

I started in 1989 for Natwest Markets in the City as a Telex operator (remember them ? )
Moved into IT at Natwest as a support analyst
Then to a small swiss bank as a Business Analyst
Then as a contractor to GAM in the west end before moving to Bermuda in 2000 as a BA for a high net worth wealth manager.
Then moved to IT Ops Manager when the previous encumbent left
Then became CIO for the group in 2014 when I moved back to the UK, setup the office here and moved the group's IT development and support teams over here with me. Bermuda is VERY expensive to have non-revenue generating parts of the business in....the UK is not.

We're now in Bristol as it was one of the enterprise zones setup in the UK, so we get 5 years of business rates relief which was an added bonus to the operating costs, plus it's about 12 miles away from the CEO's farm so he can pop in when he's over in the UK.

[XJ75]

I work in investment banking and have changed between being a developer and a BA since I graduated in 2007.

I enjoy coding but lost interest in keeping up with latest technologies so I'm now contracting as a front office BA.

I would have to get pretty senior as a permanent employee to earn an equivalent income so I don't intend to stop contracting any time soon unless I got a very generous offer.

[haventahybrid]

juice said:

My brief potted history is

I started in 1989 for Natwest Markets in the City as a Telex operator (remember them ? )
Moved into IT at Natwest as a support analyst
Then to a small swiss bank as a Business Analyst
Then as a contractor to GAM in the west end before moving to Bermuda in 2000 as a BA for a high net worth wealth manager.
Then moved to IT Ops Manager when the previous encumbent left
Then became CIO for the group in 2014 when I moved back to the UK, setup the office here and moved the group's IT development and support teams over here with me. Bermuda is VERY expensive to have non-revenue generating parts of the business in....the UK is not.

We're now in Bristol as it was one of the enterprise zones setup in the UK, so we get 5 years of business rates relief which was an added bonus to the operating costs, plus it's about 12 miles away from the CEO's farm so he can pop in when he's over in the UK.

Sounds like a very rounded career you have had. Would love to hear more about your experiences but appreciate an anonymous forum is not an ideal platform to do so.

[juice]

haventahybrid said:

Sounds like a very rounded career you have had. Would love to hear more about your experiences but appreciate an anonymous forum is not an ideal platform to do so.

Like the poster above said, I didn't have a plan and I followed it

I guess staying current is the biggest challenge, I recently certified as a GSLC and we're implementing the CIS Security controls (1-7) along with awareness training. Its a varied role but one that I really enjoy.

What prompted your question, what's your background ?

[iwantagta]

Transport/supply chain person.

IT service delivery manager for 2.5 years now. (Although role encompasses a lot of BA & PM works as well).

No desire (or ability) to go more technical - looking at exit opportunities now as I need a change.

[mikef]

40 years in the game, probably coming to a natural end

Pre-sales then operating system development and database firmware development with global manufacturer

Few years database contracting including offshore in Carribean

Dev management with leading global database company ending up in senior management in California

CTO and VP tech at data analytics startups in London, one very successful

Interim management, VP level at blue-chips in UK, France and US

Now semi-retired writing iOS apps and the odd bit of consulting