Get a job in IT! Is it worth it?

[vz-r_dave]

ringram said:

To be good in IT you need to have the "knack" that means a logical brain.
If that sounds like you and you read product documentation and can use things like windows server, and I mean use things like IIS, terminal services, sql server, exchange server etc or progam in basic etc, then you are the man (or woman) for the job. You will be earning average or better within a year with some effort easy.

On the other hand if you dont know what a cookie is, or what a URL is. Nor what a partition table is, then you will be the one earning under £37k for the first few years.

I have a mate with about 20 years experience on over £250k so the money is there if you know what you are doing. Mind you the same could be said about most career's

If you want to earn the bucks you have to "live it" and not just "work it"

I think you'll find that 37k is hard to come by even with the skills mentioned above unless you go contracting ofcourse.

[royceybaby]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who prefers experience over qualifications.

One company i worked for hired a guy with a full MCSE (back in the NT4 days). On his first day we were all a little busy and asked if he could help us by swapping over the network card in a computer that was playing up, it was like for like so very easy. He just turned to us and said how do I do that

He didn't last long in the job.

Not sure I would recommend doing that course that is advertised on the TV, £37k average is a bit of wishful thinking for someone to attain very quickly.

Experience or interest in IT is something that I would value over any qualification at that level.

[Taita]

To put it politely, £37k after a course, is fking absurd. You would have more chance of getting to the moon by flapping your ears.

[vz-r_dave]

Taita said:

To put it politely, £37k after a course, is fking absurd. You would have more chance of getting to the moon by flapping your ears.

As much as I can understand your point, if you have the gift of the gab there is no reason why you cant fib a little here and there

[Taita]

vz-r_dave said:

Taita said:

To put it politely, £37k after a course, is fking absurd. You would have more chance of getting to the moon by flapping your ears.

As much as I can understand your point, if you have the gift of the gab there is no reason why you cant fib a little here and there

Indeed, until you have a problem and don't have a bloody clue. Then you join the queue at the job centre.

[Cliffv8]

I signed up for a similar sort of thing to do A+, N+ and CCNA/CCNP and it was a complete load of bullst it cost £2 to £3k to do at home jobie, found I was better off doing it by my safe, spending a few hundred pounds on books and software, at least as far as the A+ and N+ exams go anyway.

[Webber3]

vz-r_dave said:

Taita said:

To put it politely, £37k after a course, is fking absurd. You would have more chance of getting to the moon by flapping your ears.

As much as I can understand your point, if you have the gift of the gab there is no reason why you cant fib a little here and there

I've seen people do really well in IT with very little technical ability. If you have the gift of the gab you'd do better blagging your way into a higher level role where they value your character and people skills more than technical ability. I've seen people in these roles earning far more than £37k.

[vz-r_dave]

Webber3 said:

vz-r_dave said:

Taita said:

To put it politely, £37k after a course, is fking absurd. You would have more chance of getting to the moon by flapping your ears.

As much as I can understand your point, if you have the gift of the gab there is no reason why you cant fib a little here and there

I've seen people do really well in IT with very little technical ability. If you have the gift of the gab you'd do better blagging your way into a higher level role where they value your character and people skills more than technical ability. I've seen people in these roles earning far more than £37k.

Very much so, if the job is extremely political then people skills go a very very very long way.

[vz-r_dave]

swerni said:

What is this IT everyone is talking about.
I have a friend who works in IT, she is a secretary.
I have another friend in IT who is in customer care.

Every talks about "working in IT" and I have no idea what they mean.
IT is an industry which a multitude of roles, it's not a job.


As to the OP they are in business to sell training courses, not to get you a job.
You'd be better of blowing the cash on drugs and hookers, at least that way it wouldn't have been wasted

Yes thats true but we arnt being pedantic about it, you can generalise with IT and secretary positions do not generaly exist in Information Technology based roles. Unless of course you work on a HELPDESK and not the service desk ITIL lol

As much as drugs and hookers sounds fun thats most of the reason our tax is paid out to cover the idiots who never tried. Some of these courses will infact help you.

[SLacKer]

Try vtc.com and for $250 per annum you can get training in hundreds of IT subjects. Spread that out over a year or so and look for oppurtunities in your area to get into I.T. It will also give you a chance to see what areas interest you and will cost less than £4 a week.

We have used them for years now.

[jkennyd]

swerni said:

vz-r_dave said:

swerni said:

What is this IT everyone is talking about.
I have a friend who works in IT, she is a secretary.
I have another friend in IT who is in customer care.

Every talks about "working in IT" and I have no idea what they mean.
IT is an industry which a multitude of roles, it's not a job.


As to the OP they are in business to sell training courses, not to get you a job.
You'd be better of blowing the cash on drugs and hookers, at least that way it wouldn't have been wasted

Yes thats true but we arnt being pedantic about it, you can generalise with IT and secretary positions do not generaly exist in Information Technology based roles. Unless of course you work on a HELPDESK and not the service desk ITIL lol

As much as drugs and hookers sounds fun thats most of the reason our tax is paid out to cover the idiots who never tried. Some of these courses will infact help you.

Wasn't being pedantic (well not much). I've worked in what's referred to as "IT" for 20 years but am as non technical as they come.
So we talking project management, programming. engineering, design, implementation, sales, pre sales, consulting etc etc etc.

It's such a wide field that when people talk about "working in IT" I really don't think they have a clue what they are talking about.

People in IT say they are "working in IT" because we cant be ar55ed explaining to non technical people just what it is we actually do.

[69 coupe]

I have worked for very large IT companies as a employee 12+ years, the last but one was HP.
I was installing through all those years, cabling/terminating/tracing/testing, fitting all types of hardware mainly hp servers,ml's dl's all versions of blade servers,switches/routers, diagnosing connectivity faults wan/lans, configuring leased/mpls wans, wan accelerators, fibre links to eva's emc's.

All this in front of irate customers usually the directors(call centres)with the usual "do you know when its going to be back up and running".

I fitted the Workstations loaded the O/S's and apps networked the printers not only locally but via wan dsl/isdn serial, connected PCs to AS400 rumba, linked in to SAP. figured out why an apps won't work on protocol 50-53 "why this why that" blah blah blah.
Most was self learned, but big IT companies, just wanted bods on customer sites, yet expect you to be the expert sometimes without ever seeing the software or hardware let alone what the product did.

Went out on calls at all fecking hours of the day 24/7, flew all over the EU at the drop of a hat.
Liaised with IT depts all around the world "I hate Denver", I seemed to spend my free time day/night learning the next version of some st Micro'isco s/w harderware. All that for 20k + very heavily taxed Co-car.

Its true I worked on loads of jobs where their IT dept were been paid shed loads but were fecking useless and more interested in lunch or the pub.
I used to wish I could land a position like that, god knows
I tried, with agencies!
My biggest stumbling block was do I have the latest win2k/3 mcse? Me, nope! I stopped after getting my win nt msce, plus a few other A+,N+,Server+,ccna!
Oh well sir, your not qualified for the role.
I guess I was just not lucky!

But in answer to your question 37k is possible

[jkennyd]

You I would hire in an instant

[69 coupe]

jkennyd said:

You I would hire in an instant

Thanks, I've gone back to my original trade, plumbing/pipe fitting less sh:t to deal with IYKWIM; and home by 5.30

[V6Alfisti]

37k is easily possible but only with years of experience.

Don't expect companies to be queuing at your door because you have just completed a course.

They will want to know who you have worked for (in the industry), any relevant work (IT based), number of years you worked there, key successes e.t.c

Same with Project Management, you couldn't just get Prince2 Qualified and expect to become a project manager. You would be put straight in at junior level, as who would seriously trust you with any sized project?

Prince2 only gives a basic outline of the workflows, it doesn't go into the detail you need for risk/issue management e.t.c

[Gazzab]

V6Alfisti said:

37k is easily possible but only with years of experience.

Don't expect companies to be queuing at your door because you have just completed a course.

They will want to know who you have worked for (in the industry), any relevant work (IT based), number of years you worked there, key successes e.t.c

Same with Project Management, you couldn't just get Prince2 Qualified and expect to become a project manager. You would be put straight in at junior level, as who would seriously trust you with any sized project?

Prince2 only gives a basic outline of the workflows, it doesn't go into the detail you need for risk/issue management e.t.c

Having worked as an IT PM, Programme Mgr/Director for some 15 yrs or so I find it highly amusing how people relate Prince Qualification to being able to do the job. The 'processes' side can be taught to a monkey in a day. Actually having the character, leadership etc skills are vastly more important.