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

[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.

[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?!

[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.

[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.

[haventahybrid]

juice said:

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 ?

Agreed, my take on it is two fold. There is "relevance" to your industry and then there is "worth" to your company & I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. so you can mould yourself to keep your worth to a company however this may have a detrimental effect on your worth to the greater market or, stay relevant with your technical skills but maybe move on more often than some.

I certainly haven't been around as long as many on this thread. I left University 4 years ago next month, I have been with my current company 4 years next month so was employed from the off. I started in support then went on to coordinate the telephony team and now I head up lifecycle and procurement. The company is large, well known and currently, doing rather well so I feel as though I am in a good place. I will be thirty in a couple of years and I often wonder where I will end up, now managing the procurement function I am not dealing with technical issues but am improving other areas if my knowledge.

Interesting to see what others have done and if nothing else its nice to see those like me without a plan can sometimes do very well!

[haventahybrid]

DELETED: Comment made by a member who's account has been deleted.

I guess you only live once! Do you ever feel strained though that with a set finishing point you have to reach X amount of goals beforehand or is it more organic than that?

[haventahybrid]

BRR said:

I never really intended to have an IT career, In fact I never had any idea what career I'd have after finishing my A-Levels and not going to Uni due to me having a Son, the plan prior to that was to study law, anyway route went roughly like this

2000 > Joined Natwest doing mortgage admin, it was during the time they were merging with RBS and due to me being decent on computers (studied IT A-Level) I somehow ended up working on that team for a bit

then worked for a few years doing technical support for BT Internet, initially on dial-up and then on the first customer broadband setups

did a few more IT support jobs before doing some change and release management for a small company that hosted insurance broker software

joined Interserve to continue doing release management but during a re-org I ended up becoming a "Business Solutions Analyst" which was basically a BA where I'd look at what we'd need to do when setting up our IT for new Defence & Healthcare contracts

moved to Egg the credit card people as a Business Analyst and stayed there for about 3 years until it was about to go under

Joined Rolls Royce in early 2011 as an "IT Business Partner" which was essentially a BA / Relationship Manager crossover role then in 2013 I moved partially into the operations side of the business as head of manufacturing systems for the aerospace engine assembly business where I now try to get IT to do the things that the operational business needs

I've really enjoyed my career so far and now really like the balance of being more business focussed but still working a lot in deploying IT to solve business problems and looking at future technologies and how they can help us in the future

What are the benefits like at RR ?

[haventahybrid]

Olivera said:

A rough timeline:

B.Sc. Computer Science
Worked for a few startups (dot com boom)
M.Sc. Computer Science
US Investment Bank
Reuters (contract dev)
UK Bank (contract dev)

Getting a little bored of IT development now (aged 38), so considering either a career change and/or semi-retirement.

I think that rough timeline translates to ££££. Backed up by the fact that at 38 you are in the enviable position of considering retirement. I am sure that being in the right place at the right time helped i.e. dot com boom but the fact you went back to do your MSc shows you have not taken anything for granted. Good man!

[haventahybrid]

PostHeads123 said:

XJ75 said:

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.

Or until HMRC catch-up with you is your operating outside.. you got to be part and parcel being a front office BA.

That has gone straight over my head