I.T. Jobs (rant)

[Talion]

1 year ago i took redundancy from my last job of 9 years. The department I was in was being closed by the government, so I thought this would be a good opportuninty to get a new career in I.T.

They are always saying on the news that the UK as an I.T. shortage. Easy peasy I thought I can do just about anything with a computer, my only let down is don\'t know network stuff (because I only have 1 computer). I thought that won\'t matter they are desperate for I.T. people.

What a load of bullsh*t 1 year on and I still can\'t get any type of I.T. work. You look at the simplest jobs and they want comercial experiance in Network, TCP/IP, blah, blah, blah.......oh and at least 2 years in the field.

They take 1 look at my C.V. which lists everything I can do, and all the programs I can use, but because I haven\'t done it commercially they throw it away.

how the hell am I supposed to get commercial experience in it, if they won\'t give me a job to get commercial experience. ???

I\'m now doing a Degree in I.T. which will take 3 years to complete. to basically learn stuff I already know......sheesh

So when they say the UK is low on I.T. skills, what they really means is the UK is short on I.T. people that already know how to reprogramm NASA computer systems, if you don\'t know how to do that, then bugger off

rant over

 

[MacBrown]

I can sympathise with you there mate. I tried to get out of accountancy a few years ago and due to the \"IT shortage\" thought I would try and get a job there. But as you say, no-one is interested unless you can already show them that you have official experience.

I couldn\'t get a job in IT, so got another one in accountancy and got lucky that my new employers weren\'t d*heads and now enjoy my job ( as far possible it is to enjoy your job and I always have time to surf CMON.)

So hang in there, your luck might just change.

 

[Sand Rat]

Well, if it makes you feel better, I took my Tech Support/IT experience and went to Iraq - as a warehouseman. Now I get to put those skills to use as a Administrative Assistant.

Even with the occassional rocket, its still better here than on the phones dealing with people who have no clue, including folks with degrees in IT!

 

[Dragonsreach]

The IT shortage is due to the fact that there are not enough people out there with the trouble shooting skills and experience wihin a Networked Environment.

Most companies need the skills now and can\'t afford to invest the time and potential loss to business to train people up.

As one of the people who have to interview for recruitment, I know what we are bound to in regards to the essential and desirable requirements for a job.
If the TCP/IP - Subnet Masking is a primary and essential requirement of the post being interviewed for, We can\'t afford to waste time of any potential candidate by interviewing someone who hasn\'t got that knowledge.

Given a choice I would go for someone with practical problem solving skills in the essential criteria rather than Book learning.
Basically I\'m saying that an IT degree will not guarentee you a job, However a MCP , MCSA or MCSE qualification will improve your chances.

No doubt that is not the answer you want to hear but it is the truth.

 

[Modderrhu]

IT? What sort of job is IT? ??? It is far too wide a field to ask for a job in IT. Three main fields; databases, networking and programming. There are many different types of programmers, many types of database people (administrators, users and designers). There are different types of network guys, some pull network cables and install software, some do troubleshooting, some design and maintain network infrastructure. Granted, there is a lot of overlap, but you\'ll have to pick a main skill set to work on. Dabbling doesn\'t count.

You think you\'re doing a degree that will only teach you what you already know? No. You have no idea what you don\'t know, until you realise it\'s there to be known. Dabbling doesn\'t count.

Originally posted by Dragonsreach
Given a choice I would go for someone with practical problem solving skills in the essential criteria rather than Book learning.

Then the only feasible option is \"both\". The difference between a guy with experiential training, and someone with theoretical knowledge is that the first might solve the problem in an hour, the second will know immediately where to find the problem. Together, the problem is solved in two minutes. A theoretical background with no practical experience is close to useless, but once experience is gained, a well-read guy will leave the other eating dust.

So, my twist to the worldwide IT shortage problem: there are not enough people out there with both, fundamental understanding, and experience, within almost any IT environment.

 

[orctrader]

Plenty of IT jobs in the UK...in some areas of IT.

After 20 years in Logistics I changed career and moved into IT. I went out and sought good advice and trained in the right areas. Spent a lot of my free time and plenty of my own money. What a great investment both have been.

I aimed for the SME sector becoming a one-man-band. Now with my third employer. I\'m not particularly expert in any field, but I am competent in several. Hardware/Networking/System Admin( Windows & UNIX)/Database Admin, etc.

Trouleshooting is an essential requirement in all of the above.

So-called soft skills are sought after too. I already had these from my former career.

If I was looking for a job now I could offer almost 8 years hands-on experience, IT user qualifications gained in my former career, a MCSA qualification. (And I know that I still could not guarantee getting a job.)

As Dragonsreach says, an IT degree won\'t guarantee a job. As for commercial experience, just offer your skills for free. Maybe to a charity, or a business on a work experience basis. This also might not be what you want to hear, but it will gain the hands-on experience and impress future interviewing employers.

I earn a great living in IT, do interesting and varied work, and most days go home completely shattered. Everything has its price.

 

[Evil Dave]

I want a Doctorate in Air Guitar.
Should be great on my resume.

 

[NecroN]

Same issue here in the past. I grew up playing on pcs, (back when that was odd, in the 70s and 80s) and knew more about them then pretty much everyone I met in school. It was only logical that by the time I hit university I go in to Computer Science. 5 Years later I am out interviewing for the 45K a year to start I was promised when I started in the program. 2 Years from then I am working just over minimum wage in Logistics. 8 or so years from then I am still in Logistcs and Automotive, though now on the Quality side.

The jobs were there, but the practicle knowedge was not, so the offers were not. At that point Java was brand new, and they wanted a Guru for a language that was less then a year old. The only people with knowledge of it at the time were in the industry already. Heck I spent 3 years taking courses on Touring... what you ask... exactly.

 

[Talion]

It\'s just a bit dis-heartning. Especially when you have to help out I.T. when you sort out desktop problems instead of an I.T. department of even in some case help them.

As for what area of I.T. I want, well at the moment I want anything, hey I\'ll sit down and format CD\'s if I have to just so I can say I worked in an I.T. department, but what I\'m looking for is troubleshooting desktop users, I\'ve done it before (unofficially), but just looking for a company with a junior role. Once I got my foot in the door I can move around.

As for my degree, luckily I\'m doing an Open University Degree so can structure the course around my desires, doing the basic one at the moment, with a bit of JAVASCRIPT, but will then be going down the programming, web-desgin route.

It\'s just annoying that they say you need experience, but no bugger will give you the chance to get any. Can\'t do voluntary work, or I won\'t be able to pay my bills.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

I have a friend that has tech training and not landing the job he wants. This requires eating a bit of humble pie but it may be a great way to bridge the gap. What he\'s looking into doing is be a roving tech for a company called (love this) The Geek Squad. You get a use of a nifty car and an area of the county that is \'your area\', then you respond to whoever calls HQ and needs some computer work done. The job itself may not be that great but the way I see it is that you are being paid to show your skills to potential long term employers. Keep getting repeat business at a certain company and you hit it off, approach them about full time.

There was also a similar company with an even better name - Rent-a-Dork.lol

 

[LavronYor]

I thought the three areas of IT were Ebay ( sales ) CMON ( hobby ) and Internet Porn ( sales and hobby combined)lol

 

[minimaker]

The situation is quite different from the pre-2000 one where everybody who could tell a mouse from a keyboard was hired as IT specialist. Requirements are much more specific. There are enough generic IT people available, so demands for that is far less.

I don\'t know what your previous position is but what you could perhaps to is to combine your past experience with what you want in IT. That\'s why I\'m in my current job. I have a master degree in mechanical engineering (product design) and I have a more than basic knowledge of software and it\'s development. I am working as project engineer/trainer in a company that develops CAD software. A colleague has a similar background and he\'s in the programming team. The reason we are here is because we have the knowledge of the market and the people the software is for and are in that respect more effective in getting the right thing done.
Perhaps you can check with companies that develop stuff or provide services for your original field of expertise?

 

[No Such Agency]

Originally posted by LavronYor
I thought the three areas of IT were Ebay ( sales ) CMON ( hobby ) and Internet Porn ( sales and hobby combined)lol

\"Sales\"? People pay for porn on the internet? lol

Heck I spent 3 years taking courses on Touring... what you ask... exactly.

Turing... hey, think of it this way, IT guys. Alan Turing virtually invented computing and helped win WW2, and his reward was sexual persecution by his own government. So your situation now is a big step up

I\'m sorry to hear about people\'s IT woes... I guess it was one of those fields that was way over-hyped back in the day and then employers came to their senses and realized they could treat you all like crap and pay you like crap... just like most other employees. The \"IT shortage\" is probably just a shortage of people who are willing to take years of professional training and then be treated like a barista in return. I sympathize, academic research is not that different - lousy pay and no job security, but the expectation of dogged hard work and brilliant inspiration.

 

[Crackpot]

The problem is, there are MANY people who think they can program/develop IT-Systems. Hey, anyone can use a computer and to write sourcecode only requieres some learning...
The problem is the quality. Our company tried to \"offshore\" some work to russia because they also have \"universities\" and \"trained\" people but these guys work for under 30%.
What nobody saw was the fact, that nearly everyone can learn to program some sort of IT-Solution, but in WHICH QUALITY??? The code we received from our russian colleagues was \"bullshit\" to say it friendly...
I don\'t want to offend any russian readers, it has nothing to do with the russian people or their education! The problem is the ignorance of the management, who think they get the same quality for 30% of the money. Shure, the sourcecode sometimes did, what it should do, but it was absolutely not maintainable... I really don\'t get it. We have very good universities and very good IT people who search a job, but we take the \"cheap\" competitors overseas... :flame:

The only thing what cheers me up at the moment is, that our management now see, that they miscalculated because we have to spend so much time and effort to correct the code that it would have been much cheaper to completely develop the code on our own... lol

 

[Rodnik]

If you\'re trying to break into the field and require networking experience----
I would pursue a CCNP certification (Cisco networking). You can do this much faster than a degree, it\'s a *very* marketable certification, and is doable without any formal commercial experience. It\'s not anything close to \"easy\", but it is doable.
It also carries enough clout that employers will recognize it. CCNA is the \"weeniehead\" Cisco cert---you\'ll need to move through this to get to the CCNP.

The CCNP will most likely require that you attend training (usually about two to three weeks--although there are boot camps) to successfully pass it---considering no former TCP/IP experience. However, you can buy the books and such from any bookstore. You can also find Cisco routers on ebay for very reasonable prices. Enough to set up a lab to get you familiar with IP routing and such if you don\'t want to do the training.

It\'ll take much less time than a degree. You\'re probably talking 4-6 months for an untrained person.

Also, with your newfound knowledge, be prepared to take a workshift that noone else wants (night shift, for example). The more you are willing to compromise on work hours, the more willing the employer will be to hire you.

That is, you have the knowledge, and you\'re willing to go that extra mile to demonstrate your capabilities.

Although education and experience are important, employers look more for tenacity and intelligence. If you demonstrate that you\'ve achieved a higher-end certification on your own, they are generally willing to \"take a chance\"---considering you\'ve demonstrated a great deal of self-motivation---a very important trait (and sadly almost non-exisitant) in the IT field.

I was an electrician for 15 years. I work in IT now because my potential employer recognized my motivation to succeed.
Another important point is when you create your resume, you\'ll need to pull the relevant points from past jobs and make sure the employer recognizes the experience for what it is.
In my case, as an electrician, I have loads of diagnostic experience. Diagnostic work is the *exact* same process for *any* technology. The only difference is the technology itself. Logic is logic, so to speak.

Anyway...for what it\'s worth.

Kev