Best First time IT position to get into?

[norwichchris]

Hi,
I am a student at College studying BSC computing I was wandering what would be the best and easiest job role to get into to begin my career and where are the best IT jobs?

 

[dave_n]

support - get a good basis knowledge of different computer systems and how they work.

 

[wecandobiz]

support - get a good basis knowledge of different computer systems and how they work.

+1. Or teach yourself web development and buddy up with some good designers.

IH

 

[Electro]

I am a student at College studying BSC computing I was wandering what would be the best and easiest job role to get into to begin my career and where are the best IT jobs?

I may sound weird but start your career in something which interests you the most. I found lots of my fellows who were good poets but started studying medical / engineering (you cant be a good doc, engg unless you are interested and sincere in your job) If computers is what interests you most, its still not easy to figure out whats best for you coz even computers got thousands of branches ahead. If you love programming.. move on your career in developing software.. If you like graphics/photoshop you can be a designer.. If you good with microchips and sorting out which IC in the mainboard got faulty.. step in microprocessors, system design.. If you good at networking.. wimax, 3g, cellular technology. i can go on and on and on.. !

 

[altyfc]

I would say it depends on what you want to go on to do with your IT skills. Any experience is great obviously, but if it's relevant to what you want to go on and do, then that will help.

 

[norwichchris]

personally i would prefer to do either computer hardware/software. My PC dies frequently and i've always wandered why it always interested circuit boards and how they work.

I also have a great interest in Java programming i loved doing that at college

 

[gregmiller]

I guess the best answer would be - what do you want? or what do you prefer most? hardware-or-software-? there are many specializations in the field of IT. As a starter you can first learned the basics like 'tech support' or 'web support' and to improve your skills you must study and practice what you have learned.Thanks.

 

[Interconnect IT]

What's a BSC in Computing? Is that the same as in Computer Science or is it like a broad-scope degree which covers lots of things but not deeply.

This has a huge impact on where you can go with your degree. Computer Science graduates are very interesting to firms, whereas people who have broad knowledge may be good for support roles, project management and so on.

 

[dave_n]

What's a BSC in Computing? Is that the same as in Computer Science or is it like a broad-scope degree which covers lots of things but not deeply.

This has a huge impact on where you can go with your degree. Computer Science graduates are very interesting to firms, whereas people who have broad knowledge may be good for support roles, project management and so on.

agree...i have a bsc in computer science and while i was doing the course i thought it was pointless.....when i started applying for jobs it all became apparent!

 

[calibra]

Hi,
I am a student at College studying BSC computing I was wandering what would be the best and easiest job role to get into to begin my career and where are the best IT jobs?

Hi

Look for a helpdesk postion.
Move to Desktop support and if you like it move up to server support, Exchange, AD, network support.

You really need to start off as a simple heldesk guy. You may find it hard getting a job in server systems until you have some good experience

 

[birches]

Obviously you have to do something that interests you.

I'd suggest though that you aim for what you want to do eventually and try to get skills in that, even if the money is potentially less than other roles. As in IT you very quickly become pigeon-holed - for instance it's not easy for a support engineer to move into development.

Rgds

Karen

 

[TotallySport]

If you interested in something that no one does, then you could right computer specs for companies in the UK so they can outsource the project overseas and then coordiate the build in some way.

a sort of go between between you and overseas developers, will save UK companies 1000's and get the product they want cos of your advice mediation, knowledge etc.

 

[Interconnect IT]

Totally - that sounds like a potentially very troublesome and stressful job. Overseas developers are often hard to work with if you're not very experienced, and you could end up being seen as responsible for any security holes (and there will be some - there always are no matter who writes the code) and issues that come up.

Thought about that line myself and quickly decided against it.

Back to the OP, I had a think and was thinking about what we look for in staff and I cam up with the following:

1. A 'True Geek'. It's very hard to be a top developer or computer boffin if you don't live and breathe the industry.
2. Some examples of past work. If you've never created a website or written a line of code then your CV goes in the bin. Immediately. Kind of related to 1. I guess.
3. A curious mind. Someone who wants to know why things are as they are, and to make them better. I like it if people have travelled, worked in scientific or engineering areas and similar.

We get lots of CVs - a lot from experienced people and a lot from graduates. By and large they're utter rubbish for anything except a general low-level job. Some go to the trouble of sending discs in, but the contents we recognise as course material... ie, they followed instructions and put something together that got them a pass. No more, no less.

So the most interesting CV we ever had was from a 16yr old lad who'd created his own file-sharing website. He even acknowledged that his design skills were lacking, but the site worked and he showed a talent, resourcefulness and geekiness that I like to see. However, although he might have been interesting cheap labour for us I also felt that it would be in his best interests to at least do A levels and so I didn't offer him a job. I was mildly interested in him part time but that wouldn't have been enough for us.

We've been through a couple of lads - one an MBA graduate and the other a Computers undergraduate working part time. Neither was amazing. The three people involved now have all had successful IT careers, don't have degrees, and are extremely skilled. Graduates may expect £25k a year, but none of us earn that much at the moment... so that's what a graduate has to compete against.

 

[ken_uk]

To be honest I would advise against IT as a career, as things in IT change so fast its a never ending task keeping up.

Stop for any reason and your skills rapidly age.

You could spend a few year learning a language and it would be out of date by the time you became proficient.

Hardware changes fast, skills need updating all the time.

Competition is fierce, and people with the skills are becoming more and more common, so wages will drop in time.

 

[garyk]

Obviously you have to do something that interests you.

I'd suggest though that you aim for what you want to do eventually and try to get skills in that, even if the money is potentially less than other roles. As in IT you very quickly become pigeon-holed - for instance it's not easy for a support engineer to move into development.

Rgds

Karen

I think thats where you need to choose your company very carefully. I moved from support into development (although I had been programming as a hobby for some time) in the late 80s as I was working for a very small software house, one of those where everyone mucks in.

I would say even today going the support route initially as still a good way to enter IT.

 

[dave_n]

i had the dubious pleasure of interviewing consultnats and developers for a global IT company in 2000.
The most important aspect for us was a breadth of experience ....we always went for people who had gone through the 'natural' IT paths - 1st line support> 2nd/3rd line support>specialist>senior specialist>consultant

We found very little value in taking on people who hadn't had a good support background as they weren't aware of the 'whole picture'

 

[Interconnect IT]

Hmmm - I never once did first line support. Being a good payroll developer doesn't, on the whole, require much knowledge of setting up Outlook

There's plenty of folk at Google who've never done support. Nor should they. In fact, there's a lot of very serious techies who you don't want to let anywhere near an end user without some form of go-between.

Some guys are incredibly high level and a few may even be borderline Aspergers at times. A user, with their ambiguity, short temper and general ignorance will drive some to angry outbursts. Not good for anybody. I myself have problems with ambiguity and it drives me to distraction. If someone asks for something I'm prone to literalism. Part of that comes from a non-English speaking background (I grew up in Spain) and part comes from over twenty years of coding.

 

[dave_n]

True - i should have said that these consultants were customer facing consultants who would, when required, help clients in other areas of IT not just pigeon holed in dev or networks etc.

 

[TotallySport]

Totally - that sounds like a potentially very troublesome and stressful job. Overseas developers are often hard to work with if you're not very experienced, and you could end up being seen as responsible for any security holes (and there will be some - there always are no matter who writes the code) and issues that come up.

That could be said about web development in general, and if done badly with everything else I agree it would be hard and stressfull.

However after learning how to do it properly and defining the role properly with your client I think if could be the way forward for many people, and is the one thing that isn't offered currently.

I was talking to someone that does creat specs for a very large company, they have a tried and tested forumla which they use on all projects and it does the job on every project. (contract will be key)

You can then expand on this further, by working as a go between, getting commision for referals from overseas companies.

I don't think it would be easy but once you learn the ropes and if your a good comunicator I think its a winner, I also understand why UK design companies would be reluctant to see this as a bad move.

 

[Ukfatboy]

We receive applications all the time. When we last advertised for a trainee we received 150 applications in the first 72 hours.

So competition is fierce.

Try and decide what you want to do . Do you want support/engineering role etc installing servers , upgrading , migration etc.

Do you want development role ie programming ?

Do you want web role ie programming, databases etc.

You could argue the last 2 are the same

If support engineering is the role then my advice is to get real world experience. Be able to do anything on a pc ( and I mean anything ) , start to understand servers hardware and software and make sure you fully understand network protocols , IP etc.

Next find some local support companies and see if they do out of hours installations , upgrades etc. Most do .Offer your services for free and get some experience.

Consider Microsoft industry qualifications but to be honest they are worthless without experience.

Get your CV right , dont have a mail address like [email protected]

Use the PHONE , of the hundreds of applicants we had for the trainee position , guess which one got the job, the first and only one who picked up the phone after sending their cv and talked to me !

Good Luck !

PS. if you want to play with circuit boards , get a job in electronics , if the board fails we throw it away and install a new one . time is money blah blah blah

 

[Interconnect IT]

TotallySport - there's lots of people doing exactly what you say... they just don't always tell the end client.

After all saying "come to us to have your work farmed out at $5 an hour to a third world economy" is never a winning proposition.

I'm not personally convinced it's a great way to run any business with significant growth aspirations. I've also noticed that arms-length developers are rarely as motivated as the ones who can see the fruits of their labours. I've worked with companies who are offshoring. Companies with good UK teams to manage the situation... and I've yet to see it be a massive success. It works for neatly defined, simple situations... but where a more agile approach is required it proves hard. As a developer I always found it important to be able to discuss items directly with the end clients, even if most of the planning work was done by the systems analyst.

It's also worth noting that systems analysis, as a role, appears to have been largely forgotten about - with their skills being moved towards business analysts talking directly with developers. I'm not entirely convinced about that approach. Our own company is a little more traditional. I work as the manager, analyst and go-between but developers are then able to talk directly to end-clients. They don't do it much, however, as there's not a huge need, but it does help occassionally.

 

[TotallySport]

TotallySport - there's lots of people doing exactly what you say... they just don't always tell the end client.

After all saying "come to us to have your work farmed out at $5 an hour to a third world economy" is never a winning proposition.

I'm not personally convinced it's a great way to run any business with significant growth aspirations. I've also noticed that arms-length developers are rarely as motivated as the ones who can see the fruits of their labours. I've worked with companies who are offshoring. Companies with good UK teams to manage the situation... and I've yet to see it be a massive success. It works for neatly defined, simple situations... but where a more agile approach is required it proves hard. As a developer I always found it important to be able to discuss items directly with the end clients, even if most of the planning work was done by the systems analyst.

I agree and disagree, there are web design companies that simply outsource all there work and charge UK web design charges I agree, but there to my knowledge isn't anyone that actively write the spec for you and encourage you to source the developement overseas to then go to elancer or any other site or company. (on an addition you could also source the designing as I wouldn't expect an overseas developer to also create a good design.

Interesting why you have chosen $5 as the rate of pay, does that mean spec writing is less meaning full than a web developer? I think not, infact we would have been willing to pay significantly more recently for this services (in your blog you state this would be about £2.5k hardly £5 an hour for a similar service).

There is no reason why the end client, developer and spec person cannot communicate directly.

I will point out, I am not talking about massive companyes wanting services like this, or companies which are either just starting out, or are content at there current level, this is more based around growing small business, or people that need something specific but don't know how to document it, or people that want something but need help confirm it with best practises alternative ideas etc.

 

[TotallySport]

Also related to your blog:

http://liverpoolwebdesigner.com/2008/10/04/if-you-want-to-hire-a-professional-act-like-one/

section 9, is simply asking for this services, there is no reason why the same principle cannot be used to approach UK companies, to assertain an accurate price.

 

[birches]

I think thats where you need to choose your company very carefully. I moved from support into development (although I had been programming as a hobby for some time) in the late 80s as I was working for a very small software house, one of those where everyone mucks in.

I would say even today going the support route initially as still a good way to enter IT.

Agreed. I'm really talking about if you want to enter into the bigger companies - unless you enter on a defined graduate program then once you enter a particular area you will find it extremely hard to move about. Support is okay, but it's never going to be mega bucks, and if you haven't done any coding you will find it difficult to move to another company as a developer. I interview a lot of IT staff and I would never even look at a support person for a dev role.

Rgds

Karen