Changing career to IT

[Stellios]

My advice for you would be to get a support role that pays as much as you can but aim for an internal support role. Avoid any call center types roles where you are dealing with the public. Even roles where you are dealing with staff on remote sites (like retail outlets) can be less valuable than ones where you are on site.

Why experience is so important in IT support is because people think that the technical side of it can be picked up quite easily at that level, often its just logging anyway. What they want in terms of experience is 1) dealing with people at all levels 2) sending emails professionally 3) working within a team 4) being able to prioritise and deal with issues under pressure. 5) speaking well on the phone. Once you have that experience and it takes a few years in 1st line to get that then you can move on to 1st/2nd line roles earning more money.

My first was 1st line on 13k and within a 18 month i was classed as 1st/2nd line because my phone ability was not as good as others on the desk but i was better with technical so was often given more 2nd line things to do, but was still on the phones.

I agree with the above in the experience I have had.

I came out of Uni with a Computer Science degree and started working a 1st line grunt on ~14k a year (call centre with very little tech rights). I done this for about 6 months and progressed to 1.5 line for ~16k a year for around 2.5 years (still pretty much front line calls but with tech rights). I have now made the jump to a 2nd line engineer for a reasonable pay increase but it has taken time and experience to do it.

From my experience when trying to get onto the IT ladder as a 1st line grunt, you need to demonstrate good, confident communication skills above having technical know-how. Generally, having a customer facing part time job during education will do you a world of good as it shows you have been able to manage your time well and shows good customer service experience and a willingness to graft. The technical side of it will come naturally once you start working within the company if you choose to pursue going down that route.

 

[Hades]

My honest advice would be don't do it, the industry is in decline in the UK the big ship has sailed and you've missed the boat now it just seems to be a case of trying to keep one step ahead of the off shore process! Unless of course you fancy a move to the Scotish highlands the only place in the UK where IT is currently booming!

Sadly I agree with this.

 

[Guest2]

Money depends on what area you want to move into, however you will only really know this through support which is not great money

Main areas;
IT Support
Project related work like a project manager
Software development (coding)
Infrastructure (can be split into multiple areas depending on the size of the company)

My first job on my placement year whilst doing a Bsc in Business computing paid 9k. Good luck getting 30k for a support job

 

[Guest2]

My honest advice would be don't do it, the industry is in decline in the UK the big ship has sailed and you've missed the boat now it just seems to be a case of trying to keep one step ahead of the off shore process! Unless of course you fancy a move to the Scotish highlands the only place in the UK where IT is currently booming!

I do not agree.

If you know what you want to do and enjoy it enough, you will learn it and be in for some big money. I enjoy doing what I do now (3rd line networking support such as Citrix, SCCM and Windows networking) There is big money to be had if you put some time into it - Cyber security is a huge area, mobile computing is only going to get bigger and coding jobs are always available. A friend of mine has recently self tough Scala and is now raking in £350 a day. Its not going to make him a millionaire but he's just wacked 50k deposit down on a house so he isnt doing too badly! If you know specific software, such as banking software then I have seen support jobs advertised in London for 50-60k - 1st line support

 

[DAIR]

Not read the replies.

If you want to get into IT. Specialise in something. Programing and developing roles is where it's at.

Don't even bother going for those general IT Support roles. That market it saturated. And as a result the pay is poor.

 

[dowie]

My honest advice would be don't do it, the industry is in decline in the UK the big ship has sailed and you've missed the boat now it just seems to be a case of trying to keep one step ahead of the off shore process! Unless of course you fancy a move to the Scotish highlands the only place in the UK where IT is currently booming!

'IT' is a broad area and in general is a growing industry - there is going to be continuing demand for people with technical skills. Sure certain vendor certificates will become outdated but the core skills last a fair bit longer and there is a shortage of people in plenty of areas.

 

[Casdawer]

I do 2nd Line work in Hampshire and get £32k a year with £34k being the cap.

With no previous experience, you're looking around £20k.

 

[drakioned]

I do not agree.

If you know what you want to do and enjoy it enough, you will learn it and be in for some big money. I enjoy doing what I do now (3rd line networking support such as Citrix, SCCM and Windows networking) There is big money to be had if you put some time into it - Cyber security is a huge area, mobile computing is only going to get bigger and coding jobs are always available. A friend of mine has recently self tough Scala and is now raking in £350 a day. Its not going to make him a millionaire but he's just wacked 50k deposit down on a house so he isnt doing too badly! If you know specific software, such as banking software then I have seen support jobs advertised in London for 50-60k - 1st line support

The support jobs you've seen advertised are application support rather than technical support. The distinction makes a pretty big difference in pay.

I used to work in an investment bank as a developer, we effectively had two IT departments. The guys that looked after the technical support (Windows support, AD, resetting passwords, installed printers, all general desktop tasks), and the guys that looked after the banking software.

The banking software "support" guys started on £~40k and ran into 6 figures for the experience guys, and £500-600/day contracts were certainly possible (maybe not typical, but certainly not out of the ordinary either). Those support guys often knew relatively little about desktop support, and they were being paid for their business knowledge on the trading software. The technical skills used were often Python/Perl scripting, SQL, Unix, and some minor programming, and the tasks asked of them were things like produce a sales report with these columns rather than install this printer and make sure it can be shared with the network.

 

[dowie]

^^^ yup that is the sort of role I was referring to here:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=28517833&postcount=26

If you've got a technical skill set and some banking knowledge then that is all you really need for those sorts of roles. A way in is to get experience with a vendor then move to a bank after a few years - starting salary is circa 30-something for a new grad, which is what the OP is after.

Sungard, Calypso, Murex, Reval etc..etc.. get some experience doing support for any of those sorts of firms (there are plenty of them out there) and after a few years experience you might find there are a bunch of roles out there paying 60-70+ base salary as perm or 500+ a day contracting that you're suitable for. Ideally it is probably better to join a bank on a grad scheme but getting some relevant skills in a vendor is backdoor way in.

As far as jobs in finance are concerned it is pretty guff but as far as IT support roles are concerned it has way better prospects than most. Can lead to other things too - if you stick with a vendor you could move to a dev role or consulting role etc.. which then potentially open up opportunities at banks other than just support.

 

[oldbag]

I started out in 1997 on a 6 month contract on 15k, doing first line, Ms office type installs, windows rebuilds, etc. I changed jobs every 3 years or so, 7-10k more each time. If I hadn't of kept changing I would have not got as far as I am now. In IT, learning the latest technology is essential and staying with it, or you're out in some dead end support job and suffer rubbish increases each year and aren't really respected.

 

[anything I don't mind]

I know a guy doing 1st/2nd line contracting, he only knows legal apps at a basic level and because he went contracting he is on £200 per day. Same roles non contracting max out at about 32 or 35 with supervisor responsibility in legal industry.

The guy gave me a number of an account that he uses to setup is business and do his account, i think ill go down that route in about 2 years, for now looking to move to a new internal role at law firm as infrastructure analyst.

I have been wanting to more in to media industry but i lack the load balancer experience or experiencing supporting linux in enterprise environment. I did apply for a role yesterday that required load balancer experience. I should just lie and say i had it i think and just blag it.

 

[B@Th*nG]

Pretty normal in this country, the salaries are incredibly low here and you reach the ceiling pretty quickly.

no pay rise in 15 years is normal in this country?! horse ****. None in 5 perhaps, due to the economic downturn, but that's it.

the rest of your statement is so comically sweeping as to be ignored

B@

 

[Guest2]

The support jobs you've seen advertised are application support rather than technical support. The distinction makes a pretty big difference in pay.

I used to work in an investment bank as a developer, we effectively had two IT departments. The guys that looked after the technical support (Windows support, AD, resetting passwords, installed printers, all general desktop tasks), and the guys that looked after the banking software.

The banking software "support" guys started on £~40k and ran into 6 figures for the experience guys, and £500-600/day contracts were certainly possible (maybe not typical, but certainly not out of the ordinary either). Those support guys often knew relatively little about desktop support, and they were being paid for their business knowledge on the trading software. The technical skills used were often Python/Perl scripting, SQL, Unix, and some minor programming, and the tasks asked of them were things like produce a sales report with these columns rather than install this printer and make sure it can be shared with the network.

Yep, thats exactly what I was getting at. OP quote

...Coupled with my fairly extensive experience in banks, legal firms...

Combine Banking applications software knowledge with some IT and you are laughing all the way [back] to the bank

Dowie, thanks, it was Murex I was thinking of.

anything I don't mind - Maybe try watching some Netscaler setup / config videos if you want to get into load balancing. Its complicated but when you know it you will be in demand (at least people are where I work) I carry out basic tasks on one of our VPX Netscalers but that's it. If you make one simple mistake it can be disastrous.