Best paid IT job
- Thread starter doublehelix
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- Joined
- 13 May 2007
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- 12
Mr Nice said:
Yes, I would really like to knwo what you mean by these.
I'm on 24 doing support, but then there's only two of us and between us we're looking after about 300 computers (laptops included), phones (mobile and landline), exchange, sql server and access accounts. We've just had a developer in on 650 a day writing C#. He was about 55+ and knew his stuff, his agency was calling everyday when he was free!
I'm hoping to get into contract work in the finance after another year here, either DBA or developer (C#), and hopefully will be on about 350-400 a day!
If you like coding, head into C#/C++, they pay a lot. With SQL you can get into report writing (which pays a lot too), or cubes.
The quant stuff looked a bit over my head...!
I'm hoping to get into contract work in the finance after another year here, either DBA or developer (C#), and hopefully will be on about 350-400 a day!
If you like coding, head into C#/C++, they pay a lot. With SQL you can get into report writing (which pays a lot too), or cubes.
The quant stuff looked a bit over my head...!
Permabanned
Basically it's being a salesperson with a very strong technical background. I've got a CompSci degree back in 2001 and at the time, couldn't break into a job I wanted due to the state of the market back then and ended up doing technical sales work at a IT Security company.
How it works (well for me anyway) is a sales team will identify prospects interesting in our product/service. My job is talk to the prospect find out what they "really" want and propose a suitable solution.
The "suitable solution" is usally a bespoke product that our techy guys adapt and it ends up exactly what the prospect wants. And a big fat purchase order in my grubby mits.
All you really need is tha ability to speak geek when you need to and communicate with FDs, CIOs when required.
It involves all different elements, Project Management, Negotiation, Blagging it's great. No week or even few days are the same. Plus the more experienced you are (even after a couple of years) you get a good basic and incredible OTEs. Should even 40% of my pipeline be converted, I'm looking at £100k (after tax) for this year!
How it works (well for me anyway) is a sales team will identify prospects interesting in our product/service. My job is talk to the prospect find out what they "really" want and propose a suitable solution.
The "suitable solution" is usally a bespoke product that our techy guys adapt and it ends up exactly what the prospect wants. And a big fat purchase order in my grubby mits.
All you really need is tha ability to speak geek when you need to and communicate with FDs, CIOs when required.
It involves all different elements, Project Management, Negotiation, Blagging it's great. No week or even few days are the same. Plus the more experienced you are (even after a couple of years) you get a good basic and incredible OTEs. Should even 40% of my pipeline be converted, I'm looking at £100k (after tax) for this year!
- Joined
- 13 May 2007
- Posts
- 12
Mr Nice said:
Mr nice
Could I ask you a few questions via email?
Permabanned
doublehelix said:
no problems, email in trust.
Soldato
HEADRAT said:I'm a Project Manager, yay!
HEADRAT
I'm a Programme Manager with 5 project managers working for me, does that give me an even bigger yay?
How do you go about heading into a career of penetration testing? Say you have a first in Computer Science, what entry level jobs / extra certifications would you want to ensure fast progression, i.e so far in my degree I have not covered much in terms of security?
Soldato
I have read this thread and everybody keeps saying consultancy like it is some kind of magic word that gets you paid real well.
What the hell is "consultancy" and how do I get into it?
The reason I ask is I am an IT Manager for a large school and it sucks. So boring and it only pays OK.I do have 7 years experience with servers and networks. Fed up of doing the boring tech work...
Blah
Time to setup an eBay shop. IT sucks...
What the hell is "consultancy" and how do I get into it?
The reason I ask is I am an IT Manager for a large school and it sucks. So boring and it only pays OK.I do have 7 years experience with servers and networks. Fed up of doing the boring tech work...
Blah
Time to setup an eBay shop. IT sucks...
Soldato
Consultancy is like freelance isn't it? But instead of one off jobs, you get hired for 6 months or so, on one job. The reason it pays more than full time work is because there is no sick pay, holiday pay or pension I guess.
Associate
tntcoder said:
Pen testing is a bit of a funny business to get into. I can tell you how I got into it. I have a degree in Comp Sci and work mainly as a programmer but do some freelance security/pen testing. I also do a little exploit writing/source code auditing. The occasional jobs I get from it are by word of mouth by the companies that I have contracted for.
My degree taught me very little about practical security (with the exception of cryptography)... it came from coding for a hobby, breaking into systems ( not anymore
) and loads of reading of mailing lists (seclists.org), irc and the general security scene sites. Doing a CISSP or CCIP could be advantageous but its all down to experience really. There is also CHECK/CREST accreditation.
You might want to take a look at the job listings and see what skills they are looking for:
http://www.securityfocus.com/jobs/opportunities
It also depends what you want to specialise in, web apps / network security / application security etc...
Getting security clearance also would allow you to work in areas where others could not.
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Soldato
I've been working in pre-sales consultancy and technical sales for almost 3 years (straight from uni) and am on about £80k but the bulk of that is commission. The best direct sales guys I work with make much more than that (100k+). The only problem for them is the career progression doesn't really extend beyond being a sales manager. I've just got my CISSP qualification and will look to move into a wholly consultancy role soon but will take a pay cut in doing so which I will hopefully recoup in the longer term.
If you have plenty of experience then you can get very well paid as IT Managers/Directors for a large company (trust me on this I meet plenty of them). For someone starting out I would say helpdesk work whilst not great is a good starting point or take a gamble on a sales role and then push yourself into a more technical role within the same company.
The company I work at recruits plenty of graduates but the sales intake tends to lose half the people in 6-12 months so its not a sure thing.
If you have plenty of experience then you can get very well paid as IT Managers/Directors for a large company (trust me on this I meet plenty of them). For someone starting out I would say helpdesk work whilst not great is a good starting point or take a gamble on a sales role and then push yourself into a more technical role within the same company.
The company I work at recruits plenty of graduates but the sales intake tends to lose half the people in 6-12 months so its not a sure thing.
Soldato
IT Directors in private sector get well paid, probably only just behind Cheif Exec/MD and Finance Director wages, especially if linked to performance/targets etc. IT Directors in public sector are not on that great a wage for the amount of **** they have to deal with, average £70-100k.
I'm looking ino moving into consultancy in the coming year, probably more along the lines of Consultant/Trainer in ITIL/Prince2/MSP for a big IT consultancy firm (hopefully someone like FoxIT or Pink Elephant, or possibly one of the slightly smaller companies like Xpertise or Remarc). Wages are around the £40-£50k plus bonus.
I'm looking ino moving into consultancy in the coming year, probably more along the lines of Consultant/Trainer in ITIL/Prince2/MSP for a big IT consultancy firm (hopefully someone like FoxIT or Pink Elephant, or possibly one of the slightly smaller companies like Xpertise or Remarc). Wages are around the £40-£50k plus bonus.