IT/Computer job advice please.

[DaemonDreams]

I don't know any developer (and I know a lot) who pays for training, software (ha) or subscribes to anything more advanced than PC Gamer.

 

As a developer.... I pay for my own training and qualifications, and study in my own time. A basic course to get a decent recognised qualification that will do you any good is at least £2k, and will take up to a year (or more) to complete. I also pay for my own software to work at home when I'm, erm, "supplementing my income" .

 

IT can be lucrative, but, like everything else, work is drying up atm. Contractors are getting told "take a 20% pay cut or we don't renew", and those are the lucky ones (HSBC and Barclays have both done this). Lots of work is getting outsourced, though some will probably be coming back following the Satyam scandal in India.

 

The only thing I will recommend if you're going to do some training is to make sure you get something worthwhile. Training is expensive, and you need to make sure you get something worthwhile at the end of it. "I'm good with HTML..." isn't going to get you a job. "I have an MCDBA (Microsoft-Certified Database Adminstrator) and an MCAD (Microsoft-Certified Applications Developer), with 5 years experience building applications and maintaining data networks" is better.

See Microsoft's list of accredited certifications at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/default.mspx for details of their courses, including what's on the exams.

 

If you're looking at moving into Open-Source areas, I can't offer too much specifics, as I don't deal with it myself. Check out http://www.linux.org/lessons/ as a starting point.

 

Be VERY wary of the TV ads where they try and flog you a course costing £5k with a non-accredited certification at the end. You'll learn a bunch of the stuff, but it won't give you industry-recognised qualifications at the end of it.

[Paul2412]

Okay....

 

As some of the longer term posters will know i am a self employed Joiner. As everyone knows the construction industry is now on it's backside and it seems harder and harder to find work.

Therefore i am thinking of changing jobs. I have been thinking for ages and computers are the only thing that keeps popping up in my head.

I am good at anything security related. I am quite good with hardware. I am decent with anything XP and below. I have made a few websites in the past which i enjoyed loads. I have set up and maintained several forums in the past.

 

I have 0 qualifications in anything computing.

I have hardly any spare time due to work at the minute (can work from home in the evening).

I can not afford to be out of work. Not even for a week or two.

 

Sooo... What are my options (if any)?.

 

Do jobs exist for basic website design?

Maybe something on the repair/servicing side of things?

 

I'm not ruling anything out as i have enjoyed virtually everything i have ever done on a computer.

 

Ideas please

 

Just my take on this...

 

Hardware wise I don't think your ever going to make a great deal of money. Most components are now almost worthless, and if anyone has any problems is probably easier to buy a new PC.

 

Software/website wise. I disagree with what people on here are saying.

 

Firstly, I left school with 0 IT related qualifications and went to work in a shop. I then became interested in software/database/web and in particular Microsoft technologies.

 

I thought I needed some qualifications, so went to Microsoft and looked at a few exams. Namely:

 

MCTS (SQL Server 2005)

MCTS (.NET Framework Foundation)

MCTS (.NET Web client development)

 

I now have these 3 exams and have never had difficulty in finding work that pays > £28,000 per anum.

 

In addition, if you aren't that confident to go into full time employment, become a part time freelancer to build your skills:

 

http://www.rentacoder.com

http://www.guru.com

http://www.getacoder.com

http://www.getafreelancer.com

http://www.scriptlance.com

http://www.peopleperhour.com

 

I use all of these sites and last year made around £10,000 from projects. To get started download the express edition of Visual Studio:

 

http://www.microsoft.com/Express/

 

They are all free and allow you build fairly large applications.

[DaemonDreams]

Just my take on this...

 

I thought I needed some qualifications, so went to Microsoft and looked at a few exams. Namely:

 

MCTS (SQL Server 2005)

MCTS (.NET Framework Foundation)

MCTS (.NET Web client development)

 

I now have these 3 exams and have never had difficulty in finding work that pays > £28,000 per anum.

 

Paul - how did you find the MCTS? I'm looking at updating my paper qualifications, and the modular nature of the MCTS (take the 70-536 as core, then add as needed) seems quite attractive, but haven't spoken to anyone who's done MCTS as yet (myself and everyone I know are old MCAD/MCSD etc types).

Cheers,

[chunwai]

Okay....

 

I have 0 qualifications in anything computing.

I have hardly any spare time due to work at the minute (can work from home in the evening).

I can not afford to be out of work. Not even for a week or two.

 

Sooo... What are my options (if any)?.

 

Do jobs exist for basic website design?

Maybe something on the repair/servicing side of things?

 

I'm not ruling anything out as i have enjoyed virtually everything i have ever done on a computer.

 

Ideas please

 

I know the streets are not paved with gold and I know you have to be realistic in your expectations, but this guy asked for his options with what he'd got, all I was saying is that if you don't have time for training and no real work experience then doing a bit of contracting (even the low skilled work) could help to get a foot in the door. It's can take a long time to study pass exam's only to be told at an interview you don't have any real experience, or that your a paper MCSE. He could do a bit of contracting supplementing it with his joinery work, meeting people in the industry and finding out what he is good at. It is hard if you have no track record so you have to be persistent. If he has done any level of IT work even for friends or family get it on his CV

[Nazo]

I'm also looking at doing 70-536 but the official Microsoft training book on it is terrible; it's full of errors and scant on details. The other problem is that it is quite focussed on framework parts that I rarely use in my day-to-day work, which makes it hard to find the motivation to really knuckle down and learn it.

[DaemonDreams]

I'm also looking at doing 70-536 but the official Microsoft training book on it is terrible; it's full of errors and scant on details. The other problem is that it is quite focussed on framework parts that I rarely use in my day-to-day work, which makes it hard to find the motivation to really knuckle down and learn it.

 

Nazo - it's a lot more expensive, but a lot easier and faster, to go through a company offering structure and support. Seetec is a company I've used, and have found them good. They're cheaper than most of the alternatives, but they don't offer the level of support that some do - they're intended for people who have experience in the field. I wouldn't recommend them for someone who's new to the field, really, as they leave you to get on with it and don't pro-actively support you, but they're there when you need them and have useful material on their member site. They also write their own books to guide you through the material, which are more useful than the MS ones.

However, their MCTS courses aren't going to be available until (I believe...) April or so.

Just don't go to Computeach!!!

[chunwai]

Paul - how did you find the MCTS? I'm looking at updating my paper qualifications, and the modular nature of the MCTS (take the 70-536 as core, then add as needed) seems quite attractive, but haven't spoken to anyone who's done MCTS as yet (myself and everyone I know are old MCAD/MCSD etc types).

Cheers,

 

Hi I did my MCTS in SQL 2005 I was one of the first to sit it when it went live, I don't know if it has changed much but I found the training weighted towards writing and looking stored procedures, plus everyone else on the course were developers so it kept getting a little side tract but the exam was weighted to administration, the course was also pre report service as this didn't work when they first released the product. I struggled on most of the course all but the last day, but found the exam easy where as most of the developers found the course easy but struggled with the exam, 3 of use passed out of 7. Shame I’ve never got to do more than build 1 sql server 2005 since as the company I support only use 2000 :-( however this may change soon when we bring our own auditing system.

[DaemonDreams]

Thanks for the info Chunwai, it's interesting that you note that:

most of the developers found the course easy but struggled with the exam

That doesn't surprise me, tbh. We devs are an arrogant bunch, and we know it all, already, so we don't pay attention in class

 

SQL2K is still very common, lots of big companies are still using it as they don't see a compelling enough reason to upgrade to 2k5/8 from something that works just fine. I reckon a lot will have upgraded to 2k5 by 2012 or so....

[blanco]

The problem with IT is just about every IT company or department has made redundancies over the last year, and plans to make more this year.

 

There are thousands and thousands of very experienced programmers, analysts, designers etc, looking for work. You'll have to compete with these people in an interview.

 

Are you thinking of a career change due to the lack of work, or because you want a change?

 

Can you expand your current trade to take work you wouldnt normally do?

 

Good luck

[chunwai]

SQL2K is still very common, lots of big companies are still using it as they don't see a compelling enough reason to upgrade to 2k5/8 from something that works just fine. I reckon a lot will have upgraded to 2k5 by 2012 or so....

 

True SQL2K just works and because of that is easy to support just don't take your eye of the ball and let your hard drives fill up... I'll not do that again.