IT Courses

[Geoff Capes Shoebuff]

My fellow Albion fans/geeks, I am fed up of my current job and wish to move into IT. Not sure exactly what area but I know I want a career in the industry. Just signed up for an OU but would like some impartial advice on what who the best distant learning providers are as the are shedloads of them and an OU course takes a long time to finish. Thankyou please.

 

[Springal]

Not sure on your age, but depending on what sector of IT might not be a good move without working experience. Flooded with applicants looking for work, low salary entry-mid level jobs and not many want to take on people straight from these courses/uni etc.

To give you an example, we hire people with network experience (at least 1 relevant job) to work shifts (4 on 4 off, 12 hour day/night shifts) for £18k-20k a year and get around 25 "good" CVs for 1 post. Don't want to put you off just paint a fair picture. All the best

 

[Geoff Capes Shoebuff]

Not sure on your age, but depending on what sector of IT might not be a good move without working experience. Flooded with applicants looking for work, low salary entry-mid level jobs and not many want to take on people straight from these courses/uni etc.

To give you an example, we hire people with network experience (at least 1 relevant job) to work shifts (4 on 4 off, 12 hour day/night shifts) for £18k-20k a year and get around 25 "good" CVs for 1 post. Don't want to put you off just paint a fair picture. All the best

Sweet Jesus. That sounds tough. I had better do some research into finding out which areas are looking for workers. If that fails then I'm going abroad. Thanks for the heads up because these training providers would have you believe that all you need is to pass a course and bingo, you have a fairly well paid job.

 

[bhaexpress]

Not sure on your age, but depending on what sector of IT might not be a good move without working experience. Flooded with applicants looking for work, low salary entry-mid level jobs and not many want to take on people straight from these courses/uni etc.

To give you an example, we hire people with network experience (at least 1 relevant job) to work shifts (4 on 4 off, 12 hour day/night shifts) for £18k-20k a year and get around 25 "good" CVs for 1 post. Don't want to put you off just paint a fair picture. All the best

Woah, who do you work for ? Mind you there's more bodies than jobs I suppose, that is still a very poor salary, I bet you have a high turnover !

 

[seagulls4ever]

Perhaps freelance web design is something to look at. You can work for yourself and earn a decent enough amount, once you get going.

 

[Geoff Capes Shoebuff]

Perhaps freelance web design is something to look at. You can work for yourself and earn a decent enough amount, once you get going.

Duely noted. I guess it negates the need to have any previous experience as I have none. Thanks

 

[KZNSeagull]

You need to do some serious research. I am told (I was in IT in the UK but not since I emigrated) that there are plenty of jobs here for experienced people, but if you have no experience, they wont touch you with a barge pole. So I would imagine that going abroad without experience is not an option either.

 

[PWSeagull]

Sweet Jesus. That sounds tough. I had better do some research into finding out which areas are looking for workers. If that fails then I'm going abroad. Thanks for the heads up because these training providers would have you believe that all you need is to pass a course and bingo, you have a fairly well paid job.

I run an IT Department - IT really is a very broad area, it is tough at the lower network / helpdesk end of things. Development is going offshore. Where the real money is at is in being able to translate between the business and technology. I would never outsource business knowledge - too risky. I would consider leveraging your existing experience - are there any specific applications (SAP/Oracle etc etc) which you can build an understanding of from a technical perspective and move into a more analyst type role ?

 

[Ex-Staffs Gull]

Trouble is ,as stated above, its all experience. The more experience you have the more in demand you are, especially if you can follow the trends. When I started it was Java, then moved to java enterprise architect, now a SOA solutions architect. I got lucky with some jobs and unlucky with others, but one constant is that I have kept doing professional qualifications along the way. So as for courses, it depends what you want to do, but stick with industry courses like Oracle, Sun, Microsoft, Cisco etc, they carry more weight than a degree or a masters (I know my Sun Certs and Oracle certs carry much more weight than my MSc). Many courses are self study and don't cost the earth, like the Sun Certs. (BTW Oracle and Sun are one in the same now, but still separate in my mind)

Beware though, for every job, there are dozens of 'GOOD' cv's as said before, and in a buyers market, the rates are poor.

Trends at the moment seem to be heavily mobile apps (android and iPhone) and middleware based (well at least on Oz). There is always a requirement for network and systems admin guys as well.

PWSeagull is right as well, basic developer is offshored or 100's of Indian/Chinese/etc over in the UK looking for work and their CV's often 'look' great. Business knowledge is king and link that with system integration and you are in a very small group.

 

[Springal]

Woah, who do you work for ? Mind you there's more bodies than jobs I suppose, that is still a very poor salary, I bet you have a high turnover !

Not especially, we are quite niche, with some key partnerships and target a certain sector. The problem is, from a business POV, our tech management don't need to ask for big budget for wages at the entry level jobs, because we know we can easily fill it, as I said 25 good CV's for 1 position, and usually come down to 3-4 high quality applicants. The real money is up at the senior engineering levels, but you need the 5+ years experience to get near that. Chicken and egg, but I think the bubble has well and truely burst in the IT sector in the UK, if you aren't in it now, I wouldn't get into it, unless you had a guarantee of a job at the end or similar.

Obviously there will always be people that can make it work or find a good niche skillset etc, but generally speaking the above is correct in my experience.

Edit: I should add, really good people, after about 12 months in that role will get fast tracked up, but we expect people to prove themselves first. That also isn't a London/Brighton salary and part of the reason we moved that operation out of Brighton ;-)

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Not sure on your age, but depending on what sector of IT might not be a good move without working experience. Flooded with applicants looking for work, low salary entry-mid level jobs and not many want to take on people straight from these courses/uni etc.

To give you an example, we hire people with network experience (at least 1 relevant job) to work shifts (4 on 4 off, 12 hour day/night shifts) for £18k-20k a year and get around 25 "good" CVs for 1 post. Don't want to put you off just paint a fair picture. All the best

Sadly support this view point. I work for a very large IT outsourcer and when a vacancy comes up we get literally triple figure applicants. Unfortunately this pushes the salary on offer down considerably. IT ain't what it used to be

 

[Geoff Capes Shoebuff]

Trouble is ,as stated above, its all experience. The more experience you have the more in demand you are, especially if you can follow the trends. When I started it was Java, then moved to java enterprise architect, now a SOA solutions architect. I got lucky with some jobs and unlucky with others, but one constant is that I have kept doing professional qualifications along the way. So as for courses, it depends what you want to do, but stick with industry courses like Oracle, Sun, Microsoft, Cisco etc, they carry more weight than a degree or a masters (I know my Sun Certs and Oracle certs carry much more weight than my MSc). Many courses are self study and don't cost the earth, like the Sun Certs. (BTW Oracle and Sun are one in the same now, but still separate in my mind)

Beware though, for every job, there are dozens of 'GOOD' cv's as said before, and in a buyers market, the rates are poor.

Trends at the moment seem to be heavily mobile apps (android and iPhone) and middleware based (well at least on Oz). There is always a requirement for network and systems admin guys as well.

PWSeagull is right as well, basic developer is offshored or 100's of Indian/Chinese/etc over in the UK looking for work and their CV's often 'look' great. Business knowledge is king and link that with system integration and you are in a very small group.

Bloody hell. Thanks for all that advice. Can't help but feel a bit deflated now. Seems as if I have missed the IT boat, so to speak.



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[Geoff Capes Shoebuff]

You need to do some serious research. I am told (I was in IT in the UK but not since I emigrated) that there are plenty of jobs here for experienced people, but if you have no experience, they wont touch you with a barge pole. So I would imagine that going abroad without experience is not an option either.

Where are you now then?

Sent from my X10i using Tapatalk

 

[bhaexpress]

but I think the bubble has well and truely burst in the IT sector in the UK, if you aren't in it now, I wouldn't get into it, unless you had a guarantee of a job at the end or similar.

That happened a good few years ago. The hardware is far more powerful and reliable plus the software far more robust, been in IT for a while so I can say it's been bust a good while now

 

[adrian29uk]

I ended up in IT by accident. I have been working in it ever since. I don't have a degree but I am self taught. The guy I do most of my work for is very very good at selling, so I get a lot of my work through him.

I know lots of things but I am not a master of one thing. My strong points are being able to create database driven websites using php and mysql. I am reasonable at design and most people are happy with it.

I also know a bit about Linux servers and could set up my own apache server if necessary.

I can also do the usual stuff on a pc, install cards, re-install operating system both Windows and Linux, find drivers.

I ended up working with an American company a couple of years ago, and worked with some real Perl experts. Perl is a good language to learn. It may be old but it never dies. These programmers where on about $70,000 a year.

The American company also employed people with IT degrees in the UK. I was shocked to find I actually know more than them simply because I had the experience dealing with certain things.

 

[Geoff Capes Shoebuff]

I ended up in IT by accident. I have been working in it ever since. I don't have a degree but I am self taught. The guy I do most of my work for is very very good at selling, so I get a lot of my work through him.

I know lots of things but I am not a master of one thing. My strong points are being able to create database driven websites using php and mysql. I am reasonable at design and most people are happy with it.

I also know a bit about Linux servers and could set up my own apache server if necessary.

I can also do the usual stuff on a pc, install cards, re-install operating system both Windows and Linux, find drivers.

I ended up working with an American company a couple of years ago, and worked with some real Perl experts. Perl is a good language to learn. It may be old but it never dies. These programmers where on about $70,000 a year.

The American company also employed people with IT degrees in the UK. I was shocked to find I actually know more than them simply because I had the experience dealing with certain things.[/QUOTE

I guess it goes to show that you need to have a broad range of knowledge and skills. As mentioned in an earlier post, it pays to continually update qualifications etc and move with the times.

 

[brunswick]

for bucks go for Oracle databases and data mining, or even PLC/MIS industrial systems.

the competition is outrageous for IT jobs - find a gap and nieche and study it and create prototypes and ideas to stand out. e.g goto a business and go "look at this, i did this, and it can help you like this."
or s
....or you may end up in a cubicle crunching data for under 28k......ouch.

many years ago people with degrees in IT came for interviews and most had lots of theory and no practical - and wanted lots of benefits and standing etc......i ended up instead employing 18 year olds with enthusiasm - as after the training hit it worked out better.

 

[Geoff Capes Shoebuff]

for bucks go for Oracle databases and data mining, or even PLC/MIS industrial systems.

the competition is outrageous for IT jobs - find a gap and nieche and study it and create prototypes and ideas to stand out. e.g goto a business and go "look at this, i did this, and it can help you like this."
or s
....or you may end up in a cubicle crunching data for under 28k......ouch.

many years ago people with degrees in IT came for interviews and most had lots of theory and no practical - and wanted lots of benefits and standing etc......i ended up instead employing 18 year olds with enthusiasm - as after the training hit it worked out better.

Fancy employing a 31 yr old with bags of enthusiasm and no qualifications? At least I support the greatest football club on the planet.