[Help] Starter jobs in IT

[Gwylan]

My son completed his Btech in IT (Level 3) in June and is looking for a starter job/apprenticeship to take the first step in IT as a career. He's not having much luck so far; he's spoken to a few companies but they're looking for graduates. He's signed up for a few job boards but there's nothing there and recruitment agencies say they only take on experienced staff. He doesn't want to go to university, partly because he doesn't want to be in debt and partly because he's a really hands-on and likes learning on the job. And yet, this is beginning to look like the only option. Any IT gurus out there who can offer advice or, even better, know of companies that take on IT trainees?

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

Has he approached firms like Focus Group for any openinns? Or even just asked for a week or two unpaid work experience which will bolster his CV? Best of luck to him.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

My son completed his Btech in IT (Level 3) in June and is looking for a starter job/apprenticeship to take the first step in IT as a career. He's not having much luck so far; he's spoken to a few companies but they're looking for graduates. He's signed up for a few job boards but there's nothing there and recruitment agencies say they only take on experienced staff. He doesn't want to go to university, partly because he doesn't want to be in debt and partly because he's a really hands-on and likes learning on the job. And yet, this is beginning to look like the only option. Any IT gurus out there who can offer advice or, even better, know of companies that take on IT trainees?

Capita offer a variety of apprenticeships

Have the career you want now with an apprenticeship

Our apprenticeship allows you to gain technical and specialist skills, knowledge in areas like digital technology, sales, analytics or customer experience, and to put it all into practice in the real world.

www.capita.com

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Or this lot seem to have a couple of junior roles locally

Tech & Digital Apprenticeship Vacancies | Baltic Apprenticeships

www.balticapprenticeships.com

 

[FatSuperman]

@Gwylan I will have a chat with someone that may be able to help, but I believe they are London-based, whereabouts does your son live?

 

[Smeagull]

Capgemini do some good degree apprenticeships. I didn't do one but worked with a number of people that did that liked them. They're long, like 4-5 years as you work whilst doing it but you get on the job experience and a degree by the end of it. I don't think it's the right time of the year to apply but here's a link which details some of the options: https://www.capgemini.com/gb-en/car...eships/register-an-interest-apprentice-roles/

 

[timbha]

Lots of good advice. He might need to start in a clerical role in a largish company and move into IT when opportunities arise. Has he tried the Albion? Or EDF? Or Amex? Or that company at the bottom of West Street - Family?
Going direct sometimes works
Good luck

 

[HeaviestTed]

It’s a really bad time at the moment, it has been for the last 18 months really, I’ve been contracting for 10 years and this is the only time I’ve had to put effort into finding work.

His college should have a careers dept that will be in contact with places to get apprenticeships, what have they done/said?

If he wants to work in IT then if he can’t already put some time into learning how to program, he doesn’t have to be a programmer but knowing how to read/write something like python/powershell/c# will mean he is much more effective and will give him so many more options.

 

[Skaville]

I work in graduate recruitment. As others have said, the market is really bad at the moment. Apprenticeships are definitely a good route

 

[Gwylan]

Thanks for the advice. Apprenticeships seem to be a non-starter right now, there aren't any. He's spoken to the careers team at college and they weren't very helpful.

He's speaking to one company about work experience, which will be a good start and he is teaching himself C#, he did a bit at college. But there have been some good leads to follow up, it's been very helpful

 

[chip]

How about a college or university? I've been on panels that have appointed at that level and there is actually a reasonable career development path, sometimes good opportunities for specialisation.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Thanks for the advice. Apprenticeships seem to be a non-starter right now, there aren't any. He's spoken to the careers team at college and they weren't very helpful.

He's speaking to one company about work experience, which will be a good start and he is teaching himself C#, he did a bit at college. But there have been some good leads to follow up, it's been very helpful

Also depends on which area of IT he wants to work in - we all get lumped in together but there numerous fields within IT. Given you've mentioned C# - although suspect you mean C++ - I suspect developing is his field of choice. In which case it might be worth looking at Thales in Crawley.

 

[beorhthelm]

if he's going development but not going to uni, look up the syllubus for CompSci degrees, learn the patterns and algorithms. seen many self taught programmers that are promsing but dont show knowledge of basics and dont get through technical interviews. get a portfolio of work together, showing can work with data, work with popular libraries. learn and have a git repo with (good) code on show.

also consider testing as entry point in to work environment.

 

[North of Robertsbridge]

IT roles that may not require a degree in the UK (depending on company) are desktop support and end user help desk. Once he has his foot in the door, then it‘s often possible to transition to programming, dev-ops, QA etc

 

[maffew]

A lot depends on the kind of IT, had a quick read on the NVQ 3, is it definitely dev that he wants to get into? (I'd probably learn python or vb.net rather than c# if he's self teaching)
If it's not dev, where he would be in the same pool of candidates with graduates who would have more coding experience, a support role might be better leant to the nvq, and look at the comptia a+ and n+ perhaps

 

[maffew]

IT roles that may not require a degree in the UK (depending on company) are desktop support and end user help desk. Once he has his foot in the door, then it‘s often possible to transition to programming, dev-ops, QA etc

I concur with this, can learn scripting skills in support, powershell/bash/python and perhaps transition to dev if he isn't going to do a degree, opportunities will open up with a couple of years experience in something/anything in it.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

A lot depends on the kind of IT, had a quick read on the NVQ 3, is it definitely dev that he wants to get into? (I'd probably learn python or vb.net rather than c# if he's self teaching)
If it's not dev, where he would be in the same pool of candidates with graduates who would have more coding experience, a support role might be better leant to the nvq, and look at the comptia a+ and n+ perhaps

Might well have changed since I were a lad, but when hiring back then a person with six months relevant experience usually trumped a graduate with no experience. So maybe think long and hard before committing to a huge burden of student debt

 

[maffew]

Might well have changed since I were a lad, but when hiring back then a person with six months relevant experience usually trumped a graduate with no experience. So maybe think long and hard before committing to a huge burden of student debt

Yeah, with no degree needs to be a get your foot in door approach, that can be done in a support role but not so much dev

 

[Westdene Seagull]

I concur with this, can learn scripting skills in support, powershell/bash/python and perhaps transition to dev if he isn't going to do a degree, opportunities will open up with a couple of years experience in something/anything in it.

Powershell would also be a great step into Azure.