Confused and need advice. Looking to get into I.T

[northernladuk]

<stuff>
He's PM'd me several times over what he's actually looking to do, and I've given him back my best advice.

As I said, I wish him the best of luck.

Can't complain at that then. Just didn't look the best on the face of it but qualified like that then yes would go with most of that.

[lukemg]

There is clearly still money to be made in IT, it's just when you have gone through the outsourcing, rate's falling off a cliff, benchtime etc and can't see it turning back the other way it's really hard to enthusiastically encourage someone to choose this game as a long term profession, unless it is their passion (I don't see that in the OP)
IT is a visible and annoying cost to a business that rarely considers it to be central to the work they are engaged in, it is a tool or service they need to facilitate the work.
There is therefore a huge demand for this cost to be reduced or at least ring-fenced, leading to outsourcing of 'human-intensive' operations to cheaper humans.
Infrastructure is light-years faster and more reliable than it used to be (if also more complicated) and that will continue also. In the near future, They will laugh at the time and expense needed to monitor and maintain systems now.
ALL of these trends lead to reduced demand for UK based IT people and many experienced people chasing what is left.
There is no area (other than maybe SAP) that I would consider recommending as a long term prospect.
Find an accountancy course or junior role, trust me it will not be more dull than IT, get your qualifications and you will have access to a stable profession with a chance to progress to very high levels of a business or into private practice.
Good luck...

[GillsMan]

I only skimmed the OP and read most of the other responses, so apologies if this isn't applicable.

Just over 18 months ago I was an investigations executive for one of the UK's regulators (a watchdog). I had absolutely no experience in IT, but a keen interest and a good relationship with the IT dept due to my work on the UAT team.

I was able to use that to get a 1st line support job in a fairly small team. I took some MCP and MCAS exams and followed that up with some more qualifications.

Just over 18 months later, I'm contracting for more than £300 a day. I'm not working in support, but I am broadly within the IT sector.

The point is, going perm in the IT dept at my old company was the foot in the door I needed to get a career in IT. As others have said, IT is so far reaching that with the right company, you can get exposure to the area you eventually want to specialise in, even as a 1st line support person. So it's definitely possible to go from no experience to contracting for good money (it's not as much as some people on here, but £300+ a day isn't bad in anybody's book), even in a horrific market, if you're sensible about the choices you make.

[contractorcontractor]

Getting into IT is is difficult but not impossible.

It is fairly meritocratic so you dont need a 2.1 in Computer Science. There are some consultancies whom look for that but it may not guarantee a useful IT worker.

I have found that certain certifications are very well respected. If you have a budget you can afford to lose, it may not be a bad idea.

The first job is always the most difficut and there is not much happening in the market at the moment. People are getting laid off and there are probably a couple of 100,000 foreign workers depressing rates and reducing vacancies...

Good contacts will help and you may need to work for peanuts to start...

[Not So Wise]

Poor advice?

Have to agree with northern, yes poor advice.

Good advice these days for someone starting out (especially starting out late) would be unless someone has serious aptitude and ability for IT (and for much ‘higher’ level than helpdesk/1st or 2nd line support) would be “find something else to do”.

Things have been bad for years in IT in general and will continue to get worse but in those low level support areas even more so, to many Bob’s and Nigerians with certificates coming out of their ass’s (and little else, like the OP is hoping to be) willing to work for peanuts.

If the OP really wants to move to IT better working up the management structure in his existing profession and then switching path’s at the project management level (either full PM or project administrator). No technical experience/ knowledge required at that level (though should be, but that’s another debate)

[wellred]

Have to agree with northern, yes poor advice.

Good advice these days for someone starting out (especially starting out late) would be unless someone has serious aptitude and ability for IT (and for much ‘higher’ level than helpdesk/1st or 2nd line support) would be “find something else to do”.

Things have been bad for years in IT in general and will continue to get worse but in those low level support areas even more so, to many Bob’s and Nigerians with certificates coming out of their ass’s (and little else, like the OP is hoping to be) willing to work for peanuts.

If the OP really wants to move to IT better working up the management structure in his existing profession and then switching path’s at the project management level (either full PM or project administrator). No technical experience/ knowledge required at that level (though should be, but that’s another debate)

I think for the time being what ill do is get a few qualifications out of the way and try and move around within my current company into some of the support areas.

[doodab]

If you are interested in gaining certifications and reasonably good at self study you can study most of this stuff in your own time and just pay for and sit the exams when you are ready. This is certainly true for e.g. CCNA, Microsoft, & Sun Java certifications.

For CCNA self study, you can use an emulator called dynamips to build a virtual routing lab rather than using real hardware. Some hardware is useful for the switching aspect though. You can put together the stuff you need from ebay and sell it for pretty much what you paid when you are done. It holds it's value pretty well because of the number of people who want it for their CCNA labs.

[nomadd]

No technical experience/ knowledge required at that level...

Now who's giving the poor advice? Avoid the techie stuff and become an overworked and overstressed PM instead? Bejesus!

Techie side of things is real bad in comparison: Java JEE Developer - Banking (£300k package) London, Canary Wharf Permanent IT Job

EDIT: I'd already warned the OP to steer clear of support stuff.