Advice for my cousin's son trying to start in IT

[thunderlizard]

something like this:
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/12/04.html

[Cyberman]

I would tell him that he needs to be flexible and accept that everything he wants will not immediately fall into his lap. The real world is slightly different to anything he has yet experienced and getting any job at the moment should be his priority.

[chef]

"This message is hidden because Cyberman is on your ignore list. "

Ahh bliss, I feel so much happier and less violent towards my fellow colleagues.

[chris79]

Just tell him here's the ladder, this is the first step - accept you'll be doing something other than what you dream of for the first few years and as time goes by the opportunity for better things will become more and more.

Not saying he is (as I don't know him) but a lot of Uni students I've met in my time come out of Uni thinking they are gods gift to the IT industry, and that everyone owes them something for getting a degree or automatically qualifies them for jobs placed well above their work/life experience.

On a side note, I always find people who put their degree letters after their name in email signatures to be quite insecure too..

[Zippy]

"This message is hidden because Cyberman is on your ignore list. "

Ahh bliss, I feel so much happier and less violent towards my fellow colleagues.

I can quote it if you like? It was vintage Cyberman

[Mich the Tester]

I'm visiting my cousin in a couple of weeks, as another of his tribe is turning up from Lancashire or wherever he lives in the wilds of Northern England.

Anyway, I suspect the main reason he invited me is to advise his son, who graduated with an IT degree last year and, I believe, hasn't yet really found his feet in commercial IT.

I'm a bit vague about the details, i.e. where he was studying and his grade, or what he has done since graduating. However, I do know he has a regrettable tendency to look down on commercial IT, which as I tried to explain to him won't help his financial prospects.

So any advice would be welcome.

Why not stay in academia? OK, so the pay's tulip until you get a PhD, but then it's OK and he'll have a nice cushy life with a secure job and an education pension.

[snaw]

Why not stay in academia? OK, so the pay's tulip until you get a PhD, but then it's OK and he'll have a nice cushy life with a secure job and an education pension.

Don't forget the lifetime supply of eye candy, which he'll definitely be giving up if he enters into commercial IT ...

[Not So Wise]

Just tell him what i told someone the other day who is about to start a Uni course in IT.......Don't

[Mich the Tester]

Just tell him what i told someone the other day who is about to start a Uni course in IT.......Don't

Trouble is, he's already graduated.

[Zippy]

Don't forget the lifetime supply of eye candy, which he'll definitely be giving up if he enters into commercial IT ...

That's sarcasm isn't it?