How to get into IT

[TimberWolf]

They should all head into medicine, even if only dentistry. The world is your oyster and riches beyond imagination yours for the taking. And almost impossible to get sacked.

[minestrone]

With dentistry you can pull in 300k a year. Easily.

My dentist failed mechanical engineering (I just found it to hard he says) which is going to get you 40k max. Drops out of that and gets paid mega multiples.

[NotAllThere]

... stay in academic life if poss.

I know a guy - PhD in Bioinformatics - modelling the interaction of drug molecules and proteins. Worked as the data gatekeeper on the Human Genome project. Fix term 2 year permie employment contract, less than £30K a year.

Stay _out_ of academia.

[Sysman]

Most IT folks I know seem to have gotten into IT "by accident", that is, they had a different career first, myself, I was a refrigeration engineer, the co. I worked for went bust and I was offered a Helpdesk job, that was 18 years ago. I took opportunities that were available to upskill and learn new technologies, and still learning now!

I started off as "Management Trainee" in my first two jobs, getting moved around departments.

In both jobs I did stints in the computer department end enjoyed them. IT pay prospects looked better in those days than management, as that was "dead man's shoes" territory.

Would I have been better staying with the management thing? Maybe in the long run, but I was impatient in my younger days. I almost certainly wouldn't have found it so easy to get work abroad.

[DieScum]

I think my first post to CUK, about a decade ago under a different account long since lost, was when I was a 23 year old working on a helpdesk. After the dot com bust that was all I could get on graduation.

I came on here and asked for some advice from seasoned professionals on how to get on and build a good IT career. I pretty much got told that I must be thick if I was working on a helpdesk and I had no chance. Thanks guys.

In reality, when the economy recovered there were plenty of opportunities and I quadrupled my salary by the time I was 26.

It's doom and gloom at the moment but there will always be ups and downs in the economy. IT still pays massively more than most other professions.

[Ignis Fatuus]

Pretty much the opposite of what I hear from people working in Academia...

After degree, say she has £30k-40k of debt already. Add 5 years on the pittance of a stipend you get for a PHD, and that's probably leaving her with with debts of £60-100k before she even starts work. Bad start to life, IMHO.

Not in her case. She has amassed little debt so far. We gave her some help towards accommodation and she used it wisely (rather than spending it as "extra"). Also she took a year out to work in a vet lab, saved money from that, and still does weekend work there.

Now she is accepted for the PhD in a respected institute (i.e. one that you may have read of in the papers) and far from taking on the £30-60k of extra debt that you suggest (and I'm sure that many do), is not planning to take on any more. The stipend is not great but it is tax-free.

Of course, the picture I am painting here is of someone who doesn't spend what she doesn't have, who saves when possible, and who has other things to do in life than to get income and then spend it. We would all be doing well if we behaved like that. But I wouldn't want to do a life in IT just for that, whereas she does want to do a life in bio research on that deal.

[OwlHoot]

I know a guy - PhD in Bioinformatics - modelling the interaction of drug molecules and proteins. Worked as the data gatekeeper on the Human Genome project. Fix term 2 year permie employment contract, less than £30K a year.

Stay _out_ of academia.

WHS

My brother in law was/is one of the World's leading experts on squid brains, a very topical skill you'd think with AI research. But he was erning peanuts.

So then he went into banking, and is now coining it.

[BlasterBates]

Depends what your PhD is in, if it's Engineering, computing you can often do it in conjunction with a job, i.e. get employed to do it. This is pretty common, where after a year or maybe two on your stipend, you become a research assistant or lecturer. That's when it takes 5 years. If not you should "bulldoze" your PhD in three years, or as near as dammit so you're just iterating versions of your thesis. Basically you need to be in a subject area with plenty of Government or industrial grants. In computing/engineering there are quite a number of opportunities for reasonably well paid jobs in consultancies or research labs......oh yeah and if you have grants that means all expenses paid travel to all those conferences in hot exotic locations.

[nomadd]

Not in her case. She has amassed little debt so far. We gave her some help...

Oh, I see. Essentially she is spoiled by her parents, so doesn't need to pay the bills other students have to pay. The debt figures I quoted were for the average UK student these days, not the ones fully supported by mummy and daddy. (I had to pay my own way through Uni., BTW, and that meant 5 years of hard work beforehand and then going to Uni. later in life as a mature student - once I could afford it.)

Now she is accepted for the PhD in a respected institute (i.e. one that you may have read of in the papers) and far from taking on the £30-60k of extra debt that you suggest (and I'm sure that many do), is not planning to take on any more. The stipend is not great but it is tax-free.

Your disingenuous "and I'm sure that many do" should read "and I'm sure that many have to" Big difference.

Please tell me where this "respected institute that I read about in the papers" is located and how the pittance of a PHD stipend is going to cover her rent, gas, electric, transport costs, books, food, travel and ancillary expenses. I think every other student in the UK would love to know about this miracle location.

Of course, the picture I am painting here is of someone who doesn't spend what she doesn't have, who saves when possible, and who has other things to do in life than to get income and then spend it.

Oh, I see. So every other student in the UK who can't rely on being spoiled senseless by mummy and daddy is somehow a money-wasting layabout? Maybe you could present that fact at a few Student Union meetings across the UK. I'd be interested in the responses you get.

We would all be doing well if we behaved like that.

I must have missed the bit where you said she was getting a few part-time jobs in the evenings and weekends to pay her own way in the world?
Oh, silly me, I forgot - she doesn't need to...

...she does want to do a life in bio research on that deal.

Don't we all.

I wish I'd had rich I.T. Contractor parents when I was younger so I could have just lived the debt-free dream of being a Student/Researcher all my days. Unfortunately the real world isn't like that for the vast majority of us.

[Scoobos]

WHS + 1 zillion..

Also I see a lot of people on this forum supporting what they coin "individual responsibility" for things that they got as a public service, free at point of use, which are now charged for. How many people would have the same opinion if they were forced to pay for their education?

Anyone over 35 on here has got their education for free - you might have had to pay for food etc, but none had Tuition fees (I think thats fair?)

My sister did a HR degree, took 4 years (1 year on the job) and cost her around 40k IN COURSE FEES ALONE.. She's working for a supermarket for 26k a year right now, her living costs are around 12k... Worth it?


And people criticise economic models other than all out capitalism, because they don't incentivise or reward working in specialist areas for the good of the populace...

I don't mean communism by the way, before anyone starts screaming RED