Reply to: Lamb to the slaughter…?

[cojak]

Rats. For a moment there even I thought about putting the OCG books away and digging out/dusting down Le Bert and Summerville...

[PerlOfWisdom]

Y'know...I think I'll just switch to Marge.

Why, does she butter the toast on both sides?

[lilelvis2000]

Yeah, show me where!

Okay, okay, so I lied...its only £230 a day!

[dr_qwertie]

well, that's its greater density giving in effect a tidal attrractive force which with its inverse-cube law will overpower other effects.....

Y'know...I think I'll just switch to Marge.

[expat]

And it's stickier, so it attracts the ground on the way down.

well, that's its greater density giving in effect a tidal attrractive force which with its inverse-cube law will overpower other effects.....

[thunderlizard]

And it's stickier, so it attracts the ground on the way down.

[PerlOfWisdom]

And why does toast always land butter-side down?

Because butter is denser than toast.

[expat]

Why not exploit your COBOL skills - so many of the large firms (CIS for one) still use COBOL. As it is a rare skill you're sure to be able to charge upwards of £500 /day - and that maybe conservative.

Jesus, I wish you wouldn't do that. The guys in the office here are asking why I'm laughing out loud....

[expat]

Pass that doob, LE, you've had it ages.

Yeah, show me where!

[Fleetwood]

As it is a rare skill you're sure to be able to charge upwards of £500 /day

Pass that doob, LE, you've had it ages.

[lilelvis2000]

To be honest, I’ve got to get into the IT sector for my sanity. I’ve always been the local IT Whizz because I’ve always been in departments where mapping a printer is regarded as somewhat of a show of genius. I’m quite prepared to go in at entry-level to just ‘get in-there’. Which is why I was really trying to get a feel for which areas I could maybe have a head-start in with my basic skills.

I’ve had my CV out and had calls from agencies offering stuff like an analyst role for £200/day but with the learnings I have from this site, I’m hesitant to believe some of the positions existed, or the agencies didn't even bother to read my CV!



I’ve found that in the company I’m in – that’s why I ended up developing a lot of MS Access databases that had suitable bells & whistles, as there was never enough justification to make it an IT Project, but enough need that people approached me for them. Being in the scientific arena, making Excel jump through hoops is always popular as well. I understand about it not being a defined career-path as I can’t imagine too many companies taking time to hire to support pimped-up MS Office Apps. That said, it does seem like a nice niche if one could market oneself that way somehow.

Don't be embarrassed that you work on MS Access and Excel - that's what I do - on a contract basis. I earn just less than £200 /day which is probably pretty good money for the skills I am using.

Why not exploit your COBOL skills - so many of the large firms (CIS for one) still use COBOL. As it is a rare skill you're sure to be able to charge upwards of £500 /day - and that maybe conservative.

In the long term I think .Net or Java will be your best bet. Take your pick - the money is good on either. Oh and add in SQL Server or Oracle - which should be easy for you to learn.

Or screw the programming and go straight to Business Analysis.

BTW: I could use a replacement for the contract I'm on come June....

[Fleetwood]

I wanna take ya higher

F in "Boom chakka chakka chakka boom chakka chakka chakka" mode

[MrsGoof]

why does toast always land butter-side down?

I can't believe you all missed the important question.

To stop it falling butter-side down either

a) don't butter it
b) don't drop it
c) drop it from a lower height
d) drop it from a heigher height

[threaded]

Just a thought: you said rock band. Do you know music? You could try going around games places and places like barcrest, they're always looking out for people who can code and also know about music.

[dr_qwertie]

Whew

Cheers for the wealth of wisdom and lack of p*ss-taking. I’m happy to have asked ‘sensible questions’ (point taken Malvolio), and thus, no CB, the experience was not too painful.

To be honest, I’ve got to get into the IT sector for my sanity. I’ve always been the local IT Whizz because I’ve always been in departments where mapping a printer is regarded as somewhat of a show of genius. I’m quite prepared to go in at entry-level to just ‘get in-there’. Which is why I was really trying to get a feel for which areas I could maybe have a head-start in with my basic skills.

I’ve had my CV out and had calls from agencies offering stuff like an analyst role for £200/day but with the learnings I have from this site, I’m hesitant to believe some of the positions existed, or the agencies didn't even bother to read my CV!

Funnily enough you will actually find a lot of *big* financial institutions have departmental level apps, which use Access / Excel / VBA for quite important services... but you need business specific knowledge. Often the IT departments are frantically tryng to bring them into the fold but its always a lower priority than the big bucks projects so they often get lost in the system....

However, I agree that that is not a supportable career path....

I’ve found that in the company I’m in – that’s why I ended up developing a lot of MS Access databases that had suitable bells & whistles, as there was never enough justification to make it an IT Project, but enough need that people approached me for them. Being in the scientific arena, making Excel jump through hoops is always popular as well. I understand about it not being a defined career-path as I can’t imagine too many companies taking time to hire to support pimped-up MS Office Apps. That said, it does seem like a nice niche if one could market oneself that way somehow.

To be brutal about it, your skills don't sound too saleable. Though mcquiggd's right - shouldn't turn our noses up at MS Access. Lots of customers love it to bits.

Instead, your 5 years with your employer should have given you a decent industry specialism. Setting up as an industry sector specialist, rather than a technology specialist, could get you more success.

This does sound quite feasible, I was just hoping to steer away from science (yawn) and try for the financial sector (cha-ching!). I have a soft-spot for databases & VB, but then only really having played with MS Access & Office I guess I can’t really say.

Would my training path of: MCSA + MCSE + MCDBA be worth it to at least get a small-time DBA perm role to get the ball-rolling. Then I could look to refresh the COBOL skills etc? Or should I just hang out for my Rock Band to be discovered?




Thanks all.