Reply to: Why Computing ?

[vetran]

I was in electronics repair and it became obvious that was going the way of the Dodo.
Replace rather than repair.

I wanted to move into something I started repairing phones. Then building PC based voice mails.

I started doing the network and I was off.

For the first time I was earning above average wage.

Haven't dipped below since. Interesting work, in comfy office and the chance to travel.

[MyUserName]

I got into computing by accident. I was aiming to become an actuary or an accountant. Did a degree in maths and had to find a job for my third year (a sandwich course, not sure if you still get those but they rock!).

Ended up working at Lockheed Martin and was going to do the maths behind visor holograms for fighter pilots. Got there and everything had changed. They said 'can you program' I replied 'no' and they said 'here is a book on C++, learn to program because we need you to fix this software'.

I did not even know how to run developer studio at that point (I had to be shown as I have never seen Windows 95/NT before). I learned and eventually realised that I could make as much money programming as I could working as an actuary and have an awful lot less work to do too!

I reluctantly went back to university and could not wait to be done with the course and get back to being a software engineer.

Of the guys in my year from school only 2 of them were on more money than me before I started contracting and one of them was Shane Williams, the rugby player.

[Mich the Tester]

That's because agencies commoditised it because they don't understand computing, only keyword searches. And HR bought the idea because they don't understand either.

whs

But at least agents understand how to make money; I've no idea what skills HR have. I suspect it's a pseudo-profession.

[OwlHoot]

True dat. Permie salaries haven't moved in well over a decade. I was on £55K as a permie in the late nineties and if anything the pay has fallen, but the cost of living has doubled easily.

WHS

You must be me (apart from the electronics)

[Ignis Fatuus]

... now lots of companies think IT is an everyday commodity that anyone can do like at RBS.

That's because agencies commoditised it because they don't understand computing, only keyword searches. And HR bought the idea because they don't understand either.

You want C# SQL Java, we have it.
You want a good programmer?? We don't make moral judgements.....

[SueEllen]

I would say because the market is saturated with IT Graduates, so their worth has plummeted.

It's the foreign imports that have made a difference.

Plus now lots of companies think IT is an everyday commodity that anyone can do like at RBS.

[Halo Jones]

velly good money where I am, Go-senmon wa, jo mata Halo Jones.

Translation please?

[SueEllen]

I know someone fluent in Japanese, he used to teach there, knows a little about computers, lots about telephony. Recently went bankrupt. He could have followed your tips and worked in a shop in London hahaha

He should have owned the shop and the online shop that went with it.

There are some particular European designers of items that the the Japanese love and they aren't on the cheaper end of the high street.

[Ignis Fatuus]

...
From what I understand from any employer, a degree shows comepetence in learning, and as most degrees are not vocational, the learning aspect of many degrees is to give you clues as to where the water is, and let you find out how to get a drink, where as vocational qualifications lead you to the water, give you a cup and show you how to drink. It's the ability to work off your own back that I think the employers want from degree students. IMO

+1.

"Learning a computer language does not make you a programmer.
Learning to think does that" -- E. Dijkstra

[BlasterBates]

I noticed how the Electrical Engineers have disappeared from that list. Electrical Engineering is sadly a "dead" profession. Yeah sure there are Electrical Engineers in dead end jobs pottering over to check the switch gear and transforners once in a blue moon, but from what I see basically it´s now really an extension of IT. Gawd when I was at Uni Mining Engineering was a dead end job, bunch of boozers with a 20 year life expectancy, we used to scoff at them, but look at them now, glittering careers.

[EternalOptimist]

velly good money where I am, Go-senmon wa, jo mata Halo Jones.

[tractor]

I left the electronics industry for the much better paying IT world. Gawd the pay was abysmal, I doubled my wage in one fell stroke.

well, maxing your euphemismics! anyway "Fell swoop" or "Single stroke".

[SimonMac]

I would say because the market is saturated with IT Graduates, so their worth has plummeted.

I never went to uni, I thought I could do better, or at least the same, by doing low rate desktops support for the years I would have spent at uni.

As for the original question, I choose IT for the chicks!

[MayContainNuts]

Only doubled it?

He had just had a stroke remember!!!!

[DimPrawn]

I wonder where electronics is placed.

Lower than whale tulipe I'd have thunk.

I left the electronics industry for the much better paying IT world. Gawd the pay was abysmal, I doubled my wage in one fell stroke.