Frustrated with IT jobs market

[thecornflake]

Hi,

I started work in I.T. about 16 years ago doing basic ops work and helpdesk. I was on £9k. A couple of years later and I was up to 12k, and then got stuck there for a while. My aim back then was to get up to 20k, back then and based on what I was doing that was aiming fairly high but not unreasonable. I was getting quite disillusioned and considering jacking it in and doing something else, when I got chatting to a firend's partner who worked in I.T. He basically said "stick it out, and just wait for the right opportunities to come along". I did, and a year later the company almost went bust. After 80% of staff being made redundant myself and a colleague who survived went to the CIO and demanded a rise to bring us in line with industry average otherwise we'd walk. Cue a pay rise up to 18k. I left a couple of years after that for a bigger salary and better opportunity, and now after 4 companies I'm on over 50k. And I still work in support. So it can be done, and I think your 30k figure is pessimistic - I work with .NET developers who are easily on 60k.

In case you're wondering, my main reason for being here and looking into contracting is that I need more of a challenge, and to get any further if I stay permie I need to cross into BA or dev, or management - none of which appeal.

[edison]

A good piece of advice I was given in my mid-30s but is particularly apt in your 20s is to think of several positions where you might want to be in say, five years time. Then identify if there is anything in your personal and professional development that is common across those paths that you can work on whilst you decide on your longer term career plan. As well as building up your technical skills, you might want to start to build up softer skills and other IT related skills e.g. analysis, team management, project management etc.

Look for opportunities to develop in other areas. I've coached and mentored quite a few techies in the past who decided they wanted to move into being a PM for example and were given small projects to cut their teeth on under my supervision. Some of them became very successful.

As mentioned above, unless you are fortunate to be in a very in demand area with valuable skills, it will take time to build your capability and experience and consequently earning power.

In my case, it took me 11 years experience from graduating to go from a £12k salary to £40k by 2004. By then I had done five years in management consulting and had switched careers into IT.

Another 4 years and I was on £65k by 2008 then I really started picking up my earning power as most higher paid professionals do between their late 30s and late 40s. It's taken me over 20 years from graduating but I now go for six figure salary perm jobs or equivalent contract rates. I've needed a lot of hard work, a bit of luck and learnt from my mistakes - two perm roles didn't work work out for me at all.

Remember though that money isn't the be all and end all...

[Snake Plissken]

So I look at the jobs market and I see Sharepoint developers are paid well. Microsoft AX developers are also paid well. But exactly how do I gain experience in this without experience? I cannot see an employer accepting self taught without professional experience.

First post...

I'm a SharePoint guy. If you are looking to get into SharePoint, you need to swallow your pride and take a junior-ish role that is transitioning into it. The market is full of C# guys who say they "know" SharePoint. It means they can write some SharePoint code, it doesn't mean they understand a platform that is complex, strange and a complete and utter pain in the backside at times. The rates are because I get paid to know the gotchas and problems.

If you aren't aware of the complexities, you'll be found out really quickly.

So my advice is do not look at the flavour of the month tech, but commit to whichever branch you see fit. If you are in it for the money only, be happy with slightly lower rates because to earn your specialism - SharePoint, Dynamics, etc etc - you need to put in long unpaid hours learning and pleading with recruiters to stick a foot in the door at a low level.

I mean, I've got 7+ years of SharePoint (since MOSS 2007) but because I don't have SP2013 in a real world live environment, I'm finding it very hard to get into a SP2013 role. (Chicken and egg - can't get the job without the experience, can't get the experience without the job.) Just sticking a couple of months of SharePoint onto the CV is a bad idea.

[dagonza]

Frustrated with IT jobs market

Keep calm. Development is a good way to go but not the top earners way. I am a developer in Dublin... over 70k and didn't reach the ceiling yet. Sometimes I am scared of the offshoring... but nowdays... who is safe?

[The Spartan]

Programming is quite lucrative along with a number of other I.T. roles, I always see programming roles advertised at decent rates and even have sent to me even though I am in no way eligible (the usual agents just matching keywords on my C.V.) obviously you could try specialising but I've chosen not to on the basis that I'm suited to more roles and have more to choose from.

[leeLeague]

Thanks for the advice.

[leeLeague]

Absolutely this without a doubt. Starting thinking about a career possibly? Do you want to code all your life. Why not think about looking at the next level up and work towards that, then the next level etc Maybe in a lead/management role in the next 6 years with double wage and on top of that you have skills to push for better contracting rates.

I assume you will be 26/27 when you hit this 30k in two years. Don't knock 30k at that age. I know most grads expect big bucks nowadays but keep it in perspective. The mean income for people age 25-29 is only 20k. At 44 it's only 34k so you still quite ahead of the game.

Thanks for the advice. I don't know whether I want to code all my life. I don't object to the idea, but as the technology progresses and gets easier and easier, more and more people get into it. I'm thinking of the difference between C++ and C#. There's also the ever increasing threat of outsourcing.

[northernladuk]

I assume you will be 26/27 when you hit this 30k in two years. Don't knock 30k at that age. I know most grads expect big bucks nowadays but keep it in perspective. The mean income for people age 25-29 is only 20k. At 44 it's only 34k so you still quite ahead of the game.

[northernladuk]

Take pride in what you do, work hard and opportunities will arise and doors will open. Some of it is luck but a lot of luck is generated!

Take on whatever new technologies you can, learn as much as you can and work hard is my advice. Personality counts for a lot as well...

Absolutely this without a doubt. Starting thinking about a career possibly? Do you want to code all your life. Why not think about looking at the next level up and work towards that, then the next level etc Maybe in a lead/management role in the next 6 years with double wage and on top of that you have skills to push for better contracting rates.

[The Spartan]

London - the streets are paved with gold.

This ^^

[TheFaQQer]

Where should I go from here if it's money that I am after?

London - the streets are paved with gold.

[administrator]

Yeah, what vwdan said. But what is in your favour is that you are thinking about it already

Take pride in what you do, work hard and opportunities will arise and doors will open. Some of it is luck but a lot of luck is generated!

Take on whatever new technologies you can, learn as much as you can and work hard is my advice. Personality counts for a lot as well...

[vwdan]

Time. You've done the grand sum of nothing so far - it takes years to be an expert and you need to find your feet.

The second half of your second paragraph shows how green you are - bad work is very expensive.

[leeLeague]

IT jobs ? I am now starting to think about the long term prospects of the IT industry. The (non-London/SE) market rate for a 'permie' with 2+ years in what I'm doing appears to be maybe £35k.

To have a higher earning potential, I need to specialise, right? So I look at the jobs market and I see Sharepoint developers are paid well. Microsoft AX developers are also paid well. But exactly how do I gain experience in this without experience? I cannot see an employer accepting self taught without professional experience.

Is there anything wrong in my analysis? Where should I go from here?