Hi all,

Im thinking this might be the way to go in I.T, im planning on doing my MCSA AND MCSE soon.

what direction is best for me to go once i have theses qualifications (systems admin??)

How do you go about getting into it?

whats the money like?

i have 5 years experiance in I.T and also have ccna and a+

Thanks

p.s hope it aint a stupid question

 

I dont know about the money in your specific area, but for me when I contract it varies between 250 and 500 a day, with more recently me being on the bottom end of that as the market has kind of died on its arse.

Basically there are 3 reasons that companies require contract staff IME
1) They just need some normal skills but only for a short period, and the pay isnt anything special as although it will pay ok, you are in and out of work a lot and the periods out of work bring your annual income down
2) They need some niche skills that they dont have in house and are prepared to pay properly for it (this is the situation I was in when making 500 a day)
3) They just want more staff on the team without increasing the headcount for business appearance reasons (its a particuarly favourable thing in some industries to have a high profit margin per staff member on paper) this is a great situation to end up in cause you end up on contract money but for long periods of time

As for what the rates are for what you are going to be doing, you'll need to look around at what others are getting who do the same thing, but take with a pinch of salt all the adverts with agencies, ive seen adverts at 60 quid an hour and then when ive actually been offered the job the company is only actually paying 40, so a 50% "make it look good" factor needs to be taken into account potentially when viewing ads.

 

thanks for the info matey, what line of work are you in?

what sort of things do they look for when you are applying? experience?

 

Essentially im a computer programmer by trade, but Im sort of err'ing more towards just talking about work than actually doing any these days (ie consultancy)

The main thing with any contract is a very simple one, they are looking for someone who can do what they want doing!
They tend not to be as worried about your long term plans etc as for a permenant role, and even to a certain extent less worried about if you "fit in" with the team (although in some roles thats important) but generally its very skills focussed IME but again, will vary on the line of work im sure.

Experience though, is everything really, when im interviewing for a contractor I take no notice at all of bits of paper etc, I ask them deeply technical questions and judge from their answers if they are any good or not and I want concrete examples of where they have used the skills, so I want them to be talking about past projects they have worked on etc.

 

i've got my MCSE qualification and TBH i've very rarely even put into practice what the course taught me, let alone anything i didn't already know.

I'm now doing a 3rd Line Systems Engineer Job and it pays better than other peeps i know in my local area that do System Admin work

 

iv started a new IT job in the CIty (london) as a general IT technician doing 1st to 3rd line support and all other sorts of IT duties in house and i graduated in January from uni, money is pretty good compared to working as a employed person and outside of london. I would have thought with a lot experiance i.e. 5 years you could easily get in to 3rd line, are there any routes you want to go into particularly? Networking/Infrastructure design/Project management? have a look on reed and other IT sites and have a scoot around there to see what is out there and what you have done

good luck

 

My advice would be to try and pick something you are particulary interested in and then focus and specialise in it. You've already done your CCNA, so if you like networking then perhaps consider taking your Cisco accreditations further with a voice or security qualification. There's big money in security and you can earn anything up to £750/day (if you're shit-hot) doing security roles in the capital. Generic (routing/switching) Cisco engineers can still command £300-500/day no worries, but there's more money if you go into the specialist areas.

Don't bother with the MS certs unless you really want to be stuck doing a support job. You don't really need them for doing 3rd line work, which is where the money is at. There's a reasonable call for Messaging though, so perhaps just doing an Exchange MCP is a good idea if you like that kind of thing.

I personally am a technical architect and I can still command 450-550/day, but the market is particulary tight at the moment and i'm up for renewal next week!!

As chip says, you need to be confident in what you're doing to be a valuable asset to a client. They want you to pretty much jump straight in at the deep end and get on with it - they are paying a stack for you, afterall.

 

I have been in 1st / 2nd line for nearly 2 years having finished uni

A job has come up here in 3rd line which I think I will go for....

Working in Law I am in a comfort zone pay wise, but need to make sure I dont rot in support like one twat here

 

Chip.. you're not really based in London are you?
If you are I would say those figures are a bit low, although development isnt' my thing.. we have desktop guys here an 375 a day, and a good friend of mine is still bringing in 850 a day plus, although he is probably the most eminently qualified and skilled support/infrastructure engineer I know of.

 

thanks guys great info, any good sites to look at?? i.e job advertisements.....

 

Nah im right on the outside mate, not london itself, I wasnt talking city numbers, you can double everything if you are in the right company in the city.

Ive never chased wages though TBH anyway, when I was on 500 a day I was turning down jobs on 600 a day just cause I liked where I was, and these days im a poorly paid permie anyway, I just dont actually find money very motivating, so I wasnt putting myself up as an example of the top end of what can be earnt, just merely a realistic one from my own experiences.

 

TBH if you are looking for the jobs rather than the jobs are looking for you, Id say you are off on the wrong foot already, its about 10 years since I actually had to find a job rather than the other way around, lol

 

fair play mate.. just wondered! i'm considering a couple of contract opportunities at the moment, but wouldn't do it for those figures round here for obvious reasons!

totally agree re the "jobs looking for you" statement too... although IMO quite a bit of that is making yourself known to the right agencies as good worker with skills that are in demand, so may involve a bti of hunting around initially.

 

Yeah im sure thats the case now, and I also think that the next time I need a job, one probably WONT find me anymore, im just not really in a position where im known so much anymore, been out the loop too long in my comfy little job, lol

 

I've been thinkin bout gettin into this for time !

But would be startin from scratch ! any ideas, recomendations where to go what to do etc ?

Not affraid of hard work & am very money motorvated ! lol

Mark, your jus round corner to me init ? Maybe a few pointers one night over a bevvy ? Chip could join us too cos he's not far either ? ? ?

Help me boys ! Please ? lol

jb

 

Do you have any relevant experience JB? Ive just realised Ive no idea what you actually do for a living!

IT isnt worth getting into from scratch at the moment IMHO, do a law degree instead (at least you have experience of that industry too, LMAO) thats what my bird is doing and im positive once she has a few years under her belt she will be earning far more than me (and will probably have kicked me into touch by then)

 

could do mate, although i'm not based in Croydon any more.
will be back down there pretty much all over the bank holiday weekend though if that's any good?

as Chip said, if you're starting from scratch I probably wouldn't bother. there are other more lucrative things to get into if you're starting at the bottom imo.

 

Yeah yeah,

Bank Holiday weekend sounds good to me !

I'll pm you my digits & go from there !

Chip, cheers for the reminder of my experience wit law Don't think they'd let me into that wit a record ! and sod them wigs ! ! !

Are you about Bank hols Chip ? You got my new number ?

jb

 

Ive got two numbers for you, one ending in 773 and one in 482, and nope im down in somerset on the bankholiday weekend, fuck being up near london when I dont have to, lol

 

ok mate, no worries.

 

Okay,

sending pm's now, chip those are both out of date lol ! Stalkers !

jb