ballin

iTrader: (1)

good luck!

im in network admin at the moment!

it sucks LOL! only been doing it since xmas - nah its okay, working for MOD projects on secure governement networks.
interesting, but IT is shit really...sit on net most the day!

easy money mind and some fit skirt to look at, met my girl here actually so cant knock it too much (apart from the jealousy, every sad cnut in here is after her ) !

BlueSmoke

LOL no worries Ballin. At the end of the day, IT is my career, so I have to look to move upwards within that. Anything is better than 1st line support and I must be in a good position after a couple of years doing Network Admin. Should learn some useful skills.

Lou Lou.

Oh good luck Jay new haircut is soooo much better

ballin

iTrader: (1)

aye its the best area in IT for me - mixture of hands on and computer work.

having said that, the computer work consists of the internet tbh.
hands on is always good, patchin switches etc. quite enjoy all that shit but techy software q's and stuff goes straight over my head!

i get by tho, god bless MS knowledgebase

BlueSmoke

Well I just had a call and I'm both happy and annoyed! They want to see me again, and seem pretty keen, but it's not going to be until the 20th! The bloke is off on holiday"

I can't cope! But apparently he wants to bring me in, introduce me to the rest of the team, show me round the place etc. so that has to be a good sign, right?

Apparently there were 60 - 70 CVs submitted for the post when it was advertised online, only 10 were forwarded to the company and of those there were just 3 of us given interviews. One guy had to pull out and the other apparently was a waste of time so I'm thinking everything is game on. God, I really hope I get this, the extra couple of hundred quid a month would go a long way at the moment.

AndyP

What qualifications did you need to get into this mate?

Networks is a v good career move IMO

BlueSmoke

Oh aye, you were asking about how to get into IT weren't you? I actually did 2 years at college from 02-04 doing an advanced VCE in ICT and got 2 grabe B's equivalent to A-Levels. I was pretty much the best in the class and would no doubt have had As had I attended more than half the classes

Did get a lot of A's for individual units though tbh. I had a couple of good pals there too and we all helped each other in areas where one was weaker. I remember my mate Gav having to redo a project because he'd got a crap grade, and I had finished mine and to help him out I wrote a whole report for him

But I digress, I ended up getting an IT helpdesk role, doing 1st line support around 9 months ago and this is a pretty good entry point to the IT world. Ususally you'd gain around 12 months experience then look to move into one of the various roles that this opens up for you. The hardest thing in IT is getting anywhere with no experience. I found it took me about 8 months to get my helpdesk job, after loads of applications and eventually I got one. There are quite a lot of jobs that will take you without any obvious IT skills though if you keep your eyes open

AndyP

Cheers for the info mate

Im in IT at the mo, I was due to move on from Helpdesk but I was made redundant, done various roles since including contracting. Only been in my current job 6 months and hate everyday so just looking into my options

BlueSmoke

Yeah my current job is driving me nuts as well.

ballin

iTrader: (1)

sounds like you've got it to me mate!
AndyP, that role is junior so any IT qual. would be adequate with a willingness to learn!

I had a AVCE (grade F not thick they lost a lot of ppls coursework!!) in ICT from college and a lot of bullshit and i got a network role with one of the big IT companies in UK. Our site is MOD based working on projects above 'secret'.

Network im in charge of is 'uk restricted'. quite enjoy the security side of things makes it a bit more intersting!

tonyk

MI5 are moving to my neck of the woods so gonna apply for one of the Admin jobs there, currently work on Goverment/MOD stuff at the moment so they may even just hand pick us again.

ballin

iTrader: (1)

that would be sweet - if you have the clearance its one advantage over everyone else!

BlueSmoke

You're reading our emails, aren't you?

tonyk

Dont you will blow my cover

AndyP

ballin Cheers mate

Nicole

Sounds like you have got it Jay! Ohand good move on the hair cut, it looks loads better i think

Good luck!!

Jim Galbally

huge difference between "network administrator" in the "adding users and resetting passwords sense" than in the "routers and firewalls" sense

good fucking luck tho jay, it's sounding good!

whats the salary range out of interest? i'm guessing a fair whack more than helpdesk money?

BlueSmoke

Jim, the guy commented he would probably send me ona networking course if I were successful as I told him I know a bit but the only real networking I've done was at college and while I did very well with it I would really need refreshing as it's been a couple of years.

This is in a small company so the job is basically everything to do with the IT. I'll be learning server admin, would be responsible for the rollout of XP when they eventually get round to it(I KNOW!!! ), setting up bits of the network etc etc and of course the lower level user admin stuff. So I really like the sound of it.

Money is looking like around Ł16k with it being a junior role, which is a nice step up from Ł13.5k although I will only be slightly better off due to the higher travelling costs.

Jim Galbally

thats the best step up in my opinion. it's what i did for 3 years before taking a step up into the world of big business and it helped my career no end.

the problem you get if you jump straight into a big firm is you get pidgeon holed into a single role and dont get enough experience of the greater world of IT

BlueSmoke

Yeah definitely. Maybe I will move to London in a few years time if the right job comes up, who knows