Calling All IT Professionals.......................

Mr23

I know some recent graduates getting £17k & £13k starting in IT support so no way you will get £35k starting out. Others are really struggling to find anything at the moment.

Jowo_2

A 35k starting salary? Type in the word 'Trainee', 'graduate' and 'junior' into Jobserve for their permanent roles (it's usually hard to gain a contract roles without experience) and see what companies are offering as starting salaries for inexperienced IT staff. They may offer a sliding scale but typically won't budge much from the lower end and it's worth you reading the adverts to understand if these junior roles mean at least a year or two of professional experience.

Some high profile consultancy companies offer large starting salaries to new graduates but have the reputation for ignoring mature students who are less likely to sign away their life and put the company first instead of their own life for a pot of money...

Some of my pals, with a degree, AND professional software testing qualifications AND years of experience earned good money as contractors in software testing (daily rates of up to £300) but this is another area of IT which is routinely outsourced to India for a fraction of the money. Some of them now experience long voids between contracts (sometimes a year plus) and have started to take permanent roles at salaries they earned when they first graduated. For example, last year my friend went for a contract role and didn't reach interview (which is the first time it's ever happened) and found out that there were 80 applicants for it.

Others worked as project managers or programme managers from £300 to £500 per day and again have been hit by the recession which have lowered the vacancies and depressed rates. Some roles I see advertised on Jobserve for PMs is the sort of money they used to pay to the project support staff (i.e. the administrators!).

PasturesNew

I worked in IT since 1986, started at £15k then and ended up at £50k in 2000/2001. Then the dot com bubble burst and I've not really managed to get much in it since. But I'm geographically challenged - and female - and as old as some recruiters' nans now

I've no advice to give except live near a big city.....

jbreckmckye

Jowo wrote: »

A 35k starting salary? Type in the word 'Trainee', 'graduate' and 'junior' into Jobserve for their permanent roles (it's usually hard to gain a contract roles without experience) and see what companies are offering as starting salaries for inexperienced IT staff. They may offer a sliding scale but typically won't budge much from the lower end and it's worth you reading the adverts to understand if these junior roles mean at least a year or two of professional experience.

Broadcom offer at around the £30k mark for new engineers. Metaswitch are marginally higher. The work is out there if you have talent, but it's easier to prove that with a mathematician's background, rather than studying ComSci to begin with.

Some of my pals, with a degree, AND professional software testing qualifications AND years of experience earned good money as contractors in software testing (daily rates of up to £300) but this is another area of IT which is routinely outsourced to India for a fraction of the money. Some of them now experience long voids between contracts (sometimes a year plus) and have started to take permanent roles at salaries they earned when they first graduated. For example, last year my friend went for a contract role and didn't reach interview (which is the first time it's ever happened) and found out that there were 80 applicants for it.

Software testing is being outsourced, yes, but finding decent work in the area was always hard.

I suppose it all depends what the OP has in mind by 'IT'. It's a broad sector. He could be doing anything from designing new processor architectures at ARM Cambridge to crafting XHTML pages to working as a project manager! It's a big field!

axomoxia

Ideally C++ / Java / C# with Statistical Calculus. Get a few (like 7 or 8 years solid experience, four or five of which needs to be at an investment bank / financial software house) then go contracting in the city. Rates are currently £500/day +. More for quant development, but you'll need a pHd in maths. You'll need to like a. working for the financial industry and b. working in london.
The desks won't outsource the front office, its too core the business to trust to some kind of offshore industry.

I went contracting in '97 with four years experience. Its better now than 2008 / 2002 and 1992 .....

axomoxia

looks like surrey Java / C# roles are about £300 / day. Not too shabby.....

OUStudent

Helloooo

I just want to sat first of all thanks so much to all of you for replying to me I really appreciate all of your comments and insights

Bunting wrote: »

Aaah bless you!

OH has a computing degree, and has worked in IT for 15 years, he has only recently reached £35K.

Having said that, if you are willing to work anywhere in the UK, you will probably achieve more (but not necessarily as a starting point).

The best thing is to train in an area of computing that interests you, and qualifies you to actually do something at the end of it (my degree was completely pointless).

Having spoken to OH , he reckons that Management, Project Management and Systems/Business Analysis followed by development (programming) are good areas.

Good Luck with your degree

Thanks for that, and thanks to you OH as well, I knew the best people to ask was the people doing these jobs day in day out Judging by some of the replies Analysis seems one of the areas to look at, I knew the IT sector was big but did not just how big, I love the idea of programming as well, my brother is a games programmer has been for years he got into it right at the beginning when home systems were becoming more popular, back in the days of the Commodore 64 and Spectrum ha ha ha, I think my calculator has more computing power in the year 2010 Anyhow he has forged a great career, he was head hunted about 10 years ago has a high profile job now in Los Angeles, saldly for me it has been about as long since I last spoke to him, not really what you would call a close family, this is one of the reason I am determined to make things different for my lot

I have not considered the gaming industry I dont really have any interest in that and I know that game programmers dont get great wages anymore, well unless you have a "career" behind you.........

Hammyman wrote: »

Linux and Unix server administration is the way to go. MS admins are ten a penny and paid accordingly.

I actually play around with a Linux based web server at the moment, purely as a hobby (sad I know), so again this is something I already have an interest in, appreciate the heads up on this one

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

I have a pal who is HP/UX sys admin, earned £100,000 p.a til 5 years ago, £35,000 til 2 years ago and now can't find anything.

I think it has been a bad few years for virtually everyone I do hope he manages to find something soon.
I am thinking when I do actually qualify in this industry that there will be trends that I will need to follow that may well involve extra training to get into different areas, the one thing I always want to do (and I know this sounds shallow but after everything I have been through over the last 5 years I have good reason ) is follow the money wherever that may lead me

treetrunks

I suspect no IT course will give you a starting salary that you are after without experience. Find an entry level position and work hard, study alongside and see where it gets you. If it was possible to do a course and nail a 35k job then everyone would be doing it. I know you didnt want negative answers but i would also say that if money is your only motivating factor then you are unlikely to succeed.

OUStudent

dmg24 wrote: »

Sorry, the call centre worker is not one of the high earners. However, he is gaining valuable experience, both in terms of IT and people management.

If you do want to start higher up the chain, you need to really stand out, and that is difficult with OU. Whilst studying, it is worth subscribing to any relevant journals (you may be able to access them online for free), and trying to get some work published. Also attending conferences etc can be a good way to get to know people. My higher earning friends both got their jobs through informal channels.

This sounds like a great idea and at my age being newly qualified I suppose being noticed will be an important part of my initial prospects.

Thanks for your input

Frozenace

I'm just about to go on 30k after 4 years in the IT industry after Uni, I'm a .net Developer in London.

It's quite fun, but I'd probably like to do some business or accounting intro course for the future.