Stagnant IT "Career" - change paths or make the best of IT?

username901

Knowledge of ISO27001 and implementing an ISMS is in demand. My client pays £1000 per day for consultancy in East Midlands, the NHS and the it futures contracts need help in this area. If you are able to get a qualification in this area then CISOs can demand quite a decent salary. Friend of mine in this position and about to take exam is on £50k.

IT developers are also in massive demand, same client is desperate for junior and mid level MS stack developers, by the time they'vrbarranged an interview the person has accepted a position elsewhere.

I do DBA consultancy for a couple of clients, again there's demand for decent DBAs, especially outside the cities where it's hard to attract people. If you have knowledge of SQL then it could be a path.

musafir05

I’m also in the IT industry, I’m within a similar situation to you. My career had hit a standstill and I wasn’t earning much in the process. 6 months ago I completed my MCSA and it opened more doors for me. I was able to find another job (low pay) but it gave me enough experience to add to my CV. The salary in my CV is around £25,000 and anyone would be lucky to get anything over 30k.

Reckless_Saving

I started 25 years ago right at the bottom as the office clerk with a interest in computers, 8 years later I switched over to IT side of the business, was another 4 years till I got the promotion that started to move my salary away from minimum wage. Last few years I've reach what I'd consider being in the band of market rate.

Skills wise I've struggle to value/appreciate my skills, calling myself 'Jack of all trades master of none' but the reality is I have skills that are valued and sort. Last year I read of someone that coined the term:-

‘talent stack’: the idea that you can combine multiple skills and knowledge areas in order to possess a unique stack that no one else has

I immediately thought, yes that's me.

Anyway I digress, a skill that stood the test of time for me is SQL and it's so much in demand today. The IT industry is going through a period where there is alot of great opportunities out there but no where near enough people to fill the demand, roles these days you learning on the job.

For someone trying to get into the industry I thought the role of a tester is a good shoe in, for some I've seen as an easy gig for them, you're told the requirement and you test against it. It offers good opportunities to expand your skillset, get close to other roles in IT, ie business analysts, engineers, dba's, project managers, stakeholders etc... - good basis to move into other parts of IT.

With the band gigs being able to support you, then you're in a good position to look at various IT opportunities to workout the direction you want to go in, maybe look for some short-term entry level contracting.

Gary1885

That's certainly an idea. I've

Gary1885

That's certainly something to think about. I've been quiet this week as I interviewed for a job on Monday and started Tuesday, all very unexpected. The quandary I have now is that the job was initially described as 2nd line, but in reality, it's very much 1st line service desk work. Very fast-paced, full-on taking calls and spending no more than 10 minutes with a lot of multitasking. Since it's not as described, I'm a little dubious as to what else may not be as described.

They are saying that 1st line didn't work for them and they've adopted this "first contact resolution" approach, comprised of their old 2nd line team. However, there's nothing 2nd line about it. Yes, they say they invest in training and yes, they say they put the hard workers forward first, but I can't help but think I've gone in too low. The training in the first year is CompTIA, which is pretty much covered by my 11 years' experience in this industry anyway. I never did CISCO or Microsoft stuff and I would have thought that would have been more valuable.

My line manager is younger than I am and joined the company 4 years ago with no IT knowledge or experience. 4 years ago, I could have trained him up and I suspect there are still things I know that he doesn't, although he's dealing with firewalls, servers, networking, everything. Part of me thinks then that the progression I'm looking for may be possible (he's easily on over £40k as apparently the team I'm on can earn that just answering the phones). The other part thinks I could be stuck here for 4 years answering the phone and wondering what might have been if I'd secured a real 2nd line role also with progression opportunities.

Have I understood myself for this job and ended up in a lower position than I needed to? Any ideas?

motorguy

ndf9876 wrote: »

As someone with 20+ years in the industry, my comments are thus :

- Most IT professionals do indeed start out on desktop \ end user support (unless you are a developer, but you are clearly not).

- As others have said, qualifications and certifications are very important. The Microsoft certifications cost £120 to sit (depends on the test centre) and are a great thing for a potential employer to see on your CV.

- You would need to choose a specialism to start earning the higher salaries, be that network engineer, DBA, DevOps etc etc.

- To be fair to you, the more I read your post the more I think you have had a rough time with your previous employer. If your employer will not invest in you and your career, I would suggest investing in yourself and moving on (and self-paced study and training is no bad thing).

- Your £25k I would say is very realistic for a desktop support role, provided there is scope to progress; I don't know about earning £40k p.a. after 2 years (personally I would look for more experience for that salary and it would depend on your specialism).

I don't think it is an easy industry to get a break in - most of my hires have been graduates or more experienced professionals or specialists, but based on what you've posted, I think what you are aiming for is broadly achievable.

I think thats key. I'm not seeing anything in the O/Ps experience other than more of the same year after year. Specialism is key, coupled with having an aptitude for that particular specialism. Promotion in to higher paying jobs usually comes from that.

Gary1885

Thanks to everyone for your posts!  Apologies for the long silence, but I've been very busy this past few months as I've had a lot happen in my life!  Since relocating, I've taken a job, quit that job, taken another and now I'm getting impatient to progress.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I did take a "First Contact Resolution Analyst" role, but this had been advertised as a 2nd line thing.  It turned out to be very much a 1st line service desk role and I was not happy with it.  At only £24,000, I wasn't happy with the salary or the level I was working at, as it seemed far too basic and entry level.

I then found a field engineer role, again for an MSP.  This has been a much better role in certain ways:

• It is the first role I have had where my line manager treats me like and adult; many previous line managers have had a certain aloofness and not wished to "associate with the plebs", or there has just been a lack of common ground.
• I seem to be fitting in well within the company and am consistently receiving praise from customers.
• They do seem to invest in their employees in terms of career progression.

However, I have come to realise - especially during these weeks in isolation and working from home - that I am still a long way from what I'd consider to be a "grown up" job.  There is nothing I am doing today that I wasn't doing 10 years ago - except perhaps supporting Office 365 or other technologies that weren't around so much back then!  I've just been doing this far too long now and I'm so desperately bored by it.

I haven't pursued further training as generally the returns from doing so have seemed minimal, despite any advantages they may have on one's CV.  If I'm brutally honest with myself, one of the reasons for not pursuing further training is that I'm just not that interested in a technical role any more.  I'm coming up to 35 years old and I'm seeing many people much younger than me moving into team leader/management roles in various industries, or beyond.  Observing what these people do, I realise I would be very, very good at it, but I have no way of proving this.

I have a skill set which can easily be dismissed by people who do not recognise it.  My written and verbal communication is very good.  I feel I can be a good mentor and would excel at motivating a team, but I have no real way of proving this.

I have no idea how people manage to land these jobs, but what I do know is that I don't want to get to 40/50 and still be working on a service desk or generally still fixing things.  I'd love the opportunity to prove my value in a company but I just don't know what my next step should be!

I've been working from home during this COVID-19 pandemic and of course so has my girlfriend.  She's been on conference calls talking to very important people, managing her team, etc.  I've been answering endless calls where I tell people how to connect to Wi-Fi or connect to their VPN and it's so unsatisfying.  I feel like I'm totally wasted doing this but what can I do to escape?!

I'd really appreciate any advice!

Savvy_Sue

So do you think there are any opportunities for progression where you are at the moment?

Gary1885

Hi Sue, thanks for your reply!  I think there are opportunities.  The occasional team leader role does pop up but competition is fierce and there's usually always someone who's been working towards it and is the dead cert.  I've only been there 4 months so I'm unlikely to qualify just yet.  It's just very frustrating being told, "you've got to be patient and work your way up".  I've been trying to do that for 12 years now.  It seems that everything I did prior to this counts for nothing.

anxious_ant

From your posts I am getting the vibe that you are interested in a management role.
In IT management roles are not as glamorous as it sounds, and comes with a lot of stress. 
I'm also in IT but more on the development side. I've started in a support role as well, moved onto technical (server/hardware) then some sys admin and DBA and finally now in a development. I've never managed anyone but I'm on 50k+. Besides my university degrees and a MSDST qualification I don't have any other formal qualifications. Most of my skills I've learned on the job. I'm in my late 30s and started in IT when I was about 28.
I have to admit it wasn't easy to get to this level but I genuinely have a passion in IT so that helps.
Does also sound like you are not too focussed on your path as you seem to have been switching jobs quite often.
I believe to progress you have to find a niche for yourself. Find something that you enjoy and are good at at keep at it. Personally if you enjoy managing people perhaps consider a PM role (although qualifications are really important for that).