IT jobs and careers

[ghotib]

Bet you I could do it on a VIC20. Can I have a job?

When I start my specialist IT recruitment consultancy I'll guarantee you a job with fantastic skills development opportunities. But you must be a team player.

And willing to sell bridges.

Ghoti

 

[ghotib]

I already have degree. Had it for years. Perhaps I need a bridging course.

I'm not qualified to give advice yada yada yada. What's worse, I hated my last 2 years of employment in the industry, and I've been out of it for 5 years and have no wish to go back. But if you got in front of me when I was a hirer, I'd look for evidence that you were serious about getting back into the field.

The big worry in my mind would be that you wouldn't stay because you couldn't take the industry as it is now. You would have to convince me that you understand what you're getting into and that you think it's worth it, as well as convince me that you can do what I need done as fast and as well (note the sequence - that's one reason I won't go back) as someone who stayed in.

Since you have the degree, I'd probably be more impressed by work you'd done for fun or for free than by additional non-specific courses. I'd get you to talk about it - why you did it one way and not another, what you'd do differently now and why, what you learnt from it (and there'd better be something, even if it's not a technological something - I'm looking for evidence that you expect to keep learning). I'd be particularly impressed by joint efforts and I'd get you talking about how you divided up the work and how you ensured consistency of interface and standards. And I'd be profoundly impressed if you'd actually documented your design and your code - except that I'd probably think you did it after the event.

I think you could treat getting a job in IT like a development project starting with user requirements, where the users are people with hiring authority. I've given you a starting point; you need to use your own imagination back it with some solid research into companies that you'd like to work with. Learn as much as you can about their customers, their markets, their technologies and their businesses. This might be difficult and should be a continuing process throughout your career, so set yourself a time limit for starting to contact them.

During this preparatory stage, do the best resume you can, concentrating on what you have to offer those particular companies. This will involve several drafts because it's worth getting the resume reviewed by as many people as you can find who will look at it from the perspective of hirers. Developer mates are useful too, but you must get the view from people like the ones who will use the resume to decide to see you. You might well end up with multiple final versions (e.g. long and short). If so, be obscenely careful about keeping them all current and consistent.

Contact the person in your chosen company that you think you'd be working for. Your goals are to get yourself known *and* to get feedback from them about what they're looking for. Many will need certain qualifications to meet company requirements - the sort of things that can be ticked off in databases. That gives you information about where or if to spend your personal education dollar, or a negotiating point, or at worst a reason to get in touch again when you have something new to show them.

Persevere. Or leave IT in your past and enjoy the present. There's an old saying about how you can't step twice in the same river.

Good luck, and please remember that I'm completely out of touch with the realities of corporate employment.

Ghoti

 

[ghotib]

Too good to be true?

http://www.ptshamrock.com/auto/degrees.html

Too bad to be true.

 

[crackaton]

You are probably right perhaps I should move on. Bear in miind I was made redudant at a time when no projects were happening , especially in the communications sector. Finding a job then was next to impossible no matter how good you were etc etc. the company i worked for outsourced work for Optus and went under. It's difficult having bills to pay debt to pay etc and no steady income. hence I was forced, into of all things, labouring which actually paid pretty well. It's amazing how much power the CFMEU had some years back. RDOs site allowance travel allowance you name it. On average I would get about 2$ site allowance 30 a day travel and other perks which brought the wage up to about 28 an hour, working 7 -5 mon-fri and sat 7-12. I was on the equivalent wage of a carpenter even though no qualifications in that field!! My technicial term was skilled labourer!! Any how, enough of this. And yes you are right about the bought degrees, just thought it was amusing. lol

 

[ghotib]

Hey steady, I'm not saying it's impossible, and even if I was I might easily be wrong. All I'm suggesting is that it will take some work and some lateral thinking, it might take longer than you'd like, and you might decide that it's not worth the trouble.

You're hardly the only one who took on something completely different when the tech wreck happened. Chances are the anyone who's in a position now to be hiring went through it themselves and knows how many people were laid off and how many companies - even good little companies with solid products and good people - went under. You've proved that you're flexible and willing to work and you've stayed financially sound through wildly changing circumstances. Those are good things. Now circumstances are changing again and you're looking around to see if you need to flex again, so to speak. I'm suggesting one way to flex back to where you did well before. You might do that; you might flex to something altogether different.

Where are you? Maybe you could see if you work with Tech/A as a labourer / systems developer. Might work out well for both of you.

Ghoti.

 

[crackaton]

thanks ghotib. i understand what you are saying and you are right. I'm in cairns and if anyone is interested in labouring/building there is still heaps of work up here inspite of housing doom and gloom. there's also mining which pays top dollar if you are willing to take the risk! I'll put some feelers out and see how I go. there's not much IT work here in cairns, but I'll see what happens. It just seems a waste to throw away the degree I paid for, you know what I mean?