Also need a job

**Big Dog** · 30th September 2003, 22:49

PS. does any one no of a apprentice style IT job?

**Hoon** · 1st October 2003, 10:17

Apparently theres meant to be a bit of a glut in the IT sector at the moment, if there is I'm yet to see it as I'm busier now than I've ever been (8 years in IT now)

I hear of a lot of people who have decided on a career in IT but can't get their foot in the door because they don't have the experience. One of the biggest reasons is because they are setting their sights too high and try for system/network admin roles.

You need to start small i.e. Helpdesk/phone jockeys or Graveyard shift operators who change backup tapes and watch out for flashing red lights. The next step up is Desktop support where you build PCs and fix peoples printing probs etc.

The number of job applications we see from A+, MCP's fresh off a course with no exp is astounding. These people expect us to unleash them on our 100+ server, 1000+ user environments with total responsibility!! I don't think so!

So yep, start small, work hard and the bigger opportunities with materialise.

**Kwaka-Kid** · 1st October 2003, 10:48

HO-Hoon iasure you its hard enuf to start small and get into a help desk style role.. i was looking into that a while back and doing my MCSE etc etc and didnt get anywhere. trust me dude helpdesk role = even settling for a mesaly 25K a year or somthing to start with is hard az... its not what you know its who you know... that is about the biggest thing i have learnt about getting jobs etc in the last 2 odd years of my life... all mine have been scored by who i know and and have hooked up a mate for my jobshare etc etc... so i reckon half the friggin helpdesk roles etc that are advertised are sewen up already etc with cuzins of higher up dudes etc etc.

**duckman** · 1st October 2003, 11:14

I've been working in IT for ...er....about ....11 years now and the only good thing is the money. The work is soul destroying, the hours suck and the responsibility is un-nerving. BUT on the weekend I head out to my garage and start up the bike and it makes it all worthwhile.

Many times I've thought about leaving but as I'm unqualified to do anything but my job I would have to start at the bottom again and thats just tooooooo hard.

**DeanOh** · 1st October 2003, 15:30

Originally posted by duckman
I've been working in IT for ...er....about ....11 years now and the only good thing is the money. The work is soul destroying, the hours suck and the responsibility is un-nerving. BUT on the weekend I head out to my garage and start up the bike and it makes it all worthwhile.
Many times I've thought about leaving but as I'm unqualified to do anything but my job I would have to start at the bottom again and thats just tooooooo hard.

Wholly crap...its my twin....I so want out of computers. but wtf would I do. male stripper ? na, the size of me dong scares the girls.

I tell ya, the days of IT workers having 3 hour liquid lunches, earning huge money are over. Today its work work work.
The money has changed over the last 3-4 years. Im earning
10-15 grand less now than i was then.

**Lou Girardin** · 1st October 2003, 16:14

150 metre wank to work. Hmmm, assuming a penis length of 150mm thats 100 strokes. Shit, you wouldn't want to work a full week without some type of lubricant
Lou

**Coldkiwi** · 1st October 2003, 17:52

Originally posted by jrandom

Go back to uni part-time, get an engineering degree, get a job you'll actually enjoy. In 10 years time you'll have a Ducati in the garage

mate, I've heard sillier things. Engineering degrees aren't real easy but if you finish it you will find it gives you a big foot in a lot of doors. And if you enjoy it, you should end up on a fairly decent salary (most grads start at 35k) and be able to make some good money too. Some engineering companies will work you as ruthless as the average IT employee but most are a bit better at looking after their staff.

TBH, if you really like bikes and don't want to get stuck in a garage but would rather be involved in the whole range of motorcycling jobs, you could either do a mech eng. course or do the bike mechanics course in upper hutt to give you a tech base you'd need to start. The mech eng would help later on to ride a desk job but you wouldn't get the detail obviously of the mechanics course.

whatever you decide, make sure you enjoy it and don't be afraid to change jobs if you don't.

**Big Dog** · 1st October 2003, 18:37

Originally posted by HO-Hoon
You need to start small i.e. Helpdesk/phone jockeys or Graveyard shift operators who change backup tapes and watch out for flashing red lights. The next step up is Desktop support where you build PCs and fix peoples printing probs etc.

Thats about what I would like to do. Start out low. The main reason I'm even interested is I would be willing to take a $10K cut to have a little more enjoyment in my job and most of the decent techs I know had no quals before they got their helpdesk jobs.

This is why I refer to an apprentice position. I am sick of not learning anything new at work anymore.... (core reason for being fascinated in IT is that there is always something new to learn)

**jrandom** · 1st October 2003, 19:59

Originally posted by Coldkiwi
whatever you decide, make sure you enjoy it and don't be afraid to change jobs if you don't.

You hit de nail on de head, CK.

After a lot of casting around personally and ending up where I am now, I'm sold on the get-a-degree, get-a-real-job thing. I'm also firmly of the opinion that I'd go nuts doing an 'IT' job. Yuck. Where's the reward? What are you creating? Where's the handiwork that you can proudly remember, years down the track? A network server that doesn't crash? Phbbbbbbtttttt.

No offence to the resident sysadmin types of course

No, there are a lot of rewarding careers out there, but you can't just jump into them without qualifications, willy-nilly. Unfortunately, I think many kids leaving school have no idea what they would *really* find rewarding, so they end up unhappy. Or unduly poor, which tends to be a barrier to happiness in general

**Nouseforaname** · 1st October 2003, 20:37

I was thinking of running away to Paris and joining the French Foreign Legion..... but apparantly it is damn hard to get into, also the 20% or something mortality rate in basic training threw me off abit

**Marmoot** · 1st October 2003, 22:31

No joking? I keep on hearing people talk about this degree that degree, but I don't see how they help in finding job.

I have an engineering degree. Heck, I even have masters degree in IT.

But I couldn't even get a job as helpdesk. They say I'm not the type of person they're looking for even though I satisfy every inch of requirements stated in the job ads.
Overqualified and underexperienced?
I've tried toning down my qualifications, still no luck.
Not even 1 interview in 1 whole year.

Oh, also there is the debate: You can't get job unless you are experienced. But, of course, you can't get experience unless you get a job, rite?

I'd say then: Luck is a big factor, eh?

I'd do anything to just get a break in something with a career future.

**Kwaka-Kid** · 2nd October 2003, 01:13

hey then theres the other thing you can throw into this topic... Do you Live to Work? or Work to live? now i personall choose the live to work bit, hence why i would like to be a cop/fireman... however like my mums hubbie kinda does, works to live, he doesnt particularily like his job, but they pay him heaps for doing fuck all and it means hes got the money to do random shit like $25K rebuilds on a shitty old Z1 (dont mean that tho, i love em) and other stuff like that.. alot of people would say, yeah but doing a job you dont really like is soul destroying etc yadda yadda, but hey, hes a real neat dude and dead seriously is never down/angry... but yeah.. id rather earn $50K per year and enjoy my job and work for my money then get $100K per year and hate my job, or for that matter just "medicore" enjoy my job...

hmm yeah, thats just some stuff thats been thrown @ me over the years -my mums hubbie really doesnt understand my choice to do the $50K per year idea, and really wants me to get my MSCE, hes got the most expensive bit already anyways, the books! I enjoy my current jobs in a way, not heaps and heaps but i get satisfaction out of making a day run smoothly and have no mis-haps.. unlike today.. where the bitch of a nurse tried to blame the cancellation of an Acute Urethroscopy case on me for not setting up the order!! boy oh boy i wish i was high enough up to tell her to go.... ill stop there... i was calm and took it and did it the formal and slow governmentlikesystem way of filling out a stupid incident report that never gets looked at... hahaha ohh the down days really do suck.. hey and look, why are all my posts always after midnight? i must work anti-social hours

and Mitch and Si come to pick me up tomorrow! yaaay, you 2 are the bestest old peoples that ever lived! hehehe.

**Antallica** · 2nd October 2003, 01:25

Hehe, I got paid $10 just to install a modem.

IT can be funny sometimes... yeah I know I'm on shit wage, but then again we don't charge the world an hour.

**riffer** · 2nd October 2003, 08:07

Sounds depressingly familiar. We've decided in our house to go down to a one-income family. My wife was IT manager for a company that made routers for telco's. I was a design manager/IT manager for a design company. We both got made redundant. I found a new job earning 40K less but with 8-4.30 hours (sweet!) and she's going to be a home mum. As part of the downsizing, the Legacy GTB is being sold and I'm back on bikes again! So getting out of IT is not all Bad!