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by Merill Fernando.
Original Post: What Anyone works in IT should remember every day
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Feed Description: Merill is a Software Architect at Business Technology Alliance. Merilll is an MCSD in .NET and a Microsoft Certfied Trainer.
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Dhammika from EuroCenter mailed this to me, a very interesting read:
The IT industry looks much different from
the outside than it does from the inside. There are secrets and tricks about how it
operates that nobody knows except those who are in the industry. Kind of like a weird
cult. That is, until now. Here's my list of what everyone who wants to enter the IT
industry should know.
Once
you're pigeon-holed, it's extremely hard to break out Lots of graduates
and IT hopefuls take the first job they are offered, thinking they can upgrade to
the perfect job later. This can be a big mistake. Once you're known to have experience
in a particular area, it can be extremely difficult to break out of it. If you spend
a year on the helpdesk, you will become known as the "helpdesk-girl". A year spent
on Oracle can will quickly convert you into "Mr Oracle".
IT workers
are terrible snobs. Java developers think nobody from the helpdesk will ever be able
to do what they do, and network-monkeys see developers as nothing but prima-donnas.
It's quite a tribal industry.
Agencies,
always looking for the easiest way to make a dollar, will only forward you for jobs
where you have experience. Once you get used to the dollars rolling in, a job in the
hand will seem better than the prospect of learning new skills with a pay-cut. Before
you know it, you've spent the past five years working in a job you didn't want.
My advice
is hang out for the job that you want. If you want to move into J2EE development,
insist on working at that.
Technical
Skills are hard currency It is possible
to thrive in the IT industry with limited or out-of-date technical skills, but it's
more difficult. During a bust, middle-managers and project managers are often the
first to go. Those with up-to-date technical skills can also struggle, but not to
the same extent. It's possible to build and maintain IT systems without management
skills, but not without technical skills.
Vow to always
keep your technical skills up to date. Even if you move into management and find your
time being taken up by "soft-skills" keep training yourself in the important "hard-skills".
Your
whole career in IT will be spent updating your skills This follows
on from the last point. If your skills become out of date, you will become vulnerable
to losing your career. Because of this, IT is a career where it is difficult to thrive
without having a real passion for it. Your employer may send you on expensive training
courses, but unless you read up and experiment in your own time, you're going to fall
behind.
Despite the
vendor rhetoric, IT systems are becoming ever more complex. This requires IT workers
to add a growing list of skills to their CVs. This trend looks like continuing with
the introduction of web services, which require more complex skills than web development.
When I started
my Lotus Notes development career, all you had to know to enter the field was basic
Notes development. One year later you had to know LotusScript and ODBC to get a job.
The year after that, Domino and HTML were added to that list. The year after that,
every job wanted Javascript. Then they wanted Java. Now increasing numbers of jobs
are asking for J2EE and XML. If I don't continue to add new skills to my repertoire,
I'm likely to be struggling to find work.
IT
is a volatile industry If you want
a nice cushy gig working for the same company doing the same job for twenty years,
then IT is not the industry for you. IT workplaces are in a constant state of flux;
with workers being retrenched, then re-hired, then retrenched again. You have to be
prepared to change jobs every two or three years, and sometimes watch your income
go up and down like a yo-yo. Periods spent out of work are not unusual. I predict
a big boom in IT in the coming years, likely sparked by something that most aren't
even anticipating. This boom will be followed by a bust and so on. I can't see the
pace of technical change slowing down anytime soon, and as long as that continues
IT will remain volatile.
You
should get experience by working at bargain-basement prices If you want
to move into J2EE development, don't expect to go straight onto $80 hour. That is,
unless you're very lucky or in the middle of a boom. Offer your services at below-market
rates when you first move into the industry. You will be much more attractive to employers
and will have more choice of jobs. Commercial experience counts in IT and you want
to get some as soon as you can. Once you've got a year's experience under your belt,
you can look to increase your income.
Get
your vendor certifications These aren't
entirely necessary, but can give you the edge when looking for a job. If you haven't
got much experience, vendor certifications can compensate to some extent. Look on
the job boards to see which certifications employers are asking for in the area you
want to move into.
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