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Thread ID: 106978	2010-01-30 22:19:00	I.T job hunting 2010	forums12345 (15197)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
853699	2010-01-31 05:45:00	What really sucks is trying to find a job in IT when you haven't even left highschool (I'm 18 in July). Even though I've been doing my thing (coding in Java, C, C++, C#, basic and tinkering with my hardware) since I was 11, I still need a $40,000+ Degree to say "Yes, you can do [insert remedial task here]". Few places are actually looking to employ youth because of their inexperience, but what if we have the experience (just not the mildly expensive Degree)? I've always been in the accelerated education stream, but haven't really seen any benefits from it. Sure, my Mum paid for my laptop 'cause I passed L2 by over 100 marks, but besides that, no real-world benefits. Just my two cents ^-^	too_terestrial (11427)
853700	2010-01-31 05:59:00	What really sucks is trying to find a job in IT when you haven't even left highschool (I'm 18 in July). Even though I've been doing my thing (coding in Java, C, C++, C#, basic and tinkering with my hardware) since I was 11, I still need a $40,000+ Degree to say "Yes, you can do [insert remedial task here]". Few places are actually looking to employ youth because of their inexperience, but what if we have the experience (just not the mildly expensive Degree)? I've always been in the accelerated education stream, but haven't really seen any benefits from it. Sure, my Mum paid for my laptop 'cause I passed L2 by over 100 marks, but besides that, no real-world benefits. Just my two cents ^- The age old problem of experience vs qualification. I find the better employers focus on actual skills. Its a matter of communicating this to the right people,and some luck. I got my current job because of my varied backround not in IT - some customer service etc. Employers are not interested in training. My current IT job is disappearing as of march[had zero training]. I considered going to auckland to do the MCSE with student loan course, but I cant afford to live there on the money they give. By the end of this year I will have 2 diplomas in IT(one from openpoly) and half an electrotech dip.Hopefully then itl be easier to get in.	pkm (13527)
853701	2010-01-31 06:15:00	Maybe it was 20yrs ago when experience in IT was not required, they may been able to learn on the job. It's not a degree that they want. They want life experience that shows your maturity. Sure a lot of people do a degree, like a BA and there are lot of jobs and good paying ones where you are doing a lot of report writing and analysing using simple spreadsheet and databases. But by the same token, if you are not too picky, you can get some work experience and go with the flow. I've known managers who didn't have a uni degree until they were made a manager, they studied part time. I've also known colleagues 25 who just now going to uni for a diploma and later may upgrade it to a degree but they've had numerous yrs of work experience. Your personality in your letter and CV and interview helps a lot too. They want someone who can gel into the small team and very sociable. They don't just want a smart ass egg head or just a very dedicated worker who just go to work do an excellent job collect the money and go home every night. I have some international friends or those who have a international background but been here since high school. Being too much of an introvert is not helpful. They want someone that is compatible with the current staff and the organisation culture. More than not you are communicating and relationship managing with people not just in your team of a few but across the organisation and to the general manager. About working together via the peaks and troughs that may incl over time or weekend work without extra pay, it may mean crash work to deadlines and analyse what needs to be done with newer situations that hasn't been experienced before. Even IT roles write reports for non-IT people. It may mean writing 2 or 3 day deadline reports that needs to be rushed so it is provided for this month's meeting. Real IT people in many org are maybe the minority. It's not just coding and techno speak. Even with quals, my first role was call centre (customer service) then into office asst work incl doing a lot of photocopying or data entry, minutes taking, diary management - then into more of the real work ..... I repeat it - sure go for it if you can nail it first but if not - be flexible and start from the ground up. Branch out of IT if you need to. You can always come back into IT and say you have all this other strength.	Nomad (952)
853702	2010-01-31 06:38:00	Say you are a programmer, cool. Let's say you work for passports. I don't have a IT background. Let's say you share info between the govt agencies. Off the top of my head, you got names, deaths, births, immigration. You may need to work with the legal team to see what you can do and what you cannot do and if so how can you make the changes. In doing so you as the programmer needs to implement cross checking of databases (validation), you also want to help the operator to minimise misspelling or wrong data entrying. You may need to add extra fields into the software. You as a programmer will be involved in the project to work it via prior to piloting. You may be required to be involved in (constant) meetings with other agencies. Then as you are doing the other work, you may need to draft reports up and advise management and respond accordingly maybe on a monthly basis. You may be involved in teaching and providing presentations to various groups. A substantial amount of it is not just IT stuff.	Nomad (952)
853703	2010-01-31 06:41:00	Perhaps the OP should be a bit more responsive in the follow-up of this thread? He mentioned that he has got "quals", but hasn't yet to told us what has he got specifically. The "I am a loser" attitude needs to go as well.	Renmoo (66)
853704	2010-01-31 06:47:00	Unless the OP has achieved somewhat more credits than what was mentioned less than 6 months ago then qualifications are not really there. Paper qualifications that is.	Sweep (90)
853705	2010-01-31 07:33:00	A substantial amount of it is not just IT stuff. Of course not. You'd have an icecube's chance in hell of finding a job where all you did was IT.	too_terestrial (11427)
853706	2010-01-31 10:35:00	What really sucks is trying to find a job in IT when you haven't even left highschool (I'm 18 in July). Even though I've been doing my thing (coding in Java, C, C++, C#, basic and tinkering with my hardware) since I was 11, I still need a $40,000+ Degree to say "Yes, you can do [insert remedial task here]". Few places are actually looking to employ youth because of their inexperience, but what if we have the experience (just not the mildly expensive Degree)? I've always been in the accelerated education stream, but haven't really seen any benefits from it. Sure, my Mum paid for my laptop 'cause I passed L2 by over 100 marks, but besides that, no real-world benefits. Just my two cents ^-^ Education is bugger all these days. It's not the only way. I know someone who didn't go to uni or a tech, did customer service, now is a manager at one of the flight centre branches and makes more money than managers with Masters degrees. Numerous I know that didn't do that well at school, went to uni or tech and really liked it and ended up doing honours, masters and even one PhD and now enjoys researching and lecturing in computer science.	Nomad (952)
853707	2010-01-31 10:47:00	I know I would want some hands on experience in any field before offering a job to a person. A good attitude is important too.	Sweep (90)
853708	2010-01-31 19:15:00	Then your looking in the wrong place, I just applied for a heap of jobs in Aussie with entry level pay starting at 85K and going up to 200k. Doing what? Specifically I looked at jobs I would get here. Not jobs in other industries or jobs above my experience level. I compared apples with apples, not apples with oranges, so to speak.	pctek (84)
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