IT Careers advice please

Originally Posted by Daimo

Ironically EVERY person i've ever spoken to in IT who's a manager or something, got into their job at a smaller company, hands on everything, learned everything, became IT manager for years, then moved on.

I went the wrong way round, big companies, good money... Doh

Learning your trade technically in a small company is good, because you get your hands on stuff that in a bigger organisation wouldn't be part of your role, because your role and that of your team would be defined with clear boundaries as to what you do support and what you don't. In a small company it's all your problem.

I would recommend that once your established with some experience you move to a larger company to get out of the dead mans shoes scenario, where you can only move up when somebody above you retires or leaves.

Spiderman may actually be better starting off in a bigger company with a large helpdesk, such as an IT service provider, where there is plenty of opportunity to progress into second line, then move to a smaller company once he has some second line experience so that he gets more exposure to widen his technical skill, before moving back to a bigger company again if he finds himself waiting for dead mans shoes.

Originally Posted by muffles

Sounds silly but this sort of thing does confuse me, cos I've never had this sort of issue (not to any real degree)

There is a bit of favouritism goes on, but as I said in my earlier post, those who get favoured must have come to their managers attention for some reason in the first place by standing out from the crowd in a good way.

Having to travel for projects is great for career development as you end up in hotels bars and pubs with those consultants, managers, directors and form relationships that way (you get into the boys club!), next time they need somebody for a job they'll think of you first.

If you work in IT support you wouldn't believe how much time your managers spend talking about you, to consultants, pre-sales, salesmen, even customers, so always keep your motivation high and your outlook positive and have a can do attitude.

If you find a long running technical problem that's causing your managers to get some butt-kicking from above or from customers, and no-one wants to get involved 'cos they know it's a pain in the **** and no-one knows how to fix it, make it your mission to get it fixed and get googling, usually once somebody does this and puts the effort in a fix can be found, and the managers will love you for it.

If your managers think your a technical wizard, your positive, you have good people skills, customers think highly of you, and having you around makes their lives easier then you'll get promoted.

I know exactly which guys I pick upon from the support teams & consultancy teams when I need something done. Is that favouritism? Probably. Fair on the others? Probably not. But it's up to the others to make their mark and ensure that next time I need a more challenging job done it's them I'll choose.

See i've missed ALL this in 8 years.

The managers never cared, well they did care, but tbh when someone who worked (not managed) a creach, then moved into IT training, then somehow ended up as your Helpdesk manager (ironically very close friends with IT operations manager, who was good friends with the IT Director, who used to be someones PA!!!!!!!!), you start to question their methods. Best manager I had was a contractor lady from Canada, she was awesome, but otherwise, we're back to the "how far does my head squeeze up your bottom" rule again.

Just sounds like i've made bad choices in companies to work for so far My other half says this. I need "normal" people like me, morals, into anything with engines, and not completly obsessed by Health and Safety and image over practicality and common sense



The going to a big company for training, then moving to a small company is the best idea. Just choose your job and people wisely. Depends how well you can get on with muppets and idiots. Me, notso well