Having spent many years working a minimum wage dead end job where my manager contently took advantage of my IT skills and general willingness to go outside my job description.
I finally realised after 7 years of hollow promises that i was never going to progress and it didn't matter how many late nights i worked, how many databases i wrote and managed he was never going to recognise my skills and pay me the wage i deserved.
Taking a huge leap I put my family into a huge amount of financial debt, by reducing my hours to part time and paying my way though university.
I cannot begin to express how grateful I am to my husband and children for allowing me to suddenly go insane and reach for something better.
Despite the long hours, sleepless nights and financially struggling for 5 years I finally achieved my goal a degree in software development.
My first job was a temporary position I was neither qualified nor experienced for. A large company needed a project manager for a project that had been in the running for 4 years ... or should i say had been failing for 4 years...and continuing as the project had started they hired me because i was cheap.
I was hired as a last ditched effort to get the project off the ground and I was the most technically minded person in the department, which as a new graduate really doesn’t say much.
Very quickly I learnt I needed to get out, the people where great and I loved the job every day was a new challenge, but on a temporary contract I was in a job I wasn't capable of doing. My only comfort was the people around me had less of a clue about what was going on than I did.
After three hectic months I walked into another job, I like it here the people are friendly and unlike the last job they don't seem to expect miracles. I’ve been hired to write Crystal reports and its going well, I feel like I ask a lot of dumb questions but people seem to expect it as I was hired with no priory Crystal experience
However I’m worried about my career. I never though much beyond finishing my degree and getting a job, but my family have been so supportive and but I really want to do my best for them in return.
I get the feeling if I stay here indefinitely I could still be writing crystal reports in 10 year. The IT world changes so fast I worry that if I stick doing this one thing, I may find one day that I’m out of a job with skills so out of date I struggle to find something else.
Not only that but I’m not sure what the skills worth, I’m currently being paid slightly less than my previous job but its will within my pay expectations as a graduate, but is it likely to go up?? Should I expect the pay increases my graduate friends are getting as developers, programmers and system analysis or should I use this as a stepping-stone and keep looking for a development job?
So basically what I want to know is, does Crystal have a good future? More importantly will they be good prospects for me in the future? How should I look forward with my career?? And in fear of repeating past mistakes how do I make sure I keep being paid a competitive rate for the job I do?