Whats the next step ? 7

[bigdaddy01]

Hey guys,

I have been in the IT industry for 5 years + a bit. I am curious, please let me know of your experience of the career path in IT is like.

What happens if you have been in the industry from 5 to 10 to 15 to 20 years?

Do you naturally progress up management?
(good people skills?)

I am interested to know of the IT "burn out" syndrome and also what happens to your salary after 5 years? are you worth more because of experience or do you lose value over time because you aren’t up with the latest technology?

Fundamentally, what’s the best career path?
Management
Self-employment
Dog’s body



Shaping the future, whats the most fufilling....

 

[Stevehewitt]

I think its dependant on what area of IT you have done. I have worked in Website design, programming (only basic stuff though), networking, phone systems and PC/Server building.
A broad scope puts you in a better position for managment of an IT department as you have a bit of experience in all areas of the department, whereas (IMHO) a programmer maybe a superb manager in some cases, but looking after a department of network technicians as well as other programmers may reduce understanding.

But it really does depend on what the department is. As for pay - again it varies on the company. If the company increases pay by 1.5% every year then I doubt it would change unless you did get a promotion.

And the only real way to get internal promotion is for someone to leave the company so unless you only have 1 years experience, you could be waiting 30 years before an opportunity comes up!! (Or go hunting elsewhere.)

Bottom line: Depends on the company!

Good Luck,

Steve.

 

[willir]

bigdaddy01

I think many of us, old and new, are pondering this same question.

Steve mentioned "depends on the company", and he is aboslutely right.

But it also depends on you, your passions, your strengths and your dislikes.

Not everyone becomes a manager, and not everyone who becomes a manager is happy. Being a consultant has a lot of freedom but requires a lot of drive, a good client base, transferable skills beyond technical and a wealth of experience.

And lastly, it depends on the industry. For example, IBM has a catchy TV ad.

A manager asks the local computer geek whats new. The computer geek starts off saying we just installed a SAN disk storage, and other technical mubo-jumbo. The manager's eyes' galze over and you can see he was sorry he asked. But then the geek says and it will save you hundreds of thousands of dollars. The manager perks up and starts the to pay attention. The screen fades into the next scene where about a dozen people are sitting on the floor listening to the geek "and people will be able to restore their own files without the help of IT..."

I think this ad is very prophetic. Managers jump at the idea of saving money, and the computer savants druel at the thought of the new technology. But how will a company save the $100,000's? By reducing IT costs.

I believe a few high level, higly skilled IT people will be running the show, and the many of the other IT jobs will become low end, low skill, low pay, mundane jobs.

Already this trend is happening. More and more software is "self-healing". Support services are being shifted over seas. Services are being leveraged and out sourced. These seem to be good things for business.

But for IT, it may mean transition and and uncertainty for some.

My thoughts are...
- You have to be smart -- make commen sense decisions.
- It helps to be intelligent.
- Yo have to be dynamic, and be willing to change.
- Improve upon your transferable skill set.
- Techical people have to maintain their skills, and to be aware of the new technologies.
- With leveraged services and centralized services, you have to be good, and you have to find the opportunity to join the development / lead team or teams. Otherwise you will find your self taking more and more direction from others in another state or provence or another country.
- Managers may have a bit more stability since they are managing deliverables, assets and people. But they have to make sure they are working in an area that will endure.

Lastly, you have to put on the rosey-red glasses and look to the future and try to predict what the next wave will be. Then start to plan on how you can be on that wave.

Having said all this, the transition will not happen all at once. Smaller companies may continue to do business the same old way; or they may move faster than the larger companies. People will still need their Access database applications to work, their web sites maintained, etc. But gradually, these too will change.

A good example of this is payroll. Not to long ago, small to mid size companies would use a single user or small LAN user payroll application. Now, much of the payroll is outsourced to a bank or other party.

I wish I knew what the future holds -- a lot of excitement I am sure, but how to prepare to for the transitions will be challenging.

Which beings me back to your question, and the three suggestions I have provided so far -- depends on the comapny, you and the trends in the industry.

Lastly, finding the right mix of your needs, your skill set and a company will depend a bit on luck.

 

[Zelandakh]

IT is great. It is varied and requires continual change.

Rising in IT requires more than technical skills. Beyond assistant supervisor means you need people skills and a host of other skills.

A lot of IT staff are technical (honestly, not all!). Some more than others. Those that rise can deal with other things - administrative, people skills, forward planning...

If you want to rise high, people skills are the key. A lot of technical staff are the old fashioned geek who can't talk to people or shake hands. Salesmen they aren't!

Your company will dictate your salary, your immediate career path and your current and immediate future skillset. Only YOU can decide when it is time to move on (obviously subject to redundancy and sacking!!!). Move when the company offers you nothing further.

 

[dilettante]

You can get to a point where even "moving on" is hard. Age discrimination is very real, and at some point companies may not be able to afford you full time no matter (or especially) when you have deep and/or broad mature skills they need.

This may be one thing that drives many into consulting and contracting. Sometimes that's an option for the highly specialized too, with the bonus that you don't have to pad your "downtime" with as many boring routine tasks.

It isn't for everyone. Sometimes you get into a spot where you need the relative security of a "permanent" job. Others of us may not be sure where to start as an independent.

This may be the alternative to management for a "mature" IT person with valuable skills who wants to increase income though. But it can mean a lot longer hours too.

 

[bigdaddy01]

Wow great response thanks every one..
So there is very little or no natural progression, its up to me, by that I mean just being in your position over time gives no or little value. Moving in to new technology's does.

Choose the next step myself, find my passion...
i like technology, but finding something that touches moves an inspires me me on a daily basis... a few idea's come up.
the transistion to this is the hard part.


No one mentioned burn out ?
No one mentioned if IT still brings in the money...

 

[Stevehewitt]

I don't know about burn out, but on the money issue:

I assume that you are from the US, so its hard to make a comparision - but if you go onto a UK employment website there are pleanty of jobs that are stated as £40,000 ($63,000) and more.
These are mainly programming and advanced web designing.

I think there is still lots of money still floating in the IT jobs market. If you have the broad range of skills to get the jobs is a different matter!

Steve.

 

[bigdaddy01]

I thought to "specialize" was more valuable than broad skills ? Does this market require a one man band, jack off all trades... well it reflects the job adverts i guess.
So how do I make myself more valuble in this climate?
certification indepth experence or broadrange experence?

 

[Stevehewitt]

I considor myself a very experienced professional on Windows networking. Its my specalist area where I am very confident.
Saying this I have also developed numerous websites in JavaScript/flash/DHTML, programming in Access/VBA/Visual Studio and General Support. (Developed helpdesk solutions and was only IT guy in company!)

I could probably get a job as an Webmaster, and possible a VBA developer. These are all skills that I can put on my CV, but I would be confident applying for most IT support and networking that are about.

Specalising is great until that area of IT has a bad time (e.g webmasters 2 years ago when the .com bubble burst!) then you have to learn new skills.

 

[pmonett]

I think the requirements of IT are contrary to specialization.
And that applies to me particularly. I have always been a Notes guy. It is all I know, and after 9 years, I'm not bad at it.
Unfortunately, I am witnessing a disturbing trend : Notes is going away. Slowly but surely, it wil be gone some time in the next few years.
That means I will be worthless, unless I manage to convert to something else.
So, specialization can be good, while it lasts. But you must always be ready to go on to something else, lest you be painted into a corner.

Pascal.

 

[VBAjedi]

Long-term job security and career growth as an IT professional is a difficult thing to obtain. Because technology is changing and growing at an incredible rate, and because it is getting "smarter" (i.e. it takes less people to keep it running), the traditional "techie" is in a precarious position. I believe you have two fundamental choices for success:

1) Be the absolute best techie around. If you are going to be a "niche" player, be the best. Know your technology inside and out. Know where it's been, where it's going, and what's likely to replace it in the future. Expect to have to start over at some point in the future when your niche gets snuffed. Regularly set aside some of your (excellent) pay to create a 6-12 month income buffer for the relearning phase that is coming.

2) Learn to specialize in the application of technology to a specific businesses' needs. Even the fastest, most reliable, self-healing, self-managing software needs human input to be applied to a specific business scenario. Be the one that specializes in identifying business needs (even before the business does!) and finding the technology that best (for now) meets those needs. Stay "light on your feet" - don't get too attached to any one technology. Learn new technologies quickly, but not necessarily completely. For any existing or future technology/software, there will be people that fit into category 1 that you can draw on for the hardcore implementation phase.

I'm putting my money (and time!) on approach 2, but I think either one can work well. Decide which of those two approaches sounds most appealing, most "you", then pursue it aggressively.

Good luck!





VBAjedi

 

[GlenJohnson]

Excellent thread. Here's a couple points of trends I'm seeing. Yes, software is becoming self-healing, but the new stuff will always be coming out. I specialized in W2K pro and server, now we have xp and windows 2003. M$ is always going to try and keep changing things. Still, specialization is needed. A lot of companies are saying "I just upgraded from NT, I'm not spending money on 2003!" Another thing I see is more and more jobs going overseas, which is killing us in IT. A magazine I recieve which touts itself as the bottom line in IT, has an article on how to outsource your IT project to other, cheaper countries, and keep track of the project. What I'm thinking about doing is going back into metallurgy, where the money and jobs are, with a strong PC background. Either way, if you want to stay in IT, (Even as a side job, which I will always do. Love the technology and dealing with the people), you GOTTA love it, cause there is no guarentee to the money anymore. Globalization has all but killed it. Good luck to all IT'ers.

Glen A. Johnson
Johnson Computer Consulting

http://www.johnsoncomputers.us

"I only know that I know nothing."
Socrates (47-399 BC); Greek philosopher

Want to get great answers to your Tek-Tips questions? Have a look at FAQ219-2884

 

[bigdaddy01]

Whats metallurgy ?

 

[KenCunningham]

It's a lurgy you get from messing with metals (probably only decipherable by UK contribs that one!).

Seriously, though it's study of the science and technology of metals. As far as I know....

 

[Grenage]

The science that deals with procedures used in extracting metals from their ores, purifying and alloying metals, and creating useful objects from metals.
The study of metals and their properties in bulk and at the atomic level.

So says dictionary.com

 

[dilettante]

Yep Glen,

There's a reason why my youngest son is enrolled in a school where the local paper is named "The Daily Mining Gazette."

;-)