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What's the real deal with IT careers? Good or bust?
As others have said, both. If you have the right knowledge, training, certifications and experience companies are throwing money at you to hire you. It can be challenging and rewarding.
If you have the wrong kind of knowledge and experience, IT sucks. Low pay, staffing agencies, out sourcing, little to no job security.
Jobs that suck. Help desk, Desk Side support, low level programmers, Server admin.
Jobs that are great. Software engineer, IT Security, Cyber Security.
What's the real deal choosing a career path in the IT field. I hear such contradictory statements from different people.
One on hand... Almost every time I read some career/job searcher article, IT jobs are put at the top of the list. Education and Career/Recruiting Specialists keep urging more students need to go into IT programs because there apparently is some terrible gap that needs to be filled. Too many jobs and not nearly enough people, that coupled with pay in the 60-80k range (starting) make it a no brainer. Seriously, just Google any best careers list or try to get info off the web about the IT field and you only read good things about it. I quickly found the below article in a simple search and IT jobs are number 1 on the list. Security and Network Administration positions also made the list.
But then on the other hand, any time I've talked to, or heard from someone personally working in IT, they always urge the exact opposite. Avoid IT like the plague they say. Intense job competition, layoffs abound, tons of work getting outsourced overseas, and degrading work environments and pay.
Why the disparity?? It's hard to say the people actually working in the field are lying or something, but I just find it odd IT careers are so highly recommended by recruiters and education professionals, but hated so much by the professionals in the field that they vehemently warn against going that route.
What's the real deal with IT careers? Good or bust?
I dislike it when people say IT careers-- its like saying I want to work with computers.
"IT" is massive and it encompasses many different aspects from tech support (low end, entry level and easily outsourced) to hardware and systems engineering, etc. Then you have IT management, project managers, scrum leaders, analysts, etc.
Experience gives people a huge edge as well as mobility (aka you don't mind moving from one tech center to another). A lot of the entry level IT jobs are pretty dead end unless you really parlay that experience into higher roles which for some can be very difficult.
The reality is that most people who say that they want to work in IT may not have the right education, aptitude, skills and even going to school for them will not instantly make them qualified to do the well paying IT jobs.
I know in one of my previous companies they had a huge first year graduate program where they brought in talented college graduates from key schools to prepare them from any kind of technical role from systems analysis, engineering (software, network and infrastructure), development, etc. Those kids had a great opportunity to get entry level in the 50k range and help really get the experience to move into higher level work.
Can someone shed some light on database ? is database same as business intelligence or big data ? Can one start an IT career in database?
How hard is it to get into database ?
I work in IT and never have been laid off and never known anyone that has been outsourced. I was a DOD contractor and now work for the Federal Gov so thats the reason. IT is such a large field with many sub fields making a blanket statement about IT as a whole is silly. If you want in IT go for it but get the certs and edu so you can always be ready to find a new job if things go sideways. I know lots of people say you don't need certs or degrees for IT and that is true but longterm it's the way to go.
As others have said, both. If you have the right knowledge, training, certifications and experience companies are throwing money at you to hire you. It can be challenging and rewarding.
If you have the wrong kind of knowledge and experience, IT sucks. Low pay, staffing agencies, out sourcing, little to no job security.
Jobs that suck. Help desk, Desk Side support, low level programmers, Server admin.
Jobs that are great. Software engineer, IT Security, Cyber Security.
Why would server admin suck? Tons of freedom, work from home ability, great benefits, training opportunities, fat salary. Servers are everywhere... The ones being breached, the ones running cloud environments, large corporations, banks, etc.
Why would server admin suck? Tons of freedom, work from home ability, great benefits, training opportunities, fat salary. Servers are everywhere... The ones being breached, the ones running cloud environments, large corporations, banks, etc.
Only downside I see is the 24x7x365 requirement.
Not my IT Job
Without the 24X7 requirement you may have to accept a lower paying position
it comes with trades off
If you are available 24/7 thou expect a pay boost
Can any IT sys admins provide some good advice on how to become an actual system admin?
I quote the word actual because my first job was basically help desk tier. Then I got a job as a learning management system administrator. I'm responsible for a few windows servers, but, only on the software level. The virtualization and hardware implementation is handled by the real server admins. So I'm basically just a "blackboard admin". I've done a lot of coding/scripting and database querying on my job, but, I just don't think it's an environment that will take me to where I want to be(which is an enterprise system admin).
I just don't know how to really become that person or role. Would it necessitate me taking a side step into a generic, but still above, help-desk role and becoming an "IT Support Specialist"? I have a home lab but I'm not really sure that self-teaching myself and putting it on my resume will fly.
I already have my degree in IT(from an actual uni, not a trade/tech school).
I hear people say that there are shortage of nurses, be a nurse. They say it's easy to get a job as a nurse. I have two nurse friends who are struggling to get a job. One decided to move in the middle of nowhere, just to be employed as a nurse, the other works minimum wage at a retail store, waiting to be called in.
My other friend who is actually working as a nurse said that they have been doing a lot of layoffs lately, so she strongly discourages people from being a nurse. We are all in the same age group, early 30's.
I work for a software company and I know more people hiring in this field (user support), than getting laid off. I hear more people leaving and moving around for better opportunities (including system administrators and developers), because it's easy to move around and find work.
IT position is basically anywhere where you see a computer, which is everywhere.
My coworker started as desk support. He learned the database and SQL on the spot (he has a major in History lol), now he's moving and he's on his 3rd interview with GE for an IT position. The skills required for the position were all learned from working with our company. The tasks we do at work is actually something they don't teach at school...or not that I know of (RIS/PACS).
In whatever you do, just do your best and learn as much as you can and go from there.
Can any IT sys admins provide some good advice on how to become an actual system admin?
I quote the word actual because my first job was basically help desk tier. Then I got a job as a learning management system administrator. I'm responsible for a few windows servers, but, only on the software level. The virtualization and hardware implementation is handled by the real server admins. So I'm basically just a "blackboard admin". I've done a lot of coding/scripting and database querying on my job, but, I just don't think it's an environment that will take me to where I want to be(which is an enterprise system admin).
I just don't know how to really become that person or role. Would it necessitate me taking a side step into a generic, but still above, help-desk role and becoming an "IT Support Specialist"? I have a home lab but I'm not really sure that self-teaching myself and putting it on my resume will fly.
I already have my degree in IT(from an actual uni, not a trade/tech school).
I worked as a sys admin for several years and began getting experience in SQL development and DBA work. Honestly, the sys admins are at the bottom of the food chain. This has been made apparent to me in several ways. My first sys admin job was outsourced to an IT provider as the controller of the company and the other upper management didn't care about me. The database and software devs were at the top of the food chain. In my current position, the dev group is treated like royalty, while the rest of us are treated as disposable entities. I have extensive database (and now virtualization) experience, but because I don't have a masters in CS, I'm treated as if my skill set is commonplace and not in demand. The difference in treatment between groups is mind boggling. And this is at a very large tech company. Some of the smaller companies might treat all the disciplines much better. This is just my experience, of course YMMV.
I worked as a sys admin for several years and began getting experience in SQL development and DBA work. Honestly, the sys admins are at the bottom of the food chain. This has been made apparent to me in several ways. My first sys admin job was outsourced to an IT provider as the controller of the company and the other upper management didn't care about me. The database and software devs were at the top of the food chain. In my current position, the dev group is treated like royalty, while the rest of us are treated as disposable entities. I have extensive database (and now virtualization) experience, but because I don't have a masters in CS, I'm treated as if my skill set is commonplace and not in demand. The difference in treatment between groups is mind boggling. And this is at a very large tech company. Some of the smaller companies might treat all the disciplines much better. This is just my experience, of course YMMV.
I'm a systems engineer and I think it is a stretch to say that admins are at the bottom of the food-chain. Your first-level support type roles (help desk, desktop support, etc.) more aptly fit that description. Last I checked, the average salary for a system admin was about 90k, so take it for what you will.
As for becoming a sys admin, you definitely want to have broad systems knowledge, but having an area of specialization under that umbrella (virtualization, cloud, security, etc.) would certainly be helpful. I worked my way up from general support, to a systems analyst, to now a systems engineer. So it can be a grind, but the payoff is worth it.
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