I would like to know your views, opinions and experience of your career in IT. Do you like to recommend this career to your kids, friends or anyone?
Please read the link below and share your views in this forum
http://business.asiaone.com/Business/Office/Learn/Job%2BHunting/Story/A1Story20090105-112417.html
http://comment.straitstimes.com/showthread.php?t=16104
if u write a good programme.. and sell it.. u can earn tons of money just by selling the licences..
to me i would take Business Computing, cos if i can't get an IT job, i can get a stable normal office work
normally stable job is lowly paid, unless u are a minister!
Until you can work for a lower salary than those foreign IT professionals, then maybe you still stand a chance of being hired.
Really.
If stable jobs pay is low, then how about Teachers, Human Resource, Doctors, Dentist, Nurse, Lawyers, and other Civil Service professional. I don't think pay for these professionals is low.
Originally posted by light5000:If stable jobs pay is low, then how about Teachers, Human Resource, Doctors, Dentist, Nurse, Lawyers, and other Civil Service professional. I don't think pay for these professionals is low.
Nurse pay low leh, enrol nurse particularly low leh. Dunno what you term civil service professional, fark everyone in civil service has the term "officer" behind their post, even if you're a clerk, you're a clerical officer.
Originally posted by ditzy:Nurse pay low leh, enrol nurse particularly low leh. Dunno what you term civil service professional, fark everyone in civil service has the term "officer" behind their post, even if you're a clerk, you're a clerical officer.
For graduates, I think most of them are called assistant directors or directors.
I think for senior management, they have even longer titles.
I mean those middle level -to high rank officers in Defence and other government ministries. Nurse I heard that the pay is not bad, you can reach 4k and above once you reached your seniority off course you need to commit long working hours.
For your information, IT Career popularity is going down even in India. The leading destination with lot of IT Jobs being outsourced from US, UK and other developed countries. It is most high paying occupation for Indians in India. And Indian girls dream of marrying IT professional and lead luxurious life. Even these IT Crazy Indians now started considering alternative career paths
Please read the article below
In 2004, I really got fedup seeing all this 2 months, 3 months contract and 3PM to next day 5 AM odd working hours contract IT jobs, I didn't consider applying to all these contract jobs at that time since i don't like the idea of keep jumping from one company to another after a short period because i don't feel compfortable by keep changing the environment and get used with the new colleaques and bosses. Even If I applied it pretty hard to get into due to lot of competition.
So I thought to myself why not apply for jobs related to electronics since employers in that industry like to provide on-job-training but later I found out that they are looking for candidates with relevant qualifications like electrical, electronics and Mechatronics. I also saw IT job advertisement welcoming candidates with electrical and electronics qualification. I deeply regretted why don't I choose electronics course during my second year in polytechnic instead of computer engineering. The sad fact is that those holding electrical and electronics qualifcation can come into IT line but those holding Computer Engineering and IT qualifications can't take jobs related to electronics.
Then I started looking for positions in Clerical and Administration, Human Resource, but later discovered these employers only prefer mandarin speaking females with age group between 21 to 35. Not only this even other positions like receptionist, secretarial, Corporate service and Retail. Afterwards I realised that guys has to spend 2 to 2 1/2 years serving national service and it is the ladies who are enjoying more benefits in singapore job market.
Then later in 2006 I slowly I found my way landing in IT position but all are contract based getting unemployed for period of 1 to 2 months in between before landing another IT position. From this experience I realised that IT Career is highly volatile and very unstable. If it goes on like this a feeling of insecurity develops how one can financially get settled and get married. Also i can't continue further studies because iam unable to land a permanent job to finance my education.
From my experience working in IT
1. Career in IT can be compared to a Career as a fire
fighter. When there is fire, firefighter will rush to thespot
to put off the fire. When there is an issue the IT guy will
rush to the spot to resolve issues on time
2. You must be thick skinned, since you need to handle both
technical problems and people attitude.
3 Be prepared to handle chiding and complaints from people
4. Service level Agreement, you need to ensure that you
solve technical problems however complex it is on time
otherwise you will need to provide a lot of explanation
which is major headache.
5. Employers in many companies always have very high
expections from their IT professional. If you don't meet
upto their expectations you are simply asked to leave
6. Working in IT is not like playing video game
7. Be prepared for 24/7 stand by, rotating shifts, night
shifts, after office hours and on weekends
8. Please don't choose IT Career for money and prestige,
choose it if you really have passion. nowadays IT
salaries are getting less attractive
9. Last not the least, you have to be a tough guy
Originally posted by light5000:If stable jobs pay is low, then how about Teachers, Human Resource, Doctors, Dentist, Nurse, Lawyers, and other Civil Service professional. I don't think pay for these professionals is low.
Teachers, i don't think their pay is alot...
Doctors/Dentist/Lawyers need a very high education level and there is not many around
Civil Service- No idea
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U compare this with Oil Traders, IT Project Managers
its 1 heaven 1 hell
And do u even need to create a forum just for this ?!?!?!
Originally posted by light5000:In 2004, I really got fedup seeing all this 2 months, 3 months contract and 3PM to next day 5 AM odd working hours contract IT jobs, I didn't consider applying to all these contract jobs at that time since i don't like the idea of keep jumping from one company to another after a short period because i don't feel compfortable by keep changing the environment and get used with the new colleaques and bosses. Even If I applied it pretty hard to get into due to lot of competition.
So I thought to myself why not apply for jobs related to electronics since employers in that industry like to provide on-job-training but later I found out that they are looking for candidates with relevant qualifications like electrical, electronics and Mechatronics. I also saw IT job advertisement welcoming candidates with electrical and electronics qualification. I deeply regretted why don't I choose electronics course during my second year in polytechnic instead of computer engineering. The sad fact is that those holding electrical and electronics qualifcation can come into IT line but those holding Computer Engineering and IT qualifications can't take jobs related to electronics.
Then I started looking for positions in Clerical and Administration, Human Resource, but later discovered these employers only prefer mandarin speaking females with age group between 21 to 35. Not only this even other positions like receptionist, secretarial, Corporate service and Retail. Afterwards I realised that guys has to spend 2 to 2 1/2 years serving national service and it is the ladies who are enjoying more benefits in singapore job market.
Then later in 2006 I slowly I found my way landing in IT position but all are contract based getting unemployed for period of 1 to 2 months in between before landing another IT position. From this experience I realised that IT Career is highly volatile and very unstable. If it goes on like this a feeling of insecurity develops how one can financially get settled and get married. Also i can't continue further studies because iam unable to land a permanent job to finance my education.
From my experience working in IT
1. Career in IT can be compared to a Career as a fire
fighter. When there is fire, firefighter will rush to thespot
to put off the fire. When there is an issue the IT guy will
rush to the spot to resolve issues on time
2. You must be thick skinned, since you need to handle both
technical problems and people attitude.
3 Be prepared to handle chiding and complaints from people
4. Service level Agreement, you need to ensure that you
solve technical problems however complex it is on time
otherwise you will need to provide a lot of explanation
which is major headache.
5. Employers in many companies always have very high
expections from their IT professional. If you don't meet
upto their expectations you are simply asked to leave
6. Working in IT is not like playing video game
7. Be prepared for 24/7 stand by, rotating shifts, night
shifts, after office hours and on weekends
8. Please don't choose IT Career for money and prestige,
choose it if you really have passion. nowadays IT
salaries are getting less attractive
9. Last not the least, you have to be a tough guy
Agree with you with all the pts. Business user always think IT is easy stuff. We ppl must know not only the technical but also the functional knowledge so as to understand them. All those SLA and shift things are driving me crazy. One needs to be able to withstand pressure and mean criticism from harsh user to survive in this trade. Don't go into IT unless you are really thick-skin.
I cant even find a job after my degree graduation ... even i declare it as a full time in my resume...
But lucky I what i took is a part time .. cos cant even find a job now
How I feel after working in IT line for 11 years. A career which is unpredictable? Why?
I start working in 1998 @ shipping company (admin cum IT support) - permanent job but company relocated back to Japan due to high costing in singapore.
2000 - 2001(outsource company), every 3 to 6 months they will located you to different sites and total been to 9-10 different place (totally lousy job and how to you feel keep changing environments???)
2002 - 2006 (permant job - IT line), end 2006 - outsource to NCS , 7 out of 8 kenna retrench and force to leave. Left only a person as contact and IT support done by vendor.
2006 - 2007 - decide to switch line - sale
Work very hard but was makan and bully by the sale manager
left due to company political between sale manager and HR manager.
2007-2008
work in a international school at 1 year contract techician (downgrade myself), force to take much lower pay - 1 person role. Later school outsource to IBM and engage a IT staff as person to contact with all vendor.
2009
Jobless
After seeing through so much things, IT job is not worth of working is just like a sapan floating in a big sea .......
IT refers to Information Technology.
I do not have much working experience in the IT line myself since I am current still a jobless IT graduate.
But I do know of people (like my lecturers in MDIS) that either resigned or forced to leave from their IT Director or IT Project Manager positions and ended up as lecturers.
Know that IT Directors and Project Managers are the highest paid IT career positions an IT professional can get in the IT line, and also, know that eventually such IT positions will have to be left empty when businesses are no longer fruitful (earning money).
Other than goverment IT jobs, the best alternative for an IT professional is to become an IT trainer/lecturer (basically switch from IT to Education line).
omg ? i didnt knew IT career was so unstable and bad until i read this.
and i have been enrolled into IT course in poly already ..
oh crap ..
Originally posted by mindcow:I think Information Technology Jobs are still OK. But I think software sales have dropped... so it may also affect software development people such as programmers.
Yes there are lot of jobs but majority of jobless IT professionals can't even land one. Because expectations of nowadays employers are so high, they want you to have thousands of skills. They refuse to train and expects the employees to acquire skills themselves by investing their hard earned money like few thousands of dollars in some of the expensive computer learning centre like new horizons until he goes bankrupt or these employers like to poach the talented professional who is trained by another company. Nowadays employers are not willing to train they only like to poach poach poach talent from another company.
But on the good side is there are only few employers who are willing to train. My ex-employer is one of them, so I am thankful to them for giving me an opportunity. It is sad to see that there are only few good employers like this who are willing to train professional and leaving them into the market. Singapore should be proud to have these employers.
I hate employers who only like to poach and not willing to train. What if everybody wants to poach, there won't be enough talented or experienced professional in Singapore
QUESTION POSED ON: 20 June 2007
Is IT a good career choice? I heard from people who have been in this career for more than eight years say they regret choosing this career. They force themselves to upgrade for fear of losing their jobs in the future. Some even say if you keep updated with current skills, there is a chance that you will be replaced with younger workers with the same skills for lower wages. I find this career very confusing, and don't know if it is a safe track to pursue. If I take MCSE and CCNA and don't get hired, they become useless and I have to keep them in my showcase. My opinion is that if you have relevant certification but don't get hired then it is not a good career. One of the reasons why most people hate this career is because, unlike other professions, the experience and skills are outdated very quickly; there's a lack of entry level training; it's too demanding; and outsourcing. In my opinion this career is not a good choice, but I would like to know your point of view.
Dear Sir or Madam:
The old saying is that "very little in life is certain, except death and taxes." This applies in spades to what you say about an IT career in the following sense: unless you are deeply interested in the subjects involved and the related day-to-day work routine that goes into an IT job, it's probably not the best career for anyone, including yourself. Indeed, there is a constant pressure to keep updating and improving one's skills, but for those who are interested in and passionate about the subject matters and technologies involved, this is something they would do anyway, whether the pressure was there or not. If you don't share that degree of interest or motivation, indeed IT is not the kind of career that comes with a guaranteed ticket to success and advancement, especially not in this era of increasing outsourcing and offshoring.
Alas, however, no career is completely safe. Though advisors and long-timers like myself can see the current situation with a certain amount of perspective, we're all at the mercy of gross, macroeconomic forces that can change those circumstances enough to make them unrecognizable in a short period of time.
My general advice to people looking for a good spot to plant their career aspirations is to look for something that really interests you, and that also engages your passion and continued involvement. On that kind of fertile ground, something may always be made to grow, even when opportunities may otherwise be scarce.
Best of luck in your decision making process.
--Ed--
all the negetive sayings regarding I.T
anyone with positive input to voice out?
i'm a guy who flunk my O's. Had to take up 2 temp job in order to fork out money to feed myself, and schling fees.
Took a DIT course in Informatics, stopped for 3yrs due to NS. 1 Yr after ORD, i applied for extension, which was approved strangely.
Got my Dip last oct, been job hunting and doing temp here and there. Had just finished a reservist 2weeks ago. No news from companys/agents/whatsoever.
Been sending resume everyday!!
A few months back i'm feeling bored coz need to go for so many interviews and wait. Now i dont even have interviews. so jialet now.
any advise? now still jobless.
the economy is super bad now .. graduating now is not a good choice
Hi all,
I am an IT Masters grad with 6 years exp.
Right now, I am a Lead Consultant with a US MNC, and earning a monthly pay that is much higher than the average IT professional. I have worked for 2 different industries, and I specialize in Process Innovation and ERP.
What are my thoughts about an IT career?
Well, for starters, I think no domain is ever easy. Every domain (be it business, IT, research, engineering) have their own ups and downs. My engineers in my current industry are suffering because their niche is so deep that they cannot move out of the specific domain. As an IT personnel, you have the versatility to move across domains, but bear in mind that this also has its disadvantages.
What are my thoughts about the prospects of an IT career?
I feel there are 2 ends of the spectrum that you can succeed in:
But don't ever be someone in between, like an average developer, or average systems analyst. That's when your job is never safe, coz new grads, or people with less years of experience, can easily take over your job.
In short, I feel that it's the opportunities that one grasps, that helps to bring one's career forward, regardless of the industry.
I wish to add another point to an IT career.
IT, unlike many other domains, has a higher possibility of being exposed to the international arena.
Oracle, SAP, Microsoft, IBM, all are international companies, and their clients across the globe use the SAME type of applications to support their businesses. This in turn greatly enhances the marketability of an IT professional with international exposure.
If you look around, many countries are short of IT Talent, and its actually easier for an IT professional to get a visa to work in another country.
Lawyers, Doctors, yes, they may be highly-regarded professions in Singapore, but most of them deal with local clients.
Basically, all I want to say is that one needs to have an interest in his domain, then naturally he would find ways to focus on positives, and excel in his career.
Every profession has 2 sides to the coin. You can choose to look at the positive or the negative aspect of it.