[ubuntu-uk] Advice for the future

[Daniel Lamb]

Matthew, kind of what I was getting at, but you said it a lot better!

Jai just remember a job should be fun as well, don't pick IT due to it being
well paid some people enjoy being a bus driver, make sure your happy, trust
me money isn't everything, also depending what aspects of IT you get into
its not as well paid as you think.

Daniel

-----Original Message-----
From: ubuntu-uk-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com
[mailto:ubuntu-uk-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com] On Behalf Of Matthew Larsen
Sent: 17 October 2007 00:06
To: British Ubuntu Talk
Subject: Re: [ubuntu-uk] Advice for the future

On 16/10/2007, Daniel Lamb <daniel.lamb at dlcomputing.co.uk> wrote:
> Experience is almost as important or even more important than degrees, my
> advice would be find someone in your area then get some work with them if
> you can, easy than it sounds I know you might even need to do it for free
> but its good to get experience and then you will know what you want to
focus
> on. If you want to then work up to getting linux degrees or network with
> cisco etc, can help you decide what part of IT you would want to work in
as
> it is a massive field.
>
> Or if you like it you can be like some people(myself included) and get
into
> anything IT related from media players to massive servers. Which is fun,
but
> obviously pretty hard.
>
> Regards,
> Daniel

I agree with you ... to a point.

There are a number of factors to consider Jai:
1) What do you want to do. Research? Analysis? Consulting? Support?
2) Who do you want to work for. IBM / Sun / Yourself / local business
/ Cap Gemini / a school?
3) Who do you want to work with? IT professionals, leet haxors, your mates?
4) *Do you have the neccessary skills*. Can you explain a technical
concept to your mother? Can you go away and write a system given a few
months? Have you any proof of your skills?
5) *Do you have the neccessary qualifications*
6) *Do you have the neccessary experience*

The important ones I have marked out.

A degree in Computer Science will not teach you any of the soft
skills. It will not teach you any of the business skills. It will
teach you how to code, how to code well and all the underlying
knowledge you will need to build any computer system. Hence Computer
Science. If it means studying A level maths, study it. I had to and I
am pants at maths.

Qualifications (like MSCE, Java Certified Engineer) mean jack. Your CV
does your talking for you. Experience beats qualifications any day of
the week. The exception is a degree. Your degree is more than a piece
of paper saying: "I can code in Java" or "I can fix a broken AD tree".
What anyone says about a degree being useless is wrong. Sorry. 90% of
employers will take the guy with the degree any day (for young people)
over someone who doesnt. If ANYTHING join the BCS. TBH anyone who
takes themselves seriously in computing is a member of the BCS.

Build your skillset now, while you still have a chance. Join the
clubs, join the open source mailing lists (employers really dig the
OSS stuff), play in bands, do stuff. This will make you a much more
rounded individual and you will gain so much experience doing this
stuff. Not to mention building up your network.

Do not fall into the typical IT trap of thinking your the dogs
bollocks. Do not spell Hyper-Text Markup Language wrong on your CV.
There will _always_ be something you don't know, or _someone_ who is
better than you. If you lie about what you can do, you *will* get
found out, and you *will* look like an idiot. Be honest, no-one is
expecting you to be perfect, and most employers would rather have
someone they can shape up and give new perspectives on things.

The most important thing is go with your instintcs. You shouldn't
force yourself to do something you will not enjoy for the rest of your
life. Likewise no-body is going to force you to do anything: you need
to decide what you want to do and go for it. If it doesnt work out,
chill, there is plenty of time to sort it out :-)

Hope that helps,
-- 
Matthew G Larsen
   > mat.larsen at gmail.com
   > matthew.larsen at logicacmg.com

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