Work in IT? HELP!?

[SKurj]

Heyas

Well tonight is my last class, hopefully.. and then I graduate.

But damnit I completely gapped, and need to complete a report which involves interviewing a few people in the IT field.

If you work in IT and wouldn't mind sharing some information it would be appreciated.

Just answer these questions:


Where do you work?   (just company name is fine)


What do you do?


How did you get interested in this line of work?


What do you like about the job?


What don't you like about it?


How does the future look in your line of work?


In school (or otherwise) what do you think prepared you most for your current job?


Do you see yourself staying in your current line of work until retirement?




No need to write an essay +)
If you answer the questions, I also have to submit contact information, so perhaps ya could just private message me your email address and real name.

For those that do reply to this... Thanks for your time!!



SKurj

[Swoop]

Where do you work?   (just company name is fine)

AT&T


What do you do?

3rd line tech support


How did you get interested in this line of work?

the money


What do you like about the job?

the money


What don't you like about it?

the taxes


How does the future look in your line of work?

bleak


In school (or otherwise) what do you think prepared you most for your current job?

lunchtimes with nothin else to do but sit around in the computer room.


Do you see yourself staying in your current line of work until retirement?

hell yeah, I can't do anything else

[gofaster]

Where do you work?  

AT&T

What do you do?

Contracts Negotiator

How did you get interested in this line of work?

Fusion of college degree and computer hobby

What do you like about the job?

I can set my own hours, more or less, so long as I get the job done by deadline and don't violate company policy in doing it.

What don't you like about it?

No matter how many times I say we can't accomodate a concession, some sales exec says we can, pulls rank on me to concede it, and then it blows up in their face and they say "but Contracts put it in" to cover themselves.

How does the future look in your line of work?

Bleak.  I'm really not looking forward to getting back into bankruptcy work.

In school (or otherwise) what do you think prepared you most for your current job?

Business classes (particularly Economics and Business Law) and contracts law courses, with a lot of writing and research.  A knowledge of American history pays dividends, too, particularly the topics involving the industrial revolution, Civil War, and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

Do you see yourself staying in your current line of work until retirement?

Would like to, but the economy and field of industry are saying otherwise.  I remember in high school all the students would lament "I'm going to be (insert profession here) so why do I need to study (insert class here)."  You learn that "useless" stuff because you may actually have to take a job that requires a knowledge of that useless stuff.   I'm glad I took Physics as an elective in HS.  A little knowledge of electrical flow and garage computer-building can go a long way in negotiating a warranty clause.

[Erlkonig]

The unemployment line forms on your left.

[OIO]

While im not in IT, I was looking into getting in it.

So i'll be your antihero here:


Where do you work? (just company name is fine)


N/A


What do you do?

N/A

How did you get interested in this line of work?

Computers are a hobby/passion plus im the kind of person that can't see one broken without having to fix it.

What do you like about the job?

(from what i researched when applying around:)Nice pay, flexible hours (mostly) and of course, doing something I liked.

What don't you like about it?

See below

How does the future look in your line of work?

As someone else mentioned, bleak. I stopped looking for a job there when I read about and met victims of, the downsizing caused by companies moving their operations overseas, mainly to India. And since those jobs that were being moved out were the 'fluid' jobs (aka, entry levels and mid level jobs), that meant that those that were kept in the US were manned by people that had uberskills and experience there was no chance for me to match... best I could hope for was to wait until they aged and died out to take their place.

[CyranoAH]

Just answer these questions:

Where do you work?   (just company name is fine)

Estudio Brainstorm, S.L.

What do you do?

CEO. Meaning I do all sorts of things and no holiday whatsoever

How did you get interested in this line of work?

Interested in space sector for a long time (still am), but this bussiness opportunity related with the internet came across and it was too good to let it pass

What do you like about the job?

If I do things right, things go right. If I do things wrong, things go wrong. I like bussiness simplicity

What don't you like about it?

No holidays (yet)

How does the future look in your line of work?

I plan on making the company grow and stabilize, then move on to create a small system engineering consulting company, focusing on the space sector and quality control.

In school (or otherwise) what do you think prepared you most for your current job?

Learning how to cope with failure and learn from it

Do you see yourself staying in your current line of work until retirement?

Read above


Daniel

[takeda]

Where do you work? (just company name is fine)

University of Salamanca, Spain


What do you do?

Systems administration and small applications programming for the University Computer and Network Services: mostly Solaris, Linux, PHP, MySQL, Java, Oracle.

How did you get interested in this line of work?

I loved and basically learned by myself UNIX administration, web developing and progamming while I was a student.

What do you like about the job?

Decent pay, can stay in my great hometown, lots of holidays, lots of free time.

What don't you like about it?

All my bosses and 95% of my coworkers are jerks that just spend their time making sure nothing gets done so their can cover their own incompetence, I guess in 5 years i'll be just like them. The little I get accomplished myself is through going my way, hiding it, shortcutting them, risking in fact getting a bad rep.

How does the future look in your line of work?

It looks good enough. I can get a permanent position here (pretty likely if I dont get too burned), Even if I had to leave, I'm confident I'm versatile enough to get some offers elsewhere. In fact I have offers right now.


In school (or otherwise) what do you think prepared you most for your current job?

Nothing. They mostly kept me occupied with advanced maths and nonsense. Some programming courses were OK. Some guy used to rant about his work experience instead of teaching by the book, that was somewhat useful. Software Engineering classes by someone that never completed a real project suck, I mean, that guy really believed all that stuff...


Do you see yourself staying in your current line of work until retirement?

If I can't get away with it, yes. Though I don't think Linux, Apache, PHP, MySQL, Java and Oracle will cut it 30 yrs. from now

[SKurj]

Thanx guys

Anymore?

oh I guess private messaging doesn't work, if you could just email me @ skurjz@rogers.com I just need your email address.  It will NOT be used, it just says in the instructions that the prof wants contact info.   I know she can't be bothered to verify everything


SKurj

[Krusher]

Where do you work?  
Hewlett Packard


What do you do?  
I work in the Custom Technology Center


How did you get interested in this line of work?  
It was a hobby gone very very bad


What do you like about the job?  
As a team lead I have influence over who works in my department. It helps keep the riff raff away !


What don't you like about it?  
I dont do as much technical work as I would like (to many reports and crap)


How does the future look in your line of work?  
Semi- stable. I say semi because IT is in a state of Flux. The service end is were I work and it seems to be holding up better than programers and support work.


In school (or otherwise) what do you think prepared you most for your current job?  
Training classes, OJT, and College (in that order)


Do you see yourself staying in your current line of work until retirement?   I honestly cant say right now. I hope, but who knows. This isnt an industry where they like old guys and I will be 43 in 2 weeks.

[_Schadenfreude_]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/biztech/08/11/training.replacements.ap/index.html

[SKurj]

Thank you very much for taking my little survey guys much appreciated!!


Not sure what the posts about unemployment are trying to prove they mean next to nothing for me.  I've just completed 3 years of school and hopefully just attended my last class of college.  Sure I may have an uphill battle finding a decent first job, but I'm not about to throw in the towel ...


SKurj