Discovering Higher and Degree Apprenticeships with UWE Bristol, get free advice >>

Best IT career path for someone with

Guys,

I studied politics at university and since graduated I’ve been working in finance / accounting. However, I’d really like to pursue a career in IT but I am slightly confused as to my options and what career path would best suit someone with no technical or programming knowledge.

What career would be best for me in terms of landing an entry level job, and also an area that offers job security and won’t be off shored to India?

I was thinking of learning java in my spare time but would learning java through online courses equip me the knowledge to land a full time job, is java by itself enough? My other option is to take some online courses in SQL and Oracle and find a role within databases. Another idea I was considering was taking the comptia exams and getting work in user support (i.e. helpdesk roles) but again is this a good career path?

Any suggestions as to the best route into IT for someone without any IT knowledge or skills.

Reply 1

Evizu

Game making is good I guess, This Autumn il be studying Buisness Information Systems and plan to pursue a career as some sort of analyst. Buisness/Systems Analyst seems to be an interesting carrer to follow out, always been a dream of mine to work in the City somewhere in IT :biggrin:

Best of luck choosing what you plan on doing

Java C++ is very intersting line of work which as i said earlier can offer you a job in the game industry where the pay is relativly good :smile:

Reply 2

iliketurtles

Vechtetoe; Game development is a very specialised area, which doesn't rely involve Java at all. I wouldn't recommend that as a career path. Depending on which exact area, it's also extremely mathematically based and heavily relies upon knowledge from a Computer Science/Software Engineering degree. There are also very few game development companies in the UK, which might not suit your location. It's also quite competitive.

It's definitely worthwhile learning Java to grasp the concepts of an object oriented approach to programming. Java is also a good choice as a beginners language. It's also good to get you into the sort of highly technical mindset which will be required in any decent career in computing.

There are plenty of options for an entry level job, 'first line' telephone support in an IT helpdesk is relatively easy to get into and can often lead to further second line and more technical roles. This doesn't always necessarily require any specific degree, qualifications or training; and some companies will train you to a suitable standard. The downside is that the pay is only reasonable and the job is essentially working in a call center, which is quite demoralising.

I've noticed many 'Trainee' roles on job sites as I've been looking for a graduate job, some with very impressive starting salaries (£40k+). 'Trainee Technical Consultant' for example, which might be appropriate if you want to consider something which may be useful in the longer term.

Have you considered any finance/IT related jobs? Perhaps something like this?

Whatever people say there is always going to be demand for such roles in the UK. In fact, many companies which have outsourced are moving their operations back from India.

Reply 3

Severo

If you are looking to go into the Database region of IT then I would suggest learning everything you can to do with Databases, whether it's SQL, Oracle or MySQL using PHP on the web as well as securing Databases, Administrating them and designing and developing them. I believe that there are official Oracle Certifications which will be looked for.

Also Databases are one of the best to get into, but I believe that you may have to get a few years experience administrating a boring small Database on a rubbish wage as most want good experience and working knowledge of Databases.

Game Development is another brilliant area but to be honest it's immensely competitive and theres not many game studios in the UK, more to do with Design but not Development. Java is a brilliant skill to have as it will help with OOP, OOD and such and it will also give you understanding of programming in general which is a useful skill.

Although not speaking from experience the Comptia+ exams such as A+ are very easy to get and will generally get you into a help-desk role but most people can get them as you only have to memorise certain things and not actually apply them for the exam so lots of people have them. If you want something then CCNA, CCNP and MCSE, MSCA would be much better, but even they have become popular and they focus more on Networking and Servers.

As said above Financial Computing is a brilliant area to get into, especially for money.

Reply 4

WoWZa

First off, you don't necessarily need a degree in IT to pursue a career in the IT sector. Java is an expansive language, with various editions, and even a course that focuses on Java as its main programming language will only teach the basics; there is much still to learn.

What you need to do is to demonstrate to the employer that you have an interest in IT, and that doesn't necessarily mean writing applications that consist of lots of code. Get some experience in applications (or even on the development front) that you think you may enjoy and consider building a portfolio. There are two parts of IT (and these can overlap): The technical and business aspects.

Reply 5

ThePants999

We're happy to recruit people with no IT experience into programming roles, as long as they have an excellent academic record (e.g. straight As at A-level) and display a clear aptitude for technical roles (e.g. logical mind, problem-solving ability). And we definitely offer job security (no layoffs, ever, in our 26-year history).

http://www.dataconnection.com

Best IT career path for someone with

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you