Where to aim

I'm currently nearing the end of my second year at university studying Computer Science and I've managed to secure my placement with a top software firm (undergraduate developer position). I'm seriously considering where I go from here, I'll be returning to obviously complete my final year and get my degree but beyond that I'm not sure what way to go.

My first idea is to go for a graduate job in software development either at the firm my placement is at or somewhere else similar. However I've been told in terms of future prospects I'd just end up being a "code monkey" on a similar wage to that of when I started.

My second idea was to try and move into project management after a few years as a software developer as I think this would have more prospects.

Beyond that I'm not sure, can anybody offer any advice or alternative paths?

Reply 1

Stevo72

Hi Matt,

I started my IT career in 1987, and I'm still going strong after 25 years, so I'll give you my view based upon my own experience.

Basically, I wouldn't plan too far ahead. Just get your feet through the door, get some useful experience on your CV, and that will be a good grounding for the rest of your life. At an early age you should get some high profile names on your CV; in other words the organisations you work for are as important as the work you do. And getting to know roughly how the business works is as important as technical skills. Developing your soft skills is just as important; showing that you can work in a team; showing that you can work alone; showing that you can follow specifications; showing that you can work with no or poor specifications; showing that you can discuss issues with people at as senior a level as possible e.g. management even directors; showing that you are not stuck rigid to one type of methodology; showing that you are flexible in your working arrangements. You need to get this type of stuff on your CV over the coming years.

At uni I assume you are taught the "correct way" of designing software. In a work environment, what you can and cannot do is normally restricted by budgets, historical working practices and regulations. This often results in having to take short-cuts, making guesses or developing alternative methods just for one particular workplace in order to fit the solution into their budgets, timescales, company policy etc.

And the three most important things in software development are 1) testing, 2) testing and 3) testing. It doesn't matter how great your design is, if it fails when it is implemented you get egg on your face. All software is implemented with faults so testing error handling is as important as testing for successful outcomes.

As for career paths; the longer you are in the game the more pigeon holed everyone will try to make you. Always take the opportunity to try and use different bits of software to prevent this. A few weeks of something is more than someone who has zero weeks of it and recruiters pick up on it. Being just an expert at software X isn't much good if software X suddenly goes out of fashion. As for PM, I've yet to meet a happy, smiling PM.

That's my pennies worth.

Reply 2

SimplyMatt

Thanks mate, really helped.

Reply 3

Stevo72

Original post by SimplyMatt

Thanks mate, really helped.

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the quick reply. Just responding to people is another soft skill that goes down very well with employers, recruiters and colleagues.

I'll give you some background on myself to let you know where my viewpoint comes from. I was a washout at university, polytechnic in those days. I was doing Applied Physics but became a college dropout. Back in the summer of 1987 I was working in a bank pulling staples out of wads of cheque receipts from Pakistan. Then a bank manager came up to me and offered me a job in a small IT department. I said "Yes". It's very important to say "Yes" to the proverbial gift-horse.

For the first two years I mainly configured bank software on PC's including trips to Heathrow and Gatwick airports. They were IBM AT's. When the PS2 came out it was big deal :smile:

But it was fun. I then took an internal bank test to get a job in the main IT department. I passed it but had to chase the HR department to get a place on a 6 week COBOL training course. I spent the next decade as a bank mainframe application programmer working my way up through the grades to Senior Analyst Programmer (that was about £33k in the 90's). Along the way, if someone offered me a project on Sybase or Unix, I jumped at the chance.

Then in 2000 I left the bank, not on entirely amicable terms but with plenty of bank shares, and moved into SLQ/VB/ASP Server database development. I worked for a number of companies in the financial sector (insurance,lending,mortgages) most of which were American companies. I didn't enjoy most of them but my CV was building up experience nicely moving from one industry to another.

For the last few years I have been a contractor in both the public and private sector. As a contractor I get paid between £200 and £400 a day, depending upon who and where I am working (London area pays more obviously). I like being a contractor because the work is varied and you get paid upfront.

So in conclusion, though I did't have an IT degree as a starting point, I did have the willingness to say "Yes" to opportunities as they came along. I realised that mainframe work was being off-shored in the 90's and made a move into client-server so I could enter smaller markets. Since 2000, I think I have had about 85 job interviews of one sort or another. Most of them result in no job offer, but persistence has paid off for me.

Unfortunately, even in this day and age, it's as much who you know as what you know, that provides the opportunity to move on. So developing your network of contacts is important. I suggest you get onto Linkedin and start making your sales page for your skills. Show you are a human being, not just a technical resource. Connect with those recruiters before you have even left uni (but make sure you get your degree).

I wish you the very best for the future. I'm not the greatest programmer in the world, and not the greatest at dealing with management (I'm a bit blunt), but I kept asking questions and did that thing called "testing" to make sure when my work was implemented it didn't lose the client a ton of money.

You may be concerned about future job prospects in the current economic recession. I wouldn't worry too much. There are going to be millions of older workers retiring in the next two decades, leaving plenty of job roles for your generation to fill (I reckon unemployment for skilled people will drop to zero by 2020). On top of that, society is going to become even more reliant upon computers to run and manage it. So, as long as you don't piss off too many of the wrong people (I've pissed off several managers), you should be able to do the job you want and earn good money along the way.

When you get to the stage of talking to recruitment agents, give me a shout and I'll give you some of my experiences with them.

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