employment sense

  by: Jon Richards

Let's start by making one thing clear: IT qualifications aren't worth the paper they're written on without experience. Anyone who has ever programmed a computer knows why. It is one thing to know the difference between a method and an attribute. It's entirely something else to actually write code that a computer can understand. (jobs employment )

In exactly the same way, it's one thing to sit in a classroom reciting, "Veux-tu admirer mon gros jambon?" It's another thing altogether to go to Monte Carlo and ask directions to Shirley Bassey's digs. Learning to do anything with computers involves not simply learning a variety of languages, but becoming proficient in using them. Colleges can teach you the difference between a method and an attribute, but proficiency is something that comes with loads of practice. Hence the importance of experience. ( employment job )

How you get an IT job without the experience that comes from having a job is the $64,000 question. Most large firms operate graduate-recruitment programmes, usually located in the south-east: London, Reading, Bracknell and Cambridge are especially popular locations. These programmes tend to be competitive, and you may find that their impressive-sounding starting salaries don't stretch far in those locations. However, if you are successful, you can probably expect to advance rapidly, with commensurate salary increases.

Away from the south-east, IT firms tend to be smaller with limited training budgets, and so post job ads containing the dreaded word, "experience". Some regions operate work-experience schemes, such as "Go Wales," offering brief work placements for new graduates. This author's personal experience of Go Wales is that placements tend to be few in number, and competition is as tough as it is for permanent jobs – you may as well concentrate on applying for the jobs. Whether similar programmes in other regions provide better opportunities is something individuals must determine for themselves.

Your best chance comes from specialisation – decide early which field you want to enter, then focus your study upon it (you can broaden your knowledge once you've got a job). Then get all the experience you can, however you can. Website design, although a crowded sector is perhaps one of the easier ones – you can always design websites for yourself, or for charities and voluntary groups, and this has the advantage that you can refer recruiters to them so they can admire your handiwork.

Alternatively, you may need to start humbly, taking a low-level job that you may feel is below your abilities, but that will provide some experience in the field. For example, a lot of technicians may take a job in a computer-repair shop, or in help-line call centres. However, remember that, especially at bachelor's level, an IT degree is worth as much as any other degree and many IT graduates end up working in a wholly unrelated field.