Get ready for more family secrets. But first:

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Joke of the week – Sinking Ships

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If you don’t like rude jokes about Presidents or politicians, I suggest you skip this section.

Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and George Washington are on a sinking ship.

As the boat sinks, George Washington heroically shouts, "Save the women!"

George W. Bush hysterically hollers, "Screw the women!"

Bill Clinton asks excitedly, "Do we have time?"

UK readers may like to substitute New Labour for presidents – after all New Labour is not on a sinking ship – it IS a sinking ship.

Instead of Washington, Bush and Clinton imagine Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and Jacqui Smith’s husband!

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More Family Secrets

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If you read last week’s newsletter, you will recall how I came around to creating the Jack’s Guides 7 Point Plan for getting a well paid job in IT.

I have been intrigued over the years to observe what kind of people are in IT; how they got in; whether they have prospered or not.

During that time I have been able to help a lot of people both get into IT and move up the ladder – mentoring if you like.

The real test for me came some years ago when my two sons, neither of whom had achieved very much at high school, decided they didn’t want to go to college but instead announced that they wanted to work in IT.

This situation forced me to consider all my vague thoughts and mentoring experience and to formulate a strategy to help them into well paid IT jobs.

This strategy formed the basis for Jack’s Guides’ 7-point plan.

First – Older son.

Older son at 17 still didn’t know what he wanted to do for a living. He had generally ambled through school and seemed to have little ambition.

Probably influenced a bit by some of his mates at school he had notions of becoming a roof tiler or a motor mechanic – this from a boy who had never opened a car bonnet in his life!

When I first suggested he could think about IT he said “I don’t want to spend my life sitting at a computer screen”, to which I replied “but that’s what you do with your life now”.

Anyhow, after a while he came around and got interested, possibly because of the IT magazines I used to leave lying around full of job ads for well paid jobs.

Luckily for him, at the time I was building some software for a client and I asked if he wanted to work with me as a trainee. He accepted and we spent a more or less harmonious couple of years working together.

After that he left me to try to carve his own career. Because of the knowledge he had acquired he managed to talk his way into another programming job, and then eventually into an international consultancy, still only in his mid twenties.

Today he is a very successful IT Project Manager in the top 10% of earners. And – no college degree!

Of course not everyone has a father who can give you some basic training, but there are other ways around that hurdle we can show you.  

Second – Younger Son

Younger son was a bit more focussed than older son. He claimed he knew what he wanted to do, and gained a place at college to do it.

Then – after 6 months he got bored with it, dropped out and announced he would work in IT. Here we go again I thought.

This time, through my connections, I managed to get him a bottom end job as a “gopher” in a small IT department – basically fetching and carrying and installing.

Today he is a senior technical support manager in a large telecoms company, again in one of the highest earning brackets.

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The moral of these stories is – once you get that initial start in even the most menial job, you can quickly expand your horizons and earnings in the IT world. There really are no barriers other than yourself and your preconceived notions.

Of course it’s easier if you have a relative or friend who can help you with that first step, but there are ways to do it without. That’s what we can show you.

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These topics are discussed at length in our e-book “Jack’s Guide to Lots More Money” available at http://www.jacksguides.com/itjobs.html

If you are ready to make the leap into a much better paid job or contract, and be perfectly positioned as the recession eases, see our website at www.jacksguides.com