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Newsletter – 18 June 2009 – IT Jobs for Dummies

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Last weekend was my wife’s birthday. She has decided that she is at the age where you stop having numeric birthdays and have colours instead. So this year she is “purple”. She celebrated by popping over to Paris for the weekend with her sister. Of course you can only do that if you happen to live close to France, as we do. The Channel Tunnel and Eurostar have made a quick train trip from London to Paris a very pleasant experience, something we could not dream of a few years ago.

It helps too that we can afford to do it. Working in IT has given us consistent earnings to afford these little luxuries from time to time. What about you? Are you still wondering how to get into IT, or how to get a better IT job than the one you’ve got, or whether you qualify to be an IT person?

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IT Jobs For Dummies

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It’s amazing how many people think that to be in IT you have to be a geek or a guru, and that dummies like us don’t qualify. That’s one of the more persistent myths.

When you hang around with IT people you find they are regular guys and gals just like you. Some are brainy, some are dummies but most are just ordinary people trying to earn a living.

What they have in common is that they are all mostly well paid. The IT industry is desperate for good people so the pay rates have stayed high. It’s been this way for over 40 years and shows no signs of going away.

Like any industry it has its ups and downs – the current recession being a good example – but recessions go away and generally IT people prosper.

There are a lot of myths surrounding jobs in IT. Let’s explore some of them and prick a few bubbles.

IT Job Myths

The first step is to accept that if you work in the corporate sector, either public or private, you are in effect working in the IT Industry – and the IT Industry can be very well paid!

Of course, when I make that statement, you can immediately raise lots of objections and questions. Let’s look at a few of them:

But I don’t have an IT degree!

It doesn’t matter. There are literally millions of well paid IT professionals out there and only a small percentage of them have IT degrees.

A recent survey (www.jobserve.com) of one day’s worth of IT permanent jobs on offer showed the following:

4440 jobs were advertised in the UK, with only 448 (10%) mentioning a degree
the same day in Australia there were 461 jobs, 49 of which (11%) mentioned a degree
even in the USA and Canada, countries which tend to be more degree-conscious, on the same day there were 6367 jobs, with 1465 (23%) mentioning a degree

This means you can safely apply for between 77% and 90% of all jobs on offer without a degree (depending on where you live). Not bad odds?

If you are looking for a contract job it’s even better, with the percentage looking for a degree being:

USA / Canada 13%
UK 3%
Australia 5%

So basically the degree is a bit of a non-issue. You can even argue that the companies who want people with degrees are the ones you should keep away from anyway! There are better ways to find good candidates, than looking at their degree collection.

I’ve never written a program in my life!

It doesn’t matter. Maybe 30 years ago the bulk of jobs in the IT sector were for computer programmers. Today programmers represent a small, and fast shrinking, percentage.

In the same survey quoted above, of all jobs advertised in all the countries surveyed, some 29% appeared to be looking for programmers.

This means that some 60% of ALL jobs / contracts advertised internationally were not for programmers and did not ask for a degree. (The actual percentage figures differ from country to country, and even between different regions in the same country – but you get the general idea.)

But how can I class myself as an IT professional – I just work in the business?

Not true. As we said above, most business functions today require some knowledge of IT systems, and dealing with IT systems and people. IT used to be a separate part of the business, often hidden away from “real” people. Today almost everyone works in the IT industry in one form or another.

You don’t believe me? Which of the following jobs could today be classed as working in the IT sector?

Call centre operator or manager
Book keeper
Purchasing clerk
Performance analyst
Airline check in
Business analyst
Store man
Retail sales
Customer service

The fact is they ALL are, and hundreds more besides. In fact it’s hard to find a job today that doesn’t have a significant IT component. In future newsletters we’ll discuss what some of these jobs are, and how to get them.

Our e-book “Jack's Guide to Lots More Money” goes into this topic and much more, and shows you how to work the system to get the well paid job you deserve.

For our full list of publications see our websites at www.jacksguides.com

www.icanraiseyourincome.com

Previous newsletters.

In response to several requests, we have published many of our older newsletters. You can find them at http://www.jacksguides.com/news.html

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This newsletter is published by Kevin Ramsey for Jack's Guides.

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I hope you've enjoyed this issue of our newsletter.

Please let me know if you have any questions, suggestions

or requests.

Enjoy and prosper in your chosen career.

Till the next issue.

Kevin Ramsey

Founder of Jack's Guides