Where abouts in melbourne? Would you take a Cert IV student, i want to get some experience, more so see what a network engineer has to deal with, i imagine its very different to the uni's decription, and i want to make sure im heading in the right direction?
I definately agree with that. The projects that I've worked with that were originally outsourced (a few years ago) were small projects (< 12 months?) by small companies where I imagine cost would have played a large factor in the decision - and lack of knowledgable IT staff meant there was not much consideration for maintainability/scalability of the system at the time. - This having been said, they did eventually have a product (regardless of how poor the quality) to allow them expand the business... as such I guess this could be deemed 'successful'. (despite eventual crazy maintenance costs and an almost logarithmic dev time:feature curve until some serious redesign!) In either case - there definately does seem to be a lack of skilled professionals at the moment (in software dev/design anyway)! - great time to change/find jobs!
In an interview I was once asked a question to which I had absolutely no idea what the answer was. After a couple of seconds I said, "let me Google it and I'll get back to you". I got the job. I remember in my Help Desk days, even when I was Team Leader or Manager training new staff, if someone rang with a Word problem for example, and I didn't know the answer, I'd use the Help function in Word while I was on the phone to them... Same thing they could have done themselves! IT is something you don't study for and end up qualified to do. It's always changing - every day! If you don't have the ability to learn quickly, adapt to change and develop new skills, IT is NOT for you. There is no course in the world that could give me the skills I need to do my job. Biometrics is proprietary technology and to learn it you need to work for one of the few companies that specialises in it.
Do you always end up in help desk role after studying I.T?? Can't go straight to networking?? Is the help desk role always a start?
uni studies are mainly focused on giving you the fundamentals of a discipline but moreso manifesting a way of thinking and logic relevant to whatever it is you're learning. a few of my mates who have finished have agreed that employers mainly see graduates as someone with intelligence that can apply themselves and learn in a particular field. and definitely, IT is a very fluid industry of knowledge so it is reasonable to expect that new skills, attitudes and competencies will be required as the market changes.
