Where do all the IT graduates work ?

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Yellow Fang

Legendary Member
Location
Reading
I think, actually, computer science / software engineering / information technology is a pretty good thing to study and not a bad line of work to get into. Apart from the dearth of young ladies, that is. If you want to find romance, you will probably have to look outside work. Nevertheless, compared to what I hear about the **** other people have to cope with in their jobs, I remember very little bullying. It is a job where you need brain power, the more, the better. In many jobs, other personal qualities are more important, but in computer programming, brain power is the most important thing.
 
The company I work for has been looking to recruit 2 people at entry level but haven't been able to find anyone of anywhere near the required quality.
 

pplpilot

Guru
Location
Knowle
As long as one has an aptitude for 'tutting' 'rolling eyes' 'an ability to act like one has asked for the earth' then you'll get along fine in IT
Not to tar everyone in IT with the same brush but i spend a lot of time on customer sites where i have to deal with the IT staff, and to be brutal most the time the restrictions they impose are totally unnecessary, it seems the smaller the company the worse it is, normally the MD's son or such like, talk about job justification.
 

jamin100

Guru
Location
Birmingham
Aside from my turn it off/on again comment earlier, I do actually work in IT

I'm the IT Operations Manager for a cluster of schools and academies. At one time a few years back the IT was going to be out sourced to a call centre for the most part. Fortunately (for me) the managemebt saw the value of keeping me and my team on to support the federation of schools

Neither myself or anyone in my team has an IT degree. I prefer to employ on experience rather than pieces of paper
 
most the time the restrictions they impose are totally unnecessary.

The local authority I work for is ridiculous; as part of my job I access ViSOR (Violent and Sex Offender Register), and it's less complicated getting onto that than the process I have to go through to authorise someone's travel claim.
 

jamin100

Guru
Location
Birmingham
[QUOTE 3509394, member: 259"]In fairness, you will not be looking for the profile of a computer sciences graduate and they will absolutely not be looking for that kind of job.[/QUOTE]

That's funny as enough of them apply for the jobs
 

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
UK universities turn out decreasing numbers of IT graduates, which is why lots of IT development and testing is outsourced to India, China and Vietnam.

On the other hand we churn out more Media studies graduates per year than there are media related jobs in total.

I might be exaggerating but you get the gist
I don't believe that it's because there aren't enough graduates, Mr Summerdays employer (telecoms/it), has had multiple rounds of redundancies and passing work to IT places abroad, and he is left to deal with anything complicated, with the constant suggestion his job could be done overseas and yet they still need him to sort out the stuff that gets messed up overseas.
 

Dan B

Disengaged member
"IT" covers a multitude of different things: do you really need people who know about UML, third-order normal form and formal methods if all they're going to be asked to do is install software and rack new servers?
'
 

Dan B

Disengaged member
In my experience what is sought is high level of specific experience which is only obtained by specific experience, not what a graduate would have. Companies need to start training people, rather than expecting them to be fully trained.

[steps off soapbox]:angry:
Of course, what is sought and what is really expected are two different things, and the real problem is that new graduates are not yet aware that all they really need in most IT jobs is adeptness at using search engines and the ability to bluff convincingly
 

mr_cellophane

Legendary Member
Location
Essex
Of course, what is sought and what is really expected are two different things, and the real problem is that new graduates are not yet aware that all they really need in most IT jobs is adeptness at using search engines and the ability to bluff convincingly
Partly true. You need to know what to put in Goolge and which answer you get is the one that solves your problem. That comes with experience and can never be taught on a degree course.
The ability to bluff is of course essential
 

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
The ability to bluff is of course essential

A friend of mine was thought to have dysentery by his new IT colleagues as he was spending a lot of time in the toilet. He was mugging up on the finer points of Pick programming from manuals. He'd told the recruitment agency that he was an accomplished programmer in the language. He learned enough to be recruited by NASA but was unable to take up the post as the whole set up was thrown into disarray by the Challenger disaster.
 
OP
OP
Flick of the Elbow
Location
Edinburgh
Companies need to start training people, rather than expecting them to be fully trained.
And that's the problem, big companies in the past have always had graduate training schemes for IT developers, now they cut apparent costs by just going offshore. Whenever some Govt minister talks on telly about the country needing more IT skills I just wish they'd start talking to the big employers about bringing back jobs from offshore. Until they do that an IT degree for a UK graduate is practically worthless.
 
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