Request 1st line support course

[Seanofsmeg]

University can't guarantee you a job in the field.

Many people have degrees that aren't IT and have IT careers.

I started in IT at 17k and then a year later, moved company and went above 22k in salary. Now I got promoted to 2nd Line, just time to keep going.

Your 100% right and I kind of agreed with you in my post by saying I was raging I waited to my degree was complete before joining my company and that people who study / do projects on the side would be better prepared than uni people.

The degree does open doors I would say but it's your own work on the side that gets you past the interview.

 

[Jambo]

I have interviewed many people who have a degree in IT and they have been useless.
Not all, obviously, but some (Probably most of them)

Honestly, getting a year experience working in IT will mostly give you the upperhand on someone with a degree.

It does kind of flip round as you progress... Someone with experience and degrees/certificates will get the upperhand of someone with just experience.
But if you find that one right company that is willing to promote internally you have hit the jackpot. Because you'll likely get all three
Experience
Certs
Promotions


Popcorn, when is the interview? I'll send you a PM monday if I remember!

Tuesday mate. Please do as you'd be a massive help.

I have interviewed many people who have a degree in IT and they have been useless.
Not all, obviously, but some (Probably most of them)

Honestly, getting a year experience working in IT will mostly give you the upperhand on someone with a degree.

It does kind of flip round as you progress... Someone with experience and degrees/certificates will get the upperhand of someone with just experience.
But if you find that one right company that is willing to promote internally you have hit the jackpot. Because you'll likely get all three
Experience
Certs
Promotions


Popcorn, when is the interview? I'll send you a PM monday if I remember!

What made them useless and how did you determine that? My only guess is that they were people who are not IT literate but did a course anyway?

 

[Karl]

I'm interviewing at the moment for our 24/7 team.

I'll filter out the technical questions I ask and send them over to you tomorrow at some point. The tech will be of little use to you as it's geared towards the specific role, and will be irrelevant.

@Seanofsmeg has given you some great info a few posts back when it comes to the customer focus thing.

When answering that question, put yourself in the shoes of the customer and answer how you would expect to be treated in that situation. Do make note of any company policies and GDPR requirements though (i.e. protecting peoples personal info!). As i've said before, when i'm feeling like particularly awkward, i'll chuck in a scenario where I'm trying to force someone into giving me info about a person/account without them being able to prove who they are Sadly this is something that does happen alot in the real world! So having a little bit of knowledge of GDPR (Actually knowing what it means, not the ins and outs!) will actually give you a bit of an advantage probably.

 

[Jambo]

I'm interviewing at the moment for our 24/7 team.

I'll filter out the technical questions I ask and send them over to you tomorrow at some point. The tech will be of little use to you as it's geared towards the specific role, and will be irrelevant.

@Seanofsmeg has given you some great info a few posts back when it comes to the customer focus thing.

When answering that question, put yourself in the shoes of the customer and answer how you would expect to be treated in that situation. Do make note of any company policies and GDPR requirements though (i.e. protecting peoples personal info!). As i've said before, when i'm feeling like particularly awkward, i'll chuck in a scenario where I'm trying to force someone into giving me info about a person/account without them being able to prove who they are Sadly this is something that does happen alot in the real world! So having a little bit of knowledge of GDPR (Actually knowing what it means, not the ins and outs!) will actually give you a bit of an advantage probably.

Thank you, I highly appreciate that.

I'm actually strangely confident about the interview. I should be able to smash the customer service questions. Just need to dial in the technical side.

Every single interview I've had, I've always been offered the job so this feels like a challenge. Nervously confident. Very strange feeling

 

[Karl]

Thank you, I highly appreciate that.

I'm actually strangely confident about the interview. I should be able to smash the customer service questions. Just need to dial in the technical side.

Every single interview I've had, I've always been offered the job so this feels like a challenge. Nervously confident. Very strange feeling

Have sent questions over to you.

 

[Omnibus]

Wish you all the best with your interview!

 

[NightScare]

I just want to put this into perspective when it comes to worrying about getting qualifications, as i've alluded to previously, I don't look for them, neither do other heads where I work.

I started working where I work now in 2011 on Frontline answering calls about hosted websites - I had no experience at all in IT other than selling laptops at PC World.
In 2012 I stepped up to answering more technical dedicated server calls, customers (like some of the dodgy people on here who have no right or ability to rent a server! ) who want help with initial setup or troubleshooting problems on their servers.
in 2014 I moved into 24/7 Operations - pretty much a third line role.
in the same year I became a team lead of one of the 24/7 teams
in 2021 I became the head of 24/7 Operations

At no point during that entire time have I needed any kind of qualification.

As a side note, I'd loved to have stayed just doing 24/7 roles because i loved the 4 on 4 off shift pattern and on two of those 4 shifts you are purely reactive so can spend those two shifts doing whatever the hell you wanted - it just came to a point where I couldn't earn anymore money in that role so had no choice other than to become a 9-5er

Pretty much the same.

No GCSE's/No degree.

Started in Godaddy 1st line support, now a Senior Devops Engineer.

Only took 5 years to go from 18k to 100k.

Honestly, you could learn this stuff from youtube, more than enough to blag a 1st line interview and learn on the job.


@PoPcOrN Honestly bro, don't stress too much about not knowing enough/having to know anything. These jobs are all about your ability to google and understand what google says. - The message you really want to be sending in these interviews is "look, if i don't know the answer, i know I can google it, understand and put that into practice" I literally got all my jobs with that line. If they ask you a Tech question you don't know, admit it, and talk them through how you would solve that problem and show the thought process behind that. There is alot of information and no-one expects anyone to know it all off the bat.

I still have to google everytime i want to untar something on linux.

Being brutally honest with things, if your company isn't willing to promote you from 2nd to 3rd and keep overlooking you when positions become available - you're highly likely not going to be good enough to get a role elsewhere.

I'd disagree with this, The trick is to move every Year/ year and a half to get new exposure/experience.

Do not play the promotion game with companies as they mug you off asking you to jump through hoops and giving inflation pay rises to current staff, while hiring new staff on market rate salaries. - Perfect example is my current company. where I earn 30-50% more than everyone else. People been here 7 years and only on £50k, when there market value is £100k+.

When i moved from 2nd line to Sys admin my old Ops Manager said "you're not good enough", and same when I moved from Sys admin to Devops.

Now i earn more than all of them, actually saw him in a car park the other month as I was getting into my CLA45 AMG and he was climbing out of his 12 plate ford, was very satisfying. The quickest way to climb is to move jobs.

Don't ever let anyone/any company tell you you are not good enough, there is hundreds of companies out there who will give you the opportunity to show your value without asking you to jump through hoops to prove it.

 

[Ardbeg]

www.simoda.co.uk - this is who I work for as an example.

So you work for a company that helps put men into space with the shuttle ?
Impressive

 

[Skyline]

So you work for a company that helps put men into space with the shuttle ?
Impressive

Oh we are impressive... :P

 

[JohnBarny]

Most people don't realise there is no age limit on apprenticeships, ours get HNC and some other bits out of it.
We use a 5 year program 18k-23k-26k-29k-35k then possible position offered with a proper wage its engineering but would imagine similar programs are offered in IT.

Nightscare is right about the promotion/payrise game in large companies, switching is the best way to up your pay especially changing between competitors. Not my style but I know a lot of people doing it.

 

[Jambo]

Most people don't realise there is no age limit on apprenticeships, ours get HNC and some other bits out of it.
We use a 5 year program 18k-23k-26k-29k-35k then possible position offered with a proper wage its engineering but would imagine similar programs are offered in IT.

Nightscare is right about the promotion/payrise game in large companies, switching is the best way to up your pay especially changing between competitors. Not my style but I know a lot of people doing it.

Most of the IT apprenticeships I've seen are 10k-15k and non negotiable so not possible for somebody like me.

 

[Skyline]

Most of the IT apprenticeships I've seen are 10k-15k and non negotiable so not possible for somebody like me.

Good luck today!

 

[Jambo]

Good luck today!

Cheers mate.

I thought it went really well to the point I was expecting a job offer right there n then but they said they'll let me know.

 

[Skyline]

Cheers mate.

I thought it went really well to the point I was expecting a job offer right there n then but they said they'll let me know.

Good stuff.
Fingers crossed.

 

[Jambo]

The wait to find out is making me feel sick....Friday at the latest I'll find out.

" We will be reviewing your CV and interview and coming back to you soon with the next steps."

This sounds promising but I dunno. I'm trying to not get my hopes up cause I'll be devastated already If I don't get it.

 

[Skyline]

The wait to find out is making me feel sick....Friday at the latest I'll find out.

" We will be reviewing your CV and interview and coming back to you soon with the next steps."

This sounds promising but I dunno. I'm trying to not get my hopes up cause I'll be devastated already If I don't get it.

Hopefully you get it, but if not just treat it as an experience.
Ask for feedback. Use that feedback for future interviews.
We all get knocked back for a job, it's how you bounce back from it.

 

[Jambo]

Just got an interview with a big IT company.

They refuse to employ smoker's or vapers. Like, you're literally not allowed to take nicotine, even outside of work. You get swabbed monthly for nicotine and if you're caught you'll be sacked. Madness. I'll quit vaping if i have to but I think it's a ludicrous thing to do, just to make your insurance premiums lower.

 

[Karl]

Just got an interview with a big IT company.

They refuse to employ smoker's or vapers. Like, you're literally not allowed to take nicotine, even outside of work. You get swabbed monthly for nicotine and if you're caught you'll be sacked. Madness. I'll quit vaping if i have to but I think it's a ludicrous thing to do, just to make your insurance premiums lower.

LOL! That's actually insane. If our office did that, there'd be no one left! at a rough guess, i'd say 70-80% of all staff members either smoke or vape!

 

[Skyline]

Just got an interview with a big IT company.

They refuse to employ smoker's or vapers. Like, you're literally not allowed to take nicotine, even outside of work. You get swabbed monthly for nicotine and if you're caught you'll be sacked. Madness. I'll quit vaping if i have to but I think it's a ludicrous thing to do, just to make your insurance premiums lower.

Can they legally do that?
Thats mental.

 

[Jambo]

Can they legally do that?
Thats mental.

Apparently so, it might even extend in to alcohol. Its an American company based in Ohio I believe but they've branched out, in to the UK. www.Reyrey.co.uk Reynolds & Reynold.

Edit:

I didn't get the job. Absolutely gutted