1. What is your job?
I'm and IT Support Technician for an IT Services Company
2. What would say is necessary to start?
You need to be able to quickly learn new skills & concepts, and you need to be willing to as well as proactively trying to learn. You have to be good with customers, and know how to explain more complex concepts to non-technical clients/staff without being condescending.
3. What certification is required or beneficial?
Nothing is required. Potentially doing some kind of MCITP, or similar could be useful. But I've never bothered.
4. How do you get experience?
It's a bit of a catch-22: the best way to get experience is on the job. But, you'll struggle to get a job without experience. When i left school I managed to get a job as a Junior Computer Technician, which was mostly kind of grunt work. It involved a lot of erasing HDD's (which they taught me how to do), fixing simple issues, and lots of data entry on the work I was doing. But - working there meant I got to learn form the senior technicians who did more technical work. I was always asking question, or doing research on things that I had seen. Eventually they trusted me with some more complex tasks and these were all thing I could add to my CV. After 5 months, I had some experience and a good reference and I got my first IT job (working for a retail company). And from there it was easy to get more experience, because you're surround by such a diverse range of issues.
5. Do you need a degree, was it helpful, if so what kind?
I don't have a degree. A degree is useful more because of what you learned than actually saying you have a degree. The truth is, a lot of employers don't really care about degrees now because everyone and their mother has one. That said, if you're the only one without a degree you might get over looked. Still, it's never been my experience that not having a degree has cost me a job, and when i'm recruiting I don't write off applicants with no degree. Learning from a book isn't the same as doing.
6. If you don't need a degree, are there any classes you would suggest?
You might find once you've started a job it's worth taking evening or weekend classes in certain areas. But there isn't really anything you would need to do to get a job.
7. What do you do on an average day?
On an average day I deal with technical queries from "my printer isn't working" or "I don't know how to use this new version of office" to writing complex SQL Statements, managing servers, designing and implementing new networks for clients. And a lot of reading, especially through forums. Because you never know it all. The industry moves so fast that one of the best skills you can have is the ability to keep up! To often have I worked with IT guys who are still living in the 90's and don't know anything about the technology in place now, or what's going on in the technology world.
8. How bad is it for you if something goes pear shaped?
Days can be long, i've never done a 72 hour shift though! My longest to date was 23 hours a couple of years ago. It's not something that happens terribly often (though it depends on where you work), but it can happen and that's just part of the job. Those occasions are usually not to bad though, especially if you're not the only one doing an awful long shift - there's a great sense of camaraderie with these things!
9. What is a good position to start on with?
Junior something, that requires little to know prior experience or knowledge but gives you the chance to learn and develop. As I said above, I started out as a Junior Computer Technician and it served me immensley well for the rest of my career.
10. How are the job prospects?
Short contracts are always available, and if you get a really specialised set of skills like data analysis (especailly if you become a Crystal Reports expert or something) then you'll always be able to find a job. Support jobs, or lower level jobs can be hard to come by because there is a lot of competition. But once you have a foot in the door you just have to prove that you're the best, make sure you make a good impression (references are incredibly useful) and you shouldn't ever be out of work. Short of redundancy or something.
11. What area of IT has the best prospects for a long and sustainable career.
In my opinion Data Analysis and DBA jobs are probably your best bet (though I work in neither of these kind of jobs). Especially with Oracle and Crystal Reports skills. Make sure you're not to specialised though!
12. Is there anything else you find interesting or good about your job?
I love working with clients, customers, other staff, whoever it is that i'm supporting. Because when I get the job done and business can continue is usual, or better than usual the feeling is just awesome. And some people are so appreciative. Equally it's worth noting that a lot of the time, people will only notice you when things go wrong... IT is a gret industry to get into.
I hope this was of some small help, all the best for the future. Let me know if you have any more questions or if you want me to elaborate on anything!
Thanks,
Matt :-)