BCS

[Stueh]

In my aspiring IT ambitions, my tutor recommended that i join the bcs (bcs.org i believe).

Is anyone here apart of it? Would you recommend it? As an employer do you favour a BCS member?

Im in two minds as if i should sign up to it or not.

Stueh

[bambam]

depends on the job you want. I think BCS membership would be of zero value to the IT department of yer typical commercial company, but maybe recruitment into the development bit of a tech company would value it higher. Academic recruitment would generally view membership of BCS as a plus, just about. Basically the BCS has never managed to establish itself as a professional body recognised by employers for computer people in the same way as other 'professions', and is still connected to its roots as a (failed) academic body for Computer Science. If you ever meet the people in it they come across as losers, generally. From your point of view you could wonder whether networking in BCS would improve your career prospects... I'd suggest 'maybe' but only if you are seriously fekkin struggling - generally your IT delivery will talk for itself and there's always more work to do for people that can actually deliver. The IT job market is currently 'illiquid', i.e. there isn't the usual simple factor of 'make X number of applications = get Y job offers'. This has happened before (recently - immediately following the dot com crash) but is actually very rare. There are jobs about but as a candidate the process currently sucks. This isn't normal or common in the industry and if you accept a career actually lasts 40 years you'll find that for IT for most of that time it is easy to move around. Then a successful career is 100% about making the right moves at the right time, and has f-all to do with whether you're in the BCS or not.

Good luck
Bamzors.

[Stueh]

Im at the point in which I really need to decide which route I want to go down. In my course we do the following:

1) C++ (basics at the mo)
2) VB.net in Vs2008 (possibly moving to C#)
3) Database design and Development
4) Cisco CCNA 1-4 (just started ccna2)

I enjoy doing options 2 - 4 and quiet competent at 1. So I dont really mind what i do... just want decent money lol!! If the BCS isnt really gonna get me anywhere then i might as well save my £25 a year and spend it drinking instead. Like you said everything is kind of immobile at the moment making it difficult for me to even get work experience somewhere (I live on a poxy little island off southampton)!!!

[JazzyJay]

Im at the point in which I really need to decide which route I want to go down. In my course we do the following:

1) C++ (basics at the mo)
2) VB.net in Vs2008 (possibly moving to C#)
3) Database design and Development
4) Cisco CCNA 1-4 (just started ccna2)

I enjoy doing options 2 - 4 and quiet competent at 1. So I dont really mind what i do... just want decent money lol!! If the BCS isnt really gonna get me anywhere then i might as well save my £25 a year and spend it drinking instead. Like you said everything is kind of immobile at the moment making it difficult for me to even get work experience somewhere (I live on a poxy little island off southampton)!!!

Dont know about BCS but my experience when getting a job is that employers seek reliable people who can demonstrate certain skillset/portfolio, some memberships or courses aren't as important. I think that some certificates or memberships may play a small role if you're trying to get hired by a big company with hundreds of employees who use proprietary (e.g. M$) technologies.

Combine the C stuff with Cisco and Linux/Unix administration skills and you have a solid foundation for your career.

C++ and C# are very useful as they're widely used by vast majority of operating systems. What I have learned throughout my so far short career is that as soon as you have a feeling that you're not learning anything new at your present job and the company do not wish to train you further, you're better off a getting job somewhere else where you can grow. Some of my friends got comfortable in such positions only to realise after couple of years that they're well behind with their skills/knowledge and they found it extremely hard to get a job during these unpleasant times.

JJ

[bambam]

Stueh which of the two main tech careers are you aiming for - developer in a tech company or programmer/support in the IT department of a non-tech company ? The former has more demanding tech skills emphasis and the latter is a much larger field with more emphasis on 'fitting in' with general management and the business users. And any IT department has two main organisations - software development versus infrastructure support, so if it's IT you're thinking of you need a sense of which route you're taking. Or if you have no clue feel free to say so.

Bamz.

[Stueh]

I feel I'm more of a hands on programming in some sort of way, such as setting up routers or building programs for clients. I don't think it helps me make my choice when I'm half decent in all of what I do on the course.
As far as a company goes, I don't really mind. I've realised as jazzy said that I kinda need a portfolio of work to show prospective employers (so I'm making my code look neat now ^^)

If wireless was easier on linux then id defo have a linux box, but since im stuck with wireless it all kinda goes down the drain

[JazzyJay]

If wireless was easier on linux then id defo have a linux box, but since im stuck with wireless it all kinda goes down the drain

You're kidding me right? Install Ubuntu Desktop edition at once from ubuntu.com! I have had no problems using wireless network manager in that distro, actually, I suspect it has better peformance/reception than Windows.

JJ

[bambam]

hands on programming in some sort of way, such as setting up routers or building programs for clients

Stueh these are the *two* different career paths in corporate IT - there's very little overlap between infrastructure support ("setting up routers") and development ("building programs for clients"). If you're interviewed by a large corporate with a large IT organisation it'll help to know which side of the infrastructure/development fence you want to land, as your interviewer will definitely be in one of those areas.

Infrastructure jobs include
* network support
* email support
* Windows server / active directory support
* web server support
The hiring phrase for infrastructure jobs is "I'm interested in the technical side of things to ensure the design of a robust platform, and passionate about the delivery of a reliable service that meets the needs of the end-users"

Development jobs are all aligned to the business unit that is supported and involve more or less programming depending on the platform supported (these days there is more tailoring of packages like Oracle Financials than programming applications from scratch). The hiring mantra is more like "I really enjoy liaising with the users to establish a true sense of partnership and quickly delivering well structured applications that meet their requirements".