- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
re: Hourly vs. Salary - IT Developer
Posted on 9/5/22 at 5:36 pm to BigD43
Posted on 9/5/22 at 5:36 pm to BigD43
Never started with the help desk. I had a boss that was unequivocally in my corner on the business side of things. I busted my arse day in and day out to do right by her and she did right by me. I didn’t have experience with development work, but she got me in front of the cio and I didn’t even have to interview thanks to her involvement. I would have bombed anyways.
How are you applying for jobs? I put in 100 applications for different jobs but it wasn’t until I decided to talk to a couple of recruiter the interviews started coming. I don’t like talking to recruiters. Can’t give a good reason why, but they seem critical in IT based on my experience.
I’ll be real honest with you, network + and security + don’t give you real world application knowledge. They’re a great baseline for understanding what each component does, but if you don’t have experience with the physical route paths or firewall rules, companies will look for experience or a ccna or ccsp cert above net or sec +.
If you’re interested in the network path, I’d highly encourage you to download gns3 and get an image of a Cisco router and switch then get comfortable setting up local networks through gns3 or some other comparable simulator. I used a VMware sort of application to clone machines and set up local machines on my home computer to start getting computers working and interacting across the virtual environment. It’s a real memory drain using all of that but that’s what I ended up doing while I was trying to get into networking.
How are you applying for jobs? I put in 100 applications for different jobs but it wasn’t until I decided to talk to a couple of recruiter the interviews started coming. I don’t like talking to recruiters. Can’t give a good reason why, but they seem critical in IT based on my experience.
I’ll be real honest with you, network + and security + don’t give you real world application knowledge. They’re a great baseline for understanding what each component does, but if you don’t have experience with the physical route paths or firewall rules, companies will look for experience or a ccna or ccsp cert above net or sec +.
If you’re interested in the network path, I’d highly encourage you to download gns3 and get an image of a Cisco router and switch then get comfortable setting up local networks through gns3 or some other comparable simulator. I used a VMware sort of application to clone machines and set up local machines on my home computer to start getting computers working and interacting across the virtual environment. It’s a real memory drain using all of that but that’s what I ended up doing while I was trying to get into networking.
1
Posted on 9/5/22 at 5:40 pm to WhiskeyThrottle
I have worked with developers, some USA based on a team of mostly India based developers, with the USA guy as the "team lead" so to speak for communications purposes, this developer doing more conference calls than actual dev. The coding is all done by the Indians. The USA lead oversees it. Is this a lead job or they actually want you coding? I would be wary of a straight up coding job. Also, what you really want is salary, but you would still have to fill out time sheets so you can allocate your time to multiple projects depending on what all you are working on that week. I'm not a code monkey nor a developer, but I have worked with them a lot in the last three years.
Posted on 9/5/22 at 5:57 pm to WhiskeyThrottle
I apply on numerous company's websites. No interviews.
The recruiters have not been helpful. They keep attempting me to interview for other desktop support roles. Sometimes they even act maliciously in their attempts for me to do so.
The recruiters have not been helpful. They keep attempting me to interview for other desktop support roles. Sometimes they even act maliciously in their attempts for me to do so.
Posted on 9/5/22 at 5:58 pm to deeprig9
Did you ever get off the help desk/desktop support?
Posted on 9/5/22 at 8:48 pm to deeprig9
quote:
Is this a lead job or they actually want you coding?
This is seemingly a technical role with database development.
With my current role, my boss is talking about promoting me to a team lead role but the in office requirement is less attractive than the remote role I’m looking at. The compensation with the hourly role is more appealing if they can guarantee minimum hours. The pay is much higher than my current role will offer with higher expectations.
I hope to hear more soon. I’ll update when I can.
Posted on 9/5/22 at 8:51 pm to BigD43
quote:
The recruiters have not been helpful. They keep attempting me to interview for other desktop support roles. Sometimes they even act maliciously in their attempts for me to do so.
Where does the conversation go sideways? Is it from the point you tell them your experience is help desk related or do you get any further into technical details before they start to pigeon hole you into help desk?
Which direction do you want to go? Networking, security, production support, development, other?
Posted on 9/5/22 at 10:52 pm to WhiskeyThrottle
It's nothing like that at all. I specify I am not looking for help desk or desktop support roles. They pretend to understand but then call me back asking if I would be interested in a specific help desk position.
I am looking to move into Security.
I am looking to move into Security.
Posted on 9/6/22 at 6:53 am to BigD43
I see. I think the role of recruiters is to find experienced people for what they've been contracted to find. It's probably difficult for them to refer a Help Desk employee for a security role. Not impossible, but it'll take the right recruiter to get you there.
Posted on 9/6/22 at 4:09 pm to WhiskeyThrottle
quote:
I see. I think the role of recruiters is to find experienced people for what they've been contracted to find. It's probably difficult for them to refer a Help Desk employee for a security role. Not impossible, but it'll take the right recruiter to get you there.
This. Experience is so important in IT. It's a chicken and egg deal. How do I get experience if no one will hire me without said experience? It can be difficult to swing. For me, I went into consulting. I worked for an MSP. As long as someone shows initiative and interest in a certain technical area, then an MSP will often give you the opportunity to work on something new. Not always, but often. You don't always get that opportunity in an in-house IT role - especially if it's a silo'd role.
Posted on 9/7/22 at 12:27 am to AUdime
quote:
Experience is so important in IT. It's a chicken and egg deal. How do I get experience if no one will hire me without said experience? It can be difficult to swing.
Probably said better than I could have said. There's nothing more frustrating than trying to get experience for a job that requires experience. I spent damn near 2 years after I got my degree trying to get in the IT door with a company I had 13 years with and was in excellent standing.
quote:
I worked for an MSP.
So the company I am interviewing is a MSP. Obviously if the contract goes dry, the job is likely eliminated or you're moved to another customer. Did you have a good experience with the MSP or bad? What are the pros and cons of MSP's?
I think I've put a bit of fear into my boss currently. We were on a call and he made a comment about me and a co-worker looking for other jobs (we're currently a 4 man team) due to the remote policy change and we stayed awkwardly quiet. Now he's wanting to go have a beer to talk after work to talk to us about trying to get the policy exempted for us. We're all pretty close on a personal level which makes leaving difficult, but in the end it's not a marriage and I'm willing to sever the tie if it comes to it. Hell 16 years is a pretty good run I suppose.
Posted on 9/7/22 at 11:36 am to WhiskeyThrottle
My experience at an MSP was good. Almost 10 years. I got exposure to various technologies and industries I wouldn't have otherwise. I appreciated the perk of having more control over my schedule and where I worked versus being chained to a desk like I was at my previous in-house IT job. I could work from home, the office, or the client site (this was pre-covid).
I also simply like working with customers. Instead of constantly dealing with co-workers at an in-house job, you're dealing with customers. At the end of the day, keep your customers happy and revenue coming in (i.e. billing hours, reselling product), and all is well.
Not all IT folks can handle being customer facing, but for the ones that can, consulting can be a great gig. As so many jobs do after a time, it ran dry on opportunity and pay increases so I moved on. But I soaked up as much IT and various industry knowledge as I could from projects and coworkers... and even some sales experience and knowledge which paid off later.
As for cons of an MSP... some are small with low growth potential and are more out sourced help desk than consulting. Look for a VAR. Those are the ones reselling product (storage, networking, cloud, security, etc.) AND implementing it. I technically worked for an MSP + VAR.
Other cons: In-house IT jobs can pay more than an MSP, but your mileage will vary. It's easier for a customer to fire a consultant than a company to fire an employee.
Finally, I never considered this a con, but some might - you may find yourself on an island from time to time. Larger projects may have a team of consultants, but smaller ones may just be you. You gotta be able to manage customer expectations, confidently make recommendations, communicate timelines, all that sort of stuff that makes some IT folks clam up.
I also simply like working with customers. Instead of constantly dealing with co-workers at an in-house job, you're dealing with customers. At the end of the day, keep your customers happy and revenue coming in (i.e. billing hours, reselling product), and all is well.
Not all IT folks can handle being customer facing, but for the ones that can, consulting can be a great gig. As so many jobs do after a time, it ran dry on opportunity and pay increases so I moved on. But I soaked up as much IT and various industry knowledge as I could from projects and coworkers... and even some sales experience and knowledge which paid off later.
As for cons of an MSP... some are small with low growth potential and are more out sourced help desk than consulting. Look for a VAR. Those are the ones reselling product (storage, networking, cloud, security, etc.) AND implementing it. I technically worked for an MSP + VAR.
Other cons: In-house IT jobs can pay more than an MSP, but your mileage will vary. It's easier for a customer to fire a consultant than a company to fire an employee.
Finally, I never considered this a con, but some might - you may find yourself on an island from time to time. Larger projects may have a team of consultants, but smaller ones may just be you. You gotta be able to manage customer expectations, confidently make recommendations, communicate timelines, all that sort of stuff that makes some IT folks clam up.
Posted on 9/7/22 at 3:22 pm to WhiskeyThrottle
quote:
On the room for advancement, that’s a question I’ll end up asking in the interview. The guy I spoke with was more of just a gate keeper/resume screener. Some very high level technical questions but nothing in depth.
I'm not in your field, but I'd push for a lot more information and then come back to ask for questions. This could swing from excellent for you in better pay, to a terrible ploy by the company to hire more "full time" employees when they need and then have a lower payroll when not work load is small. You just don't know.
Depending on the size of the company, it may be worth shooting some emails to people you find on LinkIn that work for the company.
Posted on 9/7/22 at 3:52 pm to WhiskeyThrottle
I'm hiring developers right now for my engineering team. Full-time with a competitive salary, benefits, unlimited PTO, and stock options.
Email me your resume at mytdroppingemail @ gmail.com
Email me your resume at mytdroppingemail @ gmail.com
This post was edited on 9/7/22 at 3:53 pm
Posted on 9/8/22 at 11:17 am to lsufanintexas
quote:
unlimited PTO
This idea needs to go away yesterday
Posted on 9/8/22 at 11:28 am to baldona
quote:
This idea needs to go away yesterday
Why?
Posted on 9/8/22 at 11:46 am to Mingo Was His NameO
quote:
Hourly vs. Salary - IT Developer
quote:
This idea needs to go away yesterday
Why?
Why do you think? Because its not true. Its lazy as hell management and benefits policy.
An employer that offers something like 5 or 6 weeks of time off, has a great time off policy. Someone that offers "unlimited" as a new employee you have no idea what that means. It could be barely 10 days, it could be 4-5 weeks. But who honestly knows?
Posted on 9/8/22 at 11:48 am to baldona
quote:
Someone that offers "unlimited" as a new employee you have no idea what that means. It could be barely 10 days, it could be 4-5 weeks. But who honestly knows?
It means take as many days as you want/need
Page 2 of 2
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News