I suppose this counts as a Tech question...?

[Mellow-]

But for any of you who have jobs in I.T. how exactly did you go about getting your foot in the industrys door in the first place?

Thanks in advance should anyone reply.

 

[old.Jas]

I quit college cos it bored me. I was doing 5 A-Levels including Computing and IT (although you are not suppost to do them together)

I got my first IT job (an interactive designer position) from the Job Center. Last place I thought to look for an IT job - but it worked.

I then moved up north (from Devon) to a job as a Web Designer for a large web-based recruitment advertising company, after that I got promoted to a Web Developer then an Advanced Tech. Web Developer for the european section of the company.

I got made redundant from there, and now I work for a broadband startup along with meddling with my own business interests

I think the key to getting a job in IT is industry knowledge. Religously scanning theregister.co.uk, silicon.com, fuckedcompany.com, news.com really helps to get to know whats going on. This REALLY helps in an interview

Also - experiement (oh eurr!). If your into networking then get some kit and meddle with it, if your into web stuff then make your own site and other peoples (for free if need be). Then on your cover letter/CV you can say that you have worked with different kit, or mention URLs.

If your still in education then don't neglect your key subject such as maths and english. These help in the workplace when writing reports or coding, for example.

When your ready to start applying for jobs mail EVERYONE. Find the email addresses of the companies you would like to work for eg jobs@microsoft.com and SPAM the crap out of them with your well crafted cover letter and CV. They can only turn you down.

You should do this even if they don't have any positions relating to your skills - they might be advertising them elsewhere or internally. Often they will keep your CV on file - this is great.

Start with the major jobsites eg monster.co.uk and find lists of big companies (The Times does these a lot). Visit thier websites and grab the email address of the HR (Human Resources) deptment.

Be warey of agencies - they often advertise jobs that don't exist to build up databases of CVs.

Hope this helps!