How to get an IT job in the UK

What is a UK IT job? Well, the expression covers a multitude of sins when it comes to employment and the number of vacancies that fall within this category is huge. The problem for recruiters is that many jobs are very specific, and there is a tremendous skills shortage within the UK IT jobs sector. Looking from the other direction, once you've specialised in certain areas, you may need to look through many agencies and many vacancies to find an opportunity that matches your skill set.

The UK IT Job

First thing to do is completely ignore this expression, it's like saying I want a job that involved using my brain, it's far too generic in today's job market. You need to decide specifically which sector you wish to work within before just landing on "IT".

UK IT Job categories

Ok, so what areas are there you could focus on? Well here's a very broad selection of the categories we focus on in the context of what people "ask" for, although bear in mind [potential] employers don't always know what they want.

UK IT Job :: IT Support

This in itself sounds like a very broad requirement, but in reality it usually means one of two things;

• General office IT dogsbody, someone has a problem, you are the go-to guy
• The definition is punctuated with a specific discipline, for example "Windows", but this just means the former but you need to know a little less in general, but a little more specifics.
  

This is usually the start point for someone looking for their first IT job and in reality it's probably not a bad start point. It's going to give you exposure to a relatively wide range of technologies, hopefully at a relatively superficial skill level. Essentially it's often akin to "on the job training".

UK IT Job :: IT Sales

This is another relatively soft target from a skills perspective. However, in terms of effort and "keeping" the job for any length of time, it's probably far more difficult than one might think. If you're really looking for an IT job, avoid this title like the plague. If you want to do sales-type with in an IT environment, take a look at "pre-sales support" type titles, although these can be in relatively short supply. Often they can be found listed under "IT Consultancy" or "IT Engineer".

UK IT Job :: IT SysAdmin (IT Systems Administration)

This title is generally reserved for people who like to sit behind a screen all day and watch pretty graphs .. at least it is if you're "good" and your kit is up to scratch. If either of these are not the case, the job usually involves running around like a headless chicken being shouted at by all and sundry.

If you are good with servers and can solve nasty problems when they arise, this is usually a nice job with a nice attached salaries, albeit you won't be working 9-5. If you're fighting above your weight however you're either looking at a lot of stress and a steep learning curve or a quick exit at the end of a large boot.

My favorite in-context quote is; "the successful applicant will spend all day with their feet up on the desk drinking tea. If you can't do this, please don't apply ..."

UK IT Job :: IT Programmer

Once upon a time this term was applied to any job involving computers, probably appropriate since in order to get the computer to do something useful, writing a program [of sorts] was often required. These days however it lends itself to "IT Developer", "IT Applications Designer" and "IT Software Developer", and it's not for the feint of heart.

Gone are the days of firing up a BASIC interpreter and writing a noddy script to solve trivial administrative processing problems. Today you're looking at working with complex IDE's, multi-platform development tools and embedded systems .. and given the amount of effort involved in learning these systems to the required levels, yes the pay is good, but often not "that" good.

If you like to write programs and want to write programs, it's the title for you .. however, if you're interested because you see "$" signs forget it, there are far easier ways to make your fortune.

UK IT Job :: IT Network Engineer

A deceptively generic term that you might (these days) interpret as "Internet specialist", although more often than not the work involved is more likely to be pre-Sales support or cabling. There are Internet specialists out there, but it's a pretty tight focus and not a job title that comes up all that often.

UK IT Job :: Summary

This is just a taster, the market is fairly complex as are many of the positions that are available. It's certainly worth getting some suggestions / advice before aiming at a new job, you could spend long time applying for jobs that either you're not suited to or that employers (looking at your CV) don't think you're suited to.

Try approaching a professional recruitment company and have them interview you .. typically they're not going to charge you, but they will be able to tell you in which area you are most likely to be successful and indeed they may even be able to place you.

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