Show me a way!!!!!!!

[Arunram]

Hello Experienced fellas,
Let me tell my story and i am in extremely confused state now..Kindly help me out..pl dont say "ITS UPTO YOU" "ITS UR CHOICE"...please i need a good suggestion from you guys who could really save me...

After finishing my B.E graduation in Electrical and Electronics,i had a bit of knowledge on Electrical and electronics but i never thought of having a career in Electronics or electrical..No one was there to help me out in choosing my career,finally i got one guy who told me to pursue my career in networking...i had interest in networking even in my college days..but i never knew there is a career to pursue n networking...

So i started to learn A+,N+,CCNA and MCSE..i have done all the above courses..after doing all the above courses..my interest went along with MCSE and hence once again i started learning on my own and i have done my certification by finishing first two papers.

Roamed like a dog for job,since i am a fresher no one was willing to offer me a job....finally i got a job through monster after a telephonic interview for 45 minutes as a desktop support and my salary per month is 5k. I was happy that i got a job even in this recession.

My team have 11 members with 3 freshers among them(including me)..The company which hired me has 3 buildings and each building assigned with one experienced person and a fresher....Since i was closing the tickets(call logging process) with ease, they handed over an entire building under my control..i was happy for that...even i got a good name within a month as a fresher.One of my team mates went out due to pressure and other guy was terminated due to poor performance, it went along nicely for me..

One day,i was attending a call for an user and had a chat with her and she also finished her graduation in the same year as am i. I asked her regarding her salary and i was shocked to hear that its 23k per month.I was demoralized completely after listening that.

After that i was not interested in anything, i was thinking regarding the discrimination in the salary..i was answered simply by an experienced person.he told me that they are developers and hence they are getting good salary even as a fresher and we are just providing support to them and so dont expect too much... he also told me to move to any developing side like .net etc since i have enough talent as a fresher ....

My confusion is shall i start learning any developing languages? or pursue my career in this same field for bad salary..i have the confidence of learning anything new .

Do supporters have real respect than the developers?


Please answer my questions and sorry for the blemishes if any, i need a great support from u guys..so help me out...



ARUNRAM.S

[LordMoolyBap]

I am developer but support personal are just as good. We just know about different things... I am ok with networking ect... but would not consider myself an expert in that field.

As for the money, I don't know what currency you are talking about. 5k, 23k ?????? what is this? if you are talking about pounds then get me a job 5k a month and I will be laughing.

[BosonMichael]

Do you prefer doing technical support/administration or programming? It's as simple as that. Programmers might start out making more, but BOTH fields offer good salaries, and it evens out quite a bit the farther along you go.

All that said... you've become WAY overcertified for your experience level. You're likely having trouble finding employment because of it. If you want to go the techie route, I'd recommend getting your A+, Network+, and MCDST certifications, and leaving the rest off your resume till you get experience under your belt.

[m3lt]

Hey ARUNRAM.S

I dont want to sound mean but, do you write or talk like that when you are dealing with prospective employers/corporations ?

The way you write and talk with the attention to minuscle details, tell a lot about yourself.

Other than that, I think the supporters play a very important role within the industry itself. Imagine a developer without a working pc huh ?

I know this sounds like a "rickroll" but, "Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down!"...
Meaning, dont give up and don't let yourself down buddy.

[jk2447]

Salary I find is very much down to the individual. People who moan about their wages in our place tend to be on lower money than the fellas who work hard and say nothing. One of my mates on here (DMarsh) put it a good way. Developers tend to work on a project and once thats complete, get laid off and have to move around a lot in their career. Support staff can spend their career in one place cos stuff always breaks.

I think once you stop fixating about money only then will you be in a position to earn big bucks. I never concentrated on my wages and its gone up bit by bit over the years to a level I'm happy with. That said I have a baby now so I'd like more money and am training in a specific area to be able to do that.

If money is all that motivates you, I'm sorry to hear that because I personally love everything I study and do, the money is my reward for hard work, ambition, a combination of things. But if thats what your aim is fair enough. I'd look on job sites, find a job that you think you could do and research the wages. Cisco dudes always seem to earn well. So do java developers.

To sum up my responce to you, if you do anything other than something you enjoy your being a fool to yourself. Best of luck, Jim

[Fergal1982]

Originally Posted by jk2447

Developers tend to work on a project and once thats complete, get laid off and have to move around a lot in their career. Support staff can spend their career in one place cos stuff always breaks.

In my experience, that is rubbish. Unless you are talking about contractors (which is an entirely different matter), developers tend to be hired in to build and support systems for the employer. Once the system(s) are built, they still need to be supported by developers to add enhancements, fix bugs, and perform data fixes.

Now, in the place I am right now, the development team (in my office) has the lowest turnover of the three teams based here. 1 person left the team in the last 5 years. 3 have been brought in (one of which was me).

Local support is next, and the SSC (helpdesk) is by far the highest.

[jk2447]

Originally Posted by Fergal1982

In my experience, that is rubbish. Unless you are talking about contractors (which is an entirely different matter), developers tend to be hired in to build and support systems for the employer. Once the system(s) are built, they still need to be supported by developers to add enhancements, fix bugs, and perform data fixes.

Now, in the place I am right now, the development team (in my office) has the lowest turnover of the three teams based here. 1 person left the team in the last 5 years. 3 have been brought in (one of which was me).

Local support is next, and the SSC (helpdesk) is by far the highest.

Fair enough, I stand corrected. I must if got my wires crossed with something someone told me

[Fergal1982]

Originally Posted by jk2447

Fair enough, I stand corrected. I must if got my wires crossed with something someone told me

That is more true of games development. Perhaps that was it? Games development jobs tend (I believe) to be much more volatile than business development. They do tend to move from job to job. After all, once a game is developed, it tends to require less people to maintain and support it.

[JohnBradbury]

I can't really comment on your salary because I have no idea what currency you're talking about or the economic situation in your country. What I can say is that you should never accept a job if you're not happy with the money on offer. Once you're through the door getting a significant pay rise from an existing employer is almost impossible - no matter how hard you work.

If you were happy with 5k a month before the telephone conversation I can't see why you're so unhappy now? Surely you must have felt the money was reasonable at the time you were employed?

I'd stick with the support role and build up your experience.

[dmarsh]

I still stand by my statements which jk2447 was mentioning.

Product cycles normally are 2-3 years, after the products released things tend to ramp down, sure theres maintenance programmers, but the bulk of the developers leave to work on another project.

Some big companies can move the developers onto another project, many smaller companies workloads fluctuate too much for this to be viable for everyone.

Contractors form part of the answer of course, they help companies develop the systems without having to worry about the layoffs.


I've had a lot of development gigs in 15 years and I've seen it many, many times, I've also seen permanent people / company men, who swore it would never happen to them. It's just business and economics.

Personally I normally get itchy feet every 2-3 years and moving on helps keep my skills fresh. It is a young mans game though, and ultimately I'll need to find another career I expect.

Nobody in IT I know earns 23k a month in sterling so I can only assume the poster is from another country.

Other than that, I think the supporters play a very important role within the industry itself. Imagine a developer without a working pc huh ?

Well most devs can fix their own PC's, they just aren't allowed to by some IT departments ! Demarcation dispute and all that.

Heres what busy cash strapped developers tend to do with their hardware :-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Go...ion_Server.jpg

IT support largely exists for corporate users not for developers. The best places I have worked seperate networks were set up for the developers which they administered themselves. Either that or the whole company was a software house so IT were aligned with the needs of developers.

Developers do on average earn more than support, apart from maybe a few infrastructure architects and network architects.

Its like F1 drivers earn more than pit crew, its just the way it is !

I wouldn't become a programmer just for money, its a tough job even for those that love it, do what interests you most.