Other jobs that is not support related?

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Hey everyone,

So I've been thinking alot recently regarding where I'm going in life and I don't think I want to continue looking for an IT support job and want to pursue for something else like SQL, Sharepoint or even programming for the mobile platforms. That's not to say that it will be any easier but I'll like to give it a go nevertheless. SQL looks interesting and is something I always wanted to do which I kind of hoped that would of been able to dabble in once I got my foot in the IT door.

When it comes to programming, I would say that I have basic skills that I learnt at college and university - Java, C and C++ OOP.

The problem is HOW do I even get into these roles in the first place ? Take Sharepoint developers for example; from what I gathered Sharepoint skills are in demand but all job ads I see require 3-5yrs commercial experience. Where are the entry level jobs for these? That goes for SQL as well. At least there are entry level IT support jobs about but just alot of competition. Don't tell me 1st line support is the only way in

 

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Junior programmer jobs exist where they will take you on from college, however you are expected to know your stuff.

The market is tough at the moment so its going to be hard to get a break as there will generally be people with experience about and most projects want people that can hit the ground running.

Some people do move sideways from testing, data cleansing, support etc.

A lot of IT departments do maintain their own sharepoint portals.

 

It's my experience that you tend to get involved with the likes of SQL and Sharepoint whilst you're working 1st\2nd line service desk work, it's usually the kind of job where you may need to ask for stored procedures to be run or checking that the Sharepoint farm is working correctly.

As far as getting jobs in them are concerned, no one is going to give an in-experienced person full access to their SQL or Sharepoint environments without a decent background in that product, as you pointed out they do want years of experience, and that experience comes from doing the service desk calls, shadowing the senior engineers (and dba's) and just getting that experience under your belt. As a junior engineer working in a SQL or Sharepoint house you're might not actually be spending each and every hour working on that product.

I would honestly advise you to carry on with the service desk roles because there isn't an 'easy' way into the more senior roles, everyone has to learn to walk before they can run.

 

Ok thanks for the replies