I Want to Work in IT
You may already have experience in IT or none at all but want to work in IT. Either way, anyone is capable of starting a career in IT at any stage of their life- you just need to have the motivation to learn new skills, gain new qualifications and have a passion for technology.
Why IT?
IT and Technology is one of the top 10 sectors to work in in the UK and is constantly growing. With coding being introduced into schools in September 2014 it is clear there is an increasing demand for IT skills. IT has become a vital element of most businesses across the world and there is a high demand for skilled professionals to manage the demand. The latest figures show that 5% of all UK jobs are within the IT and Technology sector which accounts for around 1.5 million employees. The shortage of candidates is often referred to as a ‘skills gap’ due to the high demand for technology skills.
The different sectors in IT
There are so many career opportunities within the IT sector including IT Support, IT Security, Web Development, Cloud Computing, Business Analysis, Web Development and many more. Deciding on what sector of IT you wish to work in is completely down to you and which area you would have more interest in. There are programming roles such as C#, PHP and Java, managerial roles such as Project Management and if you are more of an analytics person then a Data Analyst would be the one for you. Many entry level candidates start their IT career in IT Support which is good grounding.
Training & Skills required
Many different skills are required within these sectors of IT. Within each sector there is a variety of qualifications you can complete to make yourself more qualified and employable than others. Take a look at our Job Profiles page which will give you detail information for each kind of IT job along with our Skills Focus section. Degrees are often required for Graduate schemes but otherwise there are many home learning training qualifications.
Permanent or Contract
As well as deciding which sector of IT you wish to specialise in, you can also make the decision of whether to go contract or permanent. It is completely down to your personal preference whether you would prefer to work for a company or yourself. One in three IT jobs are contract and there is a high demand for Contractors within IT but there are still plenty of permanent roles out there.
Contractors tend to earn a higher income but you are also faced with the risks of not having the security of a permanent role. Although there are more permanent roles than contract, there tends to be more competition for these roles.
The most popular path in IT is to start out in permanent roles to gain the skills and experience needed and then further down the line, begin contracting once you have many years of experience in one or more sectors.
Average Salaries of IT roles
The salaries of IT roles can really vary depending on the sector of IT, the skill level and whether you are permanent or contract. With the demand for skilled IT professionals being so high, the salary is also higher than the UK average and increasing. Below are some average salaries for the different sectors in IT, both permanent and contract:
Permanent Developer- £42,000 Contract Developer- £370 p/d
Permanent Analyst- £40,000 Contract Analyst- £366 p/d
Permanent Java- £50,000 Contract Java- £425 p/d
Permanent Web Designer- £35,000 Contract Web Designer- £370 p/d
Permanent 1st Line Support- £22,000 Contract 1st Line Support- £120 p/d
If you want to work in IT, Technojobs has over 18,000 IT jobs to choose from so start searching for an insight into the type of jobs that might appeal to you.
Are you interested in Retraining? Read this case study here of how someone went from a decorator to successful web designer.
