If you have always wanted to work in IT, before you decide on the training you want and the job you would love for later, here are a few things you should know.
After all, while IT work or it vacatures can pay higher than average salaries, offer great bonuses and have good job prospects, there are some drawbacks to working in the industry as well.
Pay is above average, so companies think they own you — One shock for many people new to the IT world is, although the pay is much better than many other jobs, that often means companies think that gives them the right to ask you to work ridiculously long hours.
If you want a life outside your job, working in IT may not always be the best choice.
People will blame you when users do something wrong — While you may be the hero when you fix users’ problems, you will almost always be the person they blame if they do something wrong.
You will also often find yourself spending a lot of your day solving things that would never have happened if users had followed your instructions in the first place.
Old technologies versus new — While you may think you will get to implement new technologies, learn all about cool new programs and being an innovator in the technology field, in most cases you will spend most of your time monitoring old technologies and implementing fixes so they still work.
Dealing with IT veterans — One of the most frustrating things for any new IT specialist is often dealing with IT veterans at the company they begin to work for.
IT veterans are often stuck in their ways when it comes to new technology and, surprising to you, are not always the people that will be interested in learning about and then implementing new ones.
Expect to have to fight for your beliefs about new technologies, and then prove that they really are the best option.
Locations are not always the best — You may be paid much higher salaries in the IT field compared to many others, but when you factor in the longer working hours and often poor locations, there can also be lots of stress.
Locations can often be a problem as many IT companies are located in industrial parks a long way out of town. This can often mean long commutes in the morning and evening, sometimes in rush hour, and the stress that goes along with those long drives.
If you are an IT consultant that visits customers’ homes or work sites, you will also often have poor, out of the way locations to visit throughout your day as well.
Co-workers will expect your help with home-related computer problems — Once co-workers who are not particularly tech savvy realize how good you are at your job, you will often be asked to help with their home computers as well.
Whether that is giving tech advice while you are at work, or being asked to visit them at home, this can be a problem. Especially as you do not want to create enemies at work.
