anyone here an IT analyst, soultions/systems architect?

[Journer]

so i was browesing around on MSN money and one of the top 10 jobs was IT analyst...avg pay was like ~80k...etc etc
i'm just wondering what exactly someone in the position would do...how much travel...what kind of company one woould work for, etc.

thanks

 

[acemcmac]

Good fvcking luck breaking into that job market. You're talking about the consulting side.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

80k is with like 5 years exp. dont expect that job out of college.

 

[Journer]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
Good fvcking luck breaking into that job market. You're talking about the consulting side.

whats the problem in this?

 

[Journer]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
80k is with like 5 years exp. dont expect that job out of college.

oh no doubt...not expecting to jump in right away or start off high...just wanting info

 

[Vegitto]

I always here these high numbers on these forums.. Are these after tax or before tax? An average programmer earns a mere ?33k BEFORE tax over here.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

if you can learn SAP and get in with a consulting company you have solid job security for a while with a very high billing rate.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Originally posted by: Vegitto
I always here these high numbers on these forums.. Are these after tax or before tax? An average programmer earns a mere ?33k BEFORE tax over here.

$41k US? Ouch.

 

[mk52]

Depends where and in what industry? Here in NYC working for a brokerage firm such numbers are very common.

 

[MixMasterTang]

Those type of positions are not usually a position you can get straight out of College. Most people want someone with 6-8 years experience (some others want 10+ years). This would be something to work towards eventually, but it's nothing that you can really just jump straight into.

 

[Journer]

ok well i realize what you are saying about exp and whatnot...but someone tell me WTF exactly people in this position do...travel...companies...etc.... lol

 

[MixMasterTang]

Originally posted by: Journer
ok well i realize what you are saying about exp and whatnot...but someone tell me WTF exactly people in this position do...travel...companies...etc.... lol

It's almost impossible to give you "exactly" what any position does. A solution architect usually designs solutions. If you work for a medium to large sized company, it could be that you design their WAN/LAN infrastructure, determine what IT strategies they are going to follow or plan some sort of server/network migration. If you work for a large consulting company, you could be brought in on a large Active Directory Migration prodct, and you may (or may not travel a lot). Your question cannot be answered properly, it's like asking what a "Programmer" does, simple answer is a programmer programs and an IT analyst analyzes.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Journer
ok well i realize what you are saying about exp and whatnot...but someone tell me WTF exactly people in this position do...travel...companies...etc.... lol

It totally depends.

You an an analyst. You analyze IT. This could be the financial aspects of it, the security aspects of it, the procedural aspects, project management methodology, etc.

It's a general business analysts position, 3-5 years experience in IT.

The solutions/systems architect is the person that builds a solution or system by gathering business requirements, meeting with folks that want/need the solution and then proposing and building one. 80K is on the very low end for this kind of position. Breaking into this is difficult because you need to be just technically savy enough to know what you are doing, but more business oriented to understand the people and players involved.

If you want more, just go to salary.com and search job titles.

 

[LS20]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
Good fvcking luck breaking into that job market. You're talking about the consulting side.

i would generally agree, but a friend who just graduated CS - not particularly outstanding in academics or experience - got a consulting job with IBM. yes, LOTS of travel (consulting anything = travel), typically week long jobs. remember avg pay listed is not avg STARTING pay, though they do get compensated well

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
if you can learn SAP and get in with a consulting company you have solid job security for a while with a very high billing rate.

Tough market to break into. I used to know the SD module for R/3 (I could probably brush up on it) but I never could break into the SAP consulting market (even with a consultant's assistance & training).

 

[piasabird]

You would be better off becoming a network technician. Highly trained network guys are bound to be paid more.

 

[Descartes]

That's essentially what I do. More on the solutions than the analysis side, but both are a function of my role and my business.

I'm working with one of our clients on a large-scale project with over 100 people, all IT; probably 20 of them are systems analysts, and another 10 or so are solutions architects (more often simply called development lead, technical lead, etc.). Billing rates for both extend well over $100/hr, and some so high that it's obscene. $80k would be very much on the lower end as spidey07 said. Something like $150k+ for top talent would be more appropriate.

And as others have said, it is difficult to break into the business. It's usually not something you can simply apply for and start working. Consultants usually have at least 5 years of solid experience interacting with many different clients, different projects, etc. They're at the top of the talent pool, and they're compensated accordingly.

Travel is frequent, and over an extended period of time it can be very tough; however, if you're young there is a lot of upside to the travel. As I've said in other threads, I've essentially spent most of my career traveling around with friends working on large projects. It can be very fulfilling. One caveat though: If you join a consulting firm, insure that they have some sort of a profit sharing program, or at least insure that your salary will keep you happy when you find yourself working 80 hour weeks. It happens, and there's nothing worse than billing a million dollars a year for a client only to find you kept less than 10% of that. I've seen people burn themselves out that way.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: piasabird
You would be better off becoming a network technician. Highly trained network guys are bound to be paid more.

False. No offense piasabird, but you can officially ignore this post.

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: Descartes
That's essentially what I do. More on the solutions than the analysis side, but both are a function of my role and my business.

I'm working with one of our clients on a large-scale project with over 100 people, all IT; probably 20 of them are systems analysts, and another 10 or so are solutions architects (more often simply called development lead, technical lead, etc.). Billing rates for both extend well over $100/hr, and some so high that it's obscene. $80k would be very much on the lower end as spidey07 said. Something like $150k+ for top talent would be more appropriate.

And as others have said, it is difficult to break into the business. It's usually not something you can simply apply for and start working. Consultants usually have at least 5 years of solid experience interacting with many different clients, different projects, etc. They're at the top of the talent pool, and they're compensated accordingly.

Travel is frequent, and over an extended period of time it can be very tough; however, if you're young there is a lot of upside to the travel. As I've said in other threads, I've essentially spent most of my career traveling around with friends working on large projects. It can be very fulfilling. One caveat though: If you join a consulting firm, insure that they have some sort of a profit sharing program, or at least insure that your salary will keep you happy when you find yourself working 80 hour weeks. It happens, and there's nothing worse than billing a million dollars a year for a client only to find you kept less than 10% of that. I've seen people burn themselves out that way.

Exactly the kind of stuff I'm hoping to move to after getting another two years of IT mgmt exp. (More on the security side though...shooting for my CISSP in 2008).

 

[Journer]

awesome...this was the kind of info i was looking for i appologize if my question was hard to answer or wasnt clear enough...i am assuming the bigger companies one would work for would be someone with a lot of solutions such as MS, Cisco, Unisys, etc....but can anyone tell me about these smaller firms...

if possible...could someone go through what they did for a project? i am assuming it works something like:
you work for cisco...
client comes to cisco and needs solution for office setup
sales sells them some kind of solution plan/team
you meet with people, look at their envrionment, assess their needs
plan accordingly, provide cost/time info, etc...and finally see through the implementation proccess...

is this typically a job where your homebase is located near a corporate office and you just travel in and out...or is it more demanding where you live just whereever and are always on the go...

i understand some of this is hard to answer...just pic a situation that you think fits and describe...thanks again

also...what do you think someone's resume should look like to be a 'perfect' or 'good' applicant for such a job...
lets say you want to do network solutions...
i am assuming:
5+ yrs in IT doing something network related (net. support, design, security)
bach. in something business and CS related...such as MIS undergrad ...or maybe CS undergrad w/ MBA

what certifications do you think would help? CCIE, CISSP, RHCE, MCSE?

 

[Journer]

Originally posted by: Feldenak

Exactly the kind of stuff I'm hoping to move to after getting another two years of IT mgmt exp. (More on the security side though...shooting for my CISSP in 2008).

HEY...kick ass...you live in Bham... if it is not to impolite for me to ask, where do you work? how do you think the job market is in bham for a field such as this? I grew up off of highway 280...i like bham a lot...if the market is good i'de like to stay there, lol

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: Journer

Originally posted by: Feldenak

Exactly the kind of stuff I'm hoping to move to after getting another two years of IT mgmt exp. (More on the security side though...shooting for my CISSP in 2008).

HEY...kick ass...you live in Bham... if it is not to impolite for me to ask, where do you work? how do you think the job market is in bham for a field such as this? I grew up off of highway 280...i like bham a lot...if the market is good i'de like to stay there, lol

I dunno....you're a Bama fan.

YGPM

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: Journer
awesome...this was the kind of info i was looking for i appologize if my question was hard to answer or wasnt clear enough...i am assuming the bigger companies one would work for would be someone with a lot of solutions such as MS, Cisco, Unisys, etc....but can anyone tell me about these smaller firms...

if possible...could someone go through what they did for a project? i am assuming it works something like:
you work for cisco...
client comes to cisco and needs solution for office setup
sales sells them some kind of solution plan/team
you meet with people, look at their envrionment, assess their needs
plan accordingly, provide cost/time info, etc...and finally see through the implementation proccess...

That's a fairly accurate representation of what occurs at the very high-level.

is this typically a job where your homebase is located near a corporate office and you just travel in and out...or is it more demanding where you live just whereever and are always on the go...

That would entirely depend on what company you join. It might be possible to find a consultancy where you could dedicate yourself to local companies, but even in those situations travel is still often required as many of those companies have branches you'd need to visit. It really depends. Travel isn't necessarily a requirement, but being open to it will make you a more valuable resource. My clients know that I can be anywhere they need me to be at almost any time, but that comes at a price.

i understand some of this is hard to answer...just pic a situation that you think fits and describe...thanks again

I think you've got it. The devil is in the details of course, so what should be a fairly simple concept is very quickly turned into a maelstrom of frustration. How you manage client expectation, client needs and how you fit the solution into the problem space ultimately determines your success. You have to think on your feet, have creativity on tap and the confidence to make a decision and stick with it. The rest falls into place...

 

[Journer]

Originally posted by: Feldenak

Originally posted by: Journer

Originally posted by: Feldenak

Exactly the kind of stuff I'm hoping to move to after getting another two years of IT mgmt exp. (More on the security side though...shooting for my CISSP in 2008).

HEY...kick ass...you live in Bham... if it is not to impolite for me to ask, where do you work? how do you think the job market is in bham for a field such as this? I grew up off of highway 280...i like bham a lot...if the market is good i'de like to stay there, lol

I dunno....you're a Bama fan.

YGPM

haha, ty
ROLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL TIDEEE

 

[vi edit]

Here's how you double your money as an "analyst":

Get hired on to a company/industry that uses a VERY large and expensive product. Learn that product inside and out. Become a master of it. Learn how to work with people and network out.

After you have become a knowledge expert of that software and/or industry, you can turn around and follow two other paths.

One path is sign on with the software company as a consultant and double your income over your previous position...

Or...hook up with (or create) your own consulting firm specializing in custom apps for that program and make 3x as much (or more) as your previous position.

With each successive position typically comes more travel and stress though.