Anyone here an IT Consultant?

[Syringer]

If so, in which area do you work in and do you like it? Does it excercise the nerdy part of your brain all day in a fulfilling fashion? How is the advancement in your field? Overall would you recommend it as a career?

/stay away please Likelinus, this is not a blog post

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

spider?

 

[bleeb]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
spider?

 

[Anghang]

field: security
like it: yup
exercise nerdy part of brain: yup
advancement opportunity: very good / optimal
would i recommend it as a career: yup

 

[Rudee]

Originally posted by: bleeb

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
spider?

Bueller?

 

[loup garou]

I am.

Originally posted by: Syringer
If so, in which area do you work in and do you like it?

Small business consulting. Everything from full server and network design & setup to "I can't print" user issues. We also do phone systems. Yes, I like my job very much and I like the vast majority of my clients.

Does it excercise the nerdy part of your brain all day in a fulfilling fashion?

Sometimes, although it can be repetitive. Although I have my clients set up and trained pretty well, usually the variety comes from fixing problems of my less-organized coworkers' clients when their workload overflows to me.

How is the advancement in your field? Overall would you recommend it as a career?

Virtually none as we are a small business as well. I am satisfactorily compensated for what I do, but I don't plan on staying here forever. I wouldn't recommend what I do as a career, but I think it's a great starting point from which to narrow down a more specific career.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: loup garou
I am.

Originally posted by: Syringer
If so, in which area do you work in and do you like it?

Small business consulting. Everything from full server and network design & setup to "I can't print" user issues. We also do phone systems. Yes, I like my job very much and I like the vast majority of my clients.

Does it excercise the nerdy part of your brain all day in a fulfilling fashion?

Sometimes, although it can be repetitive. Although I have my clients set up and trained pretty well, usually the variety comes from fixing problems of my less-organized coworkers' clients when their workload overflows to me.

How is the advancement in your field? Overall would you recommend it as a career?

Virtually none as we are a small business as well. I am satisfactorily compensated for what I do, but I don't plan on staying here forever. I wouldn't recommend what I do as a career, but I think it's a great starting point from which to narrow down a more specific career.

I am an IT consultant for a small manufacturing company (under 150 employees). I handle the email system, the website, and all computer needs (new systems, troubleshooting, etc.) for two locations. Pretty much the same as loup; everything from server stuff to "I can't print". I like my job a lot. I telecommute, but I do go into the office a few times a month. I would say yes, it does exercise the nerdy part of my brain, but it also gets repetitive like loup said. And workload overflow does happen. It's like on the 24 TV show when 15 bad things happen at once; you have to be careful about not only what is a priority but who is a priority.

As far as advancement, it's pretty much up to me. I plan out most of the projects I work on and have a lot of freedom in what to work on during the day. I am also satisfactorily compensated for what I do (only job I've had that I can say that about!). I too do not plan on staying here forever; it's better to have a long-term career because your clients can flush you whenever they feel like it. "Well, everything seems to be running smoothly, do we really need you anymore?" Yes, I've had that happen.

A side note on working at home: it does require a lot of discipline. If you don't have a lot of discipline, as long as you take care of your work first thing in the morning before you do anything else and deal with tasks/emergencies as they arrive, you'll be fine. I am also working on my Bachelor's degree online, so it can get tough to stick to a consistant schedule. I really struggled with it the first few months I started doing both.

 

[Syringer]

How much knowledge did you guys have before taking these jobs? Was there a lot of training at your locations or were you expected to know a lot beforehand?

 

[DaiShan]

Field: Windows (server and Client) Linux Server (LAMP admin) Telecommunications (custom built VOIP solutions) Web Development and E-commerce (PHP, Python, HTML, MySQL)

I run an IT outsourcing firm in Central Florida. We work a lot with smaller businesses to help them establish a presence on the Internet, and utilize the cost savings of VOIP over traditional (analog) PBX's. I also staff consultants both full time and on an as-needed basis for medium to large companies (100-400 users)

I really enjoy what I do, I don't get stuck with a lot of the tedious crap (I assign that to my techs heh) It's pretty stressful, because the majority of our customers call in only when they have a problem, so I need to be able to drop what I'm doing and get someone over there (or remote in) to fix the problem, although lately we've been doing a lot more general web consulting work (page design, custom reports etc.) Which we get to negotiate the time frame on (less stressful). I started building PC's when I was 10 or so, and I've worked as a sys admin since I was 16 (summer job until I turned 18) I'm a full time student during the fall and spring (Senior in College) so during the school year I'm a lot more stressed out (4 hours of sleep a night max) but we've got a lot of happy customers, and business keeps coming in, so right now I think that it's worth it.

/edit as far as knowledge - The customer calls me and tells me what they want (e-commerce site, on site tech support, server management etc.) and the details are left up to me and my guys. In most cases, the customer has absolutely no interest what-so-ever in the technical aspect of the job, they just want it done quickly and to spec.

 

[SampSon]

I still do some consulting on the side for extra spending money. Mostly small business networks and support.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Who isnt an ITC? Even those n00bs @ best buy are ITCs. :laugh:

 

[Ranger X]

Most IT consulting jobs require you to work insane hours and you're traveling all the time. If you don't have a family, it's not too bad. I know some people who're married and they hate their jobs because of the extended amount of time spent away from their families. Work the job when you're young and haven't been burnt out yet.

 

[pkananen]

yes, am an enterprise java developer working for a small consulting firm. i do like it, can be long hours and stressful, but is good overall.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Syringer
How much knowledge did you guys have before taking these jobs? Was there a lot of training at your locations or were you expected to know a lot beforehand?

Zero training. I have a few couple years behind me in college in computer technology, but that has helped about about zilch. My computer knowledges comes from personal experimentation. It started out as my hobby - building computers, fixing computers, just learning everything - making a home network, building a computer from scratch, buying cheap/used parts to play with and learn from. Once you establish your base of knowledge after a few years, you really don't have to do much to maintain it. Just stay up on current tech articles or forums. I read Anandtech, Dailytech, and a few other news/review sites to stay on top of emerging technologies and of course keep ordering toys to play with 😀

To make a simple example, let's say you decide to learn about CRT monitors. You learn about the different sizes, the VGA connector, resolutions, and so on. When LCDs come out, they're not that hard to learn - fixed resolution & a new connector. The fastest way I learn things is on my own playing with it, especially when I'm driven by a personal sense of fulfillment. If you asked any normal person to build a gaming computer, they'd hate you for it - having to spend hours researching computer parts online, where to find the best deal, how to configure the bios, tricks for volt-modding your video card and overclocking your processor, integrating a high-end cooling system for low noise and good airflow, configuring an optimal Windows installation, downloading the latest game patches. For us geeks, we don't even think twice about it - it's fun! Just take that approach and you'll enjoy learning and learn faster and be able to apply it at work. I enjoy what I do and that helps me professionally.