[JRose]

Hello everyone (again)! Besides my first introduction post I haven't posted at all! After snooping and reading the forum rather thoroughly I'd like to pose a few questions, and while this may or may not be the best place for them, here they are! Fine, I lied, they're not here yet, but only because a few little backstory items have to be brought to light. I am twenty two years old, recently single out of a long relationship, (I'm telling you that so I can tell you this next part, not because I think this is a dating website :laugh) and am finally looking to go back to school to get either a degree or certificates.

My questions:

Is IT a good feild to go into if I'm looking to be over in NZ within a few years?

Is anyone here that's in IT able to tell me if I'd be able to get a job brand spankin' new out of college with no other job experience in said field?

Do employers care more about certificates or an associates degree? (Certificates would include MCSE, Cisco, so on and so forth)

Is there a field that I should be looking at rather than IT if I wanted to have a career that's in high demand?

Thank you all who respond ahead of time! I know some of these questions are rather vague but any response or gander into the situation is very much appreciated! Good day, and another thanks!

[Chiba]

Yes, it is.

IT's not difficult; it is, however, big and complex. I'm what, 17 years in? When I interview junior people I'm looking for bright people who think about things logically and can explain themselves, more than I am specific skills. I really like people who can do a little bit of a lot of things, but are strong in one or two areas. All-rounders seem to fit into NZ IT too. Once the person's on board then their strong points can guide the direction they go. Some people can write code; some are great at pulling requirements out of business people; some odd characters get excited by keeping databases alive (god bless 'em).

Saying that, I also want to know that candidates are interested in IT. Aside from the fact that IT might get you to NZ, why else does IT interest you?

[JRose]

Thanks for the reply, not to mention all the information included in your post. It's always good to know what people are looking for! Why am I interested in IT other than the fact it will get me to New Zealand? Excellent question!

I'm very much the person that likes to have everything make sense -- or have expected results. I know, I know, it doesn't seem all that exciting, but that's just who I am! I like knowing if I do this, that will happen, if I do that, this will happen, so on and so forth. The fact that I'm naturally good with computers doesn't hurt me either -- I half like IT just because for some reason I know I'd be good at it! (Cocky sounding, I know--) The fact that it's on the shortage list was just an added bonus, I'd been thinking about IT ever since I was eighteen, I just never had the drive to go to school for it until now!

Any other information you might be able to share would be extremely appreciated! Especially now that I know that you're in the field and have some seniority; it makes it all the better! Thanks for your time and help! And although you already mentoned you look for people with diverse skillsets, which to me implies the degree is the better way to go, do you think you can throw it out there as bluntly as possible which an employer would be more apt to hire? Certificates or a degree?

[JandM]

Just a thought from a position of total ignorance... is there no way you could go for your training/degree (whichever you decide) at a New Zealand institution?

[JRose]

That too is a good question! I'm sure I should have adressed that very point in the first post but neglected to do so! (Honestly I wrote my first post during the commercials of The Last Samurai, as it was on AMC. :o)

I don't see anyway this could be done, however, as I'd be going by myself, or with a friend, that also wouldn't be ready for another year and a half to two years. If he drops out I can look into it, but I just don't know how I'd be able to afford moving to another country, going to college, and working all at the same time! Maybe I'm overlooking something; is there a reason I should be looking harder at this angle?

Again, thanks for your insights! :)

[Chiba]

...as bluntly as possible which an employer would be more apt to hire? Certificates or a degree?

Well, the answer's really "experience", but that doesn't help you much, sorry!

Really though, all candidates are different. I hire for various positions, but the candidates typically come up through the developer route. If you're a self-taught programmer who's written some open source stuff, but works in a supermarket to make ends meet, then I'd consider you but I'd want to know that you could write code professionally. If you're a university computer science graduate then I'll assume you can write code, but can you actually work with people? Does your personality fit the team?

See, it's not an easy question you're asking. One of the best software engineers I've known had no qualifications beyond age 16; one of the best network guys was self-taught after starting out as a movie sound guy; I've worked with several totally clueless university graduates who thought that a bit of paper made them an IT professional.

If you want to do a degree, find one where you get a year out in the middle working in a real live IT company.

[JandL]

Chiba,

I assume from your posts your into software development, which is also my area. Can you answer a couple of questions about hiring in this specific industry? I’m looking to move over in 8-12 months so hunting about for possible positions / salaries (just trying to find out where I might stand).
Over here in the UK the positions are normally described for the *perfect* candidate with an average wage, however that perfect candidate is hardly ever hired. Someone who mostly fits the description will generally take the role. Is this similar with the jobs on offer in NZ or would I not even receive an interview if I did not match ALL of the requirements.
For example many of the jobs on offer require multiple skills, ie vb.net, asp.net and sql. Having 6-7 years experience in vb.net but only recently started using asp.net would I have a chance?

In a line, how close to the job description requirements does the actual candidate hired have to be?


O. and here is my first post after lingering for months!

[JandM]

Hello, and welcome.:) I'm sure you'll get some answers when the NZ people come online.

[ChrisK]

The great thing about IT is that you can pretty much get a job anywhere in the world as long as you are good at what you do, have some experience and speak the language of that country. I think there will always be a demand for IT in the world and the entire IT industry is very large and diverse and you can go into many different fields if you want during your IT career. I started out as a Programmer/database guy, was a team lead, did some management stuff, did some business analyst work and am currently working as a Test Analyst. I have been looking at job postings in NZ for the last couple of years and have seen a lot in my field and never noticed a decline in the jobs available over those years so I don't see why the demand doesn't stay that way for years to come.

The one thing you might want to think about and I don't think this would be limited to the IT field in trying to get a job overseas, is you may find it very difficult to get a job offer without any experience first. You may need to work for a year or two first. I am just speaking from experience but I remember back when I was finishing up my IT education and looking for work I applied to many recruiters in the UK (I am Canadian), I got many responses on the phone from them and the one thing they all said was that they are interested and could get me a job but I would need atleast a years experience. Reason is that by law most countries have to try and hire someone from that country first, if they can't find someone that meets the requirements they can look else where. So they were saying that can't justify hiring a fresh student with no experience from another country when they could hire someone like that from their own country. I am not saying you couldn't get a job in NZ right when you finish your IT education, just something to think about and maybe would want to look into.

As for certificates or degrees being important I would have to agree with the above poster saying experience is the most important. I know that is no good to you now but as I said before even if you get 1 years experience before going to NZ to find a job it could make all the difference. As for certificates I think it really depends on the field of IT you are in. I know that most companies I worked for most of the IT support staff (networking, security, etc) seem to have and/or working on getting more cert's. Programmers/Developers I found that some have them but I find most don't and a lot aren't too concerned about getting them. A lot of places if you are in management you may need to have or get your PMP cert. So really it all depends, I would say network, security and DBA's it would be the most important for. But as the above poster stated I have known people with cert's that didn't really know anything and have met some very smart developers that were self taught.