I.T in Galway

skelliser

Anyone now if there is any i.t. companies in galway hiring graduates at the mo?

jobs seem to be fairly thin in the ground at the minute

leeroybrown

Galway doesn't exactly abound with graduate I.T. jobs. Most people I know had no choice other than moving away to get a job.

I'm not aware of anyone who is hiring. If you went to NUIG then I'd suggest calling into Careers Services there if only to get a list of potential companies. I'd also say that if you are really really lucky you might be able to catch the tail end of a few companies milk round programmes. The only Galway based I.T. company (software development) that will definitely have a graduate recruitment round open is Fidelity Investments (FISC) - you might make the deadline.

Other than that the companies I can think of who have put money into Galway recently are Cisco and IBM. Perhaps they may have some openings.

Oh, and I think SAP in Galway are supposed to have some openings at the moment but I'm not sure if there are any grad jobs involved.

skelliser

ya i know about fidility, applied for the graduate job but didnt even get an interview!
even with a 2.1 fairly annoyed with them!
cisco and nortel are recruiting for next autumn:( so at the mo im doin the linux+ and then the ccna courses thru fas and then appling to them, other then that im stuck and im determined not to move to dublin

Feelgood

You should try and get jobs in smaller companies, don't worry about IBM and SAP etc...they will start you out on a poxy wage that you will be on for 10 years without a payrise....

Small companies require broader skills so you will learn much more and is much more rewarding...

skelliser

well i had an interview for cisco during the summer and they said i did really well but my lack of networking knowledge let me down so hence im doing the ccna and im sure the linux+ will also look good on the c.v

Feelgood

skelliser wrote: »

well i had an interview for cisco during the summer and they said i did really well but my lack of networking knowledge let me down so hence im doing the ccna and im sure the linux+ will also look good on the c.v

Unfortunately you can't learn networking from a CCNA. Yep a CCNA might get you a job with Cisco and they will start you on 25k a year for a few years, but because of the magnitude of the company you will be hired to perform one function and that will be the only function you will perform. For example, they might hire you to update the Cisco IOS on routers or switches and when you trained at that, thats what you will specialize in always....

Whereas if you get into a small - medium sized company you will perform varied functions and learn lots, part of which might be Cisco, Micro$oft, unix etc...

Set you sights higher dude, forget about Linux+ and go for Solaris or Hp-UX or AIX. To get ahead in I.T. you need to offer something that is not common and is a niche.

If I was an employer looking for someone in Galway, how many CV's do you think I would get with Linux+ and CCNA on them?. I reckon it would be quite a few?. Don't be fooled by mainstream certifications, experience is key in the I.T. world....

skelliser

Feelgood wrote: »

If I was an employer looking for someone in Galway, how many CV's do you think I would get with Linux+ and CCNA on them?. I reckon it would be quite a few?. Don't be fooled by mainstream certifications, experience is key in the I.T. world....

but i need to get a job first to gain experience:) plus the cisco plant in galway is a r&d facility,
you are right tho about getting broad experience etc. which in fairness is what im looking for, i would be a little concerned that i would get pigeon holed early on if i went into an MNC but on the flip side to have a few years work at cisco on my c.v would look good

skelliser

i am eager to learn as much as i can so im gonna do as many certs as possible now and throughout my carreer
im just after having a look at solaris and im not sure which course would be good, any suggestions?

Feelgood

skelliser wrote: »

but i need to get a job first to gain experience:) plus the cisco plant in galway is a r&d facility,
you are right tho about getting broad experience etc. which in fairness is what im looking for, i would be a little concerned that i would get pigeon holed early on if i went into an MNC but on the flip side to have a few years work at cisco on my c.v would look good

Yep will look good on the CV alright, but say we both went for a job and you walked in with your CV and said yep 2 years at cisco in Cisco on routing and switching and I walked in for the same job and I've worked in fecking craggy island parochial house as a systems tech looking after the network infrastructure, server systems - Cisco, windows, Unix. printers, hardware, anti virus...etc etc...

Who do you think they will give the job to?. My point is, try to get your first job in some small company that will hire you to fill numerous support roles. Theres a million and one people out there with cisco, but theres not many that have Cisco with windows and Unix.

Chances are you will also get paid more in smaller companies as you will become indispensible!.

Feelgood

skelliser wrote: »

i am eager to learn as much as i can so im gonna do as many certs as possible now and throughout my carreer
im just after having a look at solaris and im not sure which course would be good, any suggestions?

I can see that your very eager alright and got help the poor f**ks that are gonna have to work with you

If you want certs then go for it, but try and go for certs that other people don't have. This will obviously increase you chances of getting a job. The thing with certs is that they are also a money making racket, american generated multi choice crap....anyone can learn text and answer a few questions, sure you just did that in college!!. I know guys with loads of certs though when it comes to applying the knowledge practically they haven't a notion...

So what I'll say is learn the stuff and practice it, get yourself a copy of VMware and install Solaris, Linux etc, learn the command line. Get yourself router simulators, learn the IOS. Note the Juniper network certifications are in much more demand than Cisco....

If I was starting again, I would be learning SQL, PL/SQL, Oracle, MySqL and SQL server. Database roles are huge and are just gonna get bigger and bigger and also demand some stupid wages....guys working with me on €800 + a day!!..

Couple Databases with Unix and you got yourself a lifelong career....

skelliser

i get ya! cheers for the advice
gonna add the Sun Certified Programmer Java 2.1.4 and one of the os courses to my to-do list while i look for work, not sure which one but its gonna have to wait until i finish the linux course cause iv only one spare computer for messin around on

skelliser

the one thing that i hated in college was databases,i found it really boring i could well understand ppl goin postal from working with them!!!

Feelgood

skelliser wrote: »

the one thing that i hated in college was databases,i found it really boring i could well understand ppl goin postal from working with them!!!

I hear ya, I was exactly the same!. Though hate to break it to you, everything in IT is pants. Boring as hell!. If your a DBA in theory you could take one 6 month contract a year and get paid enough to last you for the other 6 months of the year..6 months off every year???. Wouldn't that be nice....

leeroybrown

The question I have is are you tied to Galway? When I made my suggestions above it was on the basis that you wanted/needed to stay in Galway and they were the only companies I could think of that might be hiring at the moment. As Feelgood points out you're not always better off with a larger company and I'll add that you might be better off setting your sights far wider if you want to get a good graduate job.

Kazu

i have been looking as well

ya i know about fidility, applied for the graduate job but didnt even get an interview!
even with a 2.1 fairly annoyed with them!

looks like am fooked :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

leeroybrown

Kazu wrote: »

looks like am fooked :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Fidelity have a fairly competitive milk round with a lot of good 1.1 candidates so they can afford to be picky. Once you get to interview a lot of companies will become a lot less worried about the degree result and more so about what the candidate knows and what relevant experience they have.

JackieChan

Have to say that I agree about starting out doing general IT support.
From my own experience I found it to be greatly beneficial.
I started doing 1st line helpdesk support,doing remote fix.Troubleshooting network issues. Did that for 4 years! Then got a lucky break in to Oracle databases,forms,pl/sql,etc.... Now 7 years on I'm contracting and my better grounding in IT still shows up against those who have a purely application support/development background. Then again I loved databases so it was like a glove to a hand for me!

skelliser

Kazu wrote: »

i have been looking as well




looks like am fooked :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

hey kazu, are you still in college, final year?
im out since autumn and looks like i missed the boat!
using the time now to get certified in as much as possible