Hello Mid-Atlantic Region ,

I know we have plenty of people who work in IT here in the DMV area. I figured I would make a thread here, especially with the amount of IT jobs around here. I was inquiring on getting people who work in the IT field to answer some questions based off their career. It's kind of like an interview for your specific career title. I would greatly appreciate any feedback from our fellow Z enthusiasts. Please feel free to post here or feel free to PM me. I'm not looking for short answers. I know the Mid-Atlantic region likes to talk , so feel free to type all you want.

Questions:
Career Title?
How did you get there; training/education you need?
What is your typical day like?
Benefits of the job?
Compensation (Give your range, if you don't want to give specifics)
What surprised you about the job?
Greatest challenge on a daily basis?
What is the number #1 skill you need to be successful in IT?
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Why?
Best advice to give someone just starting off?

Greatly appreciated,


JP

 

BUMP:

I forgot to mention, this is a school related assignment. So any feedback would be very helpful, if anyone wouldn't mind answering a few of my questions

NOTE:

Anyone in the field of Information Security or Web Development and Multimedia?

 

I'll try to help out..

Career Title?
Lead Software Application Developer

How did you get there; training/education you need?
Got an undergrad degree in Computer Science. Worked as a programmer for a few years and got a few software certificates.

What is your typical day like?
Program a little, tell people what to do, attend a few meets.

Benefits of the job?
You're pretty much always considered "smarter" than people that don't program. It has its pros and cons sometimes.

Compensation (Give your range, if you don't want to give specifics)
If you work in the government contracting world (work for a company), you can make 6 figures easily with 7, 8 years of experience.

What surprised you about the job?
That how many people have no clue about what they are doing but yet are assigned to a certain tasks. They just learn from the job as it goes.

Greatest challenge on a daily basis?
Coming up with the most efficient and correct logic

What is the number #1 skill you need to be successful in IT?
The ability to learn and adapt.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Why?
I'll probably be doing the same thing but go independent (take contracts on my own). It's a lot more money but you lose stability. But I'm confident enough that I will be alright.

Best advice to give someone just starting off?
Don't expect to become a programmer by taking a class from ITT Tech. Get a degree. Learning the how to learn new things is far more important than having some job training.

 

Thank you for posting! Great information, I hope you don't mind if I PM you with follow ups on a few questions.

Anyone else? Feel free to post

 

I guess I'll help.

Career Title?
IT Specialist (Security)

How did you get there; training/education you need?
Quite honestly, worked hard and moved up from the helpdesk while collecting the relevant certifications along the way.

What is your typical day like?
Chaotic. Multiple projects, not enough time/resources.

Benefits of the job?
I get to play with a lot of cool toys for free. I have to test their "security".

Compensation (Give your range, if you don't want to give specifics)
Well, I don't make six figures, but I hope to get there one day.

What surprised you about the job?
You have to have a thick skin in the security world. I put out a proposal to change our mobile device policy once and I actually had people come up and yell at me in the hallway because of the changes I wanted to make. I've learned to be prepared to defend any position I take on a security topic, and to have a logical reason behind the recommendation or else people will try to kill it before it is implemented.

Greatest challenge on a daily basis?
Having the self-control to not go off on those people mentioned above. Remember, service with a smile!

Oh, and then there are always those programmers who think they're smarter than everyone that I have to deal with. j/k

What is the number #1 skill you need to be successful in IT?
Pretty much what bb said. IT changes everyday. You have to keep up with it. Even if you're not getting certifications, you should at least read up on different topics. You never know what you'll be asked to do next.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Why?
Most likely doing the same thing. Perhaps managing or becoming a CISO.

Best advice to give someone just starting off?
IT is not for the faint of heart and you won't get that big job right off the bat. Start with the lower certifications first and work you way up. Figure out what interest you in the realm of IT and then go after that goal.

 

Not at all. PM me anytime.

 

Career Title:Cyber transport system Tech

How did you get there:7 month tech school

What is your typical day like: Troubleshooting network issues (port security / installs)

Benefits of the job: military benefits (lots)
Compensation: Vary on rank

What surprised you about the job: the lack of planning

Greatest challenge on a daily basis: not to flip out on the customer

What is the number #1 skill you need to be successful in IT: knowledge and exp

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Why?: Out of the military at some civ job doing the same thing for more money (not hard to get more money then I currently make)

Best advice to give someone just starting off: Depends on what branch of IT, for networking I would suggest certifications CCNA/P/IE + clearance if you can swing on in this area.

 

This site has a lot of relevant information: https://www.sage.org/field/field.html

Career Title?
UNIX System Administrator

How did you get there; training/education you need?
I started as a part time student employee in the computer labs, got a full time job running the labs a semester and a half later. That involved a little bit of server admin work. After a few reorgs, I wound up in the UNIX admin group. I've always picked this stuff up easily and quickly (I started programming in elementary school). I've taken the prerequisite courses for the MS in CS program, but haven't started that yet. A strong CS background is very helpful in this field.

What is your typical day like?
My systems mostly run themselves. I'm always on the lookout for how to minimize the amount of work I have to do -- script common tasks, etc. Currently I'm working on a website that will allow users to submit restore requests. When their request is submitted, the restore will be automatically kicked off. It's a win/win. They get immediate action on their issue, and I don't have to lift a finger. In theory I eventually get to sit here and do nothing. In reality, there's always something else that I then move onto...

A typical day also includes some crappy stuff. I have a project I've been stuck on for close to 7 years. Google "Death march project". It's a staple of the IT industry. That project involves several hours of meetings per week. Fortunately it's not the only project I'm working on.

The more fun stuff happens less frequently: performance tuning, analyzing trends, etc. Recently I got backups of one of my systems down from 17 hours a night (ok, pretty much night & day) to 1 1/2 hours.

Benefits of the job?
I love the vast majority of what I do. I work at a University, and get 2 classes a semester for free. Very predictable hours, and although I'm "on call" 24/7, I can't remember the last time I received an after hours call because a server of mine was down.

Compensation (Give your range, if you don't want to give specifics)
Outside of a public University, easily 6 figures. In my group, the range is from 90K-110K.

What surprised you about the job?
How much less work there is than there was in group I was in before (Windows, with some Linux servers, but they moved with me to the UNIX group), and how much better the pay is. There's a noticeable difference in skill sets between with Windows folks (no programming background), and the UNIX folks (lots of programming background).

Greatest challenge on a daily basis?
Anything involving our firewall group...

What is the number #1 skill you need to be successful in IT?
Troubleshooting skills. There's nothing worse than having something broken, and having a team of people assigned to fix it where none of them have an f'ing clue what to do. But I guess they're "successful" in IT since they still have jobs...

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Why?
Same place, doing the same thing. I'm at the top of the food chain, unless I go into management. My wife and I are working on starting a family, and I love knowing I'm going home at the same time every day, and will have a life outside of work.

Best advice to give someone just starting off?
I had an experience from early on in my career that's my advice: Take advantage of every opportunity you have to work with someone who's really good. Don't ask them stupid stuff you can read up on on your own. Do ask them things that will ensure you are going to be reading the right things though. Take good notes (mental, or pencil/paper) on how they approach a problem, and what techniques they use:

Early on, I found myself working with our head network engineer on an issue. He ended up doing a packet capture to see what was going on, and had to decode them by hand, since his analyzer didn't understand the protocol being used. I had never even heard of packet captures. I asked him for printouts of the captured packets. Also he had a printout he referred to to assist in decoding the packet. I asked about that printout, and he mentioned "RFC 951".

A week or two later, we were back together troubleshooting the same issue. He started decoding a packet by hand, and I said, "oh, that's has this option set, which is why we're seeing..." I had gone online, found RFC 951, read it (multiple times), and sat down with the printed out packets and practiced decoding them by hand. I got instant cred with the head network engineer, which has continued for the 15 years I've worked here. I did have some follow up questions, which he was more than happy to answer (he has a reputation for having no patience for questions from people). A bit of effort on my part gave me access to a great resource that most others around here don't have access to.

So what Etan said: learn how to learn new things.

 

Oh man, lack of planning, I forgot that one. Must be a common thing in the public sector. lol

 

Thank you guys for replying with descriptive answers! Interesting responses Some of you guys may receive a PM here in the next few days. I hope to see others post, I know we have more local IT guys. Thanks!

 

Career Title?
Level 2 Help Desk Technician

How did you get there; training/education you need?
Actually graduated with History/Math degree. But worked in college as help desk technician. Was Mac certified 6 months after i got the job. Now working on A+ certification, and once I pay off those first round of student loans I plan on going back for a computer science degree.

What is your typical day like?
I work for a public school system, so most of the day is tied up by providing support to teachers and administrators. I also do in house repairs on the thousands of laptops/desktops/ipads that we support for the county

Benefits of the job?
I am reimbursed for any college classes I take that relate to my field of work. I get the same holidays off that the students and teachers receive (2 weeks for Christmas) although we are not off during the summer.

Compensation (Give your range, if you don't want to give specifics)
Very Low compared to metropolitan areas. 30k-50k depending on level.

What surprised you about the job?
Just like any other government job, you have folks that don't belong in the department, but were placed there to pad #'s for race and gender. Not saying they are bad people, just don't belong in the job they have and know very little to nothing about IT

Greatest challenge on a daily basis?
What is the number #1 skill you need to be successful in IT?
Being able to to talk to people without using computer jargon. Most IT employees lack basic communication skills. If you master that, you will be very successful.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Why?
In 5 years I would like to have finished my certifications and degree in computer science. There are very few management positions where I am currently employed, so hopefully I will be with a company where there are more higher level positions.

Best advice to give someone just starting off?
Pick a specific field. Get your computer science degree, but focus on a specific area. Networking, programming, security.

 

CYBER SECYRITY, AUDITOR, ISSO, PROGRAM MANAGER

Career Title? Deputy Program Manager ISSO
How did you get there; training/education you need? 13yrs/Undergad Program Management, now a Masters IT Systems Security Management
What is your typical day like? 6am to 6pm stressful and fun at the same time, because I am responsible for 30+ Information System Security Officers (ISSO) across the country. Proposal, Requirements, Project Management Plans, Reports, Dashboards, metrics, tracking, Roster, interviews, termination....
Benefits of the job? $$$$$, travel, people, flexible schedule, bonus, accountability. stocks, 401K, pension, healthcare, travel reimburstment, clothing allowances (dry cleaning really)
Compensation (Give your range, if you don't want to give specifics)$100-$500+
What surprised you about the job? The fact that people get to close to this level without REAL experience. Pass you CISSP and most places will hire you...but not me!
Greatest challenge on a daily basis? Dealing with high level gov execs
What is the number #1 skill you need to be successful in IT? People Skills aka Softskills, having the ability to listen, understand, articulate, communicate, etc.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Why? Already selfemployed. I just see myself making 500K+ with bonus and company ownership of a partnering company I am with now.
Best advice to give someone just starting off? NEVER burn a bridge, folks that I worked for now work for me. Those that were ****** to me, well what goes around comes around. But to be honest the nicer I am to them the more guilty they feel and they leave on their own. This is a VERY small world of IT