Can you give me career advice in IT field or share with me?

Question

I am 27, male, I am an Industrial Engineering graduate. Last time I have worked for 2 1/2 years in production, but I found the job were not interesting because I could hardly apply what I have learnt, and I expected more technical job. Then I quit and found new job in finance. Now I am interested in IT. I have taken several courses throughout few years, and I am pursuing my Master degree in IT, although currently I am not working in engineering or IT field, but in finance. I heard from some of my classmate that their jobs are quite demanding. I also read job advertisements in newspaper and found that oftentimes they require ability in many programming laguages and other qualification. Can you share with me, what should I do, what technical skills I should possess to be "out of the crowd"? Thanks in advance for your sincere advice.

Hint: I am in Singapore.

Hi Thomas, thanks for your answer. Actually I started my career life in other country. The culture is slightly different, but basic things are still the same.

First thing is: Do your homework. Ask yourself what you want. Act according to your plan, but be flexible & open-minded. When you apply for a job, search what the company is like, what they demand from you, and what they provide for you. Prepare yourself for interview. You may buy books or read articles regarding this. If you don't want to be in IT, don't tell them "anything but IT", but (perhaps) you'd better say,"I would prefer position in sales/ administration/ human resources etc." unless they will be questioning your reason.

Second thing is: be confident, have enough rest before interview session, dress properly, and don't be late. Good luck!

Answer 1

I'm a recent graduate of IT from looking for job in singapore. I had internship with software house during my course of study. Ya, IT jobs are very demanding. Something that you have learned now will not apply after 2-3 years time unless you upgrade yourself constantly. Assume you work as a programmer, you have to face the computer everyday and might even need to do overtime if the deadlines are catching up, some even have to work until 10 PM and might didn't have overtime pay, depeding on the company benefits. Also do you want to spend the whole night awake doing the system cutover?? cutover cannot do in daytime because business transaction occurs during daytime. Moreover after cutover you have to provide support for 24 hours straight everyday, regardless whether you are sleeping or not. During my internship every team member will have to responsibility to provide support for one month, after one month will pass to other team member. other companies might have other flexibility. All this is not enough, you have to put up with some ridiculous demands from the users and might also from your superiors or boss if they are not nice. Well the nice side on this profession is you will really to control your temper very well because you might need to spend long hours debugging. If the company has overseas projects you might be sent to overseas too and the benefits are quite nice. My father used to work as a programmer and sometimes he will only reach home at 2AM and need to report to work before 9AM. It was due to his profession that induces me to study IT but I'm not going to enter that field because my skill is not so updated. By the ways, do you have any tips for starting job seeker?? I will appreciate it. My salary range between SGD1500- SGD1600 and I practically willing to work anything except IT, any good tip for fresh graduate starting to look for a job in singapore???

Answer 2

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