Which Industry Should I Choose?

I've been thinking lately; I have been searching for a new job recently, and I have a good idea of what to look for as far as my interests go in IT but have had some difficulty deciding which industry path would be the best.

I know there are a lot of factors that play into this, but are there areas in general where, for example, you gain knowledge and experience at a faster pace? Or are there other places that are overall better?

I have heard that it is unwise enter into some industry areas such as lower education, some areas of manufacturing, basically any area where lack of budge is a factor, etc. At the same time I've heard working at Google and other tech companies is amazing. Realistically, at this point in my career I think I would have difficulty getting the type of position I want at places like that (although have been trying). How do you target such narrow areas such as tech companies or consulting firms?

tldr; Having difficulty deciding which industries are overall best for IT? How do you target them?

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Comments

Everyone

Simple, the one that is willing to hire you.

NinjaBoy

Everyone wrote: »

Simple, the one that is willing to hire you.

This is so true.

jmreicha wrote: »

...I have heard that it is unwise enter into some industry areas such as lower education, some areas of manufacturing, basically any area where lack of budge is a factor, etc. At the same time I've heard working at Google and other tech companies is amazing. Realistically, at this point in my career I think I would have difficulty getting the type of position I want at places like that (although have been trying). How do you target such narrow areas such as tech companies or consulting firms?

tldr; Having difficulty deciding which industries are overall best for IT? How do you target them?

For the last decade or so, I've been working in the education sector (everywhere from Uni/College level to sixth form and secondary school/high school down to primary/elementary level) and within those 10 years I've worked with wireless (A, B, G, N) to mobile computer suites with satelite (pre-3G), NT4 to Windows 2008 r2, virtualisation, 3 different phone systems, virtual learning environments (VLE) based on sharepoint and moodle, cabling, Terminal services (Citrix and MS TS). Education may have a lower budget than the private sector, but that is "offset" with cheaper pricing.

I've also worked for the Government and various other industries in the private sector, some of them are quite good, some are behind the times. As they will always balance the books. Organisations will not always buy the latest technology or upgrade just because it's available and the bigger the organisation, the more money it will have to spend. One technology company that I deal with, only recently (in the last 2 years) moved away from NT4.

Yes working at some of the "big boys" is actually quite cool, however do not limit your choices to them only. Remember currently on average there are between 20-50 applications per job and even more for choice jobs.

-Ken

astrogeek

jmreicha wrote: »

tldr; Having difficulty deciding which industries are overall best for IT? How do you target them?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a good start

jmreicha wrote: »

I know there are a lot of factors that play into this, but are there areas in general where, for example, you gain knowledge and experience at a faster pace? Or are there other places that are overall better?

How quickly you learn has more to do with how quick of a learner you are as a person. You shouldn't be looking for a job to teach you what you need to know but instead be researching what employers want and learning that so they will want to hire you.

What kind of work experience do you have? Any IT related skills? It's not easy to get an IT job without experience, for the most part you won't have much of a choice what to do, it'll probably be help desk or something along the lines of that. That's not always the case, (as it wasn't in mine), but just saying that's probably the most likely outcome.

jmreicha

Thanks for the insightful responses NinjaBoy and astrogeek.

I am currently working in IT at a smallish(~100 employees) communications company, and pretty much consider myself a network admin. I have found working there is ok, but I do not really feel challenged and feel like I am not learning as much now as I was when I started.

Right now, I am just trying to weigh all the possibilities, etc. so I will check out the link.

pham0329

jmreicha wrote: »

Thanks for the insightful responses NinjaBoy and astrogeek.

I am currently working in IT at a smallish(~100 employees) communications company, and pretty much consider myself a network admin. I have found working there is ok, but I do not really feel challenged and feel like I am not learning as much now as I was when I started.

The fact that you're not feeling challenged is probably because you're company has under 100 employees, and not because of the industry they are in.

jmreicha

Well I don't know if it just took me writing this post or if it was dumb luck or the computer gods heard my plea but I now have an interview lined up with groupon.com at the end of the week, basically the exact type of place I could see myself working. Hopefully the persistence pays off.