Dear All,

I may sound very much repeatitve, but what is exactly required to get into IT/Software industry. I have been with people who knew practically nothing yet were able to get in (due to whatever reason). And many times sustain in IT. Others continue to struggle but to no avail. I know the answer to this question may be very lengthy, but a few pointers can bring about lot of help.

Thanking you,

Much like several of your other threads, which have no clear point/question to them..there is NO WAY for anyone to answer this, is there???

Since you've said you're a 'doctoral' student, you should be able to think about what you're asking. Do you really think anyone here can give you 'pointers' about this? Some folks may know people, some may have years of experience and be able to demonstrate their skills, some may have a friend...who knows?? Could be any number of things, or any combination of things. You've been here for five years now...do you have no idea about systems yet?

• Saying "software industry" is open ended...do you mean programming (so what language(s)/platform(s)??), sales, support?? ALL of them are 'software industry' related.
• Saying "IT industry" is open ended..storage? Networking? Support? Admin? Sales? WHAT 'IT Industry' job(s) are you looking for??

And shouldn't your 'doctorate' be able to get you some sort of position?

Well, if you are finishing up a long stint in "academia," you might know relatively little about the career world ... in any country on earth!

One possibility that I emphatically would not recommend is that you sign-up with any company that wants to get you an American non-immigrant work visa (H-1B or especially(!) not L-1!!) and ship you halfway around Planet Earth to "the land of opportunity." Yours is a vast and proud continent that I hope to visit someday, and stuffed with opportunity of its own.

Beyond that ... well, honestly, what do you like to do with computers? Do you prefer to work with computer software development as in 'writing code?' Or maybe you're more an analyst, with a knack for talking to people about software related issues ... either projects that are about to be started, or projects that have foundered. (FYI: that's basically how I describe myself these days, although I've personally written over a million lines of source-code on platforms from mainframe to handheld over the past thirty-odd years.)

Maybe you're a "data geek." You like to use computers as a tool to find answers and insights.

Maybe you have a gift for testing and debugging.

Maybe you're a person who's good at herding cats managing projects.

You do not have to be a whiz at writing source-code, and you do not have to feel excluded from a project that uses a tool or a technology that you've never used before. (Just be honest about it. Do not "bluff.") "Good people skills" are hard to find in this business; therefore, they are prized.

The first job that I had consisted of tearing pages off a line-printer and stuffing them into the proper slot in the wall ... from i-n-s-i-d-e the University computer-center. (There were no "personal computers" at that time.) I made it my business to be punctual, to never look over someone's shoulders as they typed-in a password, and to read every manual in the place, asking permission first. I was noticed, in a very favorable way, and that's how my career began. There is a quote that we say: "Those who are faithful with little, will be faithful with much."

Your reputation is profoundly important in this business, far more than any technical prowess you do or do not have, because in this business you are trusted with a great many things. Collect references from people who will speak well of you. Be on your best behavior even with a*sholes people who are not on their best behavior with you. You can send resumes until you are blue in the face and never get as far as when someone asks someone else, while both are relaxing after a long day at work: "Do you know somebody who's available? Who would you recommend?"

These things are true, anywhere and everywhere in the world.

1 members found this post helpful.

I'd discuss this with those you feel know practically nothing and yet still were successful. Seems as if they do know something useful which you do not.

Marking this thread as solved.

The field is wide-open to interpretation.

• "I've got a problem to solve (or a task to do, or a messy situation to figure out), and I've got a computer."
• "You tell sell me" what you can do about it."

First, you have to be able to help me. Then, you have to be able to sell me on being willing to give you money so you can prove it.

Everything, and therefore everyone, must at some time be sold. "Selling is the world's second oldest profession."

And it's really not a question of "what you do or do not know." (It's much more a question of, "can you find out, or can you find someone else who knows and use him/her as a resource?") Lots of people get certification upon certification and can't get a job. (Andrew Carnegie, on the other hand, famously declared that he didn't know much about making steel.)

It isn't that you have read books on swimming, nor that you know how to swim. It's that an employer has stuff on one side of the lake (or, presently floating in the lake) that he needs to get to the other side of the lake, preferably high-and-dry. It's your job "to [be an effective part of ...] do[ing] that." Using a computer.

Some people like to focus on the computer. They're happy in a dark room with three screens on their desks. Other people, like me, like to focus on people (clients, and software teams of people who like to have three screens on their desks). Still others, like clients that I've worked with, like to work with data. All of them are "using a computer." All of them have found what is to them satisfying and enjoyable work.

If you find that you aren't finding that, and if you look enviously at someone else who seems to be succeeding where you're not, then maybe they, in apparently-succeeding in the way that they apparently-have, are apparently-succeeding in a way that's not right for you. "Think outside the box" and try a different approach. The world of computers, or even just of computer software, is huge. There are many, many roles that you can play.