Skillect welcomes a new guest blogger to its team...

Hi,

I am happy to be invited by the guys at Skillect to write about my experiences as an IT professional. I hope this blog will be helpful to you the reader. Well, let me tell you a bit about myself.

I started off in IT over 10 years ago. My first job in IT was as an IT lab technician at University. Here I got exposure to Windows NT Server 3.51 and Windows 3.1. Some of you reading this are probably too young to remember those days! Funny enough my degree at University wasn't even in IT, but I really loved it - to the point where I no longer wanted to be an actuary or architect, but instead work in IT. From then on, I went to work in the NHS for about 6 years - working up from 2nd line support to become Senior Support Analyst. The job in the NHS was great for the most part. I worked with some very nice people and learnt alot about IT and myself too along the way. However there were times of frustration for me there personally as well. Budgets in the NHS at the time were tight at the time, and my department just didn't get the money it needed to keep the hospital's infrastructure up to speed with the latest technologies. Along with this, there wasn't much money for training either. Thus when I resigned from the NHS, I took a decision to go contracting. I didn't want to work as a 'permie' anymore. I wanted to earn more, move from company to company, meet new people and feel more in control of my career. Thus for the last 5 years I have worked as an IT contractor. As a contractor, I have worked in the Voluntary Sector - at Save the Children and Age Concern, in Banking - at the 'Big Blue Bird' in the Canary Wharf and the IT Services sector. Presently I am working on some government stuff, seriously! Overall I would say that my career thus far has been pretty balanced in terms of working both as a permie and contractor. Also, I have worked in a number of different sectors.

Therefore, hopefully I aim to share some of my experieces in IT with you...ups and downs. I am here to share and am looking forward to hearing your feedback as well.