I haven't worked "in IT" outside of software development, and I don't even have a great idea of what the various jobs are. Anybody had one or more IT jobs outside of software development?
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I started out doing tech support.
From there I worked my way up to developer support (helping developers integrate with our API) which had me realize that I wasn't happy just supporting devs, I wanted to be a dev.
Oddly, I've wondered if moving into a tech support like role would be helpful in my developer career.
🤔
It will surely help you if you are allowed to debug in deep.
Rather just giving pre documented answers.
:-)
I definitely feel like having that background helped me in my developer career, it gives me an empathy towards the end-used that I find many devs lack.
Non-dev IT jobs for me were:
My first job out of college was managing and vetting collaborative tools for use inside the company - instant messaging, live webcasting, web conferencing, eLearning, etc. Once a tool was selected, I'd develop implementation/deployment plans and documentation which required coordination with other IT depts like Security, Architecture, Help Desk, Desktop (in cases where the software had to be installed on all employee machines).
I also worked in accessibility. There was a group that hired mostly hard-of-hearing/deaf employees, so I helped deploy an application that converted text to ASL for them, and devices that allowed employees with cochlear implants to listen to live webcasts and learning modules because traditional headphones would interfere with their implants.
After that, I worked for an accounting firm managing the live webcasting tools and services internally and externally. This was the most challenging because there were so many moving parts and dependencies. For one, video was a such a huge burden on the network, so the Network team hated us =). But we'd work with them to deploy internal CDN technologies from Cisco, Riverbed, etc. I got to work directly with the executives in the company, learned about audio/video production, learned how to work under pressure and troubleshoot in real-time.
In hindsight, these experiences helped me a lot by understanding how end users use and learn new technologies that are presented to them without much choice really, and also how companies procure technologies for internal use.
I interned on a hardware support/sysadmin team for one of the largest logistics companies on Earth. It was pretty difficult but really fun.
At the same company, I also interned on a "Business Intelligence" team, which was kind of like a step between working on a dev team and a data science team. A lot of web portals, SQL reports, and ETL work.
After that, I worked as a pseudo-DBA at a different logistics company.
Somewhere in between those jobs I started writing JavaScript and did some PHP and Python development for an ecommerce company (they paid $8/hr). I dropped out of college and went on to full-time software development about 8 months after that!
Construction Worker
Call Center Employee (most miserable ever)
This was definitely the worst job I ever did. But I had the option to work part-time here, I could focus on studies, started doing full-time software development not long after I took this job :)
Band Worker at Ford Factory (I left after a few weeks)
I have had an internship position called “IT Attestation” for three months in a public accounting firm. Unfortunately I hated every second of it because it doesn’t provide any sort of technical growth or career development path. I got the returning offer that year, but ... nah, I politely rejected, and dashed out of the door when no one is looking 🤪
Two things in the internship that killed this path for me:
Saying no was a super easy decision.
Frankly speaking, it was nice to dive into my accounting/finance friends’ world a little bit. I sort of understand how/why they need to talk, work, dress and perform in certain ways. This was also learning ;)
One of my many duties was to support cisco switches, so I guess that qualifies as IT.
Anything from configuring switches to troubleshooting issues, to updating firmware, etc. Seemed pretty cool to me.
If I ever need to setup a managed switch at home, I am trained to do it lol.
By the way if anyone is interested in learning cisco stuff for free, just sign up for a free account, and then google for packet tracer labs.
netacad.com/courses/packet-tracer
Apparently, retail marketing is my JAM.
Currently I'm basically creating the marketing department at the store I'm at - this includes social media, graphic design, building a website, in house marketing, working on the floor... and everything changes week to week and its INSANE. But I'm good at it, and for some reason I enjoy it.
It's a weird one, for sure. But it's what I'm doing. :P
Abattoir - carrying pigs off hooks onto hooks in back of lorry, and pushing half cow carcasses on hooks down rails.
Some factory that made amongst other things wheelchairs. My temp job was sweeping floor and moving stuff.
Pie factory - putting bits of pastry into slots in a conveyer belt, injecting gell into pork pies and lifting trays from one rack to another.
After that, majority of time as a multimedia developer, technical designer and automation testing.
I worked at one of my city's first ISPs (Internet provider). I did billing & customer service.
It was neat to be part of bringing people their first ever internet access.
But I also saw first hand how all the big companies bought up the little ones & the monopoly formed. In my case we were bought by Primus. A big payday for my boss... but not great for our customers.
System Admin. DevOps. Manager. Network admin. Mentor. Architect. DBA.
Most of those I still do in some fashion or another; I like wearing multiple hats.
My first tech job prior to even thinking about being a dev: Help desk for a mammography clinic when I was 17. Did excel stuff, printers, scanned in xrays for them, moved physical folders of mammograms and other medical images, ran misc errands too.
I started as an Operations Specialist for an ad tech company, then did support engineering, then software configuration management. All at the same company in less than 2 years. I've been a software developer ever since leaving. Looking back, it was interesting to see other pieces of the technical pie and how they fit together.
In uni, I was a part of the help desk as a work-study gig. Since it was "industry" experience, it paid minimum wage. But it was mostly troubleshooting network issues (the building was old and had very thick walls; here's your complementary ethernet cable) or hardware issues (cleaning out a Macbook that had chocolate milk spilt on it) for the other students in my dorm for 30 hours a week.
I'm currently living the...er...dream?!
I started my career in backend web development; eventually settling into a tech lead role with a small web agency. Yay, ColdFusion! (Oh, how I do miss those simpler times.)
The second half of my career has been in higher-ed IT, with responsibilities so varied that I've labeled myself an "applied IT Jack-of-all-trades". I do my best to maintain a developer mindset; however, hands-on dev comprises only a tiny portion of my week-to-week taskings:
Now halfway through my work career, I've got the itch to return to the development world in some capacity. I've been an IT generalist for too long! :)
My first job was in Fresh Produce. Stacking fruit and veg in the grocery area and preparing them for display. Use to have to just off the bottom of the iceberg lettuces because it took the bad outer leaves off and made them look a lot better for sale.
I left that job to work in an IT shop sweeping floors and cleaning bins. I eventually started doing tech work there to fill the time and admin work (balancing the books, banking, mail). After being a tech I ended up briefly (couple of months) filling the workshop manager role (making sure work got done and customers were called).
My longest non-tech job has got to be in Children's Entertainment. My aunt ran a business and needed someone to balloon twist so I helped her out one weekend. And then kept working for her for the following 7 years. Work was casual and seasonal. There would be months of no work followed by a full on weekend and then no work again. I also did bouncy castles, fairy floss and glitter tattoos. I was working for my aunt up until I moved cities earlier this year.
I worked as an offsider for my dad on his building site one year during the winter and summer uni breaks. I had to get my construction whitecard before I was allowed to start, but now can legally work on building sites! In winter we were putting up the roof trusses during a rainstorm, so were constantly getting drenched. That summer we were up to putting up the tin roof on the 40 degree days with no shade. The house was really well insulated, so even after getting only half the roof on, the inside of it was nice and cool.
I did another stint at a small grocery. They hired me to work evenings in fresh produce and work towards being the night manager, but instead gave me the morning deli shift. I didn't stay there long.