Does anyone work for an IT outsourcing company?

I'm after a new job and I can't decide if I want to work within a company providing support (as I do know) or work for an outsourcing company and provide support for customers. Is there more red tape as all work is chargeable and has to be billed?

Is there more project work or does that depend on you role?

Thanks
Darren

 

Darren,

You could try your hand in a reseller or distributor.

I spent about 5.5 years at a reseller and the variety made the job very enjoyable and kept me constantly learning.

I spend a few years within company IT departments (big and small companies), but I found that you just spend your time trying to make your job redundant, by making the systems more and more reliable or you will get stuck in a role that won't allow you to grow.

I now work for a distributor, which has allowed me to focus on network security and bring the variety of work with various resellers and end users. I do a great deal of presales work (office and site based) and web demos, a number of installations, some training, as well as manage a team of engineers.

It's pretty easy to hide in a big IT department or you get lumbered with the crappy jobs in a small IT department, but you will be tested in the reseller/distributor environment.

What's your firewall skills like, as I could do with an additonal engineer?

Cheers
Andy

 

Thanks Andy,

I'd not considered the reseller/sales route to be honest. I'll have a look around.

I feel my current role has kind of run it's course and I need a new challenge. There is no room for career progression here so I need to move I just don't know where!!

Firewall skills aren't that good, very basic Cisco IOS and basic Nokia Checkpoint knowledge! How much do I get

Darren

 

Cheers Bob, that's the kind of feedback I was hoping for. The only outsourcing companies I have worked along side (CapGem) all boil down to saving money where ever possible and I'm a bit hesitant for that reason, I like my bonus every year!

Darren

 

CapGem provide support services to my current employer and in the 8 years I've been dealing with them an almost annual topic is "So how many of you are getting made redudant this year then"

The team that I work with are all good eggs but they really don't get any help from upper management!!

Andy

 

Christmas is a great time for CG staff

Darren

 

Darren YHPM

 

Shame your based down south

Ive just changed jobs and we are growing at a very good rate but we are based in Runcorn, Chesire

 

I work for Capita and have done for 9 years now.

We have a large mix of support and projects staff at our site in Derby - there is plenty of room for advancement and the management team are very good to work for / with.

The red tape depends entirely on the contract in use - we have a pre-paid Support contract so you just need to fill in the time sheet saying 'support' if you are in one of the Support teams.

However - projects staff have to justify and record every minute. time is scheduled and you work on the project detailed for that day and that one alone. Once the day is over you move on - you can't really chop back as someone else is now paying for your time.

We expanded the operation in Derby hugely recently, so in our case talk of redundancies doesn't happen. We are in the middle of a contract re-negotiation at the moment, so that might change.

The single biggest difference with an outsource company is: you HAVE to deliver. It IS noticed, and the customer WILL complain if you fall short. There is more pressure on you, but if you are good at your job that's also noticed.