Any NTers Work in the IT/Computing field?

Originally Posted by mjbetch

its all good bro. i'm glad you made this post.

cuz im going to school for IT right now

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Originally Posted by da703trailblaza

I feel dumb for keeping on bumping this, but what are bonuses like?

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I feel dumb for keeping on bumping this, but what are bonuses like?
don't worry about bumpin -- i'm sure this info is helpful for a lot of folks, as i have gotten a lot of PMs on the topic.

as far as bonuses, that really depends on where you work. some places don't offer any bonus structure. when i was at symantec, our bonus (if my memoryserves me correctly) was 10% of our yearly salary, one half to be paid once in the summer and the other half in the winter. i was making $80k then, and aftertax, it came out to be a little less than $3k each time.

at my current job, we are given a bonus that is comprised of a percentage of the total worth of a project that we helped win. sometimes our VP will ask us tohelp write a technical section in a request for proposal, or sometimes we'll go and present our capabilities to a potential client or answer questions, andthere's no cap on the bonus. last year, i got something like $12k in june, and about $18k in december (after tax). my boss usually gets $100k+ in bonusesevery year on top of his salary ($200k).

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Appreciate all the info shared. I actually live pretty close to Eisenhower Ave. Given the rough economy out there I was thinking of getting an internship to get my foot in the door early. I'd like to land something with IBM (mostly due to location and brand recognition).

But is IS a stable and good focus to take and work in? From the list that Shapes posted networking engineer sounds pretty good.
honestly, you don't even have to go with an internship; you can get an entry level job once you are out of school. where i've worked,most interns were still undergrad students, but once you have your degree, you should be able to land a permanent gig. IBM is okay (i've worked with themon projects, and they are bogged down by bureaucracy and red tape), but there are PLENTY of awesome companies down there:

- lockheed martin
- saic
- booz allen hamilton
- kpmg
- exxon mobil
- AT&T
- american red cross
- northrop grumman
- google

way too many good companies to list.

information security is really hot these days, and is growing because of the increasing threats facing companies and governments who want to protect theirsystems and data from compromise.

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Originally Posted by SylvesterMcGrizzly

I am currently a CIS major and I am enjoyin my intro classes but ima switch my major because I can't afford to go to school another 3 yrs which the major will require me to do so imma switch to economics....I might go back to school after I start my career to get a degree in CIS...very interesting stuff

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I almost decided to do Econ, if I can I'll try to do a double major. I'm sticking with a minor for now. Shapes, thanks for the list. My sister actually used to work for Booz and I think Lockheed. I didn't know Google had an office out here though. Appreciate all the help.
no problem fam. i worked for a lot of those companies, too

worked for lockheed martin in falls church, virginia (skyline) and booz allen intysons corner, virginia, red cross in washington dc, AT&T in herndon, and mobil oil in fairfax (before the exxon merger). google's got a big datacenter out in herndon, virginia.

what did you major in? bachelor or masters?
i double majored in psychology and computer science at george mason university in virginia. the CS part of my undergrad kicked my butt, so idecided to go the easy route for my master's, and i got my grad degree in information and telecommunications systems for business from johns hopkinsuniversity.

honestly, the only job i held where i used anything i learned from CS was at lockheed martin, where i was a C programmer. everything else i've done i havelearned on the job. if i could do it all over again, i would have done MIS for my undergrad. far easier, and a lot more applicable to jobs these days.

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Originally Posted by Shapeshiftah

I almost decided to do Econ, if I can I'll try to do a double major. I'm sticking with a minor for now. Shapes, thanks for the list. My sister actually used to work for Booz and I think Lockheed. I didn't know Google had an office out here though. Appreciate all the help.

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what did you major in? bachelor or masters?
i double majored in psychology and computer science at george mason university in virginia. the CS part of my undergrad kicked my butt, so i decided to go the easy route for my master's, and i got my grad degree in information and telecommunications systems for business from johns hopkins university.

honestly, the only job i held where i used anything i learned from CS was at lockheed martin, where i was a C programmer. everything else i've done i have learned on the job. if i could do it all over again, i would have done MIS for my undergrad. far easier, and a lot more applicable to jobs these days.



I met with an advisor today, since I was switching and she told me that JAVA would probably be one of the hardest courses for IT. She introduced me to one ofthe professors who worked in the field. He said get some programming classes in and he'll introduce me to people from GD, Raytheon, IBM etc. very

Ibelieve my sister got her masters in the same program from Hopkins not too sure. How'd you like mason?

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Originally Posted by uknowho85

Yeah I'm a System Engineer(Entry Level) in Falls Church VA(I see your from the DMV too). Make sure you get your certifications(Comptia, MS, Cisco, etc). I have a BS in Computer Science but employers still wanted me to have Certifications before they would hire me(When I was looking for your job). I do mostly:

*Create users in AD and giving them the proper permissions
*Password resets
*Maintaining and troubleshooting Dell workstations(MS XP Operating System), printers and scanners
*Maintaining and troubleshooting File servers, web servers, and Database servers
*File Server backups
*Maintaining and troubleshooting MS Office Professional 2003 applications
*Updating Financial department database

Just make sure you do it because you like the IT field and not for the money cause you'll hate going to work everyday. I've seen many people make that mistake. Also, every year you'll be going back to school to get certified in something different to stay abreast of the new technology that comes out. Those certification test aren't cheap...

You live in the DMV, like me, which is the Mecca of IT so you shouldn't have a problem finding a job.

Good Luck

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Originally Posted by Ghenges

MIS grad here. Been in the field for about 2.5 years now working for the same company. I work with a few data warehouses doing application support. The job (like any job I guess) very stressful at times. On-call support can suck at times, especially late at night or early in the morning. BUT, I still love it (most of the time).

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da703trailblaza said:

I feel dumb for keeping on bumping this, but what are bonuses like?

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