How to get a job in IT services

一个在公司IT部门工作的潜在不满的是不断地提醒，“这是不是我们的业务，它是在这里服务的业务。”还有一种选择，当然：你可以得到一份工作在IT服务，在信息技术是the business.

在IT服务方面的工作是密切相关的IT咨询（一个领域，我们covered previously), with a few key differences. Although some companies offer both IT consulting and IT services, and both types of businesses are looking to hire highly skilled IT professionals, there's a distinct difference between the two, sources say. That difference is essentially the difference between strategy and tactics: An IT consulting firm plans new systems, while an IT services provider maintains systems after they're deployed.

像咨询，IT服务的需求，员工灵活，能够迅速理解不仅是一个客户端的系统，但其整个产业也是如此。与咨询，旅游的需求可能会少服务，但你的时间花在项目上的长度可能会更长（取决于您是否是在时间轴上的开发和维护结束）。

"A consulting company will design the structure and the governance, while the execution and maintenance goes to the services firm," says Kanak Rajan, a partner in the talent practice of human resources consulting firm美世。

共生关系

这两个领域提供了看好就业前景，以“一个令人难以置信的未来，”玛赫纳兹Javid，在基于西雅图的高级副总裁的人才收购和整合说Avanade的, a provider of both IT consulting and IT services. "They are two sides of the same coin," she says. "One requires the other."

好消息？就业潜力的红色IT服务热。根据May 2016 report从劳工统计局的美国局，高技术服务业就业占了不断增加的总高科技就业一杯羹。1994年，IT服务工作代表的高技术岗位38.8％。这一数字已增长到52.6％，2014年，2010年以来每年都在增加后，根据BLS的。即使是2013 BLS报告，其中用于预测从2011年到2020年呈现增长态势。

And compensation looks good as well. According to计算机世界的2016 IT Salary Survey在计算机服务/咨询领域的补偿平均为软件工程师106100 $，项目经理121000 $和VP-中级职称145700 $。

像这些数字可能使IT服务动听。但由于是在任何领域的情况下，IT服务有其存在的积极以及缺点，并且有可能是不为外人显而易见工作的某些方面。下面就一起来看看的优点和IT服务的利弊，与硬和软技能的雇主正在寻找一个破败一起。

利弊

在IT服务，招聘人员说，作业的主要优点是，人们暴露在工作经验的广度和深度。

“你得在那里，世界将会是你不能得到其他地方的一个全新的视野，”达文波特多娜塔的，基于宾夕法尼亚州的全球人才获取在蓝钟，副总裁说：Unisys, which has a large services operation. "You're solving problems for companies doing business in multiple regions, with a variety of maturity models. You're pulling together diverse teams, stretching yourself professionally and personally. It's intellectually challenging and rewarding."

可以肯定，所谓“多种成熟度模型”涵盖了大量的地面。如果你是一名IT专业人员的技术，对采用曲线的下降斜率深厚的专业知识 - 大型机，例如 - IT服务可以延长你的职业生涯的方式。

But it's just as likely that you'll be in demand if you have cutting-edge skills in areas such as mobile, DevOps or software as a service: Companies often find that they can get expertise in new specialties more quickly by contracting with a services provider than they could if they tried to hire people themselves.

正如在IT咨询，IT员工的服务公司需要面向客户的能力，以项目和出游意愿之间轻松移动的能力。其优点是灵活性：根据您的喜好，你可以选择工作在很多不同的项目，或者只是监督，需要每天的日常护理一个成熟的系统。机遇运行域。

IT服务的工作通常比咨询活动中少疯狂。顾问公司的开发项目可能在三到六个月的工作要做，而在服务维修项目可以持续几年。

人才收购的为前副总裁迈克尔·怀斯说，“咨询公司借给自己在不同的方向被拉到”，因为他们专注于前沿的工作要求苛刻的时间表Xerox目前人才在倡导Intel。In contrast, services firms "work on road maps, so the work is more stable," he says.

服务员工留在项目直到他们交付，该系统上线后，可能会继续进行维护的责任。“它不会做任何好拉人上下车[项目]，因为它创建不稳定，”智者解释道。

Variety is often cited as a benefit of working in IT services, but if you prefer to specialize and work in depth in a particular area, that's also an option, says Rajesh Ahuja, global head of recruitment for印孚瑟斯，一家跨国系统集成，应用软件开发和产品工程公司，总部设在印度班加罗尔。

“根据不同的业务需求和您的兴趣程度，你可以选择成为一个特定的技术或商业领域的深刻专家，”阿胡加说。“你可以成为一个电子商务专家或去真正深入到特定应用程序的每一个螺母和螺栓。”

Avanade的

施乐，例如，有2000个多家企业单位专注于特定行业或行业子段。据怀斯，施乐员工可以，例如，专门从事交通运输行业作为一个整体或深入到运输的窄方面，成为专家，比方说，toll-tag information collection。如这些选项可以在许多行业和亚专科相乘。

尚未在深奥的学科的专家？不是一个问题。有在IT服务学习机会无数，因为你被其他专家所包围。“在Avanade公司，我们有几百个志同道合的人，谁分享学习，交流思想，并建立自己的集体知识的社区，” Javid说。建立这样的社区是员工，谁可以把他们的职业发展的目的都至关重要，而对于公司本身，它可以依靠经验丰富的员工，以帮助培训其他人。

利弊

不过，也有一些缺点在IT服务工作，从业者慎用。其中最大的是，你可能不总是停留在一个特定的地理区域，只要你愿意，因为你在客户需求的摆布。

"We are driven by client requirements," says Infosys's Ahuja, "so it's not always easy to choose what you want to do. We have to match individual needs to client needs, and the timing may not always work out."

同样，客户往往决定你的工作是什么办公室。例如，在政府部门或金融服务，阿胡加说，客户可能需要的服务人员在现场。所以，你可能会发现自己来回移动客户端的设备和服务公司的办公室之间。在另一方面，他说，Infosys公司有时会发现更容易设立了自己的办事处开发中心“所以我们可以协调和合作，更好。”底线？“作为灵活是很重要的，”他说。

灵活性也适用于当你的工作,而不是法律t where you work, especially if you're employed by a global IT services firm or working for international clients. "You can't assume everybody is going to be available during your 9-to-5 [U.S.] work slot," says Unisys's Davenport. "You may have to be up early for calls to Europe and India and up late for calls to Australia."

Yet another way in which services providers expect IT staffers to be flexible is in their ability to quickly adapt their technical expertise to the unique challenges of clients in a variety of industries.

For instance, you may know cloud services, but you may also need to know that cloud-based financial applications will require strong security. And while you may know mobile devices, you may also need to understand how they're used by both employees and shoppers in retail businesses.

"If you're coming out of an IT role, you may not have had a lot of exposure to business processes. There could be a high learning curve," says Intel's Wise. That's especially true these days, he notes, because advanced technologies are being put to use at almost every type of company and in all kinds of business processes.

Another downside for techies coming out of traditional corporate IT: You may have to work within strict parameters in IT services.

"A services firm, in order to be profitable, needs to create deliverable solutions within a specific requirements," says Davenport. "There's not a lot of time for 'what if?' scenarios and discussions of multiple, elaborate alternatives."

在IT服务时，要记住，你在那里，以满足客户的当前需要针对性是非常重要的。“明亮的头脑喜欢创新，但他们有什么样的客户需要的范围内做到这一点，”达文波特说。例如，你可能会认为，混合云是满足客户需求的最佳长期选择，但私有云可能就够了，因为它满足商定的项目范围。

诚征：代码勇士

Executives of IT services firms agree with Marc Andreesen's 2011 pronouncement that "software is eating the world。"

"Software skills and the ability to learn software development are very important to us," says Davenport, noting that demand has heavily shifted to programming over the past couple of years. "We used to look for people with [electrical engineering] degrees, but even then, we wanted them to understand system-level programming. The days of our looking for hardware engineers coming out of college are behind us, because that market has become commoditized."

她承认，IT服务供应商正在寻找基础设施的技能，当然，很多基础设施是怎么回事软件定义的路线，无论是在网络，存储和数据中心。2020欧洲杯预赛Infosys公司的Ahuja同意，有需要的基础设施能力，能够收集业务需求，并把它们转化为技术规范的能力一起。

有趣的是，有时是需要的人（又名灰发）来处理遗留系统有点“屋顶上的雪”，根据约翰·里德，为IT猎头公司的高级执行董事罗伯特半技术。

"Most companies still have staffers who are familiar with those old systems," Reed says. "But if they lose the legacy experts, they might bring in a services firm to replace Johnny the Cobol guy."

随着编程技术，IT服务提供商也需要出的现成的思想家与解决问题的能力。“不是所有的过程改进是技术的提高，”智者说。“有相当多的创造力进入寻找一个过程，并重新设计它的。”如果你曾经做过的业务流程再造，或任何地方，你转换一个手动过程的高度自动化的过程中，一定要突出的是对你的简历。

Reed concurs. "You need the ability to understand what's happening, ask the right questions, document your findings, and provide recommendations back to the business," he says.

毫不奇怪，团队精神和协作也抢手的技能。“成功来源于技能组合，从人具有不同背景，” Javid说。

“有时候最好的解决方案来自于用户体验专家，或者是有人在信息如何被消耗的经验很重要。‘听，听到’客户和同事的输入 - 并能在全球做的，多元文化在规定的期限队。

The ability to collaborate is important in most jobs, but sources stress that in IT services, there are deeper intangibles that must be plumbed. "It helps to have experience working in ambiguous situations, where you have helped identify a problem and worked on the solution," Ahuja says.

和Davenport强调的重要性没有那么多的领导，但影响的能力。

“这是一个越来越平的世界,”她说。“信息rmal leadership -- the ability to influence and be a trusted adviser -- is really important to us. Our staff needs to paint a picture of the future for clients. That's not always easy because it requires changing the status quo."

要求：适应性

比什么都重要，但是，IT服务管理人员说，他们正在寻找的人谁表现出的适应性和教育自己的意愿的人。即，通过不断增加新的技能 - 学习C ++并没有什么更多的是一种职业，塞达文波特，谁补充说，IT专业服务人员应该“的态度对待自己的学习，因为他们会接近敏捷软件设计”说。IT服务提供商提供员工培训计划，但训练“并不一定是通过正规渠道，”达文波特说。“你可以从YouTube学到很多东西。”

At Avanade, "we want people who know how to write code, but we also are looking for self-learners, people who are passionate about technology, who -- if they don't know something -- they go learn it." Javid says. A thirst for learning, a sense of self-aspiration, is important, she says, adding that adaptability defines success in the IT services industry.

The bottom, says Javid, is this: "If you can move from one location to another, one project to another, and have the ability to learn and adapt and still be relevant to the next client, that's what will differentiate you from others."

编者按：After 40 years in journalism -- 30 of them covering technology -- longtime计算机世界contributor霍华德·鲍德温是laying down his reporter's notebook. We thank him for his工作令人印象深刻的体and wish him well on the next stage of his journey.

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This story, "How to get a job in IT services" was originally published by计算机世界 。