What should I study?

[Andydauddwr]

The question says it all really.

To those of you working in IT, which of the above is more sought after.  My background could lend itself to project management, IT support, comms, programming at a push, or maybe even training.  But what is most useful/in-demand/growing?

Thanks,

AC

[FatBloke]

You forgot ITIL 

[Polar Bear]

Prince 2.  Project Management methodology.

Go for Practitioner level.

Most, if not all public sector clients ask for it.

[tiermat]

+1 for Prince
+1 for ITIL, if you have a veryveryvery high boredom threshold.....

[clarion]

Yes, Prince.  It's a load of bollocks, but the public sector loves it *heavy sigh*

[Polar Bear]

ITIL is also heavily used in the public sector.  Depends if you prefer operations or management really.

[Polar Bear]

Yes, Prince.  It's a load of bollocks, but the public sector loves it *heavy sigh*

Wot you talkin boud dude?!

All PM methodologies are basically the same  Don't agree that it is bollocks though. 

[iakobski]

Get over to jobstats.co.uk and research the actual demand based on adverts.

It's also useful to look at the trends and rates.

[FatBloke]

Yes, Prince.  It's a load of bollocks, but the public sector loves it *heavy sigh*

Wot you talkin boud dude?!

All PM methodologies are basically the same  Don't agree that it is bollocks though. 

It's not bollox. It is however a small amount of common sense and good practice documented to such an extent that it fills many large volumes! 

[Andydauddwr]

You forgot ITIL 

Added.  Maybe confusion on my part, but isn't this something you can sub a BCS-accedited degree for?  (I have one of those)...

Thanks,

AC

[rae]

If you have to ask the question "should I do a CCNA or an ITIL qualification".....then you're asking the wrong question. 

The real question is:

Do I want to do project management or technology? 

With the follow up:

If I want to do technology, do I see it as a route to management greatness, or do I want to stay techy?

The best guys?   Those will be the ones with a solid grounding in technology (i.e have programmed, built networks or whatever), have moved into architecture and design, then moved into management.   So you end up with a manager who knows how it should be done, knows what a workable system looks like and can deliver it   These guys are invaluable. 

Most importantly, what type of organisation do you want to work for?

[Andydauddwr]

Most importantly, what type of organisation do you want to work for?

Pretty much anything goes.  I'd prefer private sector, as I've had a guts full of public sector, but am pretty open-minded.

Thanks for all the input.

AC

[mrcharly-YHT]

Six sigma

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma

Or SAP

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_AG

[unipaul]

Yes, Prince.  It's a load of bollocks, but the public sector loves it *heavy sigh*

Wot you talkin boud dude?!

All PM methodologies are basically the same  Don't agree that it is bollocks though. 

It's not bollox. It is however a small amount of common sense and good practice documented to such an extent that it fills many large volumes! 

And an idea of tailoring the approach to the project complexity rather than following all the details for all projects is good. Pity all the PMs in my PoW haven't cottoned on to this fairly essential thing and insist on drowning even the simplest project in vast reams of paper :-(

[Greenbank]

And an idea of tailoring the approach to the project complexity rather than following all the details for all projects is good. Pity all the PMs in my PoW haven't cottoned on to this fairly essential thing and insist on drowning even the simplest project in vast reams of paper :-(

Seconded. I had to end one meeting with the ProjMan, after an hour, because I'd spent more time going through his "essential process" than it would take to fix the bug by changing "==" to "=" in the code, having it reviewed by someone else, doing a few tests, documenting the results and handing it over to QA.

You know it is getting bad when the developers ask for the following addition to the Risk Register:

"
The risk of the project slipping and missing its current delivery date because the developers are stuck in constant 'project update' meetings and talking about the work rather than being allowed to actually do it.
"

A ProjMan who's seen the technical side, rather than having just read Prince2, is a big boost, and there seems to be a dearth of them right now.

[Polar Bear]

And an idea of tailoring the approach to the project complexity rather than following all the details for all projects is good. Pity all the PMs in my PoW haven't cottoned on to this fairly essential thing and insist on drowning even the simplest project in vast reams of paper :-(

Seconded. I had to end one meeting with the ProjMan, after an hour, because I'd spent more time going through his "essential process" than it would take to fix the bug by changing "==" to "=" in the code, having it reviewed by someone else, doing a few tests, documenting the results and handing it over to QA.

You know it is getting bad when the developers ask for the following addition to the Risk Register:

"
The risk of the project slipping and missing its current delivery date because the developers are stuck in constant 'project update' meetings and talking about the work rather than being allowed to actually do it.
"

A ProjMan who's seen the technical side, rather than having just read Prince2, is a big boost, and there seems to be a dearth of them right now.

Well, I started as a programmer in 1983 with Cobol, JCL and Filetab.  I added a 4GL (Focus) as well as IMS, DB2 and SQL before moving into systems analysis in 1990.   In 1994 I started managing projects, qualified with Prince 2 in 2002, and studied ITIL with a friend who is a qulalified ITIL trainer in 2006 to practitioner level.   Between 1996 and 2003 I also did a significant amount of software release management on mainframe and distributed systems.

Oh, and I implemented the entire software release process for a major UK retailer between 2002 and 2005.

When an agency rings me what do they ask about?  My Prince 2.   Nobody in the industry is briefing their agencies about the things they really need, practical, hands on, end to end experience.

[pcolbeck]

I wouldn't do the CCNA stuff unless you really like playing with network kit and intend to take it further.. I have spent the last 18 years playing with network hardware and the last   14 mainly with Cisco. People either love this stuff or find it terminally boring. The other thing is that you need to have hands on access to the kit in real world situations to get a good feel for. You cannot get simulators which are a useful adjunct but cannot entirely replace the hands on bit.