Has exposure to this place had a massive impact on anyone else's life?

[Sawell]

I was just thinking yesterday about where I'd been and where I've gone in life, and it struck me that being de-railed into the private server community has actually had a pretty massive impact on my knowledge, experience and direction in my career, and consequently my life. I think being exposed to this 'no limits' environment built around technology, coding, use of initiative and innovation was probably one of the biggest contributing factors for me turning from a gamer into a technical professional. It really brought something out in me, a lot of ambition and willing to learn.

I did really poorly in school, I hated classrooms. I didn't go to college. I'm probably not academically smart in fact, but I'd probably consider myself a smart guy. The schooling environment just didn't work for me, it didn't push me, didn't interest me and the only real enjoyment I got at school was ignoring everything around me and doing my own thing. My teachers always said I had 'so much potential' but never used it. I'd use it in the night, trying to learn Delphi, playing with T-SQL and building emulators and coding websites, administering forums, building modifications, using social media and consequently being embroiled in the whole net culture. Everything I actually wanted to know I could find out, and I think it really empowered me, but only if I wanted to know it.

Fast forward to being 15/16 and needing to make a decision about what I wanted to do in life, I chose not to go to college and pursue an apprenticeship instead, which was as an HR Clerk in a local council at the time earning something like £6k a year. I'm 23 now, I earn £50k a year in the Business Intelligence/ERP Systems Development industry, I'm well respected, admired and sought after. I've got consultant firms that want me to do 6/12 month contracts for £400 a day, and I actively say no to them, it's crazy. And I just think; if it hadn't been for this place, and places like this... the places kids like me went to, to get away from their mates outside doing drugs, to try and not be part of the same boring **** that everyone else was doing, I don't think I'd be where I am. All the knowledge I picked up during my time in the evenings I used at work, I made my own way, I didn't get boosted or overly praised, I didn't even make any amazing contacts who saw my potential and trusted me forward. I just understood it all, like it was a guide written by Auron on how to hex edit the 1.4 files.

What about you guys?

 

[Geordiehc]

............i'm still poor lol

 

[Tai]

Never were one for modesty, were you!

Out of interest what came after your HR apprenticeship?

 

[JohnBarny]

Probably had a bad impact on me, but who cares I love my life so al get over getting into this retarded game that seems to drag me back.

 

[Sawell]

Out of interest what came after your HR apprenticeship?

Moved from an HR Clerk to Assistant over the course of 2 years, moved to the HR Systems team (looking after the HR database and reporting aspects) as an E-HR Developer soon after, started doing whacky **** like interrogating the raw database and doing decent reports, making .NET web forms (via LINQ) to read and re-write data that wasn't accessible via the GUI, got put in charge of a team of 6 to run a big project, did some contracted work in other councils where that council would pay ours (kinda like consulting but I didn't see any of the money). Then moved to a different company doing HR Business Intelligence and systems, then moved to another company doing the same.

If you know about data warehousing, using SSAS to create OLAP cubes, or SSIS for ETL procedures, data mining etc, it's that but for HR (so you're doing it on human capital as opposed to say, sales or finance), with looking after the ERP on top.

 

[Tai]

Yeah none of that made any sense to me. Sounds incredibly dull - is it?

 

[Sawell]

Yeah none of that made any sense to me. Sounds incredibly dull - is it?

Not at all, if you're into it. Developing systems and smart ways to handle data is essentially what this site is all about, I just do it for businesses as opposed to games. It's really satisfying, because you can see the transformation in business practice brought about by your influence.

 

[Phantom]

That was a very good read and I'm not so much different from yourself, with regards to how I progressed the way I did. I left school at 16 with no formal qualifications, well not anything that stood out (apart from the standard F/E grades). I decided that at 16 I didn't really want to do anything with my life and joined the army as an infantry soldier. I then progressed through my nco and became a sgt within 4 years, apparently this was one of the quickest anyone has ever made sgt in the army. I then found myself transferring through to the reme and from there I became a teltec engineer. Since leaving the army 8 years ago, I've progressed with teltecs further and I now work as a network architect consultant for both Microsoft and Cisco.

It is strange when I look back and the lack of aspiration is rather shocking, however I do feel that I did take the right steps to being where I am now and it's also rather shocking, to think that our careers councillor said I wouldn't amount to anything.

/Phantom

 

[Zen2]

Sounds decent Sawell & Phantom,

I wish i could say i have achieved nearly what you guys have but unfortunately i have not as of yet, similar story though! i think this game actually helped towards me failing at school, i left school before sitting my GCSE's and did not go to collage, i went on to work in a boatyard on the broads on minimum wage for around a year, i then started working as an I.T Trainer, which was basically teaching the public an I.T course consisting of around 10 workbooks, i was then lucky enough to be put forward for a Senior I.T Technician job, i attended the interview and managed to get the job, which has been what i have done for just under 2 years now, after coming back in the new year we was told the company was moving to another location 150 miles away, obviously moving was not really an option so redundancy was the path i had to choose. i was told 31st of March was the closing date set, since then i have attended various interviews doing the same kind of role, last week i landed myself a job in the security industry, which involves installing IP security cameras, server rooms, networks, security chip in pin doors, and so forth, today was my final day of my notice, i start the new job monday so hopefully this will open up some more doors for me.

Sorry if thats a big bore for anyone haha.

 

[Sawell]

Phantom & Zen2, really good to see you're both doing well. I can really relate to the 'lack of aspiration', but it's really empowering when you hit that realisation and use it to essentially better yourself. I hope that others can be inspired by it anyway, and not just use my post to harbour resentment or envy, there's actually a lot of applicable skills in this kind of community that are so hugely in demand in the IT sector that if you know what you're talking about you could quite easily snap up a decent job and future career.

Look at your run-of-the-mill Database Administrator (DBA) at a large organisation for example, essentially all you need to know is how to manage and administer an SQL database, something which most server owners do on a day-to-day basis. A junior DBA starts on 30k example. Sure, there are elements of SQL you probably haven't looked into (stored procedures, database views, SSIS/SSAS) but given the platform people are already on here it's not a steep learning curve at all.

Programming too, C#/VB and the entire .NET framework makes Delphi look like you're trying to make an elephant fly. .NET languages are so simple to learn, and most of the time you work within a GUI that is as well documented and discussed as Kim Kardashian. You'd be amazed at how little a business .NET programmer actually knows about programming, and how often their fixes and deployments are really shoddy code stuck together from forum threads found on google.

Even things like project management, it's an entire work mentality that revolves around managing the way in which you document, test and deliver a service or product. The same kind of process you follow for the launch of a server, UAT (User acceptance testing) is just like Beta testing, you gather feedback and deliver it to your stakeholders and you keep everyone in the loop with timeframes and expected outcomes.

In all seriousness I hope that some people really do take away from this that there is a world out there that would suit your skill set greatly, and with a little application and dedication there's nothing stopping you.

 

[Zen2]

Cheers Sawell,

Appreciate your time to write that, i will be looking further into what your saying as 30k a year starting salary is what i am heading towards, just finished my first week at the new job and it seems to be fairly beneficial in the respect that i am taking on board lots of new skills and will receive certification in a lot of sectors relating to the I.T sides of things

 

[Xanan]

I study animation production at the Arts Institute Bournemouth. Work as a professional fashion model in London and Paris.

That's about it. I don't earn much. I party hard. But I am but young and ignorant.

 

[^G0trex]

It ruined my life...

 

[FUTURA]

No. But a will smith video did.

 

[Breezer]

This place has made a massive impact on my life, i constantly run up to people and shout brown PK. Sometimes i go into the forest to see if i can find a CrystalSpider...Still haven't done it.

All though on a more serious note, this community has had a massive influence on my GFX (back when ipixel ruled the graphics forum). Alongside a few of my own mini app projects, influenced by the coders on this forum.

 

[FUTURA]

this place has made a massive impact on my life, i constantly run up to people and shout brown pk.

lol

 

[Pyraine]

It ruined my life...

Amen brother.

 

[kud125]

Awh look at us all grown up.