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Temp Work to Kickstart Your IT Career

<p>Breaking into the information systems tech field can be difficult because of changing technology&comma; competitiveness&comma; and economic conditions&period; However&comma; there are many ways to position yourself for burgeoning careers in IT&comma; both academically and on the job market&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>One way is through temporary assignments&period; Clearly this is not always the end all be all for <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;0000ff&semi;"><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;kellyservices&period;us&sol;US&sol;Careers&sol;Kelly-IT-Resources&sol;Careers-in-IT&sol;" class&equals;"broken&lowbar;link"><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;0000ff&semi;">IT careers<&sol;span><&sol;a><&sol;span>&period;  But as in any career&comma; more opportunities come as you gain experience&period; A temp job will help you to establish a track record while you hone your skills and make connections&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Often in life you will find that it’s not what you know&comma; but who you know&period; This being said&comma; now that you have earned your certification&comma; accreditation or degree you are going to need to start networking&period; Through taking temp work you will come across professionals who can lead you in promising directions&period; These individuals can later be used as job references or&comma; who knows&comma; could wind up hiring once they move into titular positions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As you probably learned in school&comma; <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;0000ff&semi;"><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;online&period;wsj&period;com&sol;article&sol;SB10001424052748704358904575478133397664058&period;html"><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;0000ff&semi;">IT jobs<&sol;span><&sol;a><&sol;span> are not all the same&period; By taking temporary positions you will be able to test the waters a little bit before deciding on what route you really want to take&period; In my opinion&comma; this is one of the biggest draws of taking temp work upon course completion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There are different types of temp work and I am going to set you up with some knowledge you may not have at this stage in the game&period; In this particular field&comma; professionals tend to avoid the term &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>temp<&sol;i>” as it often comes with a stigma of administrative work&period; Many agencies actually prefer to use &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>contract<&sol;i>” or &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>project<&sol;i>” work&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It’s important to note that what the task includes is dependent on the term used&period; When referring to project work&comma; you will be expected to complete an assignment without a specified amount of hours or days&period; You may receive an estimate&comma; but that varies depending on the agency&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As for contract work&comma; you may find these jobs harder to obtain&period; Generally&comma; you will have to do several projects before being hired for this type of temporary position&period; Why you ask&quest; For starters&comma; contract work pays substantially more than project work does&period; This means companies will be looking for someone with a little bit of experience&period; This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t go for the job&period; I am just helping you to be realistic about the possibilities&period; For this type of work you will know in advanced the length of time you will be on the job and you can expect to earn anywhere from &dollar;40-&dollar;150 an hour&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As you get started&comma; you can expect to see the majority of your opportunities coming in the form of low-level web skills&comma; technical support or programming&period; I feel it is safe to assume that you are already keenly aware of how to perform these tasks&period; However&comma; nothing teaches you better than real world experience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Often in life we think of a <span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;0000ff&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;collegecareerlife&period;net&sol;benefits-temping&sol;"><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;0000ff&semi;">temporary position<&sol;span><&sol;a><&sol;span> as settling for less than we deserve&period; This is absolutely untrue&period; Continue to look for IT careers that offer you benefits&comma; paid vacation and sick days&period; Until that job falls in your lap&comma; it’s a pretty solid idea to take the project or contract work&comma; as it can only help you make progress toward the success you are ultimately aiming for&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Andrea: