How I got into Tech: Ian Wilderspin, IT Centralised Services Analyst

How I got into Tech: Ian Wilderspin, IT Centralised Services Analyst 500 667 Timewade

Ian Wilderspin is an IT Centralised Services Analyst at Timewade. In this blog he talks us through how he got into tech, his experience and qualifications, and his words of wisdom for others interested in joining this exciting sector.

 

Route into tech

Ian says: “I was interested in tech at a very young age – growing up, I always loved my gadgets. One time I dropped my karaoke machine into a goldfish tank, and instinctively saved the karaoke machine first – my tech has always taken precedent!

“Gaming was a big interest of mine (a passion sparked by the Sega Mega Drive!). It started when my dad brought home an old PC green screen and floppy disk drive, and I got to work trying to get games to play on it. Later, my sister started a job at a PC shop and brought home computers for me to play games on. I started saving up my pocket money to buy new graphic cards to play Counter Strike, which eventually led to me learning how to build a PC.

“The more PCs I got, and the more I explored and fixed them, the more skills I gained.”

 

Skills and qualifications

“At my school there weren’t any relevant tech or IT classes that I could study, but I knew tech was my passion, so I went to college to gain IT qualification; studying an NVQ in ICT, where I learnt the fundamentals of CompTIA  A+ S+ and N+. 

“After college I wanted to gain hands-on experience in the workplace, so decided to go down the apprenticeship route. I completed an IT apprenticeship which gave me experience at a local hospital service desk.

 

The world of work

After completing his apprenticeship, Ian went on to enter the full time world of work, but he has continued to prioritise his professional development. 

He says: “I worked full time at a school IT help desk, with day release to complete my MCSA – Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator – the industry standard for managing and troubleshooting Microsoft programmes.

“Since entering the world of work, I have continued gaining relevant skills and qualifications through formal education and have also studied for an ITIL foundation qualification, Sophos Firewall engineer qualifications, and a Connectwise qualification, all of which have helped me to get to where I am today.”

“After working at the IT desk at a school, I started an exciting role at the Royal Household, supporting the royal family via their IT service desk. I was based at Buckingham Palace and had the opportunity to travel to Windsor, Balmoral and Kensington and meet members of the royal family. It just goes to show that IT really is in all work environments, and can take you to some unusual and exciting places!

“After the Royal Household I continued to work in various service desk roles. This customer-facing work gave me a good understanding of how tech works in a ‘live’ environment and showed me how tech or IT services impact businesses and people’s lives and how important it is to get it right.

“While I enjoyed my work with each company I worked for, I joined Timewade to challenge myself. Timewade supports other companies with their IT and tech, so there’s loads of variety, and the work is really interesting and varied everyday.

“My primary role at Timewade is to maintain a wide range of technologies for us and our clients. Internally, I work with ticket systems, remote monitoring, documentation systems, and remote support technologies. For clients, I work with network security, business applications, office email administration, reporting, patching, managing updates, and assisting with the onboarding process.

“I also provide general support for clients – there’s lots of variety, you never really know what’s going to come up on a day to day basis which is what makes the work so interesting!”

 

The future

“I have a passion for implementing and improving tech solutions to make everyone’s life more efficient and easier, so the role I’m in at TImewade, working directly with our customers really is the perfect role for me. 

“I feel really rewarded in my role, working with a range of tools and technologies every day, while supporting people in achieving their goals.

“It’s exciting to see the direction that new technologies are moving in, and how they can impact my work; SaaS, Cloud servers, Cloud gaming and much more are opening up more opportunities for people working in IT to get involved with.

“I’m really enjoying my work here at Timewade, and I’m looking to keep picking up and developing new skills, and continue my learning and developing within the team.”

 

Words of wisdom

For anyone thinking about their future, Ian’s advice is: 

“Find something in tech you love doing. It’s worth trying out different areas to figure out exactly what that is. There’s a lot of variation in the industry, so there’s loads of choice depending on what you’re interested in.

“Don’t be afraid to ask questions. It’s better to feel stupid for five minutes than carry on not knowing something! And be receptive to questions from others – we’re all here to support each other and learn from each other.

“When you’re starting out, you can start with some basic qualifications – apprenticeships are great, as you gain lots of hands-on skills.”

 

Next Steps

There are a number of courses available at Exeter College including BTEC’s, and apprenticeships for school leavers as well as 12-week skills boot camps for adults aged 19+.  Discover more at: https://exe-coll.ac.uk/ 

To find out more about the best route for you contact the Apprenticeship Team at Exeter College: apprentices@exe-coll.ac.uk; 01392 400800.

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