From IT Technician to Systems Developer?

[theStudent]

I am currently an IT technician who would soon enough be an administrator of some IT systems... which would be a very technical role.

I am now deciding whether to apply for a job as a Systems Developer (ERP/Syspro) which would move from a technical role to a hybrid role which includes learning business processes and improving on them (jnr position).
I would assume this would open many more doors for me.....

Would this be a good move or bad move?
Would going into the business side of IT conflict with the Technical side, or work well together?

[AR_GTR]

Well i see it as only a good thing. Unless you dont want to move away from the technical aspect.

Make the change

[ghoti]

Sysdev can pay very nicely.

[ToxicBunny]

Sysdev can pay v v nicely, and having the technical grounding can be very useful...

The hours can suck sometimes though, but its the payoff for the bigger salary and bigger responsibility, oh and I hope you're ok with documentation, esp for ERP type stuff... its a paper making monster.

[theStudent]

Well.. paperwork isnt the greatest

And pay isnt a concern right now.... (would be a bonus)

The problem would be that I enjoy my job a lot... happy to go to work in the mornings... however I cant be stuck at what Im happy with as I will never grow my career....

Is there a lot of growth in an ERP and would my technical side grow further of take a back seat role?

[ToxicBunny]

There is alot of growth in ERP stuff as more and more companies are realising its important and embracing it alot more.

It will mean your technical stuff takes alot more of a back seat since you will spend more of your day in meetings and discussions and developing processes etc etc...

[Pixie22]

ermmmm... i dunnoes... Personally Id rather pull out my eye teeth than do one days worth of techy work haha
But if you like it, then maybe its right for you =)

[AntiThesis]

Techie work is generally easier to maintain (once you've got stuff up and running, it pretty much stays running barring a huge problem). IS stuff is at least always challenging but can be quite tough/time intensive.

[The_Librarian]

I would agree that you switch.

Reasons -

1. In development you can harass the technicians with your problems.
2. In development you don't have users screaming at you because their HDD died and they lost a whole year of work
3. Sure, the hours do suck, but at least you got to be creative thinking of ways to make the program run faster and leaner.
4. Like TB said.

Case in point - I recently joined my company's development team, and it required a change of mindset, but it is very interesting.

[ghalied]

Techie work is generally easier to maintain (once you've got stuff up and running, it pretty much stays running barring a huge problem). IS stuff is at least always challenging but can be quite tough/time intensive.

I would disagree, your referring to a tech as the title but who's just a call handler or script reader, I'm a techie and trust me it's not just user support, there is loads of project work as businesses are always wanting to implement something new or intergrate something into the existing infrastucture.

techie work is so much more rewarding for me than just being bogged down with one app, then again i move to a new employer every 2yrs

Take the role, you'll only then know if it's for you, you can always change afterwards, go for it.