carreer change

stifz

I been working in broadcast graphics for 5 years now, i'm strongly considering going freelance for extra cash and joining the Fire services or Gardai if i can get accepted.. Anyone ever done similiar or can advise an alternative.. maybe some good design companies in the meath, north Kildare offaly area??

thanks

shoegirl

I moved from teaching music to IT 6 years ago. A lot of people think/thought I was mad but in fact I had never had a full time permanent job at the age of 27 and my hours were being heavily cut anyway. In theory it would be nice to believe that had I stayed I'd be getting the fabulous wages that teachers supposedly guess but I think I did the right thing as the music teaching sector is based largely on either hypertalent or cronyism of the worst kind. And unfortunately I wasn't good at cronyism.

6 years later I have one job offer (and possibly a second the way things are looking right now) paying me a net wage that is just over 204% of what I was earning in early 2000. Admittedly some of that is down to tax changes but I am very significantly better off, despite the fact that I had no appropriate qualifications at that time (I do now). So if its what you really want to do, or if you feel you've already achieved what you wanted and want something new, go for it.

The only thing I will say is that I had a lot of humiliating interviews where a lot of people who believe the hype about salaries in various sectors tried to question my credibility. I think this made it much harder to get an initial job, and it took about 3 years before people stopped bringing it up in interviews. (They eventually do!) I haven't looked back, even though in the earlier years wages weren't great and I did wonder was I any better off, and certainly worked longer hours, but the best thing was that it was less pressured and less responsible and that was better for me at that time. This probably won't happen to you though since there are relatively few careers like the Gardai or fire services so they won't have such expectations that they do in business or industry about your background.

stifz

cheers for the reply shoe girl.. It will be the opposite for me wage wise.. i'll drop around 10-15k so hopefully i could source enough freelance work to balance it out. Sure it all depends on if i'm accepted in the meant time i'll keep doing 80 miles a day.

But sure that's life!:)

dmaxontour

hi stifz... sh how did it go?

ICE HOUSE

Anything is possible.
I went from bricklaying into IT !!!!

dmaxontour

See, the main thing that holds me back is money. I'd like to mave totally away from what i am doing but would need to do a degree. And the cost is prohibitive (15000e or so?!?!)

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

For somebody wanting to get into IT, what is the best route? I know IT is a huge sector, but I was looking at doing a course that would help me get a tech 1 support role for start. Any suggestions for the dublin area? Thanks.

Leadership

The easiest way to get into IT without any previous experience or qualifications is to start in a call centre IMO. Start at the bottom with a first level role that has you resetting passwords and sending tickets through to 2nd line where its a bit more technical and lean on the job. From there you angle your way into what really interests you.

I am a mechanical engineer by trade but switched to IT 6 years ago. I am now a solution director for multinational and still not 1 official IT qualification.

I cannot help you with Dublin apart from IBM and HP.