Career Change

SparrowHawk

Hi,

I need a career change - I'm 35 & I've spent the last 15 years working in the hotel/ restaurant/ retail industries, mostly at managerial level, in various sizes of businesses.

I'm also the family member who everyone calls when their PC goes wallop. I've got some experience in hardware/ software troubleshooting, UNIX hosting, website design & hosting, graphic design, networking etc. - you know the person - jack of all trades, master of none...

Anyway, I'm looking for advice, as to whether I have any chance of a career in the IT industry. If so, should I do exams, (which ones?) Or should I go to recruitment agency & talk to them?

Any help or suggestions appreciated

irlrobins

Moving to work/jobs

Pablo

SparrowHawk : There are some of the qualifications offered by Microsoft that are pretty standard in the industy, i.e. MCSE.

Best advice is to search your ideal job and check what qualifications you need for it, and go get them ! Good Luck in your quest !

DublinWriter

SparrowHawk wrote:

Anyway, I'm looking for advice, as to whether I have any chance of a career in the IT industry. If so, should I do exams, (which ones?) Or should I go to recruitment agency & talk to them?

Of course you could have a career in the IT industry, the question is do you really, really want one?

There are a few interesting threads in here from guys our age totally sick to the back teeth of IT.

You'll be wasting your time with recruitment agencies. You need to have that all important first job before anyone will talk to you, and that's the problem.

Have you thought about touting yourself around some of the smaller businesses in your area in terms of doing part-time support work? Many such companies fall between the stools when it comes to employing full time IT people and having maintenance contracts in place with IT companies, and are crying out for people they can call in on an hourly basis.

You'd also be working for yourself, which is good.

Millionaire

Hi Sparrowhawk:

I have advised people in your situation in the past. If you really want IT bad enough, you will get into IT, but its going to require some sacrafice!

I have (in my work, I am recruitment for network engs and tech support), met quite a few people, very similar to you, I would not be able to place them, as I only do experienced role, but I certainly was able to advise them on how themselves to get into IT, and get a start.

Here is one way....get into a company like Dell for example, or any other company doing low level 1st level support. (not sure these days if they hire entry level of this job...look at www.dell.ie).

Now this will require you to be doing basic work for about 2 years, and also probably will mean a low salary to start. If you do this, then spend your spare time studying for your exams MCSE for example. If you get certified, put your heart and soul into it and get about 2 years experience in the one company (no job hopping if possible, unless its a great new opportunity), then you will be experienced enough to go to the next level, more money, more training, better work.

I have seen others I helped do this, and within a few years they went from zero to some great jobs.

Here is a true story might inspire you.

I went to university over in canada 89-94, and this mature student started around the same time. He was 36 and a former biker (as in Hells Angel type), he was covered in ink Tatooes, dressed like an outlaw biker and the big biker mustache and all, and he was studying an education degree to be a teacher,and driving a truck to pay his way. he studied hard. I came back to ireland and a few years ago went back to visit. Turns out Tom, had scored so high in his degree (he studied realy hard), he went to medical school, and is now a Doctor!!! He must have been at least 46 before he graduated from medical school. probably still wearing his biker gear, under his doctors white coat! LOL! what a dude, fair play to him!!!

SparrowHawk

Hi, & thanks to all for the replies - much appreciated!!

What really concerns me, is that I say to myself "Yes, i can do x, y or z", but if I go to a company & was fortunate enough to be employed, that I'd find myself at a much higher level & unable to do the job. And I like to be proud of the work I do

Also, I'm unsure as to what area to aim for - the IT industry is so wide ranging & varied. What I get the biggest kick out of is fixing things - whether it's hardware or software or resolving coding problems in HTML/ PHP. I'm also one of those "lets press buttons & see what happens" people - (I guess maybe most started that way?). Also, once I've figured something out, I want to move on - not really happy doing the exact same thing every day. Naturally curious, I guess. So, maybe support is a good area?

Maybe a life coach :eek: , might be a good idea?

Once again, thanks for all suggestions

CiaranC

What really concerns me, is that I say to myself "Yes, i can do x, y or z", but if I go to a company & was fortunate enough to be employed, that I'd find myself at a much higher level & unable to do the job.

That wont be an issue. You really do have to start on the bottom rung of the ladder.

SparrowHawk

Hi,

I've been having a look on the 'net for exams/ certification. Most seem to be for Microsoft/ Cisco or Novell.

Since I know more about MS than I do about the others (OK, I know nothing about the others ), it would seem sensible to start there. I've had a look here.

Does anyone have any opinions about which might be a good starting point/ valuable (from a information & financial point of view).

From the website it seems that I need requirements before taking exams & getting credits - are these absolute requirements or can I study at home for these exams/ credits? Or is it possible to get a low level IT job & work from there?

All help/ opinions/ direction appreciated.


SH

Millionaire

I d say go for the IT support area, which you seem to be doing.

If you decided to go for software development a degree or master degree is a massive bonus to have in that area.

I think based on my experience, get a low Level IT job and work u from there, while doing home study, or indeed some companies may help you with training. Yes I think you can do the likes of MCSE, I know you could buy discs with the course on it, however I am sure some of the IT lads will give you better information on study.

SparrowHawk

Hi all,

I've tried searching the forums, but the search function seems to disabled?

Anyway, can anyone provide any insight into a good path for MSCE. I thinking of starting off with MCDST, but I'm not too sure.

All help appreciated.

SH

SparrowHawk

Hi,

Thought I should update all who offered advice. I've just finished my second week working in HP. Thanks to all who helped - much appreciated.

Now...if anyone knows any good Lotus Notes/ Domino Admin resources.....!!

SH

shoegirl

Millionaire wrote:

Hi Sparrowhawk:

I have advised people in your situation in the past. If you really want IT bad enough, you will get into IT, but its going to require some sacrafice!

I have (in my work, I am recruitment for network engs and tech support), met quite a few people, very similar to you, I would not be able to place them, as I only do experienced role, but I certainly was able to advise them on how themselves to get into IT, and get a start.

Here is one way....get into a company like Dell for example, or any other company doing low level 1st level support. (not sure these days if they hire entry level of this job...look at www.dell.ie).

Now this will require you to be doing basic work for about 2 years, and also probably will mean a low salary to start. If you do this, then spend your spare time studying for your exams MCSE for example. If you get certified, put your heart and soul into it and get about 2 years experience in the one company (no job hopping if possible, unless its a great new opportunity), then you will be experienced enough to go to the next level, more money, more training, better work.

Most of this is excellent advice, my only dispute is that companies like Dell (that is, companies like HP, Xerox, Apple, Siemens and others now gone) have such high pressure levels on employees that a) their turnovers are very high - in my days there most employees didn't even last 12 months and b) most people were way too stressed out to study much, so very few really made much career progress until they left.

Companies like that are not bad for experience, however I'd try not to stay as long as 2 years as there are limited promotional opportunities in most of them (and those there are are still on high-stress but very low salaries), I know a lot of people who get funny look from employers and agencies because they stayed in a company regarded as a "dead-end" for more than 12 months.

I'd go down that route but try to get in some skills/certifications beforehand as most of the people I knew in those companies who were promoted were those who had previous experience or certifications. Out of the 100-150 or so I worked with maybe less than 5 got certified while they worked there - problem in this kind of tech support and helpdesk roles is that the level of exposure isn't really enough to skill you up for MCPs and certainly not for Cisco certifications.

What I'd suggest is buy a Comptia A+ book and start out there.
Look into data centre jobs if you are in Dublin - these are much better routes than telephone work. The A+ is really very easy if you have good hands on troubleshooting skills as you suggest.

After that an MCP in XP or one of the desktop support MCPs is useful.
After that maybe look at the server exams - they are really great if you want to get on in the industry.

After I left Dell in 2001 I got a job supporting hardware and applications on ancient IBM servers for a large UK supermarket chain in London. The money wasn't great but it probably has got me every job I've ever worked for since as the kind of exposure to servers was useful. A CCNA I did whilst working on a nightshift for an oilfield giant a couple of years back also helped me a great deal.

Business skills are also worth developing - have you management experience or qualifications you can use? These are solely lacking in the I industry so its worth exploiting those you have. A lot of very, very poorly qualified people are getting into supervisory and management positions in IT simply because there are not enough people going in with these skills already.

chopster

Hi SparrowHawk , just curious how did you manage to get into HP , did you actually complete a couple of exams first or did they take you on from your other past experiences ?