Advice or suggestions?

Lamps

Hey, bit of background:

Did a 4 year degree in Environmental Health and Science in the UK, hated it the course but loved the freedom, new friends, social life etc. was gonna drop out a number of times but decided to stick it out and get the qualification. Did really well in the end (due to the hard work, not cos i was that intrested, im a really determined hard worker) and just missed getting a 1st.

So finished up, moved back to ireland, got a job in the field - hated it and left after 8months. Went back to the Uk, got another job in the field, hated that even more and left it after 6months.

So I wnet travelling for 6months to try and see what i wanted to do have now come back and am still at a loss.

Now im mad into computers and gadgetry in general, and know id like a career in some sort of IT related area, but i dont want to have to go do another 4 years of college, im 25 now and want to settle down with my gf etc and need a decent job.

Im also shi.t hot with money, menaing i invest the money i have and have done quite well at it. Again its an area i think id be good at, but dont want to have to go back to college to study.

Or is there any field you people reckon will be big over the next few years? I though my qualification area would be massive but its actually quite decieving and there isnt big money to be made - or job satisfaction (which is my main concern).

has anyone any suggestions or advice? I am not going back to college, i need to be working. Although i will look into night courses

AARRRGH

Just do a post grad in IT - you can do them part-time at night. Places like Griffith College and Dublin Business School offer night MSc courses.

newestUser

Dublindude, don't you dare throw this at me as proof of your theory that IT is a dumping ground for the lost.


<EDIT> I'd better address the OPs issue as well. If you're going to do a masters, you'll be eligible for a higher education authority grant, which will pay for your masters fees (up to approx 5000 euro) and give you 3000 euro a year as well, which ain't shabby.

If job satisfaction is what you're after, I'd also suggest doing short courses in an area, volunteering etc. first before committing to a H Dip or Masters of some description. I've seen people jump from one career they were unhappy in, to a conversion course, straight into another career they were unhappy in.

Dudess

Agreed. You don't have to do four years of college. If you have an undergrad with a good result you'll more than likely get a place on a postgrad in one of the areas that interests you: computers or finance. The most it will be is two years full time and it's well worth it if you feel you need the career change. Don't worry about being 25. When you're 25 you think it's a lot older than it is, then a few years later you realise it's actually very young.
Actually if funds investment etc interests you, why not apply for a job with a financial organisation?

Lamps

Dudess wrote: »

Actually if funds investment etc interests you, why not apply for a job with a financial organisation?

Im thinking of applying for a temp job with one of the banks. Then if i like it, i'll try go permanent. The i'll do a night course and try get into an investment type role in future years.

Is this realistic and a good option?

Also if im to do a masters in IT, although im quite handy at IT, will it not be very difficult, seeing as ive never studied it before and i'll be going straight in at Masters level?

Im also trying to look into areas that i believe will be big in the future and will have a large demand for employees - any suggestions?

newestUser

Lamps wrote: »

Im thinking of applying for a temp job with one of the banks. Then if i like it, i'll try go permanent. The i'll do a night course and try get into an investment type role in future years.

Is this realistic and a good option?

Also if im to do a masters in IT, although im quite handy at IT, will it not be very difficult, seeing as ive never studied it before and i'll be going straight in at Masters level?

Im also trying to look into areas that i believe will be big in the future and will have a large demand for employees - any suggestions?

The temp job is a good idea. What do you mean by an investment type role?

There are courses that allow you to study for undergraduate degrees in computing by night (I think Trinity do one, maybe DCU do one), you wouldn't have to start at a graduate level. And DCU used to do (maybe still do) a HDip 'conversion' program in Computing for graduates of other disciplines. If you're thinking of getting into IT, remember, IT could be *anything*. What exactly would you like to do, programming, web development, sys admin, one of those guys whose job involves charts with lots of boxes and lines? You need to be able to answer this before you start thinking of post-grad or evening courses.

No-one has a crystal ball, we can't tell you what will or won't be big in the future. And while people may have opinions, in all probability (and I'm not being patronising here) you may not have the background or knowledge required to make a judgement call on the validity of those opinions. I look back on things I saw people say on the web in 2000/2001 about the IT industry which, at the time, I thought sounded credible, but which sound utterly, utterly ridiculous to me now. If people here were advising you that such-and-such niche area in IT/finance was going to see explosive growth, their opinions are either going to be simplistic to the point of unhelpfulness, or overly detailed to the point of bewilderment for you.

Dudess

Lamps wrote: »

Also if im to do a masters in IT, although im quite handy at IT, will it not be very difficult, seeing as ive never studied it before and i'll be going straight in at Masters level?

Well that's kinda the beauty of a postgrad - it's a degree condensed into one or two years.

Im also trying to look into areas that i believe will be big in the future and will have a large demand for employees - any suggestions?

Recruitment maybe. How do you think you'd do at sales?

newestUser wrote:

What do you mean by an investment type role?

Think the OP means investment banking, asset management, that type of thing. I'm actually temping as a receptionist for a company that specialises in that field at the moment, and there are no specific qualifications required to work as a financial advisor there - it's all ongoing assessment. There are pensions administrators, financial advisors/consultants etc working there.

newestUser

Apologies OP if the tone of my previous post is a bit high-handed, I was making dinner, Girls Aloud were on the telly, I was distracted basically, didn't have time to reread! I just think that all you need to know is that areas like finance and IT should have good growth prospects for the foreseeable future, but if you're contemplating a drastic career change, it's pointless to get too hung up about the specifics of what the future holds.

Dunno about recruitment being a growth area. I would have classed it as one of those 'middle-men' functions that technology and a more clued-up and internet savvy population would eventually make redundant. How many people go through travel agents to book flights, for instance, instead of booking them online at the airlines websites, now compared to 10 years ago?

Dudess

Yeah I was thinking that afterwards. It's like PR - someone who works in that industry was telling me recently that people are beginning to cop on to the whole PR thing.
Some companies are so damn busy though they actually prefer to hand over the recruiting to another party.

Lamps

thanks for the advice guys.

I reckon the best idea is to get temping in a financial type organisation then see if i like the vibe and ask people what they think of it and see first hand if i reckon i could enjoy it and do well in it. If so, i can try go permanent or get another job in that field and then maybe look into qualifications etc.