electrician to IT

mozil

Hi there lads just looking for a bit of advice if anyone can help.

basically im nearly 23 and a qualified electrician who like many others now find myself out of work. Constrution side of things is practiclly non-existant now so need to in a new direction.
I've always had a keen interest in computers and have done a bit of cabling work cat 5 cat 6 patch panels and would like to pursue this further.

My question is really how do I go about this? like IT is so vast and there are so many courses degree out there its pretty overwhelming.

Ideally where I see myself would be something like a data center I would like something that has a practical element to it, installing panels/cables re routing patch panels as in I id like to get out from behind a computer screen.
So really what i'm asking is there a career there for me? I know the likes of these places employ electricians but jobs are few and far between so every feather in your cap these days help.

A friend suggest ccna would this be the best place to start?
any advice would be greatly appreciated.

mattjack

Have you looked at Springboard courses , they seem to have a wide variety courses at different levels.

I'm an electrician myself and retrained in a completely different profession in recent years , best of luck .

gctest50

Since you have a great headstart - maybe get a bit of fibre optic ?

www.woodcomm.ie etc

You'd be well setup up for this and more :

mozil wrote: »

Ideally where I see myself would be something like a data center I would like something that has a practical element to it, installing panels/cables re routing patch panels as in I id like to get out from behind a computer screen.

You could tip away then with ccna or similar

Inbox

Would you try electrical engineering or something that builds on what you've done already? You might as well build on what you know rather than starting something new from scratch.

mozil

mattjack wrote: »

Have you looked at Springboard courses , they seem to have a wide variety courses at different levels.

I'm an electrician myself and retrained in a completely different profession in recent years , best of luck .

Just out of interest mattjack what are you now doiong?

yes was looking at a fibre course with broadband careers alright not sure what it would lead to employment wise..

engeneering is a possibility to ha every things an option at the moment!!

mattjack

mozil wrote: »

Just out of interest mattjack what are you now doiong?

yes was looking at a fibre course with broadband careers alright not sure what it would lead to employment wise..

engeneering is a possibility to ha every things an option at the moment!!

Sit down and don't laugh .

I spent twenty odd years working as an industrial and then service/maintenance electrician , I now have the academic qualifications to work as a drug/alcohol counsellor .

I still have to a few more things to do though.

mozil

ha now thats a career change alright.
Fair play to you thats obviously something you must a have a passion for, you dont enter into something like that lightly.
yeah the sparking unfortunately seems to be a dead end any jobs that are going you need years experience to even get an interview, anyone that will give you a bit of work is only out to exploit you!