Career change - possibility?

wbt

Hi everyone,

Just have a question...I'm a newbie here so please don't be mean!

I've recently had quite a few people say to me that I should consider getting into development (specifically front end development). I have always loved computers and the net, and started making websites in the late nineties when I was 14/15. Some of them became pretty popular, with large numbers of visitors. I wanted to do this professionally but was put off by teachers at school who reckoned things would move on and that there would be no jobs in IT (hah!) and that I should do a language degree. They also reckoned I wouldn't hack a degree in Computer Science - I suspect there may have been a bit of sexism going on there - I'm a girl and was the only girl in the IT class. Well, my 17-year-old self listened to them. I did the language degree and prospects after graduation were pretty limited. I drifted into TEFL and tried to make the best out of that by gaining qualifications and experience, but it hit me the other day that I've been in this field for over 6 years now and am barely earning 25K. I'm turning 30 this year and realised that that kind of salary just isn't enough. I'm also not enjoying the job anymore. I feel underappreciated and undervalued (along with most of my colleagues!) and I want to try to get out.

The question is - is this a realistic possibility? The developers I've met have told me it's absolutely possible and realistic to make the career change in under a year if I work hard learning from online courses and practising in my free time, especially as I have a strong interest and some background (although I reckon they're overplaying this - my previous experience was just HTML and some CSS!) and to be earning decent money in 2-3 years time. It seems like an attractive career, given how much I love anything computer-related and that, unlike law or something, it doesn't require a huge investment in training and qualifications. What do you reckon?

dazberry

Hi wbt,

The issue with working in the IT industry is that it's an experience based industry, and the problem you will face is demonstrating the relevant experience. I've no doubts you can do it technically speaking - although 15 years is a long time in the IT industry and you'll have a lot of catching up to do with the likes of the various Javascript and CSS libraries that now exist - and some of the additional technologies and techniques that are popular at the moment.

I think it's realistically possible to learn the technology in that timescale and be competitant at it, the thing is getting the break to start building that experience commerically - and I think that is where the issue lies. You could be lucky and pick up something quickly and things work out from there, or might find yourself doing interships and free sites for 2 years until you start to generate momentum? Very difficult one to call really.

But if you have the passon for it - definitely do it - have a plan and just keep working towards it.

[Aside]
It's a shame that you got such bad advice from you teachers - the advice I got was to do science in UCD or do an expensive course in Bray!!! There were so many options even back then and yet that's all we were told. I also saw some of that sexism towards the girls in my class back in the day - not in IT but things like trying to force them into the likes of mechanical drawing, but not letting those that wanted to do art??? Crazy stuff back then...

D.

Procasinator

It's probably worth going for. Sure, it might not work out, but you have a good risk-benefit ratio - you're current income means even entry-level positions in IT shouldn't mean a huge hit (if any) in salary.

Your language skills may help get a job too, as development positions with preference for someone with a language do come up.

Another option to consider is training: there is a government initiative called ICT Skills. Free Higher Diploma courses for those who already have a degree in different areas. 6 month work placement.

Courses still accepting applications:
http://www.springboardcourses.ie/results?accept_current_applications_only=1&keywords=&conversion=1

Unfortunately most seem to be run during working hours, so you probably won't be able to work at the same time.

wbt

dazberry wrote: »

Hi wbt,

The issue with working in the IT industry is that it's an experience based industry, and the problem you will face is demonstrating the relevant experience. I've no doubts you can do it technically speaking - although 15 years is a long time in the IT industry and you'll have a lot of catching up to do with the likes of the various Javascript and CSS libraries that now exist - and some of the additional technologies and techniques that are popular at the moment.

I think it's realistically possible to learn the technology in that timescale and be competitant at it, the thing is getting the break to start building that experience commerically - and I think that is where the issue lies. You could be lucky and pick up something quickly and things work out from there, or might find yourself doing interships and free sites for 2 years until you start to generate momentum? Very difficult one to call really.

But if you have the passon for it - definitely do it - have a plan and just keep working towards it.

[Aside]
It's a shame that you got such bad advice from you teachers - the advice I got was to do science in UCD or do an expensive course in Bray!!! There were so many options even back then and yet that's all we were told. I also saw some of that sexism towards the girls in my class back in the day - not in IT but things like trying to force them into the likes of mechanical drawing, but not letting those that wanted to do art??? Crazy stuff back then...

D.

Thanks for the advice! Pretty positive overall! I've been advised to start practising and creating things asap so I have a portfolio of sorts...I guess this is the best thing I can do, as I can't really do anything about the lack of experience The experience I had before is just a springboard really...essentially I have to start learning from scratch, although my previous HTML experience has given me a head start.

I forgot to mention I live in London, which I think is a positive when it comes to tech industry? People keep telling me they are crying out for developers. Yeah, it's a shame about the bad advice. I can't help wishing I'd done Computer Science and got into the industry much earlier, but that was the advice I got.

wbt

Procasinator wrote: »

It's probably worth going for. Sure, it might not work out, but you have a good risk-benefit ratio - you're current income means even entry-level positions in IT shouldn't mean a huge hit (if any) in salary.

Your language skills may help get a job too, as development positions with preference for someone with a language do come up.

Another option to consider is training: there is a government initiative called ICT Skills. Free Higher Diploma courses for those who already have a degree in different areas. 6 month work placement.

Courses still accepting applications:


Unfortunately most seem to be run during working hours, so you probably won't be able to work at the same time.

That's the thing...even entry-level seems to pay what I'm getting now. That would be fantastic if my language skills could help me to get a job in this industry. Right now, I'm not using them at all and they're totally going to waste! Thanks for the link - I live in London now, though. I've been told by my mates who are developers that there's no real need to take a face-to-face course, as it's largely stuff you can teach yourself. Would that be accurate?

Raging_Ninja

wbt wrote: »

That's the thing...even entry-level seems to pay what I'm getting now. That would be fantastic if my language skills could help me to get a job in this industry. Right now, I'm not using them at all and they're totally going to waste! Thanks for the link - I live in London now, though. I've been told by my mates who are developers that there's no real need to take a face-to-face course, as it's largely stuff you can teach yourself. Would that be accurate?

Really depends on the course and the companies you apply to, to be honest. Might be a good idea to suck it up and do a year long conversion course - I know a bunch of people who went down that route and it worked out well for them.

Atomic Pineapple

Year long conversion course would be the best bet for you I'd imagine and while doing that do as much teaching yourself alongside the course as you can and build up your portfolio, build a portfolio website as you go and then you'll have a portfolio of work and an educational background to start searching for jobs.

wbt

Any recommendations of courses? I've seen a few 12-week intensive ones advertised too - would they be any use? The issue here is the money. I'm absolutely flat broke, lads. I'm living in London on under £25K a year and I really can't save at all.

Atomic Pineapple

I don't know how things would work in regards to courses in London I'm afraid, if you can't afford one right now try using CodeCademy to get started and see if you can learn enough from that to get started with some of your own projects.

http://www.codecademy.com/

jester77

Have a look at meetup.com. Lots and lots of events in many different areas of IT in London and most are free to attend. Not only is it a fantastic way to keep up with trends, but it is also a great way to network and build up a good contact base which will help with the job hunting. e.g. Here is the London Ajax group and they meetup once a month.

There are also female specific groups you can join, Railsgirls has a good following with good events.