Sick of Career, Dont Know What to Do

Reactor

Hi, Im looking for a bit of career advice, I feel like Ive gone down the wrong path and should be in another career, probably IT, I work in a pharma lab, its fairly boring and repetitive, Im 32, been working since college but always for 30-32k, there just seems to be no money in it, everyone I work with is in the same boat. I have asked for more but the answer is always thats the rate and this seems to be standard across the industry these days (Biotech), no idea where all the 100k positions we were promised in college are, 45k is the most anyone ever seems to make and thats for pHd managers working 60-80 hours a week...

I feel like Ive wasted my life and any chance of success is gone, I often feel like I should be working in IT but its so hard to get an idea of what that involves or how hard it is, Im good with computers but have done very little programming or web development.

I just feel like a total failure where I am, I honestly cant remember why I did Biotech in DCU, it just seemed like that was the field of the future when I was filling out the CAO form but now I feel like my life is over before it started, is 32 too old to switch careers? Does anyone know how to go about this or even look into it? I dont even know what I want to do, I just want to make more money and have a vague feeling I should be working with computers as this seems to be the only area where I have a bit of skill or talent

Lu Tze

You seem to think you should be working in IT without really knowing what is involved. Maybe try some of the "introduction to ..." type of online courses for various things you are considering/interested in. Coursera.org do modules from various universities, i did an basics in python on there and thought it was decent for understanding some of the fundamental concepts for programming. Or even an evening course in what you are interested in.

Tell me how

Reactor wrote: »

Hi, Im looking for a bit of career advice, I feel like Ive gone down the wrong path and should be in another career, probably IT, I work in a pharma lab, its fairly boring and repetitive, Im 32, been working since college but always for 30-32k, there just seems to be no money in it, everyone I work with is in the same boat. I have asked for more but the answer is always thats the rate and this seems to be standard across the industry these days (Biotech), no idea where all the 100k positions we were promised in college are, 45k is the most anyone ever seems to make and thats for pHd managers working 60-80 hours a week...

I feel like Ive wasted my life and any chance of success is gone, I often feel like I should be working in IT but its so hard to get an idea of what that involves or how hard it is, Im good with computers but have done very little programming or web development.

I just feel like a total failure where I am, I honestly cant remember why I did Biotech in DCU, it just seemed like that was the field of the future when I was filling out the CAO form but now I feel like my life is over before it started, is 32 too old to switch careers? Does anyone know how to go about this or even look into it? I dont even know what I want to do, I just want to make more money and have a vague feeling I should be working with computers as this seems to be the only area where I have a bit of skill or talent

Lots of people feel disengaged with their careers. Some because they just happen in to it and more because always feeling that they should have taken a different path.

In my view, changing careers can be done at any point but obviously it does get more difficult. I think a key thing when doing so however is to be passionate about the new direction you intend to take. This is necessary because it will take a lot of effort such as studying part time or starting on even less money on an entry level position in your preferred field. If the only reason that you would change career is because of money then I guarantee (as much as anyone can) that you will unlikely be happy in the new position either.

A good career consultant can (for a significant fee) help tease out the facets of work which you have a tendency to lean towards which may help in identifying a propensity for a particular job type but the specifics will come down to you.

I would suggest by starting by doing some basic part time courses in a field which may interest you. There are so many courses, part time, online, distance learning available that I don't think that there is any reason why someone cannot start to explore different avenues. If doing such a course does not excite you or you do not enjoy it then I think it is highly unlikely that a full time career in it would be any more rewarding than where you currently are.

Finally, in my experience, people who are often unhappy in their job find that it might be to do with an absence of something or some form of happiness in their personal life. It's worth exploring, if you have a weight on your shoulders outside of work, it will definitely affect your view of work also.

One last comment, I think a lot of people working in IT feel exactly about it as you do about biotech so beware of far away hills. You need to have that passion for it in ordered to truly enjoy it and therefore I think may require more than a vague feeling as you put it.

Wanderer78

im afraid our educational system is full of s*it in regards very well paid jobs for graduates. very few if any young graduates end up in very well paid jobs (healthy 5 and 6 figures). those jobs only come after a lot of experience, hard work, a lot of sacrifices and a whole pile of luck.

you're not a failure at all op, as i said above, its actually the bs thats fed to students in our educational system. our system fails in many ways. it puts way too much pressure on students in all manners, e.g. asking kids what they wanna be when they grow up, in their teens! :rolleyes:, not teaching kids how to prioritise their physical and mental well, always! oh i could go on and on. what a dreadful system. i personally think our system is designed to create 'worker drones'. theres an enormous amount of people unhappy in their jobs.

there really is more to life than money, even though we could always do with a few more quid, ask those earning 100k+, what do they like doing in their free time! in my eyes, its dreadful life! job satisfaction is the most important thing. you gotta be happy with what you're doing all day or this will lead to a lot of unhappiness most of the time if not, all the time.

apologies but ive no other advice after that but i wish you the best

Gone Drinking

Have you looked for work in your sector outside of the company you work for? I worked in a pharma company (in an IT role) and people seemed happy and judging by the cars in the car park, successful. Maybe try look at different roles within the same industry, you don't have to be a lab technician, you could work in pharma project management for example.

I work in IT, it can be boring and mundane. It can also be very stressful. Far away hills are not always greener, trust me.

So lets say you do want to change career and move into IT. IT like science is such a broad subject. There's many branches of certification within IT, lots being completely different from the next. You need to decide on which area of IT you want to go into and then start studying yourself. There's loads of online courses for pretty much every IT area.

The easiest area of IT to get into is probably support. Even with a few basic IT courses on your back, with no experience you'll be looking at starting on a remote helpdesk, helping end users with their basic PC problems for 20k a year. When you've built up enough experience there you can probably look at moving into a deskside support job, circa 25-30k. Once you've done that for a few years and completed some enterprise certifications, you can look at applying for enterprise support roles 35k - 45k. If you skill up well there, you could further yourself in the support company, earn more that way, or move into a smaller company and be one of system administrators 50k - 60k.

If you want to earn 100k a year, you'll need the above experience plus a certification route in one direction that you've mastered, networking, virtualisation, something like that. Those kind of high end certifications are very difficult.

This is one example of one area/route you can take within IT. I've done the above without any college degree, so its possible if you're good at it and work hard.

Reactor

Id just like to be working on something besides drudgery that nobody cares about, I have the money to retrain in anything but I cant even think of something I would like, I was thinking Android development maybe, Android is about the only thing I "like" but I worry by the time I get into it everyone will have had the same idea and the next thing will have come along.

Wanderer78

Reactor wrote: »

Id just like to be working on something besides drudgery that nobody cares about, I have the money to retrain in anything but I cant even think of something I would like, I was thinking Android development maybe, Android is about the only thing I "like" but I worry by the time I get into it everyone will have had the same idea and the next thing will have come along.

dont rush into anything. theres organisation out there that advise adults on these matters. google will probably help you there

Wonzy

OP it's easy enough to get to 32k in I.T.
Some companies are paying 28k or more for level 1 support roles.(basically phones, installing software, initial troubleshooting). If your anyway decent at computers you would be grand in this role.

Any idea what area you want to get into? You don't need to leave your current job, can study in your own time. There's networking (cisco), windows server support, databases (sql server, oracle and more), programming (java, .net, C++ and more), linux administration along with many other areas.

Yout current role will actually help you secure a role so don't worry about that! Expierence in a work place will stand to you.

Heck some places might even hire you without any I.T certs if you but down your current knowledge.

Elessar

OP I was like you a few years ago. Unhappy in my job and always loved computers, so I researched some courses and ended up signing up for a BSc in computing course, part time, which covered all the major areas of IT. It was two evenings a week and every saturday during term time. I'm now heading into the final year of it and I absolutely love it. My career changed as a result - my employer saw my interest in that direction and they got me a position in the IT dept. Everything is looking up now.

Yes, it needed a lot of dedication and sacrifices (but not too many, in fairness) but if you've a genuine interest, you'll really enjoy it. Look the courses up. I did the full degree as I never got a third level qualification. But there are conversion courses you can do aswell if you already have a degree that are only a year or two. I work in a very specific area of IT but even then I expect to top out at around 60-70k within 5 years, or 80-100 if I specialise. The most important thing is to enjoy or at least be interested in the work you do, if you're spending 40 hours a week at it. Check out the courses, you won't look back.

Mrs OBumble

Reactor wrote: »

Id just like to be working on something besides drudgery that nobody cares about,

Bad news for ya: most careers have a huge amount of work that is drudgery that no one cares about (unless they don't get done). Including IT.

Similarly, you won't get big money unless you either have a scarce skill (which means having to continually learn new things as the masses catch up with what you have now) or get into management.

2RockMountain

Could you work towards an IT implementation role in your own pharma sector? This is a fairly scare area - somebody who understands both the pharma business and how to make IT systems sing in your own environment. It's not a development role - more to do with business analysis, system configuration and project management. Is there any implementation or upgrade projects coming up in your organisation that you could volunteer for?

Tom Dunne

Reactor wrote: »

Id just like to be working on something besides drudgery that nobody cares about, I have the money to retrain in anything but I cant even think of something I would like, I was thinking Android development maybe, Android is about the only thing I "like" but I worry by the time I get into it everyone will have had the same idea and the next thing will have come along.

To add to what the others have said, there are such things as "conversion" courses - aimed at people who already have a BA or BSc in a different field and want to transfer into IT. These are usually Level 8, post-grad diplomas that require no prior experience in IT. Have a look at the various IT/Uni websites, they will be starting in September, so you have time.

It won't make you an IT guru, but it will give you a taste of various different aspects of IT, you could then potentially go on to do a Masters if you so desire, therefore opening up more possibilities.

I would strongly recommend you don't just jump into Android development yet. You really would need some background knowledge in other areas of IT to excel. Learn to program first, then learn to program Android.

catbear

Take a career break, go travel for a year.

GalwayGrrrrrl

If you are based in or near Dublin you could look at working in medical information- you need a science degree and confidence with computers (databases). You will get other training on the job. I worked in that area (in the UK) for a while and enjoyed it- every day was different with new queries on phone, getting involved with launch of new drugs etc.

Musicman2000

As a few have said with IT , its not always greener on the other side. If you are looking at the support side of things. Forget about a degree you will need industry certs such as Microsoft and Cisco for the networking side of things.

You will probably have to start off on a level one position and work your way up from there and get the experience. The other side of the coin is the market is flooded with IT graduates at the moment so it can be tough going trying to get a position . Best of luck which ever direction you take.

jive

That's definitely not standard across industry; standard for entry-level QC jobs outside of Dublin, perhaps. It's as good a time as any to be working in Biotech with numerous multinationals all establishing and recruiting in the last couple of years and currently still expanding.

If you've been working since you finished college, assuming you didn't go back as a mature student, then you'll have enough experience to command a salary of €50k+ depending on the location. Apply for more senior roles at other companies, as other people have said the grass is always greener. There's more to pharma/biotech than working in a lab as well, explore your options and apply for roles which interest you and utilises your experience + skill set would be my advice.

imitation

It is a big leap from to IT from Biotech, there are probably possibilitys to go into more related fields like QA, management, validation, engineering that may have more advancement possibilities. I think that there are a lot of candidates working in the lab field now which makes the competition intense.

I think it would be well worth looking around for entry level roles above that you may be able to start in, maybe you might need to do a course, but you might be able to do a masters or night course rather than having to start again from scratch like you would with IT. If you have an interest in IT, sure go for it, but otherwise think carefully, you might not need to restart completely, keep an eye on jobs websites and do a bit of networking.

Reactor

jive wrote: »

That's definitely not standard across industry; standard for entry-level QC jobs outside of Dublin, perhaps. It's as good a time as any to be working in Biotech with numerous multinationals all establishing and recruiting in the last couple of years and currently still expanding.

If you've been working since you finished college, assuming you didn't go back as a mature student, then you'll have enough experience to command a salary of €50k+ depending on the location. Apply for more senior roles at other companies, as other people have said the grass is always greener. There's more to pharma/biotech than working in a lab as well, explore your options and apply for roles which interest you and utilises your experience + skill set would be my advice.

Nobodies making 50k in any lab in Ireland, maybe the odd lab manager but there are always people way more qualified and senior for those roles than me.

BrianD3

I last worked as a scientist in the pharmaceutical industry over 10 years ago and back then I found pay and conditions to be poor. I also found it very difficult to get a job after graduating from uni in the late 90s.

Although I recently read in Business Plus magazine (sometimes comes free with the SBP newspaper) that the average salary in Abbvie in Ireland is 99k. Obviously averages can be skewed by very high earners but still I doubt that there are a lot of them in that company to skew the figure.

If the average figure of 99k is true then surely the chemists, lab analysts etc. are well paid in that company.

Of course the figure of 99k could be total bullsh*t.

jive

Reactor wrote: »

Nobodies making 50k in any lab in Ireland, maybe the odd lab manager but there are always people way more qualified and senior for those roles than me.

There's loads of people on that salary in labs all over the country. Anyone at senior analyst level or above would/should be on 45k+ if working at a decent multinational and that is just the base salary. I know many people on that money and more in analyst roles. Admittedly the money won't go much higher than €50k for an analyst unless you are willing to move into a management or QA role.