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Career Change, how to make the switch?
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28-07-2020 3:22pm#1Hi All,
I am currently exploring different career options away from construction but failing on what direction to take.
I have quite a bit of courses done as per below along with working as a QS for the last 9 years both in Ireland and overseas in Africa and Canada. I am now 33 and know that construction is not something I want to stay in long term.
BSc in Arch tech,
BSc Hons in Quantity Surveying
Pg Dip in Construction Law & Contract Admin
MSc in Supply Chain Management
At this stage even after just doing the masters in a year I am looking at other courses to do, to transition away.
But I think now actually consulting with an expert at this stage would be wise before I commit or spend more money(think my partner will kill me!).
How do you know or go about understanding the skills that are transferable into another industry. For example I have applied for procurement jobs in Pharma as I have strong procurement and contractual background but failed to get responses.0
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chickenskewer wrote: »Hi All,
I am currently exploring different career options away from construction but failing on what direction to take.
I have quite a bit of courses done as per below along with working as a QS for the last 9 years both in Ireland and overseas in Africa and Canada. I am now 33 and know that construction is not something I want to stay in long term.
BSc in Arch tech,
BSc Hons in Quantity Surveying
Pg Dip in Construction Law & Contract Admin
MSc in Supply Chain Management
At this stage even after just doing the masters in a year I am looking at other courses to do, to transition away.
But I think now actually consulting with an expert at this stage would be wise before I commit or spend more money(think my partner will kill me!).
How do you know or go about understanding the skills that are transferable into another industry. For example I have applied for procurement jobs in Pharma as I have strong procurement and contractual background but failed to get responses.
Would you be interested in software engineering? There are a lot of 1 year postgraduate IT conversion courses out there.0 -
JasonStatham wrote: »Would you be interested in software engineering? There are a lot of 1 year postgraduate IT conversion courses out there.
Everything is IT these days! Seems to pay savage well going by 95% of the people on boards.ie across various threads, especially if you go contracting / self employed.
There is a good website called datacamps.com which allows you to dabble in programming etc. I tried it and it wasn’t for me at all, very mundane.
Linkedin learning I believe also have insights into what various hot jobs would be like0 -
chickenskewer wrote: »Hi All,
I am currently exploring different career options away from construction but failing on what direction to take.
I have quite a bit of courses done as per below along with working as a QS for the last 9 years both in Ireland and overseas in Africa and Canada. I am now 33 and know that construction is not something I want to stay in long term.
BSc in Arch tech,
BSc Hons in Quantity Surveying
Pg Dip in Construction Law & Contract Admin
MSc in Supply Chain Management
At this stage even after just doing the masters in a year I am looking at other courses to do, to transition away.
But I think now actually consulting with an expert at this stage would be wise before I commit or spend more money(think my partner will kill me!).
How do you know or go about understanding the skills that are transferable into another industry. For example I have applied for procurement jobs in Pharma as I have strong procurement and contractual background but failed to get responses.
What I would say is do not go to a “career coach”. I went to one of the best known ones in Dublin 2 and they essentially get you to do an online personality / skills quiz , and dive into the Myers Briggs theory etc and charge you a fortune for it for 2 sessions. Absolute scammers, as are some life coaches.
Doing the tests online yourself are definitely good though to identify strengths, weaknesses, and what you want and don’t want from a career. Try career portal website which actually matches careers or jobs based on your interests.
Would you consider doing QS for yourself? Like price work for people. Gives you control over it and work for yourself while you figure out what you want to do.
You’ve some great qualifications in construction there overall, I’d imagine you could branch out of QS into something else.
What’s the first few jobs or careers on your mind at the moment?
The pharma industry seems to be extremely rigid in what you need to get in. Innopharma / getreskilled , plus springboard courses are great ways to do a level 7 or 8 degree for a year or two to get in. But they won’t look at you unless you have a qualification from what I’ve been told . Seems overrated anyway, probably start off as a shift worker or production operator and work your way up from there.
The last thing to consider Is - how much of a salary drop are you willing to take? Most entry level jobs are €30-35K and to change industries completely as a new entrant , even with your past experience, you’d probably be lucky to get over €40K unless your skills are very transferable. Eg: you can move into FMCG with your supply chain degree0 -
JasonStatham wrote: »Would you be interested in software engineering? There are a lot of 1 year postgraduate IT conversion courses out there.
I wouldn't even know where to start with it, as being in construction the industry is very slow to up take new methods especially IT. what exactly does a software engineer do? does it support apps or websites?0 -
What I would say is do not go to a “career coach”. I went to one of the best known ones in Dublin 2 and they essentially get you to do an online personality / skills quiz , and dive into the Myers Briggs theory etc and charge you a fortune for it for 2 sessions. Absolute scammers, as are some life coaches.
Doing the tests online yourself are definitely good though to identify strengths, weaknesses, and what you want and don’t want from a career. Try career portal website which actually matches careers or jobs based on your interests.
Would you consider doing QS for yourself? Like price work for people. Gives you control over it and work for yourself while you figure out what you want to do.
You’ve some great qualifications in construction there overall, I’d imagine you could branch out of QS into something else.
What’s the first few jobs or careers on your mind at the moment?
The pharma industry seems to be extremely rigid in what you need to get in. Innopharma / getreskilled , plus springboard courses are great ways to do a level 7 or 8 degree for a year or two to get in. But they won’t look at you unless you have a qualification from what I’ve been told . Seems overrated anyway, probably start off as a shift worker or production operator and work your way up from there.
The last thing to consider Is - how much of a salary drop are you willing to take? Most entry level jobs are €30-35K and to change industries completely as a new entrant , even with your past experience, you’d probably be lucky to get over €40K unless your skills are very transferable. Eg: you can move into FMCG with your supply chain degree
I have been pondering it with a few years now but never really pushed the change I suppose the first step was the masters. I don't see working with linesight would change anything you are still encapsulated with the industry issues just on a different team. I have worked with great companies progressive who want to continuously improve and also the other side where there is no continuous improvement. I do not think the industry wants to progress and will always be lead by opportunism.
After discussing with a friend at operations director level within the pharma he said they may think you are over qualified for a procurement role in pharma. He could of been trying to soften the frustration of no response I am not sure. As I deal with CAPEX and OPEX projects daily pharma clients I do feel there is role for QS's to transition into buyer roles for pharma but very hard to get in for an interview to explain the value that could be added. From a legal perspective and also the liable and financial side of auditing projects and suppliers.0 -
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chickenskewer wrote: »I have been pondering it with a few years now but never really pushed the change I suppose the first step was the masters. I don't see working with linesight would change anything you are still encapsulated with the industry issues just on a different team. I have worked with great companies progressive who want to continuously improve and also the other side where there is no continuous improvement. I do not think the industry wants to progress and will always be lead by opportunism.
After discussing with a friend at operations director level within the pharma he said they may think you are over qualified for a procurement role in pharma. He could of been trying to soften the frustration of no response I am not sure. As I deal with CAPEX and OPEX projects daily pharma clients I do feel there is role for QS's to transition into buyer roles for pharma but very hard to get in for an interview to explain the value that could be added. From a legal perspective and also the liable and financial side of auditing projects and suppliers.
Is that who you’re with at the minute or are you contractor side ? Or where did you mention linesight. Heard good things about them, few friends working with them abroad and here. They’ve a lot of data centers and pharma projects coming up here and EU + further
Yeah I think to get a clean break away from the industry altogether you should look at springboard, courses mostly starting in September. Loads of pharma ones on there. I’d say then they’d definitely look at you on completion of the degree, next may/June.
Do that test though I mentioned, it’s interesting. Nothing worse than going on to do a pharma degree and find that once you’re in it you hate it. Seems to be a lot of processes and strict guidelines in it0 -
chickenskewer wrote: »I have been pondering it with a few years now but never really pushed the change I suppose the first step was the masters. I don't see working with linesight would change anything you are still encapsulated with the industry issues just on a different team. I have worked with great companies progressive who want to continuously improve and also the other side where there is no continuous improvement. I do not think the industry wants to progress and will always be lead by opportunism.
After discussing with a friend at operations director level within the pharma he said they may think you are over qualified for a procurement role in pharma. He could of been trying to soften the frustration of no response I am not sure. As I deal with CAPEX and OPEX projects daily pharma clients I do feel there is role for QS's to transition into buyer roles for pharma but very hard to get in for an interview to explain the value that could be added. From a legal perspective and also the liable and financial side of auditing projects and suppliers.
Ah you meant our PM. This is public on the thread.0 -
chickenskewer wrote: »I wouldn't even know where to start with it, as being in construction the industry is very slow to up take new methods especially IT. what exactly does a software engineer do? does it support apps or websites?
You would actually build the application/website, as a software engineer.
Technical support, is for supporting said applications (one disadvantage though is being on call to fix problems in weekends/nights. You wouldn't have this as a softwAre engineer). Support is more troubleshooting apps, and dealing with customers depending on what Level you're on.
There are loads on introductory free courses on Youtube to learn website-coding languages like Python, Javascript and Java. I recommend you to try it. If you are interested, of course.0 -
Is that who you’re with at the minute or are you contractor side ? Or where did you mention linesight. Heard good things about them, few friends working with them abroad and here. They’ve a lot of data centers and pharma projects coming up here and EU + further
Yeah I think to get a clean break away from the industry altogether you should look at springboard, courses mostly starting in September. Loads of pharma ones on there. I’d say then they’d definitely look at you on completion of the degree, next may/June.
Do that test though I mentioned, it’s interesting. Nothing worse than going on to do a pharma degree and find that once you’re in it you hate it. Seems to be a lot of processes and strict guidelines in it
I have studied personalities in the masters, to be honest I wouldn't jump into a pharma course unless a full year of researching and if I still felt it was it I would then look at it. Also the other side I have invested heavily in degrees with my own money, it would either be a springboard or sponsored option I will take if I do further education. I think a clean break is right option but with turbulence as currently in sometimes patience can be of benefit. have you even got talking to other industries or feed back?0 -
JasonStatham wrote: »You would actually build the application/website, as a software engineer.
Technical support, is for supporting said applications (one disadvantage though is being on call to fix problems in weekends/nights. You wouldn't have this as a softwAre engineer). Support is more troubleshooting apps, and dealing with customers depending on what Level you're on.
There are loads on introductory free courses on Youtube to learn website-coding languages like Python, Javascript and Java. I recommend you to try it. If you are interested, of course.
Sounds interesting with look into it, are you in the industry?0 -
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chickenskewer wrote: »Sounds interesting with look into it, are you in the industry?
Yeah, software testing, which is the least pressured of IT disciplines. But probably the most boring haha. It's less well payed than development.
Actually, if you have any project management experience, you could go the "Agile" route and try to become a Product owner or Scrum Master. You know, try to get up the food chain a bit, but managing a Development team wouldn't be for everyone. There's more man child's in the IT space.0 -
What not move into real estate?
It is an absolutely huge field and large real estate companies (e.g. Arup) employ every type of person.
I would think with your construction background you would be quite valuable, so you just need to add a qualification on top of it.
What do you want to do?0 -
JasonStatham wrote: »Yeah, software testing, which is the least pressured of IT disciplines. But probably the most boring haha.
Only if you're junior.
If you're senior it's very high pressure because you're the enemy if you delay the release because of quality problems, and you're the enemy if you allow the release and customers find the problems.
Also, when you begin to truly understand software testing you realise the way it's currently done is wrong. Sticking it near the end of the SDLC makes no sense as the role turns into a reporting role (as the problems have already been created) rather a preventative role which is what is should be.
I would advise you stay away from software testing unless you want to move into automated testing which is an entirely different zone (in a nutshell, you're a developer and you're generally left alone).0 -
What not move into real estate?
It is an absolutely huge field and large real estate companies (e.g. Arup) employ every type of person.
I would think with your construction background you would be quite valuable, so you just need to add a qualification on top of it.
What do you want to do?
Wouldn’t recommend it. It’s true that is QS’ do a lot some similar modules to undergrads in real estate / property investment degrees.
Know a few working for CBRE, JLL etc and While it’s very broad, you usually end up doing FM for office space / buildings , either that or estate agent /property appraisal .0 -
chickenskewer wrote: »Hi All,
I am currently exploring different career options away from construction but failing on what direction to take.
BSc Hons in Quantity Surveying
How do you know or go about understanding the skills that are transferable into another industry. For example I have applied for procurement jobs in Pharma as I have strong procurement and contractual background but failed to get responses.
I qualified as a QS too, same degree, Bolton Street i guess? But mostly worked in general management in construction , then the 2010 crash closed a lot of construction companies down. I went into Sales after that, and moved up the company structure managing construction related retail stores, got good experience on that over 10 years. Know quite a lot at this stage about renewable tech too. But I'm now being made redundant, so I need to decide what next. I'm also thinking about a pivot to software or Pharma. I'm in my mid 50s, so probably old for these careers perhaps.Everything is IT these days! Seems to pay savage well going by 95% of the people on boards.ie across various threads, especially if you go contracting / self employed.
There is a good website called datacamps.com which allows you to dabble in programming etc. I tried it and it wasn’t for me at all, very mundane.
Linkedin learning I believe also have insights into what various hot jobs would be like
Im going to sign up on Datacamp myself and try it over the weekend.JasonStatham wrote: »You would actually build the application/website, as a software engineer.
Technical support, is for supporting said applications (one disadvantage though is being on call to fix problems in weekends/nights. You wouldn't have this as a softwAre engineer). Support is more troubleshooting apps, and dealing with customers depending on what Level you're on.
There are loads on introductory free courses on Youtube to learn website-coding languages like Python, Javascript and Java. I recommend you to try it. If you are interested, of course.
What would be the best software area for a newbie like me to focus on in relation to programming? Id be happy with 50k, especially if it was possible to work remotely, or all these jobs based in Dublin?
I presume Skillnet is the way to go for training? For both software and Pharma?0 -
I know someone who made the break from IT into another field. By their admission it took quite a while, five years in total. They did engage with a coach and yeah it was lot of personality testing but once that was done formulated a plan on what was needed and he did it in stages. Personally not sold on Master's as necessarily the best route, IMO vocational certification is better where available. I'd also say convincing potential employers of your interest is a bigger deal, especially if you are starting out lower along the ladder.chickenskewer wrote: »I have studied personalities in the masters, to be honest I wouldn't jump into a pharma course unless a full year of researching and if I still felt it was it I would then look at it. Also the other side I have invested heavily in degrees with my own money, it would either be a springboard or sponsored option I will take if I do further education. I think a clean break is right option but with turbulence as currently in sometimes patience can be of benefit. have you even got talking to other industries or feed back?0 -
Hi I'm recently qualified in my trade and recently moved company for a higher wage instead of getting 47k I'm getting 58k I put down I had more experience to get the higher wage , I know my job so theres nothing I dont no how to do on the job .
Gave my reference and everything was grand .they just wanted to see I was quilted and I was a hard work on my last jobs .
I think alot of people do this but just dony say it , has a talk to Friends and siblings about it and they all said they lie a bit on cv .
Has anyone else lied a bit about there work experience to get better pay ?0 -
Wouldn’t recommend it. It’s true that is QS’ do a lot some similar modules to undergrads in real estate / property investment degrees.
Know a few working for CBRE, JLL etc and While it’s very broad, you usually end up doing FM for office space / buildings , either that or estate agent /property appraisal .
Real Estate is a totally different discipline to QS and you'd have to do a Real Estate MSc conversion course. It has nothing to do with estate agency or facilities management, it is more about commercial property, asset management, valuation, development and commercial agency which is far more challenging and much better pay than estate agency or FM.
Commercial Real Estate is far more varied than the QS role and arguably more enjoyable.0 -
Quadrivium wrote: »Real Estate is a totally different discipline to QS and you'd have to do a Real Estate MSc conversion course. It has nothing to do with estate agency or facilities management, it is more about commercial property, asset management, valuation, development and commercial agency which is far more challenging and much better pay than estate agency or FM.
Commercial Real Estate is far more varied than the QS role and arguably more enjoyable.
Yeah if we use Arup as an example, they find locations, design and build huge properties, do a lot of research and tech (e.g. they have large R&D team) as well as all the other support needed (graphic design, marketing, etc.)
I have worked with some of these sorts of companies on AI projects. In my experience it was like working with a major tech multinational.0 -
Hi I'm recently qualified in my trade and recently moved company for a higher wage instead of getting 47k I'm getting 58k I put down I had more experience to get the higher wage , I know my job so theres nothing I dont no how to do on the job .
Gave my reference and everything was grand .they just wanted to see I was quilted and I was a hard work on my last jobs .
I think alot of people do this but just dony say it , has a talk to Friends and siblings about it and they all said they lie a bit on cv .
Has anyone else lied a bit about there work experience to get better pay ?
Congratulations on your new job and a salary bump of 11k. Realistically the only way to get such a pay rise is to change companies. In all likelihood they would have budgeted a salary for the role. A CV and cover letter will get an interview. It’s up to the individual to impress to get the role. If there are slight fabrications, they could slip under the radar. But a good interviewer will discover a bulsh1tter. My best example was when I was interviewing people for a head of compliance role in an investment firm. The top ranked candidate based on CV was brought in. He was a barrister but started to unravel quite quickly. The clincher was when I asked about a qualification he said he had (some weird acronym), I asked what it was. He literally went pale. After 20 seconds silence he admitted that he didn’t know what it was but saw a load of people on LinkedIn had it so stuck it in. Immediately failed.
My point is, a CV will not clinch a higher salary. A competency based questions in an interview should determine what the candidate knows or doesn’t. Also, an experienced person will be able to tell the level of a candidate based on length of service.
Finally a CV should be tailored for the role being applied for. Any required competencies from the ad should be inserted into it (if you can). I’d be disappointed if someone didn’t blag a little, but nothing that can’t be real.0 -
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Do look at Springboard before it is too late - applications are bound to close shortly and some courses may have already stopped taking applications.0
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