Is 42 too old for a career change into IT?

IntoTheVoid

IntoTheVoid

IntoTheVoid

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As topic title, I am 42 years old and have a reasonably well paid job at the moment (£30k gross per annum). Although secure (Government) I am bored and want to work in IT, preferably in Networking or Web Design (Database design etc). Am I too old and if not what would be a good starting point re: Courses. I already have an HNC in Graphic Communication.

I am pretty adept with computers and enthusiastic about them and want a career doing what interests me.
 
Eisenhorn said:
As topic title, I am 42 years old and have a reasonably well paid job at the moment (£30k gross per annum). Although secure (Government) I am bored and want to work in IT, preferably in Networking or Web Design (Database design etc). Am I too old and if not what would be a good starting point re: Courses. I already have an HNC in Graphic Communication.

I am pretty adept with computers and enthusiastic about them and want a career doing what interests me.
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I cant comment on the age thing as im only 25 :) I also work for the government and am totally bored. My agency is so ineffecient and way to P.C.

So I would do it, cant you traing at college / local uni while still being employed by the gov? I know my place will let you go 3 - 4 days week easily.
 
No chance of me being released for training unless it is directly related to my job!!!

Local College only seem to offer either day release (out of the question) HNC/D courses or fulltime. Therefore I am limited to distance learning.
 
Hmmm tricky. I went for the change @ 30 and haven't looked back but it was about 4 years before I cracked the 30k barrier.
There again I had (& still dont) no ties, morgage, kids etc etc so could live with the reduced income in the early days.
 
I personally would say yes, it probably is a little too late. Especially if you want a good salary as i'd say a lot of experience gets you a decent salary in IT. You could change but expect a pretty big pay cut as you'd be just starting out.

I think most people find their job boring, i've worked in IT for 13 years and i'm very bored.
 
Oxy said:
I also work for the government and am totally bored. My agency is so ineffecient and way to P.C.
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Not to hijack or derail this thread but I work for the government in IT and its just a joke, say one thing do the other, money just disappearing to be thrown away at something else. Not sure Id work in the public sector again.
 
I would never say never or even don't do it, but you've got to do it for the right reasons.

I would say the web design market is saturated. It's a tough market and there are some atrocious websites out there that people have paid for. It makes me weep. Realistically it's too easy to design a bad site, even one that is database driven. Cheap hosting and template packages can have anyone throw a web site together in minutes. You'll have to have the edge. For the 30k mark, I would expect decent resilient design, web logging and trend analysis, full disabled accessibility and web compliance, database creation and maintenance, modest knowledge hardware/hosting provider selection and a knowledge or a variety of coding tools. PHP, JavaScript, C#, VB.net etc.

Networking is a tough market too. At the lower levels, plugging PC's into a hub and clicking a few things on a server to manage accounts isn't difficult. It's all the background infrastructure, resilience, logging and preventing downtime which you'd need to start learning about. Different cabling, connecting various offices together, backbone Internet line, backup, remote working etc.

The adverts on the TV don't help either suggesting that you could earn shed loads in IT. Some people do, some don't.

I am a web programmer / system developer. I'm 28.

Follow your dream though... I hope the above helps a bit.
 
If you can financially afford to take a pay cut and really want a change then do it. But if I was going to take a pay cut and do a interesting job then IT wouldn't be at the top of my list.

You wont get anything like £30k without at least 5 years experience and a bit of luck.
 
I've got me a degree in Business IT at Bournemouth Uni. But I also have built up lots of work experience in the public and private sectors. Everything helps.

I think your best best is to have a look at job adverts in your chosen field and see what they want. No harm in also having a one to one with a recruitment agency. The non-high street ones seem to offer a more personal service.
 
Eisenhorn said:
Not concerned about the paycut initially, but what would be a good entry point? i.e. would it be better to do an HND/Degree or get some certs?
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Professional qualifications will bode better. Some of the following may be worth investigating further:
  • Network Plus
  • A Plus
  • MCSA (Microsoft)
  • MCSE (Microsoft)
  • CNNA (ciso)
  • CCA (Citrix)
The Network plus and A plus certifications will count as a module for MCSA and MCSE.

You WILL need experience to backup these qualifications and would certainly want to be working in IT whilst training. The real world is very different to the way one is taught by professional certifications.

Although your job is boring the IT market can be quite volatile and not neccessarily safe. I'd strongly consider such a decision myself and as an IT engineer don't plan on staying in IT long term (if I can help it :D).
 
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Some interesting words here.
I've been in the motor trade for 15 yearsand pretty fed up with the low pay for the responsibility.
I am currently doing A+ evening course, hoping to pass! I am considering a move to IT, as well as doing the course for my own interest. It's definately a good starter course.
 
What about moving into IT within a Goverment department? That way you can keep all the nice civil servant perks and do something you enjoy.

Age should never be a barrier in anything you do in life, many employers would see you as a good bet for long service. Younger people are more likely to move jobs more often.
 
Tbh 30k is excellent, been working as a techy myself past 5 years and still aint hit the 20k barrier!

But im in the area of repair/support for Pcs, if your heading for networking/websites then u should be able to get 25-30k, but its still a hard field to get into.

Would be lovely to get 30k myself at least then your going to work and actually getting something you can put towards, 12-18k just pays for up keep especially if your in london area ;) Sounds funny but weigh the options up cos 30k jobs aint so easy now adays imo.
 
Age should definatly not be a barrier. To hit 30K in IT now with no qualifications and very little experience would be very hard. To be paid 30k your most likely to be manager of networks or a team atleast of somesort. (I am in the Northeast UK Durham area, so would depend where your located and what the standards of living is in your area).
 
i had to take a 50% pay cut (30k <---> 15k) when i moved to IT 3 years ago as i had very little experience and only a network plus certification.
But now 3 years later i am getting already close to what i used to earn and i believe it's down to the individual and how hard you are prepared to work for it.
I was lucky to land a job for a network security company which provides/pays for all the training so i don't need to pay a penny for all the certification.

You have to make sure you pick the right area and you won't be bored....
 
At 42 i'd be loathe to jump into a new career... especially one as initially low-paid and as competitive as IT. Explore avenues within the government where you already work first... otherwise you'll be losing a lot of security, redundancy build-up etc etc.

Also bear in mind the economy is currently in a bit of a stick, so now isn't the best time to go crazy with changing jobs imo, especially as yo'll be on a contract/probation for at least the first couple of months... meaning that if they decide you're surplus to requirements then they can just ditch you, leaving you up **** creek without a paddle.

I'd be giving it some serious thought before making any decisions... IT support is also a tedious and mind-numbing job with little thanks, and idf you want to earn good money you either have to land a job with a blue-chip company (unlikely with no experience), or start at the gutter end and work your way up... which at your age I wouldn't want to be doing, it would feel like a step down on every level.
 
J.B said:
Not to hijack or derail this thread but I work for the government in IT and its just a joke, say one thing do the other, money just disappearing to be thrown away at something else. Not sure Id work in the public sector again.
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Ditto. Also, the number of insanely expensive consultants/contractors used whilst able bodied and skilled employees can do the job for a vastly reduced price is incredible. I was much less bored although frustrated sometimes at my previous haulage company operator job. In some ways I wouldn't mind doing it again even given the constant swap in shifts.

But... at the same time, gov allows you two things 1) Full training with no previous experience of IT if you give enough examples of life skills and previous other career experience 2) Ability to swap to another department whilst maintaining the your pension etc.

Never too old :)

Matthew
 
Richdog said:
At 42 i'd be loathe to jump into a new career... especially one as initially low-paid and as competitive as IT. Explore avenues within the government where you already work first... otherwise you'll be losing a lot of security, redundancy build-up etc etc.

Also bear in mind the economy is currently in a bit of a stick, so now isn't the best time to go crazy with changing jobs imo, especially as yo'll be on a contract/probation for at least the first couple of months... meaning that if they decide you're surplus to requirements then they can just ditch you, leaving you up **** creek without a paddle.

I'd be giving it some serious thought before making any decisions... IT support is also a tedious and mind-numbing job with little thanks, and idf you want to earn good money you either have to land a job with a blue-chip company (unlikely with no experience), or start at the gutter end and work your way up... which at your age I wouldn't want to be doing, it would feel like a step down on every level.
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Ditto to that...

Id consider it cos all jobs can I guess get tad boring, but at your salary its still lovely, if money if no objection and you already got a large sum for that retirement in place then guess one could change very easily.

Personaly life is too short am seeing way too many blokes in there 50s-60s getting health problems and then not making it to there 70s even, if your current job aint stressful, just letting u know certain areas in I.T can be stressful ;)
 
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