Need urgent advice

flibbage0 · 6 Aug 2019 at 16:24

So I've applied for an IT support position and I've got the job offer, it's around 17-18k.

I'm starting to have second thoughts, I'm almost on triple that at the moment in a healthcare profession, live at home, low outgoings.

Is the career pathway for IT still good? I'm starting to hear it's saturated, is this right?

Ultimately I would like to get into cyber security or pre sales. Would this position be the right starting point and more importantly how long would it roughly take to get to that sort of position?

Got to make this decision quickly

Maccy · 6 Aug 2019 at 16:46

I couldn't go from being on over £50k to that, regardless of my outgoings. It'll be slow progression to get back up to what you're currently on.

Martynt74 · 6 Aug 2019 at 16:59

Yeah i'm not sure i'd want to do that either but ultimately it's your choice and here must be a reason you applied for it.

Similarly, i assume you've built up a decent savings pot if you're been taking home £3k whilst living at home. I presume that could supplement the low salary.

As for how long to build back up, it depends on the career opportunities at the place you've applied. For everyone who quickly moves around there's probably 5 who get stuck in IT support for a long time.

Liquid_Entity · 6 Aug 2019 at 17:01

Where is this (location) as where we are our 1st line roles go for over £23k at least. Why would you cut your salary by that much to start all over again. Would take you a long while to get to that salary again.

flibbage0 · 6 Aug 2019 at 17:17

Liquid_Entity said:
Where is this (location) as where we are our 1st line roles go for over £23k at least. Why would you cut your salary by that much to start all over again. Would take you a long while to get to that salary again.

Kent

Maccapacca · 6 Aug 2019 at 17:22

Would you even get back to that salary in that field without a significant amount of skills or responsibility?

Josh · 6 Aug 2019 at 17:27

That's quite a drop OP but good luck - it took me 5 years and some luck to go from £21-£50k doing a career change into IT with no previous experience apart from building my own gaming pc.

PiKe · 6 Aug 2019 at 17:27

I work in IT but without any real qualifications and I earn about that, you'd be very silly to cut your wage by 1/3, are you not saving towards a house or anything like that?

If you're serious about getting into the industry, then start towards getting the relavent qualifications first because the pay if terrible if you dont.

sgavan · 6 Aug 2019 at 17:33

Is this a career change from health care to IT as that's different as if you want to start in IT might be the best option. If not I changed recently from one IT job to another and accepted it but wasn't really sure and regretted it, luckily I got the chance to go back to my old job but look back on it a s a learning exercise. So IT to IT you have to think is the job better, it's not always about the money

Josh · 6 Aug 2019 at 17:40

sgavan said:
So IT to It ou have to thing is the job better, it's not always about the money

Quoted for truth!

bakes0310 · 6 Aug 2019 at 18:06

If your not happy in your old job cause of the career path don't interest you, then I say jump, but only if your unhappy.

Trifid · 6 Aug 2019 at 18:41

I would think long and hard about if the grass is greener. There are a lot of unhappy people in the IT field.

malachi · 6 Aug 2019 at 18:59

Trifid said:
I would think long and hard about if the grass is greener. There are a lot of unhappy people in the IT field.

Same can be said for any job but they need to have a clear direction of what they want to go in a career change.

peterwalkley · 6 Aug 2019 at 19:17

That is a stupidly large drop in income, is it really going to be a liveable wage in the South East even if you are still living with parents. Don't they want shot of you at all ?

Better to keep the current job and invest some of the extra money you are currently earning into training in the skills for the sort of IT role you want. Support is the bottom of the rung and you can easily be outsourced to India, Philippines etc. Learn some more and join part-way up the ladder.

Drumroll · 6 Aug 2019 at 19:35

I would follow the advice to get some qualifications while doing the actual job, them try to start at some mid level. Small jobs meanwhile so you can get experience. But the drop of income for me would be a no-no. I could do one step back to allow me to do few forward, but reducing your income that much would put you a lot of stress, even if you don't believe that now, but after few months, or even few years, unless you're 100% sure, I would stay put and try qualifications and some experience before jumping.

Trifid · 6 Aug 2019 at 20:11

malachi said:
Same can be said for any job but they need to have a clear direction of what they want to go in a career change.

Indeed. But at 3x the pay, it may make the current grass greener then the new one.

flibbage0 · 6 Aug 2019 at 22:23

Thank you all for your responses, really grateful for the input.

I think I've made my mind up and I know what to do now

silk186 · 6 Aug 2019 at 22:33

I planning to change my career path soon but I would not take a big pay cut. Focus on getting some accreditations and emphasise transferable skills.

HangTime · 7 Aug 2019 at 00:31

No chance I'd go for that. You could ultimately earn more in IT but it would probably take you 5 years or more to get there during which time you'll have probably cost yourself over £100k in lost earnings compared to current role. And then it will take you longer to catch up again due to the tax equation i.e. once you've overtaken your healthcare salary you'll be forking out 40% tax on all the extra earnings.

A2Z · 7 Aug 2019 at 00:39

You are crazy if you drop from ~£50k to £17k.

Not only that but that's a very low starting wage for IT. I started on £18k fresh out of uni and my first ever full time job which was IT support, 10 years ago now.

Need urgent advice

Tea Drinker