Almost 40 and desperately need help with new career..

keenan

keenan

keenan

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Joined
22 Sep 2009
Posts
1,374
Ok, I am pretty embarrassed to say this, but I am 38 years old and I have nothing to show for it. I have done manual work my entire life and I have made a good living from it, but I have now succumbed to arthritis in both shoulders and hips and I need to start thinking long term. Well, I should have started thinking long term a decade ago, but here we are..

Anyway, I am here now asking for advise on studies. More precisely what exactly I need to study to get myself into an IT role as soon as humanly possible.

I was thinking something in the direction of first line assistance or anything that will get me close to a starting salary of £25K annually.

Please, if anyone can give me some advise on where to start this new journey I would be forever grateful!
 
keenan said:
Ok, I am pretty embarrassed to say this, but I am 38 years old and I have nothing to show for it. I have done manual work my entire life and I have made a good living from it, but I have now succumbed to arthritis in both shoulders and hips and I need to start thinking long term. Well, I should have started thinking long term a decade ago, but here we are..

Anyway, I am here now asking for advise on studies. More precisely what exactly I need to study to get myself into an IT role as soon as humanly possible.

I was thinking something in the direction of first line assistance or anything that will get me close to a starting salary of £25K annually.

Please, if anyone can give me some advise on where to start this new journey I would be forever grateful!
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I'd definitely suggest completing both CompTIA A+ and ITIL v4 (New one only just replacing V3), will help you massively if you can afford to do them.

Any MCSA Content is generally good with it being a Microsoft Certification, service desks like this one as well as ITIL.
 
Diddums said:
Where are you? What can you do? What do you earn now? Never too old to find success, just needs a different approach ;)
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I live in Croydon. I've been building PC's all my life and dealt with whatever ups and downs goes with it. The problem is I have never know exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I currently earn around £25k/year, so I want to try and maintain my current lifestyle or improve it what I'm at it :)

Delta3D said:
I'd definitely suggest completing both CompTIA A+ and ITIL v4 (New one only just replacing V3), will help you massively if you can afford to do them.

Any MCSA Content is generally good with it being a Microsoft Certification, service desks like this one as well as ITIL.
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Thanks for the info, I will definitely look into this!
 
keenan said:
I live in Croydon. I've been building PC's all my life and dealt with whatever ups and downs goes with it. The problem is I have never know exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I currently earn around £25k/year, so I want to try and maintain my current lifestyle or improve it what I'm at it :)



Thanks for the info, I will definitely look into this!
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You any good with tools? Can you change a lamp? Unblock a toilet? You can get yourself a job as a building maintenance man for around £27k+ fairly easily. I can put you in touch with some agents if you want, but you must be prepared to travel to London and the first few months will be hard whilst you learn the ropes (unless you're already quite good at spannering).
 
Diddums said:
You any good with tools? Can you change a lamp? Unblock a toilet? You can get yourself a job as a building maintenance man for around £27k+ fairly easily. I can put you in touch with some agents if you want, but you must be prepared to travel to London and the first few months will be hard whilst you learn the ropes (unless you're already quite good at spannering).
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I am yes, growing up in SA my dad had his own appliance company, so I was earning spending money fixing household appliances from a young age. I have done everything from bin collecting, home renovations, plant room upkeep and even general maintenance on building sites.

I would appreciate any and all help, thank you!
 
keenan said:
I am yes, growing up in SA my dad had his own appliance company, so I was earning spending money fixing household appliances from a young age. I have done everything from bin collecting, home renovations, plant room upkeep and even general maintenance on building sites.

I would appreciate any and all help, thank you!
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Send me your CV, I'll have a look and put you in touch with some folks, I know some fairly well and the industry is screaming for staff at the moment. You'll have to edit it to really, really emphasize your history in handy stuff but you'll have a job in no time. I started at £25k 10 years ago and now earn double that, as long as you're willing and keen there are many morons' heads to stand on to get a leg up.
 
Croydon? Starting £25k?

Get an HGV license (I’m assuming you drive a car, with training you can drive a truck!) in your area, if your not clearing £30K+ P/A your doing something seriously wrong!

Do the I.T. as a weekend sideline.
 
Diddums said:
Send me your CV, I'll have a look and put you in touch with some folks, I know some fairly well and the industry is screaming for staff at the moment. You'll have to edit it to really, really emphasize your history in handy stuff but you'll have a job in no time. I started at £25k 10 years ago and now earn double that, as long as you're willing and keen there are many morons' heads to stand on to get a leg up.
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You are a good guy Diddums.
 
Get in a job in defence, get trained up, get the security clearance and the contacts. That is how people get paid loads of money working IT contracts.
 
Nasher said:
Get in a job in defence, get trained up, get the security clearance and the contacts. That is how people get paid loads of money working IT contracts.
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Public sector here. You can't get north of £30k without being a manager. You could be the bestest developer or security expert evah, you still aren't getting >£30k without going down the management route.

Not sure if that's all public sector but it's 100% true where I am (local council).

e: Meh you edited and your post now says "defence". OK, no idea then :p
 
FoxEye said:
Public sector here. You can't get north of £30k without being a manager. You could be the bestest developer or security expert evah, you still aren't getting >£30k without going down the management route.

Not sure if that's all public sector but it's 100% true where I am (local council).
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That's why people leave and go contracting after a few years. If you can get DV clearance (up to top secret) that is really what pulls the money in. But you'd need to work for the MOD or somewhere else that requires it to get it. You can be a total **** and still make loads of money just because you can go places others can't.
 
Diddums said:
Send me your CV, I'll have a look and put you in touch with some folks, I know some fairly well and the industry is screaming for staff at the moment. You'll have to edit it to really, really emphasize your history in handy stuff but you'll have a job in no time. I started at £25k 10 years ago and now earn double that, as long as you're willing and keen there are many morons' heads to stand on to get a leg up.
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I really appreciate all the help! I'll get busy with creating my CV tomorrow and forward it to you.

Thank you once again!
 
Nasher said:
That's why people leave and go contracting after a few years. If you can get DV clearance (up to top secret) that is really what pulls the money in. But you'd need to work for the MOD or somewhere else that requires it to get it. You can be a total **** and still make loads of money just because you can go places others can't.
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You're right there. I worked with some who could hardly do their job years ago but we interviewed them because they had the clearance. Likewise, I've worked with many who only got the role because they had clearance.
The gravy train has dried up these days as far as I know. SC cleared roles are not so common at the moment and people avoid them as most are inside IR35 now. Imagine working in London and having to rent accommodation but not being able to offset it against tax. Many contracts are 2 to 3 times what the permanent salary would be which sounds good but it soon disappears working away so not being able to claim expenses is a huge negative if working away, as is having to work under PAYE.
I'm kind of semi-retired now but decided to help out on a government contract fairly close to home. Inside IR35 and even forced to take 8 weeks unpaid holiday a year - something they never told me about before agreeing to work with them. 80 miles round trip and not able to claim any expenses (offset against tax). Rate is okay but as an overall package - it's a pay cut compared to contracts I worked years ago. if it was further away I'd have told them to stick it by now. Working with the civil service can be rather frustrating too.
IR35 new rules is ruining contracting basically.

On topic, OP, look around for any trainee roles. It's fairly normal these days for people to seek a career change. Also, accept a pay cut from current role if it's a decent opportunity. A company I worked with a while ago took local staff on as Junior Testers who had no experience and one was in his 40's. Was an office worker but only doing local council work.
 
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Nasher said:
That's why people leave and go contracting after a few years. If you can get DV clearance (up to top secret) that is really what pulls the money in. But you'd need to work for the MOD or somewhere else that requires it to get it. You can be a total **** and still make loads of money just because you can go places others can't.
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But jobs shouldn’t be based on it, like if you need it then you go through the process to get it. It shouldn’t be a reason to hire someone.
 
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