Career Advice

[mmcg1]

Hi all

I'm looking for a bit of career advice as I simply don't know what to do with myself. Apologies if this is the wrong section.

I'm 27 and I've been working full time since I was 18. I spent 6 years working as a technician in an electronic production company and then three years ago I managed to get a position on the brewing team in a brewery. I only had homebrewing experience so this was quite the coup and very exciting for me. I initially was the head brewer's assistant but within a few months he was sacked and I assumed a sort of lead brewer role. I was the head brewer in all but name as the owner (who couldn't brew tea) wanted that title for himself.

After two years there I moved back to my home town and I'm now the assistant head brewer at a small brewery but to be frank my career is going nowhere.

I don't make a lot of money and half the job isn't particularly enjoyable. Scrubbing walls and hosing out drains etc. There also doesn't appear to be any future prospects due to the industry being so small. I don't want to have to move halfway across the country every time I want a pay rise. Which tops out at around 30k for brewers anyway.

One of my ideas is to move into IT. I don't have any experience or qualifications aside from using computers almost my whole life but I think with 6 months or so of studying I could get two or three entry level certifications under my belt which should be enough to make the move.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[mmcg1]

OP definitely needs to answer this question. It's great you've identified a passion for IT, but it's an enormous area.

I'd probably be looking at an entry level support job after getting the A+ and Network+. Once I was in the industry and gaining experience I'd then start to think about what I wanted to specialise in.

Don't do it, IT is an awful career.

Have you considered opening your own brewery, Micro Breweries are big business at the minute

If I had the money to invest, maybe. There's simply no money in it though. I'd be doing what I'm doing now but with ten times as much stress and probably similar levels of pay. It would be nice to work for myself though.

 

[mmcg1]

No point having the money if you aren't happy for most of your working life

Conversely, even doing something you enjoy can be soul destroying when the pay isn't great.

 

[mmcg1]

Because waking up every day hating the fact you will be spending most of it sat at a desk doing something you loath is not good for your mental health or your productivity!

Waking up every day to do something you enjoy that doesn't pay you enough and has limited long term prospects has the same effect. I think the trick is finding a balance.

This is exactly what I have done, found my current job a bit volitile, combined with the fact I work away a lot!
I want a career change into the IT side of things. Something i have always been interested In. I found a place offering a good deal and enrolled in the A+,network+,Security+,CEH. They even give you bits of work experience along the way, help with your CV etc. I am really interested in cyber security/pen testing side. So I am hoping to get through all my exams this year and see where it takes me.

Good luck. Feel free to send me a message if you want to chat A+ or anything.

I'm just doing self study at the moment. I'm thinking of just biting the bullet and booking my exams for 3 months time so I've got a target to aim for.

 

[mmcg1]

That’s what I’m hoping for, started at the start of January just a couple hours here and there when I’m sitting around offshore so another few weeks I hopefully should be ready for the 901 part!

Been lucky so far the first half of the 901 seems just pretty much common knowledge. (For me)

Then on to the 902 just looks as long.

Mmcg1
Have you thought about what IT sector that you want to head for? I think even entry level positions employers nowadays won’t even look at you unless you are at least A+ certified or similar. I had a job as a lab tech for 3 years working with computers but it was very basic and came with no actual qualifications, they were also not keen to give me any
(incase I just left)

I'm not sure at the moment. I think I'm going to get the A+ and Network+ done and then try to find a 1st line support job. From there I think I'd like to go down the network route, maybe CCNA or something similar but I'll wait and see what kind of job I get initially. I'm hoping to find a job that exposes me to a bunch of different things that I can eventually pick one to specialise in.

 

[mmcg1]

Thread update: last week I accepted a position as a .net developer.

 

[mmcg1]

I started off studying a bit of web development alongside my A+ but I quickly realised that I enjoyed development a hell of a lot more.

So I started spending all of my time on development through FreeCodeCamp and a Udemy course. I did most of the Udemy course and then decided I enjoyed programming more than I did websites so I started doing Harvard CS50 which is absolutely fantastic.

I'm most of the way through that and I really feel that it's given me a solid programming base as the first parts of the course have you doing some quite low level stuff in C.

The job is VB.net and MySQL development, both things I have no experience of but the employer knows this. I've got the next four weeks to cram as much of these languages into my brain as possible and I really can't wait to get started.

I've only been studying for five or so months now so I've gotten very, very lucky to get a job. Really hope I can hit the ground running as soon as I start and impress them.

 

[mmcg1]

Start my new job on Monday. Can't wait!