Career change guidance?

[zulu_fella]

Hi,

I am 22 years old and have qualifications in Horticulture and usage of gardening machinery.

I currently work as a full time greenkeeper on a 250 acre golf course for national minimum wage and was originally pursuing a career leading towards being a head greenkeeper, until recently when I started having anxiety attacks with regards to feeling I was in the wrong job.

My main hobbies evolve around PC gaming (over 40+ hours per week) and building computers (as an enthusiast). I am currently building my first ever watercooled pc, which includes a dual loop with some very expensive parts totaling over 5k. Im very passionate about this sort of thing and my dream would be to work as a master pc builder for a large or small company. I have met and spoken to Ian (8Pack) at a few insomnia gaming events and seeing the work him and his team creates drives me into doing my own things using my own life savings.

I am currently trying to look for the necessary steps in order to get closer to achieving my goal, but unsure about where to start as I have no qualifications in IT, and lack additional knowledge other than building pc's and other basic self taught tasks I learnt from the internet. As this is something im passionate about I am willing to learn the essentials.

I plan on making a portfolio on my current build project to show my understanding and research into what im doing. Hopefully this is the first crucial step in the right direction and proves my worth.

Is there any professional guidance out there that can assist me in my quest of this drastic change of career?

 

[blairw]

Going to be honest with you here - there is very little in the way of work in this area. PC building to specific spec's is very very niche and forging a career from it is unlikely. Really not trying to sound harsh just realistic! Even fixing pc's etc as a small business is hard to sustain and is only going to get harder as people move away from traditional desktop PC's

 

[lurkio]

In my experience, 5 years of running my own PC repair/sales business the market is shrinking

A lot of stuff is cost ineffective to repair , so available service work is shrinking

The question to ask yourself is how many people would pay me to build
them a custom super fast PC ? the answer I suspect is not many.

I still run my business , but on a part time basis I work full time for another company

 

[Beerbaron]

Even working in 1st/2nd line there is little hardware building done as most are prebuilt PCs. Digging around in other peoples dusty and dirty PCs isn't really that fun.

 

[Devrij]

Your best bet if you're really set on this path is to contact a system builder business and try to get your foot in the door there. As said though, there are plenty of people who want to do this and not much in the way of demand.

I might consider what your marketable skills are (gardening and horticultural experience, an aptitude for technology which helps reduce training time frames in many roles, and anything else you have) and think about where that gets you.

Most importantly, get out there and get proactive. Contact businesses you want to work for, get a good CV together that is relevant to the employers you want to target, and ring up employment agencies and sell yourself to them. Realistically you need to build experience in the field you want to enter, because right now you are in the same position as a lot of people and need to set yourself apart.

 

[mid_gen]

From a purely economic point of view, spending 5k on custom builds when you're earning minimum wage is not a smart way to go about it. Lots of people out there are blowing crazy money on amazing custom builds and they have the income to support it.

Personally in your situation I would be doing the opposite to make yourself stand out from the crowd. Try and make the most impressive builds you can from as little outlay as possible....DIY the hell out of it, spend the money on tools and make things from scratch.

 

[Quartz]

Doesn't commercial horticulture and agriculture float on computers? Climate control systems, drip feed controllers, etc, etc?

And you'll earn far more gardening for old ladies that you will as a greenkeeper.