Career change

Bunko · 15 Aug 2017 at 14:01

Quite a few threads like this recently but I'm finally fed up with working dead end jobs. I have never put any focus on my career and it shows. I have been in unskilled picking jobs since leaving school and I'm finally ready for a change. Although less money, a couple of weeks ago I applied for an IT tech support job (not heard anything back) to try and branch out but I feel my CV could be putting potential employers off with a lack of experience?

I'm 32 and feel a bit lost in regards of where to start with everything. I still don't have a career path in mind that I'd like to go down as I feel being too picky at this point of my life will just limit my choices further. Should I go back to college and learn something to gain a qualification before attempting anything? I feel if I don't make a change now another 10 years will have passed and I'll be exactly where I am today asking the same questions.

Ayahuasca · 16 Aug 2017 at 12:16

Whilst entry level tech support roles do seem to be filled by younger people than yourself you certainly won't be looked at as unemployable for those roles regardless of experience, many people in IT tech support started off with little to no understanding and I'd say definitely below the average knowledge a computer forum goer has.

It could be your CV, it may need tailoring a bit for a tech support role and showing some enthusiasm or general interest in the IT area could be all you need. It is never too late to retrain, you see people of all ages at uni, at college night classes and in private sector training, the only limiting factors (outside of obvious careers that require high levels of intelligence) is your willingness to succeed, how well you can deal with people and time if it's constrained by having young children to look after and even then some people can manage it after the kids go to bed.

datalol-jack · 16 Aug 2017 at 14:26

For a helpdesk job, which is a way into the industry, your ability to work weird hours, customer service skills and being able to pick up things under pressure will be key.

You will need to be good in a team, as well as learning from people with more experience, be they older or younger. Specific knowledge will come with time. Some things you can't even gain real experience in until you work in the industry: telcos; data centres; dev ops. Nobody knows everything, especially with regards to troubleshooting. A good company will have specific scripts for newbies to follow, standard troubleshooting approaches and a wiki/knowledge base which you can read outside work. Terrible companies will drop you at the deep end, push your head down and tell you not to drown and make money, but they are easy to dodge at the interview stage.

I would avoid apprenticeships which start out at half min wages and do not go beyond a year (ie no chance of a perm role). I would look for a basic job targeted at school leavers or specifically marketed as a trainee position (which unlike being an apprenticeship will often garner at least proper adult min wage), provided you can survive that sort of initially steep salary drop. It would not require a huge deal of knowledge to start, provided you like tech, can type quickly and know what standard equipment does and what often goes wrong with it, at least at a basic level. If you are willing and able to push yourself, overtime can somewhat compensate for low basic wages but be mindful of burnout down the road.

Once you have a techie job of some description, the route is pretty standard: CompTIA A+/Network+ (these can be done whilst looking for work in IT, and do not need college attendance) to get started (other NVQ L2/L3 equivalents can work too, but they are less specific); decide whether to specialise in Microsoft or Unix environments and pick a cert route on that tree; CCNA is advisable even if you ultimately don't end up as a networking bloke; specialise in what you like to do, be it storage, servers, cloud, networking and comms, dev support, and pursue that tree of certs as you gain experience and move up the lines of support. Making it to second line support in about six months to a year should be doable, hopefully moving on from the helpdesk. Be mindful though that in tech roles the more seniority you gain, the more there is a pressure to be on call out of hours; that is, if poo hits the fan, you will be getting a call from a frantic level 1 guy/your boss begging for help, and will have to 'fix it now'. The latter has ended more than one IT career, as in many cases it's too much of an ask on private life.

As for other things you can do, look at careers with a chartered status at the end of them, governing bodies of which can set their own exam standards and syllabus. Accounting is quite popular with people who are analytical, but for whatever reasons did not end up in engineering, sciences, IT or software development/lack qualifications. Could be done alongside work and via distance learning these days. Quieter than IT. This could be once again dull and not well paid to start, but does have a clear path and a destination to aim for. Oh, and it's easier to get flex hours/part-time positions in that stream, which could be helpful if you want a quick start whilst qualifying.

GinG · 21 Aug 2017 at 09:06

How are your A level grades?

I am in the process of changing career, from a £40k+ sales role to a trainee police officer starting on £19k!

Like you I wanted a career, although I am doing OK in the sales role I have really lost the motivation as it's the same job pretty much everyday...the police offers a varied job day to day with some fantastic opportunities as a career. Also a good pension to go with it!

If the police isn't recruiting look at a pcso role as a stepping stone.

Spud21 · 24 Aug 2017 at 14:35

Bunko said:
Quite a few threads like this recently but I'm finally fed up with working dead end jobs. I have never put any focus on my career and it shows. I have been in unskilled picking jobs since leaving school and I'm finally ready for a change. Although less money, a couple of weeks ago I applied for an IT tech support job (not heard anything back) to try and branch out but I feel my CV could be putting potential employers off with a lack of experience?

I'm 32 and feel a bit lost in regards of where to start with everything. I still don't have a career path in mind that I'd like to go down as I feel being too picky at this point of my life will just limit my choices further. Should I go back to college and learn something to gain a qualification before attempting anything? I feel if I don't make a change now another 10 years will have passed and I'll be exactly where I am today asking the same questions.

Where abouts are you based?

Don't be disheartened by not getting interviews, when I moved from being a Sous Chef into IT (at the age of 32) I sent out many, many CV's and largely got no response or flat out no's, but I managed to get a couple of interviews, and got the second job I interviewed for. Currently in an apps support role, but i'm actually taking a step back to 1st line with another company as it gives a large bump in pay, from my current company.