Confused about where to go next.. ironically.

DailyGeek

DailyGeek

DailyGeek

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Joined
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Morning all, please excuse the underlying 'woe is me' tone to this post :p

I currently work with the local Connexions service (supporting 13-19 year olds) where I've been for 4 years on 1st May 2011. I've spent much of that time working as a careers adviser but from September onwards, changed roles to working on supporting teens with other issues (drugs/homelessness/anger management - everything really).

As part of the current spending cuts, they are making about 20% of the staff redundant early May and I'm not really in a position to be hanging around to see if I get chopped or not (my sickness record isn't fantastic, albeit genuine).

Now here's my issue - I don't know what to do next. A bit of my background:

Left Grammar school after GCSEs and did an Advanced GNVQ in IT at college.

Ended up working in Comet as a PC/Grey Goods specialist for about 5.5 years, ended up getting a job in the local police force HQ as a researcher for seven months, as my first move out of retail.

Also volunteered with the Samaritans for just shy of three years, which is what got me the police job, and eventually, into Connexions.

Now I currently earn in the early 20k region, however I'm going to need to change fields, partly out of risk of redundancy and partly out of protecting my sanity. I'd like it to be something I have an interest in or will enjoy, ideally of course.

Now I'm not going to make any money out of comedy any time soon, but I love writing and would love to write for a gaming\tech site (I've had two interviews with future publishing in the past based on my writing, but always been beaten by someone with more journalism experience).

With my careers guidance background I should be able to figure this out :p but I always get hooked on comedy or writing and they aren't easy fields to find work in. They're more of an aspirational thing I guess.

I'd love to work in IT, and I've got a very good level of general hardware/software knowledge, but every job I've seen requires experience or several languages, or some clever looking certification, if I want a job that pays more than 12k.

So-I'm not sure what I'm asking for really, but any advice or suggestions about what the hell I could do might be a start... Feeling rather lost and ever so slightly frustrated at the moment

Cheers :)
 
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Yeah, I know O2 do a yearly apprenticeship scheme and starting is close to £18.5k moving up to closer £20k within 6 months...

That doesn't usually start till September/October though, but I wonder if other companies do similar courses with similar pay...
 
Halfmad said:
In before the "dont' work in IT it's rubbish crowd".

Even though they take home plenty of pay and read OCUK all day!
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I'm quite conflicted with working in IT as I understand the pitfalls and downsides. Unfortunately aside from talking/listening to people, making people laugh or writing, it's the only other thing I'm good at. I've ballsed up somewhere along the line :p
 
To be honest I think you're going to struggle finding a job in IT that pays 20k with your experience and qualifications. If you were serious about it, the certification route is probably your best bet, but even then finding work afterwards wouldn't be that easy.

If you're really interested in IT then training yourself in your spare time would be a good start, get experience with the sort of thing you want to work with, if you can afford to then try to get certificated in something relevant and once you're ready, start applying to jobs. I know that's painful, but you only need to succeed once.
 
chriscubed said:
To be honest I think you're going to struggle finding a job in IT that pays 20k with your experience and qualifications. If you were serious about it, the certification route is probably your best bet, but even then finding work afterwards wouldn't be that easy.

If you're really interested in IT then training yourself in your spare time would be a good start, get experience with the sort of thing you want to work with, if you can afford to then try to get certificated in something relevant and once you're ready, start applying to jobs. I know that's painful, but you only need to succeed once.
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I agree. I've looked into doing MS certs, Cisco certs, even stuff like CEH but there's very little chance of me getting work having done certs with no experience. I'm a bit screwed trying to find something before May :o

Not just looking at IT though, keeping all options open (except going back to retail!) so any ideas welcome :)
 
If you need an IT job with no certs etc just try and find a Helpdesk job, or a job in a school...? It'll be bottom line work, but it will get your experience up...Pay wise, it varys stupidly to be honest...

In my previous place I was on 16k then got put upto 18k, now in my new job in the school im on less than 12k!...So you know, depends where you go really...But finding one for above 18k at the low end or straight out will be quite hard I think...And i've been doing this since I left school and I find it hard enough to find a job in the damn sector.

Theres always jobs like you say in the Police force for IT as well, not directly with the police but in their grounds...

I'm stuck myself so cant help loads to be honest :(
 
remember when you read a job spec they will put EVERYTHING they can think of as a requirement,

I would apply for the jobs anway and just make sure you have a good CV...

obviously you CANNOT apply for a java developers role, however if it states they want a general IT person with some SQL windows server stuff just ignore the stuff you dont know about... spend a few hours reading up on it and maybe say.. " I have had some exposure to SQL but not had and direct support experience".... maybe even get the software and install it.. that way you can say (without telling a lie) "I have installed some SQL servers but not really done any DBA work"

unless you are stupid most of this stuff is very easy to pick up....
 
I figure some base knowledge of all the stuff i'd not touch on as a home user would be handy to have, but with so many candidates going for each job I wonder if it's a pointless exercise. Perhaps I should just focus on one area and get really proficient?
 
DailyGeek said:
I figure some base knowledge of all the stuff i'd not touch on as a home user would be handy to have, but with so many candidates going for each job I wonder if it's a pointless exercise. Perhaps I should just focus on one area and get really proficient?
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One 'area' of IT? Good luck with that really...If you want an IT job where you'll learn a fair amount in a short time, i'd consider some kind of decent helpdesk role, preferably for a smaller company as there would be more randomness to the calls, and theoretically dealing with stuff you wouldnt normally deal with.

It depends how much you know now though, hard to comprehend what you can apply for

Naturally its going to be hard due to the amount of people applying, but its one of those things at the moment
 
20k is doable for a first job doing 1st/2nd line work. My wife does it and got paid more than that with no prior experience or certifications.

Yes people hate 1st line roles, but if they are in the right company and treated the right way then you learn a little about a lot which gives you a good grounding to move on.

My recommendation would be to try and find a position in a team that doesn't just do 1st line all the time. My first job was in a desktop support team doing everything, 1st line, 2nd line, project work etc.
 
If you are looking at writing, Redmond Pie are looking for paid writers I think, might be worth having a look at as a starting point.
 
Ev0 said:
20k is doable for a first job doing 1st/2nd line work. My wife does it and got paid more than that with no prior experience or certifications.
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Heh I wish, never been able to get a job like that other than the one I had that was basically everything as there were only 3 of us...and that was 18k in the end...

And as ive said ive been doing this sort of thing practically since I left school bar a gap in the middle due to being made redundant :p
 
Hers it's a FTSE 100 co, 1st line team of 3 people but IT dept of 100 or so.

I won't mention that our helpdesk guys get over 20 to start with on their development plan, moving up to nigh on 30k once they come off it :p Time for this depends on what they've been given to do to become 'fully trained'.

Not saying it's easy my any means to get these jobs, but they do exist.
 
Ev0 said:
Hers it's a FTSE 100 co, 1st line team of 3 people but IT dept of 100 or so.

I won't mention that our helpdesk guys get over 20 to start with on their development plan, moving up to nigh on 30k once they come off it :p Time for this depends on what they've been given to do to become 'fully trained'.

Not saying it's easy my any means to get these jobs, but they do exist.
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:(

If it was near me I'd probably look at things like that...But I dont want a job where I have to drive 30 miles to get there

20k and I can live extremely comfortably
 
The commute isn't quite 30 miles, but then it's all we've known since leaving uni so it's not something that bothers us.

I'd rather travel a bit more for a better paid role than limit myself with distance, although 30 miles is a fair way. Some people I know won't go 5 miles from their house and really think that if you don't work in the town you live in you're mad.
 
Delvis said:
:(
If it was near me I'd probably look at things like that...But I dont want a job where I have to drive 30 miles to get there
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30 miles is not that bad a commute, unless you're planning on driving into London or some such...

I would think given the current economic climate that you'd have to accept some form of commute for a career change.

Oh and be aware that IT is often an easy target for cuts. Don't jump from the frying pan into the fire.
 
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