Go backwards to go forwards? Advice please?

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D5T

D5T

D5T

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Hi all, long time lurker here. I've seen plenty of people over the years benefit from this incredible communities collective wisdom so I've come to the alter so-to-speak.

I'm after some career advice from you good people if you'd be so kind?

Background: Worked in various "IT" circles for years, (stupidly) never undertaken studies/certs and career has bit-by-bit moved away from "I.T." and I'm now in a strategy/coaching/project type role. I have a decent salary (>£40k) and work for a big household name where I've been for 12 years. I started there really as a backward step to get a massive name on my C.V. and then kind of just got comfortable and took some safe options along the way. Prior ot that I was bsically a Sys Admin for a firm of about 100 people, 20 remote stafff and looked after it all; switches, LAN, Exchange, file & print servers, remote access, Citrix farm, backups etc etc so it was very varied an all encompassing. In hindsight my move for the big name on my CV was a bad decision I guess.

I don't see my current role being a longer term career move but I'm a little lost to be honest. I've moved further away from 'pure' IT and now feel even using IT is a massively watered down description frankly. I feel my role will eventually be made redundant as they (& I honestly) don't know what to do with it or want from it. I do KNOW that developing this role doesn't lead to any longer term career opportunities though. I am not unhappy where I am but I've realised how far I've drifted and want to take action to correct that course essentially.

I've got my moans about employers and empty promises but I should have undertaken my own studies and looked after myself. A younger more naive version of myself just couldn't see that though; like a fool.

I feel somewhat left behind by the I.T. world so feel that perhaps my best move would be to gain some certifications whilst I'm in the fortunate position of still having a decent job with decent income.

The question is what though?
Should I start right at the beginning and do my CompTIA A+ and work through say Network+ & Security+? Back in the day it was all about MCSE's then MCP's and I no longer know the equivalent certification paths? I don't know exactly what I want to do long-term but I'm certain I want it to be within IT. I do realise that in all likeliness I will need to a step backwards in terms of the role I land in order to get back into the line of work I'm referring to. It's avoidable I'm sure.

I'd really appreciate any advice you'd be good enough to throw my way.
Thanks in advance.
 
D5T said:
I don't know exactly what I want to do long-term but I'm certain I want it to be within IT.
Click to expand...

I think it'll be hard for any on here to give some good advice if you've not got at least a rough idea of what you want to do in IT.

Maybe it's better to work backwards, what in the field do you either a) hate with a passion, or b) completely lack the skills/experience in. I know some will say that's maybe playing it a bit too safe, but it's at least somewhere to start.
 
Thanks for the reply.
I do appreciate that not knowing an end target isn't helpful but as it stands I simply do not know. At this stage at least.
I was thinking that whatever route I end up taking eventually that doing the entry level exams of CompTIA A+ would still have been my right first step? I did always enjoy the network infrastructure of it all.

An area I've never been involved with is the security aspect - both AV and firewall etc. All those aspects were outsourced or undertaken by someone else that I was never involved with.

In terms of what I've enjoyed - bizarrely I was very good and mostly enjoyed supporting end users. I wouldn't want that to be the long-term goal at all but beyond that when I was SysAdmin I enjoyed being involved pretty much across the board whether it was file/print, email or whatever.
 
It's Digitalisation Manager - in essence the intention of the role and what I actually do are two different things. It's a decent job at a well respected firm (albeit I'm contracted there via a different company but 12 years in that's practically irrelevant) but the firm doesn't know what to do with the role really.

Essentially I work with certain retailers in the automotive sector. The intended role is to coach staff to use all the digital tools created for them, share best practice and generally bring an ageing industry forwards. For example stop writing stuff down on the back of an envelope and use iPads - just one basic example, A big part of it is personalisation of the individual customer journey. In reality staff in the automotive sector are very reluctant to change and even more reluctant to take half hour out of their day as they see that as losing 30 mins of possible selling time - they don't often see the bigger picture of that time changes their behaviour and increases efficiency etc.

The reality is often that none of the kit (which is their responsibility) is working so what I actually do is liaise with their relevant IT departments, often hand-holding them all the way, as well as literally fitting and removing kit (screens, PC's hidden in housing units, configuring iPads etc etc). I'm told that's not the intention of my role but if the kit is working they simply will not fix/configure it so it WILL sit and rot even though their are penalties in place. They often would rather pay the penalty fine than take the time to ensure everything is working accordingly. Frustrating is not the word.

In terms of hat I want to do, frustratingly I don't know; if I did I could literally throw myself at it. I think in terms of comfort it's when I'm doing all those bits I shouldn't strictly be doing that I enjoy the most. I've often looked at the retailers who are franchise based and have had a few conversations about joining one of the franchise Groups IT teams. So because of this I think that a job like an overall SysAdmin is the direction to go for. I like the idea of having multiple facets of work one any 1 day - could be setting up new PCs, building a server, re-cabling a comms cabinet, setting up managed print services. I've thought in the past about school's IT, small firms where I'd bascially be THE IT department myself that sort of thing.
 
You sound like you're on a much more strategic than hands on position at the moment. Would you consider something that was ACTUALLY doing digital strategies in an organisation that was really doing it? You could be a bit more hands on with the technology but still use the experience you have gathered to progress in your career. I would see sys admin as a step back not to step forward, as from there there isn't really a ladder forward while staying in the same space?
 
Although I speak from a lead sys admin point of view, I'd be trying to mix your experience to date as opposed to throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It sounds to me like your current role is something I'm seeing more of, not less of. Helping people leverage technology is more future proof and has potential for growth as opposed to more customer abstracted "coalface" work which - in my admittedly limited view- is at risk of being outsourced to an MSP or overseas at seemingly a moment's notice. Do you have direct supervisory or managerial responsibilities? If you have for even a couple of years you'll likely have very attractive transferable experience to other similar (potentially more hands on, context dependent) tech roles.
 
I see you're in Surrey too. Not near Kingston / Esher by any chance?. I'm in a little bit of a similar position although still closer to IT. I have gradually moved away from hands on technical work to co-ordinating others. I've become more senior but further and further away from the type of work I enjoy. I want to return to a more technical role for the following reasons:

1) I enjoy it more.
2) My current job is de-skilling me.

I think it's important to actually have a valuable skill. I try to ask myself this question: "If I were to be made redundant then what skills do I have which are worth money to others?" Does your current role give you valuable skills or experience which is valuable to others? Is there an internal job board where you could look to move to a role which uses your current experience but also interests you?
 
Thanks for all the replies, it's really helpful in making me ask the right questions of myself for my scenario.

@Hades I'm Surrey/Kent borders now though formerly was near Worcester Park/Sutton area.
Working for an automotive company head office limits my options because a lot of the jobs are very numbers/spreadsheet heavy and I couldn't think of anything worse frankly. Also, I moved there for an IT job and have zero interest in cars really so again lack of interest in those roles. I'm also limited due to being a contractor and therefore am a step down on the pecking order when it comes to recruitment; not that I agree with the policy but I guess I can understand that.

Roles for my parent company aren't suitable either as they themselves are based in Reading. They occasional job at one of their clients comes up but they're usually in Reading. I'm always hoping one in London will come up but no such luck yet.

I really relate to both your points actually. Id o worry that if I were to be made redundant how far off I've fallen, especially with zero qualifications - hence this thread!
 
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