Learning a new 'skill'

kakarott

kakarott

kakarott

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10 Jan 2021
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So I've been doing a glorified admin job which pays decent, I'm able to comfortably pay bills, have some savings end of the month. I don't have a mortgage or debt and job is really close to home so I've become very complacent. I've seen videos online about people doing courses and landing high paying remote jobs (Can argue some or most are scams but let's leave that aside).

You could say I've had an epiphany, can I learn some new skill and change career? Before my current job (nearly 9 years) I was temping as a 2nd line engineer which I loved but obviously wasn't secure so went for the perm admin job. I don't have actual qualifications but at the time I was able to do the job, mainly imaging PCs or decommissioning them. I built PCs here and there, helped troubleshooting for family and friends.

If I wanted go into an IT job again, where would I even start? Or I wanted to learn some skill which I can make a side hustle, what should I learn, web development or is AI taking this over? My friend is telling me to learn copilot agents, next big thing? Anyone else had similar experiences or thinking of a career change? I'm in my 40s so I guess not too late to learn right?
 
Here's my realistic opinion: If your last experience in tech was a second line support role 9 years ago, you'd like have to start at entry-level again. Things move quickly.

Not to say that you couldn't get into an entry-level role and then move onto something else quickly, but most employers would view a 9 year gap as something that can't be bridged in a small space of time.

I'm sure there are plenty of people that will tell you to learn xyz course and you'll be on 150k by next week. They are full of ****, quite frankly.
 
kakarott said:
If I wanted go into an IT job again, where would I even start? Or I wanted to learn some skill which I can make a side hustle, what should I learn, web development or is AI taking this over? My friend is telling me to learn copilot agents, next big thing? Anyone else had similar experiences or thinking of a career change? I'm in my 40s so I guess not too late to learn right?
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First, start taking a look at the job ads and what the marketplace is asking for.

Then, work out what you would actually enjoy doing.

Then, filter by what you could realistically learn to do in the time available.

I take it you prefer web development (i.e. coding) to web design (creative) work?
 
In my opinion, new skills within IT are really useful for contracting roles, which may help with side gigs but most places that can pay would want proof of experience.

We currently have a contractor that claims to be a SME in our field, I’m off work for till Wednesday and I won’t be surprised if they are gone when I come back. Who the **** does a change last thing on Friday within a global enterprise and mess it up!

Anyway; The real question is… what can you learn in the given time that will land you a contract, that a company is willing to pay you for rather than someone else? Or up skill one of their current staff before it becomes just another part in everyone’s job? Take web dev for example, we are all expected; with the tools that we have, to be able to produce pages/sites on our current projects.

The EUC trend seems to be dying down and now companies are looking for SREs, neither of which is something that could be side gig’d.
 
I would look at making yourself more valuable at your current place. Feels like you are treated ok and paid reasonably.

If the only thing making you look at other work is boredom - stay put.

If however there are risks / redundancies - or the feel of a foot on your neck - that is when to start looking.
 
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