mechanical engineer/fitter wanting to get into the IT world

beasty6

beasty6

beasty6

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hello all,

I have been thinking for about a year now about a career change, I'm currently a mechanical engineer/fitter for a large motorized drum/roller manufacturer, we have a office department that i could move into, BUT I'm not sure if its a good move, however it does get me into using a PC as a job, but its a customer service/sales role.

a few details about myself, I'm 27years old, have two young children and I'm the main income to the household, so cant afford to take a pay cut.
education wise.. well.. i never took school or GCSE's seriously which i really regret, so I'm thinking some online or evening courses to sort this first?
so which part of IT am i looking at working towards? well, again I'm not sure, i like the idea of being a technician, hardware side of thing also, even working with CAD and app development etc.

i don't have any family or friends in the IT industry to go to for advice, or tips, what would you guys suggest i do?

maybe this way, evening lessons/courses to improve basic qualifications, move to office at current employer for experience and onto a PC, then go from there?

any guidance/help advice is much appreciated, 10years is now time for a change
cheers all :)
 
I’m afraid without any qualifications or experience in IT or any people you know in IT it’s a very hard place to get into unless you have things of above.

From your point of view tell us what your strong points are within IT and what are your weak points. Might give a clear indication of the right field and how to move forward a bit better.
 
Do you not have computer-controlled tools in your workshops? Cutting machines and whatnot? CAD / CAM? How about learning to program them? IT support people are now very low paid without some sort of specialism.

Without GCSEs in English and Mathematics you will find a lot of doors closed. Given the language you display here I think the former will be a doddle for you.
 
so strong points, like pretty much everyone on the forum, hardware, i know my way around the internal side of things easily, BIOS navigation, the easy windows clear and reload.

weak points are pretty much everything else, but nothing im not willing to do courses and educate myself.
we do have a CAD project department at my current employer that i could potentially move into also.
 
nope unfortunately not, just the old traditional lathe, pillar drills and good old oxyacetylene.

the sorter/conveyor systems are run my software, which is all sorted by the project department that use CAD drawing
 
beasty6 said:
so strong points, like pretty much everyone on the forum, hardware, i know my way around the internal side of things easily, BIOS navigation, the easy windows clear and reload.

weak points are pretty much everything else, but nothing im not willing to do courses and educate myself.
we do have a CAD project department at my current employer that i could potentially move into also.
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In that case a tier 2 technician might suit you. Repairs of desktops, deploy hardware, change passwords possibly.

You could start at tier 1 but that might be a little boring for you. This is a help desk role usually which involves telephone work, logging tickets and doing remote support.


Tier 3 is more like looking after servers, hardware setting up more advanced things like servers and networking stacks.

Tier 4/5 is more like team leaders/managers usually.

This is what I’ve been used to in the IT world. Then you got extra functions like security, data analysis and software sometimes depends how bit the company is.

Which area would you fancy ?
 
Bouton Aide said:
In that case a tier 2 technician might suit you. Repairs of desktops, deploy hardware, change passwords possibly.

You could start at tier 1 but that might be a little boring for you. This is a help desk role usually which involves telephone work, logging tickets and doing remote support.


Tier 3 is more like looking after servers, hardware setting up more advanced things like servers and networking stacks.

Tier 4/5 is more like team leaders/managers usually.

This is what I’ve been used to in the IT world. Then you got extra functions like security, data analysis and software sometimes depends how bit the company is.

Which area would you fancy ?
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the tier 2 sounds fantastic to start, then tier 3 is something thats interesting also.

so how would you advise i move into this type of work?
im assuming the online/evening courses are a must before i try to move into this type of work.
 
Quartz said:
IT support people are now very low paid without some sort of specialism.
Click to expand...

Even as a specialty they're starting to die off. I work for a big software/hardware vendor, and we've pretty much got plans to get rid of our L1 and L2 support in the next few years by adding AI into the product. That way the AI can do all the basic troubleshooting, or arrange for hardware replacements automatically without the need of a low level support person.

CAD would be a great field to move into if you have the opportunity to do so.
 
beasty6 said:
the tier 2 sounds fantastic to start, then tier 3 is something thats interesting also.

so how would you advise i move into this type of work?
im assuming the online/evening courses are a must before i try to move into this type of work.
Click to expand...


Wouldn’t bother with online courses. I’m going to be honest with you usually to get foot in door in any IT place you just have to show that you can do a roll.

For example you might get asked some questions about hardware or even strip a pc down and put it back together. Usually in this field you have to demonstrate you can do the tasks like fault finding and stuff. Qualifications usually come later depends how long you been at a place. (This may change from company to company though usually no two companies are the same).

I think customer service goes a long way in this field. Be nice to customers or others needing help.
 
Semple said:
Even as a specialty they're starting to die off. I work for a big software/hardware vendor, and we've pretty much got plans to get rid of our L1 and L2 support in the next few years by adding AI into the product. That way the AI can do all the basic troubleshooting, or arrange for hardware replacements automatically without the need of a low level support person.

CAD would be a great field to move into if you have the opportunity to do so.
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im sure i could move into this department, will have a word on Monday

Bouton Aide said:
Wouldn’t bother with online courses. I’m going to be honest with you usually to get foot in door in any IT place you just have to show that you can do a roll.

For example you might get asked some questions about hardware or even strip a pc down and put it back together. Usually in this field you have to demonstrate you can do the tasks like fault finding and stuff. Qualifications usually come later depends how long you been at a place. (This may change from company to company though usually no two companies are the same).

I think customer service goes a long way in this field. Be nice to customers or others needing help.
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whats the normal salary of a tier2/3 tech? i earn £25k a year, CAD in projects at my current place is looking like my easiest step in the door, then could possibly move on from there with some experience with CAD etc
 
I would recommend against a technical career in IT as you have to reinvent yourself far too often. Rather, I would look for a career which involves IT.
 
beasty6 said:
east midlands for me
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West Midlands/South Cheshire is around £18-22k for a first line support role, second line you’re looking at £25-30k, to get much beyond that you’ll need to start specialising, Cisco CCNP level network guys are looking at up to around £55k here, likewise cyber security specialists are similar salaries. If you want to get much higher than that then you are looking at team leadership or management.

I’ve recently taken on a first/second line guy at £22k, and a third line guy at £40k.
 
Bouton Aide said:
I have to agree with this as well. Being in IT is painful.
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You only have to reinvent yourself if you don’t stay current/relevant, and allow yourself to become stale in a rigid environment. I’ve only ever changed tack twice, once because I focussed on moving towards Cisco specialism, and now again as a move into management.
 
Thinking about my path in the IT industry I’d never really thought about how I’d changed my focus area in my early roles, just seemed to naturally flow rather than actively having to ‘reinvent’ myself, but there definitely is a change there.
 
Semple said:
I work for a big software/hardware vendor, and we've pretty much got plans to get rid of our L1 and L2 support in the next few years by adding AI into the product.
Click to expand...
Curious about this. What do you mean? Can you give any more detail about this?

I'm guessing that for many places in-house L1 is mostly dealing with Windows/account/various 3rd-party app "issues", and user "how do I?"s. I.e. supporting your own staff with their IT issues.

I guess in your case "L1" is referring to the support you offer your external customers having issues with your product(s)?

I'd be genuinely impressed if somebody managed to get AI to fix various Windows and 3rd-party app issues on a daily basis :p
 
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