I’ve been mulling over the idea of leaving my current industry and getting into something a bit more stable now that I have a child and one more on the way and I’m turning 40. Currently I’m doing fine as a self-employed person but unless I keep increasing my rates (which is only feasible a bit more before I price myself out of my market) I’ve kind of hit a ceiling income wise, have no benefits and no pension.
IT seems to be an industry where you can learn a lot part time (at least in terms of coursework) and then jump into an entry level position fairly quickly and if you are competent and keep educating yourself within 5 years can be doing reasonably well. Also something I don’t need to go back to post secondary education for until I have been in the field for a bit of time (if at all).
Currently I’m going through the A+ course work and from what I’ve been reading and been told with that and Network+ you can enter into the field and start getting some experience as a help desk person and go from there. My plan would be to spend about a year or three doing course work and then get into the field once my kids are in kindergarten full time and go from there. I guess my main question is that if it is feasible to do so, and what would be the best path towards having a decent job/salary in 5-10 years? Or am I completely crazy for thinking about doing this later in life?
It rather depends on your definition of “IT”. Help desk work is rather different than, say, database administration or (gasp!) writing software.
Having just gone through the job search process at age 55, I can tell you that it gets more difficult in the software field as you get older. I came across at least one instance that would have been liable for age discrimination.
Not completely crazy. I spent better part of 22 years in the Marine Corps as an electronics maintenance officer. I didn’t start focusing on IT (security specifically) until my last two years. I worked in any capacity I could my last two years of service and got my Security+. I found a decent job immediately, though it helps that I live in high tech area, which has a high demand for IT security folks. A question you need to answer for yourself, are you willing to relocate?
It rather depends on your definition of “IT”. Help desk work is rather different than, say, database administration or (gasp!) writing software.
Having just gone through the job search process at age 55, I can tell you that it gets more difficult in the software field as you get older. I came across at least one instance that would have been liable for age discrimination.
This is what I’m hearing, but some recruiters specifically have told me that because of my work experience and that I’m only 40, not over 50 (no offense) it might actually be a good thing. I have a ton of customer and management experience.
And I’ve also been told it is a good idea to get into security specifically due to that being a growing field, but you need a good year or two because it isn’t something you can just jump into right away.
It rather depends on your definition of “IT”. Help desk work is rather different than, say, database administration or (gasp!) writing software.
Having just gone through the job search process at age 55, I can tell you that it gets more difficult in the software field as you get older. I came across at least one instance that would have been liable for age discrimination.
This is what I’m hearing, but some recruiters specifically have told me that because of my work experience and that I’m only 40, not over 50 (no offense) it might actually be a good thing. I have a ton of customer and management experience.
And I’ve also been told it is a good idea to get into security specifically due to that being a growing field, but you need a good year or two because it isn’t something you can just jump into right away.
No offense taken. It is interesting that we just went to an orientation put on by the CS department at Stevens Institute for my high school age daughter. They have two sections: Computer Science and Cybersecurity (one of the professors in the latter happens to be my Chief Security Officer where I work).
There comes a point where that ton (and I now have 34 years in software development) of experience gets you labeled, unfortunately. Good luck in any case.
I’ve been mulling over the idea of leaving my current industry and getting into something a bit more stable now that I have a child and one more on the way and I’m turning 40. Currently I’m doing fine as a self-employed person but unless I keep increasing my rates (which is only feasible a bit more before I price myself out of my market) I’ve kind of hit a ceiling income wise, have no benefits and no pension.
IT seems to be an industry where you can learn a lot part time (at least in terms of coursework) and then jump into an entry level position fairly quickly and if you are competent and keep educating yourself within 5 years can be doing reasonably well. Also something I don’t need to go back to post secondary education for until I have been in the field for a bit of time (if at all).
Currently I’m going through the A+ course work and from what I’ve been reading and been told with that and Network+ you can enter into the field and start getting some experience as a help desk person and go from there. My plan would be to spend about a year or three doing course work and then get into the field once my kids are in kindergarten full time and go from there. I guess my main question is that if it is feasible to do so, and what would be the best path towards having a decent job/salary in 5-10 years? Or am I completely crazy for thinking about doing this later in life?
I switched from law to IT (cyber security, e-discovery, business analysis, etc) at the ripe old age of 30. I don’t think it’s crazy, but you should do a lot of research before taking the plunge. Can you take some of the skills from your current industry and transfer them to IT?
It’s not a terrible idea, but I am a little concerned with the approach. Remember first and foremost there is always pressure to reduce support costs. There is a reason so much of it has been outsourced to BRIC countires. This limits your playing field to smaller firms that need on site type of presence.
Second, your A+ cert is very windows centric. If I were starting down this road I would be looking at some combination of LAMP and VMWARE/Citrix certifications. Certainly the A+ won’t hurt, but cloud and open source is the direction a lot of things are going to.
I’ve been in IT for the better part of 18 years, over 20 if I count my time in the Navy as an electronics technician as a lot of what I did involved computers. During that time I have been a back up administrator and systems administrator with Intel, customer service engineer, services consultant, and program manager with HP, and have spent the last 7 years in pre-sales and sales with a reseller. I have seen many sides of IT, and the ups and downs of IT.
Just my personal opinion, but you couldn’t pay me enough to work in a helpdesk position. Imagine teaching a 5 yr old how to perform an emergency appendix removal, and that’s what it’s like helping someone in accounting fix a problem with their email… Again, just my opinion, and I don’t have the patience for that. Simply because I was in IT I became the personal helpdesk for so many family and friends. I have luckily been able to act dumb since moving into sales.
You don’t mention what you are currently doing, but if you are running your own business then you likely have several skills that are not only marketable, but immediately transferable, in a project management function. IT project management can be very interesting and would give you a sense of what it takes to leverage IT to run a business. You need strong people skills and strong organizational skills as a project manager, both I am sure that you already have today. Getting a project management certificate, and potentially a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification would cost you about the same in time and money and pay larger dividends than getting an A+ or Network+ certification. Add a PM cert to your skills and you should be able to catch on somewhere quickly.
If you wanted to get into the throws of IT I would suggest getting into Security. IT Security currently has negative unemployment, meaning there are more IT Security positions open than there are IT Security professionals. Similar to project management you need good people skills and organizational skills to help senior executives understand why certain initiatives are required and how funding them will benefit a company. Recent breaches have made the last part a lot easier than it was 5 years ago and if I were going to switch industries and go into IT that is where I would head.
You don’t get benefits or a retirement plan? Sounds like your boss is an ogre.
You know who loves to talk about these things? IT managers. I would suggest that you get yourself a few names of IT managers. Call them and ask if they have a few minutes to share ideas on career paths and how they might do it today. You’ll get better information than you’ll get from the LR plus you find a job opening.
The most successful way to do this is to form a bridge between your current expertise and IT. If you have an interest in learning programming and you are familiar with a subject area in your current work, the combination can be golden. A lot of software failures are due to poor communication and comprehension of the subject domain, not programming skill. I say this as someone who has been programming computers for over 20 years.
Just my personal opinion, but you couldn’t pay me enough to work in a helpdesk position. Imagine teaching a 5 yr old how to perform an emergency appendix removal, and that’s what it’s like helping someone in accounting fix a problem with their email… Again, just my opinion, and I don’t have the patience for that. Simply because I was in IT I became the personal helpdesk for so many family and friends. I have luckily been able to act dumb since moving into sales.
You don’t mention what you are currently doing, but if you are running your own business then you likely have several skills that are not only marketable, but immediately transferable, in a project management function. IT project management can be very interesting and would give you a sense of what it takes to leverage IT to run a business. You need strong people skills and strong organizational skills as a project manager, both I am sure that you already have today. Getting a project management certificate, and potentially a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification would cost you about the same in time and money and pay larger dividends than getting an A+ or Network+ certification. Add a PM cert to your skills and you should be able to catch on somewhere quickly.
Read both of the bolded statements. Very good advice.
I’ve been mulling over the idea of leaving my current industry and getting into something a bit more stable now that I have a child and one more on the way and I’m turning 40. Currently I’m doing fine as a self-employed person but unless I keep increasing my rates (which is only feasible a bit more before I price myself out of my market) I’ve kind of hit a ceiling income wise, have no benefits and no pension.
IT seems to be an industry where you can learn a lot part time (at least in terms of coursework) and then jump into an entry level position fairly quickly and if you are competent and keep educating yourself within 5 years can be doing reasonably well. Also something I don’t need to go back to post secondary education for until I have been in the field for a bit of time (if at all).
Currently I’m going through the A+ course work and from what I’ve been reading and been told with that and Network+ you can enter into the field and start getting some experience as a help desk person and go from there. My plan would be to spend about a year or three doing course work and then get into the field once my kids are in kindergarten full time and go from there. I guess my main question is that if it is feasible to do so, and what would be the best path towards having a decent job/salary in 5-10 years? Or am I completely crazy for thinking about doing this later in life?
I switched from law to IT (cyber security, e-discovery, business analysis, etc) at the ripe old age of 30. I don’t think it’s crazy, but you should do a lot of research before taking the plunge. Can you take some of the skills from your current industry and transfer them to IT?
Hey, welcome to the club. My wife and I both switched from law to IT at the age of 33 and 32. That was 15 years ago. We haven’t looked back for a moment. I took a low level IT hardware job as I went back to school for a CIS degree.
If you aren’t happy doing what you are doing, there is no reason to be miserable the rest of your life.
Go for it. Though personally, I think there is more opportunity in software than hardware. I think you ceiling may be higher in software.
Not sure where you are, but you might look into careers in the Oil and Gas industry. I would imagine that someone who is intelligent, motivated and hard working could find a lot of great paying career paths in the O&G industry. I know a couple of guys working in Houston who are probably making 250k plus a year. They are project managers who have great IT knowledge.
Fitness. I’ve run corporate gyms, been a manager of a large facility with lots of staff and currently run my own PT business and have been for a few years. Like I said, I do fine in terms of finances and can control my hours (which is nice with a toddler) but from a security later in life standpoint it isn’t great. I’ve also been doing it for 15 years and I think I’m getting that itch to start learning a new field but want to make sure that employment opportunities are there so I’m not wasting my time.
I have a degree and a college diploma so I’m not worried about education, but at this stage I’d rather find an industry where I can study while still working without having to attend school full time again and go at my own pace for a couple of years. After talking about it with my wife she’s all for it, and I’m putting together a loose time frame of taking the plunge into full time work in the field once both kids are in preschool probably in 2017 when I would be 42.
I looked into PMP certification but if seems to require 2-5 years of experience plus my university degree is in psychology, not sure if that is a feasible path for me.
The one thing I’m finding about this (and is actually similar to the fitness industry) is that there are a dozen different paths you can take, which is kind of exciting.
I guess my main question is that if it is feasible to do so, and what would be the best path towards having a decent job/salary in 5-10 years? Or am I completely crazy for thinking about doing this later in life?
I’m in a similar boat, except I did 7 years in support roles, left to try to study engineering, now I’m back working in IT support nearly 3 years later in a lower role than before.
The one positive for me is that I will complete my degree soon.
I’ll be 40 next month.
The thing for me at the moment is trying to figure out how to get out of being a Service Desk\Desktop Support guy and into something a bit more planning/strategy orientated.
You have to consider your 5-10 year plan here too.
Consider what strengths you have - what made you pick IT?
What capabilities from running your own business (in whatever field it was) transfer readily to an IT environment?
Sales\Business Development? Project Management?
If at all possible avoid the time suck of certifying for a minimum wage, client support role.
I am a computer fix it guy. Recently my company took away software installs and troubleshooting from me because people in Belgrade can do it cheaper. Once they figure out how to have computers delivered with the company image on them already all there will be left to do here is hardware issues. And for that I am certain that they will do it on an on call basis.
Basically, my time doing this current job is running out.
I’ve been in IT since early 80’s, started off in sales, but it quickly became obvious that I had a knack for the more technical stuff so switched over. Thing about IT is you will likely have to redefine yourself several times during the course of a career - and you should view this as a good thing before you get started. I started in desktop support, then network admin when networks became available, then programming/software development, then database admin and data warehousing (big data) - and now moving more into Sharepoint and collaboration.
You might start by asking the same ‘big questions’ anyone in any field should ask, ie do I see myself working by myself mostly sequestered away in an office, or do I see myself part of a team; do I want to get into management, do I want more involvement in business operations or more of pure technical . . . .
Not knowing a thing about you except that you’ve managed businesses - - I’d think you’d want to look into how technology can add value to business operations . . . . and like it or not that’s going to mean lots and lots of Microsoft - - - and it’s going to mean more jargon and acronyms you can shake a stick at. Sometimes I will visit slideshare.net to see what folks are presenting these days.
So for starters, do you see yourself wearing shorts and t-shirts to work, or, do you see a surface* with business folks, thus wearing slacks and nice shirt?
*surface - - - an example of one of the newer stupid buzz words.