More accuratley, “Your position has been eliminated”. It was a position that they said they were considering eliminating unless I turned it around. They said they would give me 6 months. I got three. I think it was the fact that I was set for a pay raise next week. Or it was all the time spent on Slowtwitch…
Besides having time to review the hottie thread, train, and collect unemployement checks, this could be fun or it could suck big time.
I am thinking of a career change. I have been studying for my A+ certification and I guess now I’ll have much more time. Those of you in the IT industry, do you have any suggestions for a good place to break into the biz? Is there anything you would do different if you could do it again? Any particular discipline I should gravitate towards?
Thanks for all the help.
Are you looking for your first IT position?
The cool thing about IT is that there are so many specialties to pick from. Depending on your personality\interests you can pursue programming, database admin, support, network engineering, security, hardware, etc.
Sorry to hear that Warren. It seems like employment in the IT world is slowly making headway from the bubble burst that happened a few years ago. The only problem is that you’ll be up against a whole bunch of other folks for the good jobs.
I suggest you look into areas that you enjoy. Some people really enjoy hardware. For me, I hate that side of things. I just want to turn it on and have it work. I don’t care how it works and I don’t want to learn either. I started in software development and ended up in consulting. I still do mostly development, but the consulting is interesting because you’re getting a business problem from the client that you have to solve in the most efficient way. Also, my projects are very short, so I’m onto something new every couple of days.
Good luck with the career move.
Dawn
Let us know more about your background and skills (like Dawn’s question about if you are in IT now) and some of us can make some suggestions.
I’d ask why IT though? You like technology, or just the change? Does it feel cool, or intellectually stimulating? Are you in a position to go to IT for a non-profit, or something less corporate and that can give back more directly to your community?
As to stl_triness’ suggestions: programming, database admin, support, network engineering, security, hardware, etc.
I’d recommend strongly that you avoid support. DB admin is decent, but really tough to get into if you don’t have lots of experience (and I assume you aren’t 25 and looking to start a career). Network design could be cool, so could be programming but I’d steer clear of something very easily off shoreable.
Design and analysis will always be hard to offshore, so I think long-term those are safe careers. Trying to pick up what is the hot technology now I’d recommend against, unless you really love it. It’s hard to always stick with the newest new thing.
One thing that will NEVER go away in the IT field is dealing with Legacy/Heritage (read: old) systems. They always have to be replaced, they always have to be updated, etc.
Thanks for the advice. My background. Well… I was trained as an Electronic Technician in the USAF. I maintained and repaired the air-traffic communication systems in the tower and RAPCON (Radar Approach Control, or scope-dopes, or the guys who stare at that round green screen and direct airplanes). And then I worked as a electronics QC guy and Electronic/System repairman at an aerospace firm while I went to college.
I have a BSBA (Business Mangement Major) from a decent school here in PA. I spent my after college years in Purchasing both for a non-profit then another Aerospace firm.
I like IT because I think it will give me the opportunity to work with my hands & solve problems. I really miss that part about being out of electronics. I like trying to figure out why a system didn’t work and troubleshooting it. I have been out of the component level electronics game for some time (8+ years) so other than a rudimentary recollection of basic electronics, I find myself cluess in that arena.
Now if you’ll just write down my checking account number and mothers maiden name, you can be me.
Thanks for the guidance/advice.
There is one area of IT that won’t be off-shored: defense. You’ve already got the exposure.
You are right, support can suck. I spent 10 years in the IT field and support was my entry level job. The good thing about support is that it is often entry level and it is a good way to get exposure to the other fields of IT and figure out the hiearchy of it all. If you enjoy troubleshooting and working with people it can be enjoyable. The nice thing is once you gain some experience and move up in the food chain you have a good knowlege base and appreciation for the end user - and you rarely if ever have to see them again!