[TurdFerguson]

The role that IT plays in business is changing. More and more businesses are organizationally positioning IT as part of the business as opposed to a separate group. Fundamentally that is because the model of having "business" and a separate IT/IS group that "supports" them is wrong. IT is now too integrated into the day-day operations to be viewed as a supporting function. Ask most business and IT leaders of large organizations and they will tell you that they don’t hire "tech" anymore. I realize this is a highly generalized statement and exceptions for pure technology companies exist, but for the most part it’s accurate. The people that organizations are after right now are people who can "speak business and tech". This is a direct result of the shifting landscape for outsourced pure technology. Whether that be it infrastructure and support, help desk, software development etc. Off shoring and to a lesser degree near shoring have changed the landscape so that for the most part, companies don’t need someone to build the next circuit or develop a proprietary coding language etc., rather they want someone who can source the best pure technology solution and bring that into their business in a successfully . They key in doing so is understand the business.

Anyway...I’ve gotten way off your direct question but my feeling is that if you have sales experience then you probably have great people skills and there are some really interesting opportunities for IT professionals with people skills. And no, it certainly isn’t too late to go back to school but I would look at accelerated programs such as what SAIT offers first.

If you want to go pure "tech" then from what I understand certs are pretty darn important with getting an initial opportunity. From there, specialize (with caution). Generalists will always find work but it will be competitive, junior, and comparatively low paying work. Specialists get more interesting work and can charge more