Best tech career?

[scotty2hotty]

Looking for the collective wisdom of CP ...

What would you consider to be the best tech career to get into today and why?


I'm currently 38 and looking at a career change. Some obvious considerations are income and future growth / potential. What about ability to work for yourself or work remotely? Any great careers with minimal schooling, ie 2 years or less?

Thanks for any input!

[Phanuthier]

I'm probably pointing out the obvious, but software/programming? Probably obvious and more in depth, but if you want flexability, came across this article the other day that I think might interest you:
http://theinstitute.ieee.org/ieee-ro...ew-outsourcing

[Rathji]

The first thing that comes to mind is get some basic certifications and try a sys admin type role. It has lots of potential and a reasonably short training time to get your foot in the door. Lots of ability for remote work, depending on the company(s) and many opportunities for consulting are around.

Next thing is coding, but I think it might be a little less on the growth and income scale unless you are really good.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Rathji

The first thing that comes to mind is get some basic certifications and try a sys admin type role. It has lots of potential and a reasonably short training time to get your foot in the door. Lots of ability for remote work, depending on the company(s) and many opportunities for consulting are around.

Next thing is coding, but I think it might be a little less on the growth and income scale unless you are really good.

and don't be afraid to start at the bottom on the helpdesk if you have trouble jumping straight to sys admin (OP didn't list his current experience, so i wasn't sure). at my current company i started on the helpdesk and within a year i was moved to the system admin team. got involved in everything i could that looked interesting, volunteered to take an SCCM course since that was the direction we were heading, and (6 months later) i just finished implementing our production SCCM environment

the trick is to find a company that invests in their employees, i left my previous employer because they never did

[Rathji]

Excellent point on Help Desk, just a couple thoughts in it.

I was in a similar situation when I was starting in the industry, and was worried about Help Desk experience pigeon holing me for prospects outside the company. I don't know how relevant that perception is outside my circle though.

What I did was try and get a position where the primary focus was Help Desk but still involved Server/Network responsibility. If, like Hemi said, your employee is willing to invest in your training, it is very valuable. For example, some companies, will foot the bill and send you to a 3 day course. Right now, my current position does not that much offer financial assistance, but allows me to work on the certifications while I am at work, so it balances out.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Excellent point on Help Desk, just a couple thoughts in it.

I was in a similar situation when I was starting in the industry, and was worried about Help Desk experience pigeon holing me for prospects outside the company. I don't know how relevant that perception is outside my circle though.

What I did was try and focus on position where the primary focus was Help Desk but still involved Server/Network responsibility. If, like Hemi said, your employee is willing to invest in your training, it is very valuable. For example, some companies, will foot the bill and send you to a 3 day course. Right now, my current position does not that much offer financial assistance, but allows me to work on the certifications while I am at work, so it balances out.

when i joined the helpdesk was actually 3 roles in one. they did normal user troubleshooting issues, user account creation and deletion (account admin), and all the desktop support roles. that gave me insight into AD and Exchange, and desktop imaging as well. and when i volunteered for the SCCM course, they sent me to Toronto for a week to take it, all expenses paid

so basically what i'm saying is try to find an IT position at an oil & gas company, because that seems to be the fastest way to get the training you need to move up

[photon]

Maybe look into something very specialized. I've been thinking about narrowing down to security, the last few projects I've done I've spend quite a bit of effort learning about security and how most developers (including myself) don't really know what they should about security, depending on what lots of others say on stack overflow instead.

The recent LinkedIn thing shows that even a company with tons of $$ can get it wrong, and just a bit of reading on what happened I learned even more on how to properly secure my own projects.

[FanIn80]

Database Admin.

Every company wants/needs one, but every time they advertise, they wind up interviewing twenty web guys and one database guy. Be that one database guy, and you're set.

[MickMcGeough]

I can't believe I'm the first to ask this - but what are you into?

It's very hard to be awesome at something that you don't love. The most important question I ask anyone in an interview is "Why are you here? Why do you do X?". If the answer resembles the motivations you mention in the original post, the interviewee is shown the door as soon as I've spent enough time in the interview so as not to be offensive.

I switched careers at 29 and that was hard enough, never mind 38. It's much easier to do something you love and find a way to monetize than it is to find something that pays and learn to love it. If you're targeting 40 years old as the time you start a new tech career, you pretty much have to get it right the first time.

[MickMcGeough]

That said - I charge an hourly rate that has been described as "preposterous" for freelance web development. I don't even tell my clients what they're paying me per hour any longer - I just give them an "all-in" price for the entire project and deflect rate questions. I can work from anywhere and never need more than what I can carry in my briefcase. I subcontract to a small network of other professionals with skills that complement my own so I can take on almost any project. I fire ####### clients and pick projects mostly based on how cool I think they are. I have zero years of formal education applicable to what I do (in fact I think the vast majority of traditional education paths in this field are highly counterproductive).

There are hundreds and hundreds of freelance web developers to compete with, but if you're disciplined, organized, and professional, you're already in the top half. If you're good at this it can be very lucrative, and lends itself to a very flexible lifestyle.

[sclitheroe]

What was your previous role/experience that you are considering moving away from? IT is a vast field - lots of need for softer IT skills as well, like project management, governance, etc that might not just carry over, but give you an important springboard.

I second the "don't be afraid to start with help desk" idea - a lot of the roles mentioned here, especially security and DB, are where companies value tons of experience - not easy fields to break into. At my company, the guys that work up from help desk & NOC to internal tier-3 support and eventually on to onsite client or project placements are among our best assets. The key as others have mentioned is to find a company that promotes and endorses that kind of career development path.

[freedogger]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

That said - I charge an hourly rate that has been described as "preposterous" for freelance web development. I don't even tell my clients what they're paying me per hour any longer - I just give them an "all-in" price for the entire project and deflect rate questions. I can work from anywhere and never need more than what I can carry in my briefcase. I subcontract to a small network of other professionals with skills that complement my own so I can take on almost any project. I fire ####### clients and pick projects mostly based on how cool I think they are. I have zero years of formal education applicable to what I do (in fact I think the vast majority of traditional education paths in this field are highly counterproductive).

There are hundreds and hundreds of freelance web developers to compete with, but if you're disciplined, organized, and professional, you're already in the top half. If you're good at this it can be very lucrative, and lends itself to a very flexible lifestyle.

Interesting. Would you call yourself a graphic designer or a coder or both?

[bossy22]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Database Admin.

Every company wants/needs one, but every time they advertise, they wind up interviewing twenty web guys and one database guy. Be that one database guy, and you're set.

This. Every time we needed a DBA we had to search long and hard, sometimes bringing people in from the US. Coders, we'd get dozens of applicants from Calgary alone.
Not a glamorous job, and you are usually put on call. Plenty of weekend work too. If those are things you don't want, I'd avoid DBA then.

[freedogger]

Originally Posted by bossy22

This. Every time we needed a DBA we had to search long and hard, sometimes bringing people in from the US. Coders, we'd get dozens of applicants from Calgary alone.
Not a glamorous job, and you are usually put on call. Plenty of weekend work too. If those are things you don't want, I'd avoid DBA then.

Or just build apps and systems that don't need databases!

[freedogger]

"Any great careers with minimal schooling, ie 2 years or less? "

No there are not. Most people that are set in IT right now have invested at least a decade total of of one or usually more of a) self taught learning, b) formal comp sci education, c) on the job experience and apprenticeships.

Some get lucky and buck this, but if you already have a career, do you really want to leave a sure thing for chance, especially at a later age?

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by freedogger

Interesting. Would you call yourself a graphic designer or a coder or both?

I'm not a graphic designer at all. I design the UI, do all the backend/frontend coding, site deployment, etc. I generally subcontract logos/branding as needed.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by freedogger

"Any great careers with minimal schooling, ie 2 years or less? "

No there are not. Most people that are set in IT right now have invested at least a decade total of of one or usually more of a) self taught learning, b) formal comp sci education, c) on the job experience and apprenticeships.

Some get lucky and buck this, but if you already have a career, do you really want to leave a sure thing for chance, especially at a later age?

This is horrible, horrible advice.

No, he's not going to waltz into a senior position at an energy company after 2 years at SAIT (nor do I think the OP was thinking that's how it works). But today's tech industries are like few others in terms of offering rapid advancement and fulfilling careers to passionate and talented individuals, regardless of resume bullet points.

[bomber317]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

I can't believe I'm the first to ask this - but what are you into?

It's very hard to be awesome at something that you don't love. The most important question I ask anyone in an interview is "Why are you here? Why do you do X?". If the answer resembles the motivations you mention in the original post, the interviewee is shown the door as soon as I've spent enough time in the interview so as not to be offensive.

I was thinking this along the same lines. Fulfillment and pride in your job is very important. Money can only buy you so much time if you hate your job or if you are not proud of your job.

That being said, it really depends on whether or not you want to focus on the technical side of what you're into or the management side.

"Tech" is a broad term. Are you looking to be a developer? A CCNP? A Microsoft expert on infrastructure? A Database guy? Helpdesk? Compliance? Security? etc.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by bomber317

I was thinking this along the same lines. Fulfillment and pride in your job is very important. Money can only buy you so much time if you hate your job or if you are not proud of your job.

This is especially true for the technical side of IT. There is plenty of after hours work, and a lot of the work can be unglamorous - for an industry predicated on automation, there is tons of stuff that needs to be done carefully, attentively, and outside business hours to minimize disruption. Add in on-call, the need to fix stuff when it breaks ("take a look in the morning" is seldom a viable option), plus the latent stress that mistakes or failures can very quickly lead to significant data loss or financial impact, and it's not for everyone.

You have to enjoy the challenges and the satisfaction of doing a good job, solving the tricky problems, finding creative solutions, etc, or the impacts on work-life balance, the stress, and general lack of respect the position can engender in the workplace will make you bitter and burnt out quickly.

That being said, when stuff is humming along perfectly because you've perfectly deployed and tuned it, you're working with cutting edge stuff, and making your infrastructure dance on the head of a pin, it can be really, really fun.

[scotty2hotty]

Thanks for all of the advice and insight, guys. Much appreciated.

I'm obviously not about to quit my job and jump headlong into a new career. Just in the research and exploration phase at the moment. Seeing what options may be available and what avenues may be worth further investigation.

Sorry to be vague, but that's simply where I'm at right now.

My formal education was in cellular biology and I've been working in medical / surgical sales for a little over 10 years. I dabble in web design and basic programming as a hobby, but nothing that would immediately be considered a hireable skill.

I realize 'tech' is a very broad term, that's why I thought I'd put it to you guys. Already a few ideas that hadn't occurred to me.