Career Change Hi Folks,
I've become a bit fed up with the ICT game over the past few years, and can honestly say it's been about 3 years since I last enjoyed what I do for a living.
Like most of us I work long hours and spend endless amounts of my spare time studying new technologies and keeping up to speed, but at times it feels like it's a thankless and almost worthless task. Looking at current technology trends, I don't see much of a longer term future for in-house technical staff any longer and I think this adds to my disolutioned feelings about the job.
My current post does include a lot of project management and customer liason work on top of the usual tech stuff, so I have been able to build up skills in other areas. I'm wondering if anyone else has been down this route and what areas they identified as a possible career change path.
I know this may sound like I'm having a bad day, but the bad day has lasted for to long now and something needs to change!
Cheers,
K.
Hey it could me writing something very similar! There are things here I enjoy but they are mostly the extra curricular things I do such as drama and outdoor activities.
I am currently looking at pastoral manager type posts as schools move these head of year type roles away from teachers - this seems to be happening in many schools. The only trouble is they are paid so badly. Then again there is more to life than money.
I've been thinkng the same for the last eighteen months or so but not had the courage to think outside my "comfort zone".
I would like to try my hand at something completely different but having spent the last 22 years in Telecoms/Electronics/Computing i'm finding it hard to think outside of those fields. Also with a young family it's going to be hard to convince myself that re-training and starting a new career on or near the bottom salary of that industry is worth it.
However and although IT related I have just applied for a post in a nicer part of the country as an adult education ICT Tutor, lets see if I get an interview.
Because of location and nature of the post it will be a cut in the salary i'm used to, but as the previous poster commented, "theres more to life than money"... now to persuade the mortgage company of that :-)
I wish you all the best and hope you find a career that is both rewarding and enjoyable.
Career Change Hi Folks,
Thanks for the comments, nice to know I'm not alone! I've been in IT for about 14 years now (I appreciate that's not as long as some folk!) and I think I've reached a stage whereby I've "fallen out" with the industry and just don't enjoy it any longer. I continue to work long hours and strive to deliver the very best I can, but it's getting harder to maintain the enthusiasm and drive in something I don't have a passion for any longer.
I know there are worse (and better) jobs out there, and like everyone else I have a mortgage and bills to pay, but I do believe that there is more to life than money and I want to do something that is more rewarding than the thankless task that is ICT.
The problem at the moment is that I'm not entirely sure what that other rewarding career is yet!
Cheers,
K.
I'm currently trying to work out what's the least amount of money I can live on. Anyone know of a really good budget calculator that doesn't miss anything out?
What do other people think the minimum salary they can exist on is (including running a car etc) and NOT living at home which as I recall from many, many years ago was a bit of a bargin way back when.
powdarrmonkey (26-02-2009)
Trouble is, the grass is always greener..... Whatever the job, you are bound to get a bit fed up eventually. The teachers make me laugh when they say how good it must be working in industry. They are well paid, in one of the most secure jobs and get great holidays. OK, the kids can be a pain but I think any equivalent middle management job will have equally difficult situations. The only thing I would say is that man-management tends to be better in industry.
In the current economic climate,. my advice would be to hang on to your job.
I will say though the highest paid teachers do not get as much as the highest paid IT guys. Teachers get up to £60k, in demand technical skills could easily earn you more than £60k particularly if you are willing to work as a contractor. If teachers move into management as a Head Teacher they can make £100k, but a senior IT management role such as IT director or CTO in the right company will pay more than £100k.
If you fancy a change and a nice secure job you could do a lot worse than becoming a teacher.
Last edited by somabc; 26-02-2009 at 12:06 PM.
God yes, I would love to get out ICT - I almost started training to be a nurse about 6 years ago when one of my children spent quite a bit of time in hospital, then the job came up where I am now.....Originally Posted by kennylang74
What I want to do now may come as a bit of a shock, but pest control - rat catching etc etc for the council - just a shame the money is not all that.....
Thought you were sponsored by YouTube Matt?
Should be thinking about it.....I'll drop them an E-mail.
Examine your "Core skills", clearly most of us have organisational skills, fault finding etc.
I used those skills to move into IT ten years ago, prior to that I was in Aviation, repairing helicopters (big green ones!)
If you think life is hard now, try doing your job with the rain running down your nesk and being covered in stinking gas turbine engine oil!
Or having to carry your toolbox the mile or across the airfield to change the computer that's gone "Pete Tong".
I would never diasagree that there are days I would rather being doing something else like writing a novel, or even doing a milk round. But the bank seems to be quite happy and I don't have to work weekends or get up too early.
Good luck if you move on, but just remember, someone somewhere thinks your job is the one THEY would kill for.
Last edited by Polski; 26-02-2009 at 01:05 PM.
I had this type of crisis a year or so ago. When I looked around there wasn't much I could do outside of the IT industry without starting at the bottom again.
What I ended up doing is looking at my work/life balance and spending less time outside of work on computers and started up some hobbies again which don't involve computers to any great extent. I also started making sure I take my breaks during the day and have also started helping with some extra curricular activities.
Now find I enjoy work again, and even on a bad day I have something to look forward to when I get home.
As others have said, it really isn't a good time to be looking round for jobs at the moment. if you've got one and it's stable then to be honest you should think yourself lucky as chances are the unemployment figures will go through the roof over the next year.
kennylang74 (27-02-2009)
Career Change Hi Guys,
Many thanks for the comments.
Cheers,
K.
been debating this aswell, only been doing it for 3 years but i'm coming upto being 21 and with still having the excuse of being "young and irresponsible" i'd love to be an outward bounds instructor, doing climbing and sailing etc.
or my absolute ideal job would be rope access, hanging off tall buildings and oil rigs =D
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