Career advice

[Chris1182]

Hi,

 

First post so hopefully this is the correct section of the forum for this question.

 

I'm looking to move into an IT role in the education sector, ideally as a Network Manager in a school / college (although maybe not immediately), and thought this forum would be a good place to get some general advice on how to progress my career.

 

Just to give you a bit of background history I'm 31 went to college back in 2001 where I completed a GNVQ in IT and have since worked in various technical roles over the last ten years including 6 years 2nd line support and 3 years as a licensing specialist (where I obtained three Microsoft MCP qualifications). I'm currently working in telephone based technical support role for a large ISP based in the northwest whilst studying for the CompTIA Network+ exam but to be honest the role isn't as challenging as I thought it would be hence why I'm looking to move my career in a different direction.

 

Really looking for some advice from people who are currently working in the eduction sector especially in network specific or managment roles as to how I would go about moving from what I'm doing now, to where I want to be in terms of qualifications / experience that I may need and also the best way to get a foot in the door whilst still being able to pay the mortgage.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Tall_Paul]

Hi Chris

 

I doubt you would get a position as a NM immediately (though I'm not saying it's impossible). You might stand a better chance in a small primary, but a most big secondaries now have a lot of enterprise hardware and software (I've been told we have more than some councils) so the NM role is quite a technical one.

 

I would say the best thing to do would be to aim to get in as a technician (maybe a senior one if such a position exists) and go from there. Once you've worked in education you've have much more transferable skills to apply for more senior roles.

 

I'm not sure what your salary is now, but you might have to take a cut unfortunately.

[pcstru]

The question is, how much do you need to pay your mortgage because the follow on, which jobs might meet that criteria, depends on that.