Has anyone gone from IT support to a "coder"

[Sparta6]

Hope this is the right place if not feel free to move! (Admin)

 

Hi,

 

Just wondered if anyone on here has made the transition from IT support to been a "coder" how hard is was and were to begin!

 

Thanks 

[dhicks]

36 minutes ago, dannyuk said:

Just wondered if anyone on here has made the transition from IT support to been a "coder" how hard is was and were to begin!

 

There's not a huge difference - the actual programming bit is easy, it's the problem solving / extracting requirements from the customer / end user that tends to be the more skillful part. Do you already know a particular language / framework / platform / IDE or whatever? Most developers would have a "tech stack" they know and work with on a regular basis - for instance, I tend to work with a Python or Go backend and tend to write self-contained HTML / CSS / JavaScript front ends (using the Bootstrap library) for web-based applications that call the backend via API calls (so like a self-contained application that runs in the browser, with remote procedure calls for server-based functionality). I find that a fairly solid, easily-hostable (on a small, cheap Linux or Windows VM), flexible kind of setup, but more the more modern platform seems to be Node.js with various frameworks (Angular / React, etc).

[Sparta6]

22 minutes ago, dhicks said:

 

There's not a huge difference - the actual programming bit is easy, it's the problem solving / extracting requirements from the customer / end user that tends to be the more skillful part. Do you already know a particular language / framework / platform / IDE or whatever? Most developers would have a "tech stack" they know and work with on a regular basis - for instance, I tend to work with a Python or Go backend and tend to write self-contained HTML / CSS / JavaScript front ends (using the Bootstrap library) for web-based applications that call the backend via API calls (so like a self-contained application that runs in the browser, with remote procedure calls for server-based functionality). I find that a fairly solid, easily-hostable (on a small, cheap Linux or Windows VM), flexible kind of setup, but more the more modern platform seems to be Node.js with various frameworks (Angular / React, etc).

 

 Nope i would be starting from nothing. 

[Roberto]

If you're looking at starting from "nothing" as a pure coder (and you're not, you already have an understanding of how systems talk to one another) then have you considered looking at something more like devops, where you're writing code to support infrastructure deployments and the suchlike, which may not be quite such a huge reset.

Edited June 30, 2025 by Roberto

[Danp]

If I were to retrain, I would be looking at security and ethical hacking. Big big money there. I know people who have taken home my monthly pay in a day.

[Sparta6]

8 minutes ago, Danp said:

If I were to retrain, I would be looking at security and ethical hacking. Big big money there. I know people who have taken home my monthly pay in a day.

Thanks, any ideas how or where to get started?

[Danp]

3 minutes ago, dannyuk said:

Thanks, any ideas how or where to get started?

No, sorry. I've sort of made a point of not looking.

[Roberto]

For IT security, ethical hacking, or anything else like devops, coder, whatever, you're not taking home telephone number salaries any time soon obviously. So for the security role (or for that matter, coding, devops, literally anything else) you might want to look at starting with some reading and training around the area so you might start with the security + training for security or the various Microsoft or Google or AWS or Apple online training and documentation for devops stuff or coding. Or providers like Udemy have loads of courses.

 

For entry-level security roles there might be jobs in a SOC. For coding or devops engineer type roles there might be junior engineer roles on established teams out there. You probably need a bit of direction in your career rather than just "make money fast". We all like that bit but it probably won't be that fast so you need to figure out what you might enjoy doing so the journey from entry level to rockstar professional isn't too painful.

Edited June 30, 2025 by Roberto

[Sparta6]

7 minutes ago, Roberto said:

For IT security, ethical hacking, or anything else like devops, coder, whatever, you're not taking home telephone number salaries any time soon obviously. So for the security role (or for that matter, coding, devops, literally anything else) you might want to look at starting with some reading and training around the area so you might start with the security + training for security or the various Microsoft or Google or AWS or Apple online training and documentation for devops stuff or coding. Or providers like Udemy have loads of courses.

 

For entry-level security roles there might be jobs in a SOC. For coding or devops engineer type roles there might be junior engineer roles on established teams out there. You probably need a bit of direction in your career rather than just "make money fast". We all like that bit but it probably won't be that fast so you need to figure out what you might enjoy doing so the journey from entry level to rockstar professional isn't too painful.

 

Im happy to begin at the bottom of the ladder. Ive considering a different career change altogether but that would be throwing away all my experience. 

[dmj]

 

4 hours ago, dannyuk said:

 

 

Just wondered if anyone on here has made the transition from IT support to been a "coder" how hard is was and were to begin!

 

Sort of, I'm a Snr devops engineer (technically a Site Reliability Engineer). 

My best advice if you are looking for a technical role; either in devops, security, development or platform engineering - start at the beginning by learning git. Almost all workflows will use git, so no matter which path or language you choose you will be using it. This is the devops learning path (which, of course starts with git)

https://github.com/milanm/DevOps-Roadmap

[Sparta6]

17 minutes ago, dmj said:

 

Sort of, I'm a Snr devops engineer (technically a Site Reliability Engineer). 

My best advice if you are looking for a technical role; either in devops, security, development or platform engineering - start at the beginning by learning git. Almost all workflows will use git, so no matter which path or language you choose you will be using it. This is the devops learning path (which, of course starts with git)

https://github.com/milanm/DevOps-Roadmap

 

So is your role or other coder roles programming git for example all day?

[Brax]

CS50 is a good free course. If you did want to go down devops route you could do CS50's Python course. Edx will push you to buy their verified certification but you get a free one regardless at the end so ignore that. https://www.edx.org/learn/python/harvard-university-cs50-s-introduction-to-programming-with-python

Edited June 30, 2025 by Brax

[Roberto]

2 hours ago, dannyuk said:

 

So is your role or other coder roles programming git for example all day?

git is a code repository, a place where code can be stored and worked on by potentially lots of people at once, with their various activities managed.

 

git repositories can contain the code for practically anything. Microsoft own github, and use it for both code and documentation. My employer uses primarily Azure DevOps (ADO) which is a wrapper around git repositories plus other developer friendly tools. We store all sorts of things in there.

[dmj]

10 hours ago, dannyuk said:

 

So is your role or other coder roles programming git for example all day?

In my role it's mostly using git as a repository for;

• Infrastructure as Code
• CI/CD pipelines
• Small scripts to link things together
• Documentation

I sometimes, but rarely, touch the main codebase: we have proper developers for that  If I need to it's usually to tweak or add telemetry.

[TheHyperTechie]

A particular interest of mine is web development, it's what I wanted to do when I left uni. But I needed a job asap (bills to pay...) so grabbed the first edu IT vacancy I saw. Been in it ever since. Programming/Web dev is a strange area at the moment though, due to AI capabilities advancing etc. As others have said, IT Security/Pentesting/Auditing is probably where I would look now if I wanted to move. 

 

Have you got any certs?

[PotNoodleTech]

I think if you want to get into programming you need to enjoy maths.  It's a similar thing.  So if you hate maths like I did, then you probasly will hate programming like I did when they made me do Java in uni.

 

I think you've really got to love it and be super interested in it.

[TechMonkey]

I'd be careful jumping into IT Security/Pentesting/Auditing if you are chasing the money.  From friends and other general chit chat it is reaching saturation. Jobs are getting harder to just walk into and companies are marketing aggressively to get business.

 

If you enjoy it though go for it. It is something I have thought about going into, but I am less brave than you to massively change direction.

[Sparta6]

1 hour ago, HyperTech said:

A particular interest of mine is web development, it's what I wanted to do when I left uni. But I needed a job asap (bills to pay...) so grabbed the first edu IT vacancy I saw. Been in it ever since. Programming/Web dev is a strange area at the moment though, due to AI capabilities advancing etc. As others have said, IT Security/Pentesting/Auditing is probably where I would look now if I wanted to move. 

 

Have you got any certs?

No certs, not looking for mega money just something where i could earn the average UK salary of 35k in a few years. 

[Sparta6]

36 minutes ago, TechMonkey said:

I'd be careful jumping into IT Security/Pentesting/Auditing if you are chasing the money.  From friends and other general chit chat it is reaching saturation. Jobs are getting harder to just walk into and companies are marketing aggressively to get business.

 

If you enjoy it though go for it. It is something I have thought about going into, but I am less brave than you to massively change direction.

 

Im not brave my role is up for redundancy and short of changing career altogether mights as well use my past 20 year experience in IT support as a baseline. 

[dhicks]

1 hour ago, PotNoodleTech said:

I think if you want to get into programming you need to enjoy maths.

 

Possibly not so much these days. The traditional training route for a software developer (GCSE / A-levels in maths / science, computer science degree or similar) has opened up somewhat, there are more routes available now. If you're doing "data science" of some sort then a basic knowledge of statistics would be a good idea, but a fair bit of software development, especially front-end work, is probably not going to need a huge amount of maths.

 

A few years ago there was a fashion for coding "boot camps" - intensive courses, some over just a few weeks, which would aim to teach you the basics of software development, generally streamlined by concentrating on a specific platform / framework. I'm guessing such things are still available, possibly now with added "vibe coding", using AI tools to do a fair chunk of the development. Actually, starting from scratch as a programmer now, you might do quite nicely picking a platform and an AI tool and seeing how far you can get. Node.js seems to be a popular choice for AI coding tools to generate code for, so that might be a reasonable platform to aim for - from your existing "IT" side of things, you can probably figure out quite nicely how best to set up, securley host and so on a Node.js environment, which would give you a head start over a lot of others.

 

Claude Code seems to be a popular AI coding tool at the moment or, if you're in a school, maybe have a look at Microsoft's Copilot or Google's Gemini if your school has those available. I'll hopefully get some time to give Gemini a bit of a go soon - I find it helpful with this sort of thing to have a well-defined target in mind, so I have a small web-based application I'm aiming to create, I'll see what help Gemini can be with that.

[dmj]

6 minutes ago, dhicks said:

Claude Code seems to be a popular AI coding tool at the moment or, if you're in a school, maybe have a look at Microsoft's Copilot or Google's Gemini if your school has those available. I'll hopefully get some time to give Gemini a bit of a go soon - I find it helpful with this sort of thing to have a well-defined target in mind, so I have a small web-based application I'm aiming to create, I'll see what help Gemini can be with that.

I've been working a lot in this field recently: Gemini-cli is worth a try, it's faster than claude-code but harder to control: it often goes down deadend paths, even when you tell it not to. Copilot is good for text completion and automated github reviews but next to useless as a coding agent. Claude-code beats the competition at the moment. 

 

edit: you can use claude with your Google GCP subscription via vertex

Edited July 1, 2025 by dmj

[E_G_R2]

My son in law to be left Uni with a masters in Advanced Maths and was a bit of a script kiddie.  Couldn't get a job in coding via the usual route but ended up getting into DEV OPS and Security through these people. 

 

QA.com

 

This link may not be the correct one for what he did but basically they trained him in the skills required to move on from a script kiddie into the real world, employed him for a set period then let him loose in the real world.

 

Earns some serious money now

 

https://www.qa.com/apprenticeships/ 

[mikes]

Your role is due for redundancy this summer is it not or am I mistaken?  It might take a while to learn a language  e.g. it took me 6 months of (admittedly not serious) learning to become passable at VB/C# (which are easy languages to learn) - what helped me to learn was writing bits of stuff for the comp I work at (e.g. software for easy digital signage as most of it is trash, picks up images from a share and displays them).  But you might be able to find an apprenticeship that can teach you as you go?

 

I found buying an old style book off Amazon - a £40 C# / C++  book - helped a lot teaching me the basics of logic flow (loops, variables, etc) that applies to most languages. You can just sit there and follow it along in your own time.

 

It's something I want to do myself but I'm a bit lazy at the moment ! My brother is a web/app dev/maintainer and he's on more money, works Mon-Thur, and can work from home, it's much better than being stuck in a school.

 

I still think you would do good in a comp school if you can find a role there, I started here fresh from doing ISP support with no networking, server, business wifi knowledge at all and learned on the job. It depends how many have gone MSP route etc. And once there you could use quiet times to learn a language.  But perhaps doing that you'd be stuck doing same old EDU support where you could have done much better  everyone I know who left EDU is doing much better.

[mavhc]

What do you already know? Networking, how OSes work? File systems? Automated installation?

 

Learn automation of servers/clients, ansible, linux, docker, get a job managing more computers than before

[Sparta6]

40 minutes ago, mavhc said:

What do you already know? Networking, how OSes work? File systems? Automated installation?

 

Learn automation of servers/clients, ansible, linux, docker, get a job managing more computers than before

 

My current experience is 1st/2nd line IT support. The only automation I know is setting up network pxe boot to deploy images.