this is something thats been at the back of my mind for months and I need some advice before I make a move. ive been stuck in retail for 11 years - slowly working my way up the ranks since i left uni (did a degree in Software Engineering but decided to take a promotion offer at my then [and still now] place of work to get some experience behind me). im currently a line manager and am hating the job - budget cuts, other line managers being lazy :xxx: and making my job harder, plus other pressures are coming down the line over the next few months, work most weekends, work early shifts, late shifts, all over the piggin place. sometimes i come home and sink two cans of beer just to chill me out and this isnt how i want it to be for the rest of my life.

 

so ive decided to try and make a fresh start in I.T. but the trouble is that I.T is moving at such a fast rate and Ive not been keeping up, although having said that Im a very quick learner (just give me a manual and a cup of tea and I'll be an expert before you know it!)

 

i dont want to quit my current job until ive got something secured. im thinking of booking a couple of days holiday and speaking to a couple of agencies to see where I stand. ive tried web sites like Monster.co.uk and CWJobs but ive not got the experience (actual commercial experience) that theyre asking for [even tho i started writing programs when i was 5 years old :smw: )

 

what does everyone think? i simply MUST get out of the job im in at the moment. [ive got a full forklift licence too - hows that for a mixture of skills :p )

As long as you can actually do it mate you'll be fine one way or another. Just get up to date, and keep in the big books. I got my Network Engineer job with no real commercial experience. I'd done deployed networks in the Marines but never actually did any proper switch/router config day to day. I just spent about a year before coming out doing my CCNA and MCSA to make sure I had the theoretical knowledge. The big world is a whole different place to the theory of the books, but my employer knows the score. I have to do a hell of a lot of work in my own time (getting through my CCNP) but they get a good deal as I'm pretty much doing the work of a CCNP level engineer but for the wage of a more junior engineer. Its worth it for me as I get the commercial experience .

 

When I went to the interview I did well as I passed all the technical bit at a much higer level than I was at, plus I made it clear I'd be doing as much extra work as I could to make the most of the exposure to the technologies and to go up in the industry as soon as possible. They knew I wasn't experienced but as I proved I'd done my homework they were willing to give me a chance. Many other people didn't make the job who had commercial experience, but couldn't answer the technical questions. All you have to do is learn your stuff and prove to the interviewer that you'll go that extra step to be good at the job.

 

All going well I'll be fast-tracking my way to a higher level very quickly, although I've certainly put the hours in learning the job. Dave

M8, Ive just quit my job with a company that got too used to sending me to China away from my family all to often.

 

I loved the job at first, I moved from tunbridge well area to Teeside cos of it, then they obviously thought they had me by the balls.....big mistake :wack:

 

Fortunately for me I have worked for myself far too long to waste my life making someone else tons of money.....so I quit last week :dance:

 

Now they want me to work sub contract....at 3 times my usual rate as and when they want me ( I will only work for them when it suits ME tho) :)

 

All I can say to you bud is......if you see an opportunity and its yours to grasp....go for it, fear of the unknown will always play a part until you become settled again.

 

Remember that track by Talk Talk.....lifes what you make it.

 

Go for it m8 :)

 

Never, EVER look back.

 

Marc

Well said Marc!

this is something thats been at the back of my mind for months and I need some advice before I make a move. ive been stuck in retail for 11 years - slowly working my way up the ranks since i left uni (did a degree in Software Engineering but decided to take a promotion offer at my then [and still now] place of work to get some experience behind me). im currently a line manager and am hating the job - budget cuts, other line managers being lazy :xxx: and making my job harder, plus other pressures are coming down the line over the next few months, work most weekends, work early shifts, late shifts, all over the piggin place. sometimes i come home and sink two cans of beer just to chill me out and this isnt how i want it to be for the rest of my life.

 

so ive decided to try and make a fresh start in I.T. but the trouble is that I.T is moving at such a fast rate and Ive not been keeping up, although having said that Im a very quick learner (just give me a manual and a cup of tea and I'll be an expert before you know it!)

 

i dont want to quit my current job until ive got something secured. im thinking of booking a couple of days holiday and speaking to a couple of agencies to see where I stand. ive tried web sites like Monster.co.uk and CWJobs but ive not got the experience (actual commercial experience) that theyre asking for [even tho i started writing programs when i was 5 years old :smw: )

 

what does everyone think? i simply MUST get out of the job im in at the moment. [ive got a full forklift licence too - hows that for a mixture of skills :p )

At present the IT industry in awash with people who really don't have the tech knowledge. CV's appear brilliant give them a tech interview and they know nothing so if you can keep up your tech and do well in a tech interview you'll be snapped up.

All the best and don't give up.

Just get up to speed M8 and then go for it, there's nothing worse than staying in a job that you hate. Look at me, I was 20 years working as a groundsman and then I retrained in Business Administration and am now a qualified secretary, alright I am not working at the moment, but it by choice more than anything as I am still coping with the deaths of both parents after looking after both of them through cancer, eventually I shall have to go back to work, but it will be on my terms and nobody elses.

 

Just go for it

Matey, best jobs are in C Sharp dot net and SAP Database (the highest paid jobs are in SAP). I don't use it myself i use PHP but even jobs in that are 25-35k and loads of people need PHP developers.

 

I bypass that and work for myself and do graphicdesign and print mainly, £50 an hour and £30 an hour for technical support

thanks for the support Marc, Dave, Drift, Dave and Nick. i told my boss yesterday that i was going to start looking at agencies soon. Paul (my line manager) is a top bloke and he was disappointed, and worried cos not many people can (or would want to) take over such a tough job. i think i'll book one or two weeks' holiday and spend it catching up on new developments (like c#.net ;) ) and trying to get in with IT agencies. it feels weird - ive been peed off with my job many times before, but this time its the furthest ive been down the road to leaving.

thanks for the pm Scrawni :bow:

Hey Dave,

 

I took a chance a while back and it payed off, do what feels right in your heart bud. I cant give you any advice on IT or owt like that but go for it. :D

I moved from sales to IT 10 yrs ago and have never looked back. With the industry moving so quickly there is always something new to do.

 

I started out as a desktop engineer fixing simple windows, word, excel and email issues (a very good way to get into IT IMHO because these are tools you probably have on your PC right now). I then progressed to server engineer then eventually I have become a SAN and SQL guru. Along the way I have picked up all sorts of very usefull skills like web design and systems architect.

 

IT is a vast area where you can do almost anything you can dream up as a job. The thing is, find a path you want to take. Do the study first, just to get your foot in the door, then the world is your oyster.

 

Feel free to ask me any questions you want, I will always help if I can.

well ive finally found some time to get my ass in gear - just spent £40 on books from ebay for things like ASP.NET, SQL, Networking [my wak point], VB.NET, CGI, Perl etc.

ive applied for 3 jobs so far and got a telephone interview on Wednesday :eek: never done one of those before.

ive aimed at jobs that have said 1 or 2 years experience [i dont have any but i might get away with it]

Good luck with it bud, as long as you know your stuff you'll be fine.

Good on you mate! What lets drift said I completely agree with. There's so many IT people out there that arn't actively learning, that if you put the effort in to learn the tech then something will come along. Once you get that first step sorted then you'll be away. I reckon you've made the right decision :)

Good luck Dave

 

ps - If you ever need any networking help or advice then feel free to call

PM sent

Become an IT teacher. I love teaching its great. And you get to educate kids on nissan cars sold between 1989 -94.

thanks for the kind words guys, and many thanks indeed to Royal and Steve007 for the pm's :bow: :bow:

like i said to them, the support you have all given me makes the club an honour to be part of :bow:

I still work at the same place MarcZ32 did, although I’m top dog I know what he means.

 

Trying to get out but it’s not easy to pull good money up in the north.

I know alot of people who have moved from Sales, engineering type jobs, etc... into IT. I really think the market is being flooded by people who either think IT is easy or think anyone can do it...

 

Not a dig at you, just a point of view about the job market.

 

To be honest experience is very crucial in IT, get a lower end job for a few years (ideally helpdesk in a small company where you will be able to actually play with servers, PC's & networks). After a year or so and some training you'll be easily on 21k (based on MCSE training or a similar alternative).

 

Cheers

 

Ben

this is something thats been at the back of my mind for months and I need some advice before I make a move. ive been stuck in retail for 11 years - slowly working my way up the ranks since i left uni (did a degree in Software Engineering but decided to take a promotion offer at my then [and still now] place of work to get some experience behind me). im currently a line manager and am hating the job - budget cuts, other line managers being lazy :xxx: and making my job harder, plus other pressures are coming down the line over the next few months, work most weekends, work early shifts, late shifts, all over the piggin place. sometimes i come home and sink two cans of beer just to chill me out and this isnt how i want it to be for the rest of my life.

 

so ive decided to try and make a fresh start in I.T. but the trouble is that I.T is moving at such a fast rate and Ive not been keeping up, although having said that Im a very quick learner (just give me a manual and a cup of tea and I'll be an expert before you know it!)

 

i dont want to quit my current job until ive got something secured. im thinking of booking a couple of days holiday and speaking to a couple of agencies to see where I stand. ive tried web sites like Monster.co.uk and CWJobs but ive not got the experience (actual commercial experience) that theyre asking for [even tho i started writing programs when i was 5 years old :smw: )

 

what does everyone think? i simply MUST get out of the job im in at the moment. [ive got a full forklift licence too - hows that for a mixture of skills :p )

 

 

Could of written this thread myself Dave!!! I'm in the same boat as you, been in retail for about 8 years now but used to work for several computer firms before so got the experiance but like you say it moves so fast... I want out too now for the same reasons as yourself and wanna get back into the IT world... At least with my current job I still get to play with computers, do general upgrades, re-installs, trouble shoot and diagnose.. I started doing networks when I was 19 which was on the good old Novell platform doing peer to peer and server configs back on windows NT so hopefully that might count for something when I try to go back into it... Only problem is I've got nothing on paper to say I can do the job, it was all hands on and taught to me by previous engineers... Might have to go down the same route as Royal I think just to get that piece of paper..

I've been in I.T for about 15 years and absolutely hate it now :rofl:

Looking for a change to something completely different but it's hard to ignore the big pay drop I'm expecting.

I've been in I.T for about 15 years and absolutely hate it now :rofl:

Looking for a change to something completely different but it's hard to ignore the big pay drop I'm expecting.

 

Ok Cool!!! Job swop then!!! :D