Career change. Where to start

[flanajb]

Having spent the last 15 years having worked in IT in the banking sector, I have reached the stage where I feel I cannot continue in this souless industry. Writing IT systems has also lost it's appeal.

The trouble I have is that I have no idea what it is I want to go and do. The main aim for wanting to move on is that every day/month/year I sit here writing cr!p software is a waste of my time on this planet and the day I do decide to move on, the pay cheques stop and I have nothing to show for the fruits of my effort.

A bit deep I know, but I am desperate to get out, but am struggling to work out how best to achieve it.

If anyone else, has done this then I would be very interested to hear your story.

 

[cambournepete]

I share your pain.
We're oving to New Zealand soon in the hope IT seems less painful and soulless.

Have you looked at IT in another area - NHS, charity or local government perhaps when at least you're not helping the bankers?

 

[kmcleod]

OK,,,hands up how many people work in IT, and frankly wish they didnt ?

 

[flanajb]

I share your pain.
We're oving to New Zealand soon in the hope IT seems less painful and soulless.

Have you looked at IT in another area - NHS, charity or local government perhaps when at least you're not helping the bankers?

I am not sure whether another industry will help. Can't get the old adage "same sh!t different firm" out of my head.

Problem is made harder as I am the only bread winner and the Wife and Daughter rely on me to bring home the money

 

[cambournepete]

I share your pain.
We're oving to New Zealand soon in the hope IT seems less painful and soulless.

Have you looked at IT in another area - NHS, charity or local government perhaps when at least you're not helping the bankers?

I am not sure whether another industry will help. Can't get the old adage "same dung different firm" out of my head.

Problem is made harder as I am the only bread winner and the Wife and Daughter rely on me to bring home the money

You sure you're not me :!: :?:

 

[cambournepete]

OK,,,hands up how many people work in IT, and frankly wish they didnt ?

Most of us?

 

[Cheshirechappie]

I had a mate who moved from (vaguely) IT related work in the engineering industry to an IT role in the NHS, and wished he hadn't. Morale was abysmal where he ended up.

That's not a pop at the NHS - I suspect that all large organisations become soulless places to work, unless you're the type that enjoys office politics and climbing the career ladder. The problem for most people is that once you've got mortgage and family commitments, giving up a regular wage is a VERY scary step.

If rounds of redundancy are on the cards, might be worth sticking things out until you can get a chance of a lump sum. If not, there are three things you can do - research, research and research. Minimise your outgoings so that you can live on fresh air if you have to, and look around for something you really, REALLY believe in - if you believe in it, you'll make a success of it. Expect to take about ten years to make a success of it.

If that's too scary, then it might be best to bite the bullet, put up with the drudgery of being a wage slave, and enjoy the weekends and holidays. Self employment, and life in the private sector generally, is no picnic these days.

 

[flanajb]

I share your pain.
We're oving to New Zealand soon in the hope IT seems less painful and soulless.

Have you looked at IT in another area - NHS, charity or local government perhaps when at least you're not helping the bankers?

I am not sure whether another industry will help. Can't get the old adage "same dung different firm" out of my head.

Problem is made harder as I am the only bread winner and the Wife and Daughter rely on me to bring home the money

You sure you're not me :!: :?:

I think we must be very similar. I was granted my Aussie visa in 2010 and was hoping that was going to be my escape route, but given how expensive the cost of living in Australia has become for non mining related jobs I don't thnk we will end up going.

All I can say is that it's a damn headache and causing me undue stress worrying about how I am wasting my life sitting looking at a computer screen. Modern day slavery

 

[treds1]

OK,,,hands up how many people work in IT, and frankly wish they didnt ?

+1

 

[flanajb]

OK,,,hands up how many people work in IT, and frankly wish they didnt ?

+2

 

[Phil Pascoe]

:roll: I suspect 90% of people have jobs they detest!

 

[Dibs-h]

-1.

I work in IT (software side). Solving the issues\problems that form part and parcel of what I do, is mentally very challenging but also very rewarding. And I do enjoy it very much and bloody good at it!

I have a very portable and in demand set of skills, so the "slavery" only lasts as long as I am willing to tolerate it. Having no skills or not very portable ones - now that would suck and be true slavery.

I'm grateful life has afforded me this. I think it's about perspective - I "Work to Live", screw "Live to Work" [not saying you or anyone here does!] And I spent a long part of my life in crappy jobs. But at the end of the day - "I'd shovel horse manure" if it payed my bills, etc. and stopped me from worrying myself to death about the expected & unexpected bills.

Don't get me wrong - my day job isn't all happiness & roses, some days I have to stop myself from wrapping a chair round someone's head! :roll: I don't expect to find happiness\fulfillment at the day job. Seeing my children grow up (every day\night) and my wife not grow old (before her time) from money related stresses and all the crap that comes from not having money or not enough - that's happiness.

Dibs

 

[Woody Alan]

FWIW, I was a telecoms engineer, 35 years loved my job, pressure but not stress, physical and mental stimulation, hands on installing every type of equipment fibre based, copper, co-ax etc, then after the ADSL boom which I also installed and commissioned there was a slump as they decided not to invest in a new switch network and let the existing switch lumber on. I became surplus along with many others, found my way into a fibre planning office job. Little did I know how boring it would be. I self taught myself VBA to take some of the drudgery out of it,automating word from excel etc the only reason I have a job is because they are not clever enough to link all the systems together to automate it.
I have thought many times about packing it in, but at 52 it's just not realistic, and time goes faster at this age. Yep I just look at these screens thinking I must be able to contribute more but only if someone wants me to, and apparently they don't. So I just sit tight and tell myself one day they'll realise they need proper engineers again, dream on.

I guess what I am trying to say is don't jump ship unless you know what you are aiming for at least. I know people from NHS, oil industry, and they say the same thing same **** different day. I am also realistic enough to know it's probably too late to find the enthusiasm to learn new stuff. Work that makes me happy I could never earn enough to support the family, so I carry on as most of us do, at least I'm not in a call centre...yet.

Alan

 

[Eric The Viking]

Yup: I'm in IT, but would rather be out.

The trouble is I was thoroughly spoilt earlier in life, with two long-term jobs that were thoroughly enjoyable - broadcasting and then a large US computer company. The latter went stale, and I wasn't sad to be made redundant (it's a pale shadow now of what it was when I joined it), but so much fun has gone from the industry.

I'm very blessed in that my wife has a well-paid job she likes, and I can bring in less than I used to, and to an extent pick things I enjoy doing. But I couldn't do that if I was still the family breadwinner.

Regarding Austrailia or NZ - I'd be off like a shot if I was younger and fit enough to pass the medicals. Cost of living isn't everything - an independently-minded society and belief in the individual's responsibility for themselves (i.e. a small state) rate very highly in my view. That's not to say you shouldn't help those in need, but that the best places in the world are those where people are encouraged to take responsibility for themselves, not sponge, and where you can still tell the difference between countryside and suburbia. But then I've never enjoyed being 'urban man'.

If you can go, do it. This place isn't going to get better any time soon.

E.

 

[SteveB43]

+ another for IT and in the Financial sector.
however, the job I'm in is fairly portable between organisations (even if it's taking a little longer now to move than it did, due to economic climate, age, change in organisations and a reduction in the places that are actually worth working for...)
I view it is the bread'n'butter drivers that pays for everything else. Jumping ship is a lovely option but in good old IT terms, a parallel run almost always leads to a better project outcome than a straight transition.
ie Could you start a business part time doing something, or set yourself time aside (one evening or so a week) for doing something you want to do.

I do at least one evening per week in the workshop either planning that redesign, practicing techniques or it's boring but a must, doing sharpening!

I think it's about getting the balance back, or at least on the way there...

Good luck!

 

[JakeS]

I am not sure whether another industry will help. Can't get the old adage "same dung different firm" out of my head.

I was programming payroll software (working ultimately for a huge American multinational) for eight and a half years - started out tolerable, but the last year or two had me seriously considering pursuing a career in something completely different. There were a few good people at work on both sides of the Atlantic, but mostly the whole thing was awful.

About a year ago I started work at a small local company doing software for the food industry, and while there's always an annoying element of the job that will never change, I think I can honestly say that the last year has been the happiest one of my working life.

I suspect that the "small organisation" part of it is more relevant than the "different industry" part (although learning new processes and practices is certainly refreshing) - I know everyone in the company (previously there were people even in the same building I couldn't name), I sit opposite one of the directors every day, who's also involved in the day-to-day rather than sunning himself on a golf course somewhere, my input is valued, and it's just generally more fulfilling.

By which I mean to say: don't completely write off the notion of finding another IT job somewhere else - no two companies are completely alike, and there are good places to work out there.



(That said - if jobs were nothing but fun and games, they wouldn't have to pay us to do them. ;-))

 

[thick_mike]

About five years ago I was working in the automotive industry as a technical manager for a paint supplier. It was a good job with prospects, but the prospects were in Germany or the USA and my family weren't. I took voluntary redundancy and retrained as a Chemistry teacher. Grant, golden hello, student loan meant I could finance the year it took and save half of my redundancy (which was about a years salary).

The training year was as hard as I have worked in my life, but also the most fun! At the end of the year I walked into a job at a great school with fantastic kids. Started at the top of the main pay scale. Since then I have never regretted my move for one moment. Working with inspiring and challenging kids every day is a privilege, no two days the same. Very hard work, but you can see the good that you do every day in front of you.

School holidays off, but work like a bugger during term time. A DT department full of great kit.

They're changing the IT curriculum to include more programming and the IT teachers don't know how to teach it because they've never done it, just Microsoft office. You'd be in a strong negotiating position. At our school we've had two out of three heads of IT being new teachers in their first year.

Moving from your comfort zone is very scary, especially when you have a family to support, but it can work out.

 

[Dibs-h]

About a year ago I started work at a small local company doing software for the food industry, and while there's always an annoying element of the job that will never change, I think I can honestly say that the last year has been the happiest one of my working life.

I suspect that the "small organisation" part of it is more relevant than the "different industry" part (although learning new processes and practices is certainly refreshing) - I know everyone in the company (previously there were people even in the same building I couldn't name), I sit opposite one of the directors every day, who's also involved in the day-to-day rather than sunning himself on a golf course somewhere, my input is valued, and it's just generally more fulfilling.

By which I mean to say: don't completely write off the notion of finding another IT job somewhere else - no two companies are completely alike, and there are good places to work out there.

(That said - if jobs were nothing but fun and games, they wouldn't have to pay us to do them. ;-))

I've worked for large'ish firms most of my life and they have been a "ball-ache". I've been working for a small'ish firm now for almost 5 yrs and it has been a breath of fresh air. Some difficult time\s too in the early days, but here everyone is a name & not a number and my input is valued - that has certainly got to be a big plus.

For almost all of the 5yrs, my work has been for the BI team, even tho I reported to the IT Dept. At the beginning of this year, I instigated a change of reporting line to the BI team & it has been fantastic. Wish I'd done it far earlier!

Dibs

 

[flanajb]

One of the main problems I seem to be facing is a confidence one. Working in front office IT means you work with very smart people who have massive egos. At the age of 40, I don't having anything to prove and can't be bothered with any of that.

The problem with IT programming is that the industry never stops evolving. The technologies you used 5 years ago to write a software application will be different to what you would use now. Most people in IT seem to what to use new stuff just for the sake of it. If the same happened in woodworking, you would be replacing your machinery every 2-3 years for some other stuff. So if you don't live and breathe programming, then it is easy to become a bit of a dinosaur :-(

Ideally, a job that enabled me to be out and about meeting people would be one I would like. Sitting at the same desk 9 hours a day 5 days a week has lost its appeal.

If you can think of a role that would suit a Java programmer with 14 years experience that enables me to be out and about meeting people then answers on a postcard.

Thanks

 

[UTMonkey]

I know exactly what the OP means, you feel as if you have to retrain every time some new technology comes along.

I got off that particular roundabout 4 years ago to get into management of IT projects, to be honest it sounds like a chap with your experience would do really well.

I don't probably need to tell you how some so called managers don't have a clue, your skills in the management sphere would be valuable.

Mark