| Author | Message | ||
     Fltwistygirl |
Ok, we've been asking around, trying to get some direction, and I figured it could not hurt to put it out here, since there's a lot of way smarter people than me that hang out here. Mr. Twisty had a career change earlier this year. After 20 some years in the restaurant industry, he bailed and overall is quite happy with the improved quality of life. His new company has tuition reimbursement, and he is strongly considering going back to school, maybe not initially for a degree, but for certifications. The question is, which ones are gonna get him the best R.O.I. on his time? One of my good friends is an I.T. director and thinks he should take an intro level programming class to see if he likes it and has the aptitude for it. I guess that lends itself pretty well to working remotely? He has previous hardware and current software experience, and is working for an I.T. support firm with some growth potential, and we are ready to start moving forward and growing. He has always been the "go to" guy for computer issues at work, no matter what industry he was in. Optimally, we'd like to have the flexibility for him to work remotely so he can enjoy spending time with us and his family when I teach in MN during the summer. Ideas? Thanks in advance. BeLinda. | ||
| Kag |
I work DoD and our IT people are GS11 level. They change parts and block porn....everything else is contracted out. If I had known what I know now I would have partied more, blown off college and skipped the professional Lic and went IT. All tongue in cheek aside.....yes its a good growth field. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
BeLinda, I've been in IT my entire career. My suggestion would be to investigate networking instead of programming. Lots of programming being outsourced, not so much for network savvy professionals. Start out with basic Cisco classes and certifications. Depending if he wants to go the corporate corporate route instead of smaller businesses, he may also want to check out Microsoft server certifications. Another REALLY hot area is virtualization. The folks that I know (many) that are VM Ware black belts are making ridicules amounts of $$ depending on where they are located. Most I know are in the 6 figures. Same for black belt network folks. Both areas are sometimes tough to get into but it's worth it. Most of what you learn is on the job, most classes or certifications cannot teach what really goes on. | ||
| Slowride |
I too have been in IT for most of my career. I am an IT Infrastructure Program Manager. The up n coming areas within IT are Security(i.e. network) and Big Data. As a Project Manager and or Program Manager I can work in any of the up n coming areas as long as I am willing to learn the tech that goes with it. I would highly suggest your IT Dir friend leverage his current skillset to go after the PMP community. He should be able to maintain his standard of living in the process. The same goes for anyone else looking to get into the IT game with decent skills. Project Management is where it all comes together. (Message edited by slowride on September 04, 2013) | ||
| Slyuly |
Long story short I went back to school at age 35, seen a commercial for a tech school's night course "Invest 18 months and change your life". I was a swimming pool mechanic and worked in a factory and figured I might be good at fixing computers, the course had classes in networking, hardware and in programming. Turns out programming was a natural fit for me. took my first programming job the week after graduating and 13 years later I'm a SR Database Administrator. A year ago I took a lead DBA position at a new company and turns out one of my classmates from the technical school who was also doing a mid life career change is a lead network administrator there. Two guys, same course, different paths, same outcome. | ||
| Buewulf |
Network, information systems and data fall under my umbrella at an oilfield services company. A good network / infrastructure guy is very valuable. Combining that with some solid SQL server certification and experience is a good start. That isn't the best option for a work-from-home strategy, but it can be learned fairly quickly; and a four-year degree isn't as important as it can be in some other IT disciplines when it comes to reaching some of the higher pay grades. Hosted environments and applications is a huge and still rapidly growing trend right now. Programming is a good home job, but few things are more costly than hiring an inexperienced or bad programmer. They need a massive track record and some serious cross-disciplinary experience before I'd even speak to one. It is also the easiest expertise in my opinion to farm out globally. (I use a fantastic one who lives in Oman.) | ||
| Uly_man |
I wish Mr. Twisty well. One thing though is if it can be done remotely by you it can also be done by someone else if cheaper and a VAST amount of it is these days IE India. Also what may be good in IT now may not be so in two years time. One example is web design. It was good money 15 years ago but now you can just buy a prog package which needs no special skills for basic/normal stuff. It may be worth trying to find something that has some "legs" to it if you go the IT route. I do not know the skills market in the USA but what I do know is that any "hands on" job can not be done on line. What you need to do is something like Skype. The part that makes Skype work is already in Windows. The clever bit was to make a "bolt on" prog that made it easy for people to use. And THAT is how you make money in IT. I wish I had thought of it, lol. Good luck. | ||
| Britchri10 |
SQL, Microsoft Cert's and basic programming. Then get into the Electronic Medical Record side of Healthcare. The Gov't gave $$$ to medical org's to upgrade to an EMR system. it's a growing field and more & more org's are going to be taking it on in the near to mid-term. Probably not a "remote" job but it pays well and is sure to be a growing field. good luck. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Security threats are hostile and adaptive, so if you are in that field you are guaranteed to always have people around you that very much need help, generally in a hurry and in flexible ways with different problems. So there will always be a need, and it is difficult to outsource. It can get hard though, people who do things you told them not to do are then angry that you couldn't bail them out completely or cheaply after they did it and got popped. So often it's like the "EMT trying to help a combative patient with a head injury" kind of thing. For sure not for everyone. I agree that programming is REALLY easy to outsource. There are niches to be successful for sure, but the bulk of the work has gone away, at least for the major industrial "code for a year to build a product" situations. The closer you are to a service industry type model, the better you will do. Kind of a "here is a problem I don't have the time to entirely understand, but I need you to go figure out what I really need and then just solve it for me)" scenario. *That* is hard to outsource. Heck, it's hard to insource. | ||
| Uly_man |
"The closer you are to a service industry type model, the better you will do. Kind of a "here is a problem I don't have the time to entirely understand, but I need you to go figure out what I really need and then just solve it for me)" scenario. *That* is hard to outsource. Heck, it's hard to insource". Welcome to MY world. I hate it now but at least it pays the beer bills. | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
Wow, some great info here! Thanks all for your input and please keep it coming. "If I had known what I know now I would have partied more, blown off college and skipped the professional Lic and went IT." I'm guessing many people who just kinda stumbled into IT jobs feel that way. I've known several who either got wildly unrelated degrees (i.e. sociology, photography) who discovered they had a knack for something IT related, and look back wondering why they didn't choose IT in the first place. Maybe we need to do a better job of making sure our kids have the aptitude for their chosen field before we plunk down big bucks on college tuition. "My suggestion would be to investigate networking instead of programming. Lots of programming being outsourced, not so much for network savvy professionals" Yeah, the outsourcing piece is definitely a concern. It's a sad reality of the world in which we live. "I would highly suggest your IT Dir friend leverage his current skillset to go after the PMP community." I will mention that to him the next time I talk to him. "A year ago I took a lead DBA position at a new company and turns out one of my classmates from the technical school who was also doing a mid life career change is a lead network administrator there. Two guys, same course, different paths, same outcome." That is very cool! I imagine there's many more mid-life career changing "non-trads" in the classroom now than when I was in college. "A good network / infrastructure guy is very valuable. Combining that with some solid SQL server certification and experience is a good start. That isn't the best option for a work-from-home strategy, but it can be learned fairly quickly; and a four-year degree isn't as important as it can be in some other IT disciplines when it comes to reaching some of the higher pay grades. Hosted environments and applications is a huge and still rapidly growing trend right now." Thanks for that info. The work from home thing would be a nice benefit, but is not a deal-breaker. He'd still be able to come with us for part of the summer if he got in with a company that had a reasonable PTO policy. "I wish Mr. Twisty well. One thing though is if it can be done remotely by you it can also be done by someone else if cheaper and a VAST amount of it is these days IE India." Thanks and you are absolutely correct, although I've heard in manufacturing, some companies have concluded that the resources used to managed these outsourced jobs render it cost-ineffective to offshore them. It's cheaper to perform some of the work here because of mistakes made due to the language barriers. Rework is expensive. "I do not know the skills market in the USA but what I do know is that any "hands on" job can not be done on line." +1 and funny you mention that. In one meeting with a ridercoach trainer a few years back, we were told if they could design a curriculum where no feedback was needed by a living breathing person, we would all be out of jobs. Fortunately, we are a necessary part of the motor skills learning process, because I love what I do. "Then get into the Electronic Medical Record side of Healthcare. The Gov't gave $$$ to medical org's to upgrade to an EMR system. it's a growing field and more & more org's are going to be taking it on in the near to mid-term. Probably not a "remote" job but it pays well and is sure to be a growing field. good luck." Definitely worth looking into. Thanks! "The closer you are to a service industry type model, the better you will do. Kind of a "here is a problem I don't have the time to entirely understand, but I need you to go figure out what I really need and then just solve it for me)" scenario." Good thought and right up his alley. He loves a challenge, and has the patience to properly think things through. | ||
| Uly_man |
"some companies have concluded that the resources used to managed these outsourced jobs render it cost-ineffective to offshore them". Yes and they think that after firing you before you will come back with a "smiley face" and expect you to trust them again. NOT me anyway. | ||
| Indybuell |
IT Infrastructure jobs are where its at. All the application people get offshored at some point. If he has aptitude, going for the Cisco CCNA is a great first step. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I don't think even that is safe. Infrastructure is going to the cloud, and the cloud is built to need a lot less staffing (which is how it is so cost effective). Obviously, not all infrastructure will go right away, and not all infrastructure will ever go. But more and more of it is going to move, the writing is on the wall. There are opportunities there too though. A cloud solution still has to be designed, deployed, tested, maintained and managed. | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
"Yes and they think that after firing you before you will come back with a "smiley face" and expect you to trust them again. NOT me anyway." That sucks. Being pissed is justified, especially if you predicted the outcome (coming back to the people that knew the process/product best). However, there's always the golden rule: He who has the gold makes the rules. "If he has aptitude, going for the Cisco CCNA is a great first step." That is definitely worth considering. "There are opportunities there too though. A cloud solution still has to be designed, deployed, tested, maintained and managed." Yes, always. That is one very appealling aspect of IT: Ongoing change and development. Like Buell used to be and we hope EBR will continue to be  . | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Bill, I have to disagree a bit. Infrastructure of some sort will always be there. Even if all your apps and server stuff goes to the cloud you still need a network infrastructure to get there. Doesn't matter if it's wireless or wired you still need network geeks. Most enterprise apps are not accessed over the "raw" internet. Many are through tunnels to the "cloud" service. You still have the "enterprise network" that has to be maintained and protected. With all the collaboration apps in play these days and real time audio and video playing a big part the need for stable networks is paramount. Throw on QOS to support all the real time data mentioned above and you have a quite complex network. Not something that is outsourced or offshored very easily. | ||
| Buewulf |
We have 100% of our servers and enterprise applications in a dedicated cloud hosted by a 3rd-party, all of which are accessed via remote desktop or a browser for some applications. I still need a network guy to keep everything buttoned down, make changes and act on performance / resource reports from the hosting company. Most hosted server providers provide service up to a certain point, but you still need someone with network savvy to take over from there. While cloud hosting has an impact on the number of infrastructure jobs in non-IT businesses, it creates a lot of opportunities within the companies that host these servers and applications. Network / Infrastructure still gets my vote for the best IT field for a midlife change of course. Add a little SQL to that, and he'll be golden. |
