How to successfully transition out of IT at age 40+?
How to successfully transition out of IT at age 40+?
As stated in the title. I've worked in IT for over 15 years despite having no related degree.
I've been closing tickets nonstop at my current company for almost 10 years. After several restructurings and shuffling of higher posts, it has become clear to me that while this employer isn't the worst out there, I will never be internally promoted or have my job duties changed if I don't leave.
Worse, ever since Covid I've started falling out of love with IT and computers in general. I used to be stoked to learn about all the new developments in tech, nowadays, not so much - the only "innovation" I've seen in the last 10 years was companies trying to make absolutely everything a fucking subscription model. Now I honestly don't know nor care what's in the newest tech stack, how security has evolved,... I just want my shit to work and not having to worry about everything under the hood.
So getting another helpdesk- or related job seems out of the question for mental health reasons.
What would be another niche or industry where someone with an analytical mind and a greatly developed loathing for corporate mooching could find their spot in the coming two decades or so?
I've long since accepted that I'll never be able to climb any ladders anywhere since I never had the right contacts or stayed long enough, so it would likewise have to be something I could mentally and physically endure being in the bottom rungs of for the aforementioned duration.
Have you considered how you might feel about IT in other contexts? For example, in an academic environment, in a library, at a small nonprofit, etc. I ask because my job (data analysis and technical writing office work) varies drastically across types of businesses and I find that I prefer working around academics.
Or a different layer of IT. Solution architect is great if you like to analyze problems and have broad scope for the right solution.
Yeah, being on a Helpdesk sucks no matter where you are. Getting into enterprise IT is much better.
I kinda wanna see what Data Analytics would be like at smaller companies, but having a permanent and stable job... I don't really want to risk it.
Trades.
If you live in USA, then the Inflation Reduction Act is about to create a bunch of new jobs in heat pumps and solar panels installation. Consider pursuing HVAC or electrician certifications. Solar panel installers also need analytical number crunchers for site assessment.
ContactingContracting and construction.Either being the company’s IT/technology admin or building automation / temperature control systems programmer. It utilizes all of your current IT knowledge while creating new skills in HVAC mechanical technologies.
I’ll hire you if you’re in the NYC metropolitan/Long Island areas.
You may already know this, but it sounds like you’ve burned out. It happens. It doesn’t have to be debilitating. Getting away from what’s burning you out is a step in the right direction, so good for you for recognizing it before things got really bad for you.
You could make a list of skills you feel would make you marketable (don’t worry about what kind of job you’re looking for; just make your list of skills). Things like “able to multitask”, “organization skills, “analytical”, “problem solver”, etc come to mind. Make your list as long as you want. This will be your reference when you start trying to determine which job you want to go to next.
Look up open jobs in your area that match any of your skills. Don’t worry about whether you’re “qualified” or not. If the skills being asked for match any of the skills you have, list it. Once you have your list, sort it by how interesting the job sounds to you (again, ignore any doubt of qualification).
Rewrite your resume/cv so that you highlight your matching skills with their requirements, and then apply for the job. Create folders/labels in your email client and keep everything filed away neatly.
I know that’s pretty specific, but the idea is to a) help you look for another job, and 2) give yourself something structured to do while it’s healing from the burnout.
I’d also strongly recommend, if you can, try to take a week or two off between jobs so you can tend yourself both physically and mentally.
Good luck op! Keep us posted.
From experience, you go into it management.
I'm surprised you haven't been able to move internally or had any career advancement in 10+ years. That's on you I think, but it's not too late
Company always brings in people from the mother holding for management roles. People have started noticing and jumping ship.
That’s honestly part of the reason I moved into management. I can ensure that my pay keeps going up, and I don’t always have to understand the minutia of every tech change. I can still learn the basic concepts, and work to develop my team so no individual is doing it all. This also in turn helps them grow too.
I'm on a similar boat. I've worked in IT programming for almost 10 yrs, and I also got no related degree (I once started a graduation but I didn't finish due to moving, disillusionment and COVID as well).
I've been unemployed for 4 months, and I kind of gave up trying to find a new IT job, switching to seek non-IT jobs. However, I found a hilarious situation where my CV "is too good" to fit non-IT jobs. I had to come up with a new, simpler CV where I omitted most of my past IT experiences, as well as omitting my incomplete graduation. So far, I couldn't find a job. To make matters worse, I'm facing depression and I had to stop my treatment (both the therapies and the medications) because it's a non-free thing, so I'm dealing with untreated depression while unemployment can be potentially worsening for my mental health. It's a fire and gasoline combination waiting to boom as I can't find something to find myself worthy to continue living.
IT programming
As in, software development? Because if you see any kind of needs gap out there, you have the opportunity to fill that gap. It may take some time, but plenty of people make a modest living out of personally-constructed SAAS.
As in, software development?
That's right. Software and web development.
Because if you see any kind of needs gap out there, you have the opportunity to fill that gap.
The thing is that I'm not really sure if I still want to proceed with an IT career. I mean, I'm a developer since my 8s (i'm now 30), but it became tiresome to me after dealing with systems carrying lots of technical debts from past developers. I got burnout in the past, depression came from anxiety which, in turn, came from that very burnout. Furthermore, for IT positions, professional networking is a must, something that, as an introvert, I didn't really build. So when I apply for a job vacancy, I'm just another "anybody" in the eyes of that business.
I'm curious about this, because I have always found every niche I thought I had occupied already, and the idea of trying to start up and beat someone else out felt like a lot difficult proposition for a solo developer without marketing budget or experience.
My dad was in this exact same place in his fifties. He eventually found various odd jobs, a lot of them in construction, to pay for his hobbies. He eventually got hood enough at Tango that he's now a fairly accomplished tango teacher.
I feel like if you leave a job by lack of passion, your next job must be of passion, otherwise you'll just end up quitting again. I don't think us giving you fields that are hiring makes any sense, in my opinion it is up to you to find a thing you'd actually enjoy doing.
Well, the things I would like to do require new education to the tune of a full bachelor's or masters, which I have neither the funds nor time for.
If I somehow were to come into money, I would definitely do this. As is though, I'll have to make do with less lofty goals. Thanks for the insight though!
If you do have interest in pursuing more education, many employers in the US offer some tuition reimbursement, usually about $5k per year. If your current employer does not, you could look for a similar role at a company that offers this, then sign up for a program that is offered online and asynchronous. I've heard some IT people are able to work multiple jobs simultaneously while meeting their metrics, so you could potentially knock out some of your school work when you have free time during the day.
PLC automation and programming.
All the fancy computer controlled industrial equipment.
Just curious - what all certifications might be required there? Seems there’d be some to ensure equipment isn’t injuring people?
I honestly don't know. It's just something that requires a lot of programming and logical flow knowledge. So I imagine that skills would translate well. I don't work in that field, but it's an area of tech that isn't talked about much and aligns with other mechanical proclivities.
Lots of certification programs found from a simple search in DDG.
It would really depend. PLCs are used in a lot of different fields. And each field probably wants something different.
I don't have useful advice, but congrats on recognising your burnout; it's a big step to recognise you're wanting to make such a change, and I wish you all the best in your quest
A sidestep into cloud administration, Salesforce and the like could be good? Similar skillet but ultimately all of the heavy troubleshooting and downtime critical problems are outsourced to the SAAS vendor and you'll probably have a paid support contract with the vendor to hawk what you don't want to deal with onto. I stumbled into it as the best role I could land following a layoff and it's been extremely chill as all of the really nasty stuff is the vendor's problem but plenty of fun project work and poking at technical challenges for me. On the other hand I'm not yet at a point of feeling burnt out or waning passion so I'm just tired of everything being so far from the wire and generally feeling "fake" and like my changes have zero meaning
I'm definitely watching this post since I've watched family members get burnt out and change careers unsuccessfully and want to keep an exit strategy in mind at all times so I don't find myself as burnt out
it sounds like i was in your position almost 2 years before covid hit and i think that mattered because i cluelessly decided to pursue software development and i was told by a few hiring managers in interviews that they were scraping the bottom of the barrel in hiring software developers during covid. in my ignorance i didn't realize how difficult it is to get a software developer position and i think covid is the only thing that ended my 2 year long job search; given the lack of responses in my applications over the last year.
ever since then, i've learned that it's more unstable career field if you don't have faang or ivy league or really good connections on your resume. if i had the ability: i would engage in much more networking.
i had to move away from silicon valley to a place where the bar was low enough to let me get a software developer position and also where corporations were being enticed by low taxes rates that created an artificially bigger need for software developers: austin, texas. the bar was low during covid and the bar is still lower compared to silicon valley, but getting narrower seemingly.
i'm also finding out that the almost 20 year old work history in my resume in IT & Software Development is atleast getting some people's attention when I apply now a days to IT jobs; but not in the tech hubs of this country and most of their pay rates haven't been updated since 2008.
silicon valley work tenures tend to run so much shorter than the rest of the country's that it becomes a problem for employers far away from silicon valley if you list your work history past 5 years.