Career in IT? Never too late?

[magicfairy]

But its never too late. My only advice would be to spend the extra time getting more quals. MCSE as a minimum and even CCNA to put you above the rest of the entry level pack. No need to do courses, just study online cram brain dumps and just pay to sit the exams. Its just a piece of paper after all.

MCSE qualifications (and MCSA) no longer exist in the server 2008 track. It is now MCTS (Techology specialist) and MCITP (IT Professional) in various specialist tracks. Messaging, Vista, Server 08...Go for these, 1 exam per MCTS qual.

Also most good employers who can give you good experience are wary of people with no experience but lots of pieces of paper and will want to see evidence of real world skills. Because MCSE used to be so easy on NT4.
No one is going to let you near servers, routers with no experience.

[Ixion]

I "got into" IT before it was IT. And before qualifications existed.

By and large it's a pretty good life. I get paid (a pittance, I'm just a poor old man, but it keeps me in week old mouldy bread crusts) to more or less listen to one set of people telling me lies, then listen to another set of people telling me that set A are lying and then listen to set B tell me more lies. Then go back to set A and tell them what set B said. And vice versa. And then when they're all lied out I let C know to put in a bid, cos he's honest and doesn't need to lie.

That, and surf the net. And, occasionally freak out uber max and frantically fix stuff. Like war, 90% boredom, 10% sheer terror. But you do gain fascinating insights into the boundless stupidity of most people.

You do need to like finding that everything you know is irrelevant, every year. You need to be a quick learner and have a pretty flexible mind.

But it does depend what you mean by "IT". The term is now like "engineering", it covers a vast multitude .

I've not found age to be a handicap. Though there is probably a correlation as someone else noted that assumes age=experience.. The Sid Dabsters are pretty much in demand. Actually , a visit to the character gallery at Ufie might be a good idea - they pretty much cover the IT spectrum, pick which one suits you.

Oh, and whatever you do, a fascination with meaningless and incomprehensible error codes is a BIG help

EDIT: Oh, yeah, and a bottomless capacity for caffeine , and a willingness to sometimes work 48 hours at a stretch are essentials.

[Dave-]

if some of the 40 year old customers I've met in retail told me they were going into IT I'd be very worried.

"oh so the cpu [pointing at the tower] doesnt come with the screen? [pointing at the monitor]"

"i need a ubs cable for my h and p printer"

or my personal favourite, the 40 year old customer with early alzheimers'

"i need a thing....that...is a printer...and makes...copies.....and....ah....", "you want a printer copier scanner?", "what? ahh yeah....do you have those?", "there's one sitting on the shelf less than 2ft from your head"

[Ixion]

..
No one is going to let you near servers, routers with no experience.

And once you have the experience, no way are you going to want to go near them!. Vicious brutes.

[ManDownUnder]

Yeah well....

IT is great! Ex DBA, Ex Sys Admin, no related formal quals to my name (BSc etc... I do have a business degree and 4 years time in the field as well as an ok brain working with this stuff).

Be prepared to get your quals, then serve your time as an apprentice... it took me 8 years to really get up to speed with most of what's going around around me. I crossed to the dark side (Sales) and with the combo of experience, business training, brains, sparkling personality and some goood fortune I do quite nicely thanks all the same.

Each to their own, but if you like fixing stuff then IT's not a bad place to be. I'd liken it to being a doctor. Do your general studies, then if you want to carry on to a specialist field the investment is needed but returns are pretty good.

[RantyDave]

If hypothetically, someone was in their mid 40's and decided bollocks to this, I'd like to give IT a crack as a career, what would someones best options be?

Try to get into project management. It's the second best paid branch of the industry (first being the evil mill owner) and you don't need to know stuff all about technology because the army of geeks you're supposed to be managing will not stop telling you what you need to know.

Dave

[RantyDave]

Microsoft is by far the easiest route and you can get a globally recognised qualification by ticking a few boxes.

Being just one of the reasons the remainder of the IT industry detests all this Microsoft crap.

OTOH, many hundreds of thousands of people are working really really hard to have it all be irrelevant within ten years. Hurrah! But in all likelihood the vast armada of cup-holder-fixers and their assorted pointy haired bosses will continue to persuade senior management that another $5M "upgrade" to whatever nightmare Redmond have unleashed upon us this time is a good idea because it means they get to keep their jobs. Booo!

Oh, and there is no progress. Do not look for progress in the IT industry.

Dave

[jrandom]

Actually, I really just wanted to be a lumberjack.

[James Deuce]

It's the buttered scones for teas, isn't it?

[bungbung]

More the acceptance in the community, the appreciation of diversity.
Not much of that in IT

[hdus001]

Lots of good advice there - Bear in mind that to do well in an IT job you have to be very skilled at what you do and constantly learning as well. Theres no such thing as an "IT expert"..its too vague a term and too vast a field for anyone to be called an expert in IT.
Chances of success in this field depends on your ability to learn and to keep up with change.
I also think that age (without the experience) *may* put one at a disadvantage - just because you'd have to keep up with young just-out-of-school geeks (and overseas geeks) who are extremely sharp and ultra eager to experiment and learn.

[James Deuce]

I also think that age (without the experience) *may* put one at a disadvantage - just because you'd have to keep up with young just-out-of-school geeks (and overseas geeks) who are extremely sharp and ultra eager to experiment and learn.

Age and experience will triumph over youth and a temporary skill advantage every time.

[Tank]

I sat back and gave this one a bit of thought.

As many have said stating something like "working in IT" is like saying working "with Bikes" you may sell them, repair them, design them, or use one to deliver parcels - there is a huge range and variety of careers available.

Im kind of a "been there - done that" kind of guy. I started out at the bottom and am currently a CIO (Chief Information Officer) international company. I do ok for $, and have a lot of challenge and professional satisfaction in my role. I love it.

The general "entry level" IT is basic "break - fix" jobs. This is generally the kind of role that people get their stereotypes of IT professionals from. This is not something I would recommend starting at 40. You wont get hired by corporates as they require a larger skill base and experience - so you end up being hired by two-bit operations paid sweet FA.

Development, project management, etc etc are options that ARE available - but there is a lot of hard work, effort to put in and experience to be gained before you get far in either. BOTH require a natural aptitude for that kind of work.

My main question is - what are the kind of things you enjoying doing? Then look at the options (in and out of IT) that fit with that.

If you say "computers ARE my hobby" - then forget IT as a career - reality is substantially different from playing.

Another thing to think about is that if you are changing career you generally start at the bottom again - and it takes time to work your way up (and its getting harder) - this means you probably have to take a drop in wages whilst you learn new skills and gain experience - this puts a strain on families and the "being the junior" when you are 40 can be hard personally.



-Tank

[avgas]

You're 12 aren't you? Let me know when the reality hits and I'll help you get through it. Lots of riding works,

Haha brilliant - your awesome.
Couldn't have said it better myself. Good thing im not a professional motorbike mechanic - cos if i did that for a living and hated my job what would i have left to keep me alive lol

[rachprice]

Well not too sure on IT but going into any type of training in middle age can be very successful. You have life experience that all the kids straight out of school wont have for the next 20 years (which is invaluable) you cant teach it!
Good luck for whatever you choose to do, my advice is if you aren't happy in your job definitely get out! Even if it isn't IT?