Career Change Help - Accounting to IT

DCFC79

I was mislead about working in IT by my college, we were told that we could get a job in IT after completing our Btec diploma, none of us are in any IT jobs, its a farce on the colleges part,

maninthestreet

There are thousands of redundant, well qualified IT professionals currently looking for work.

Percy1983

maninthestreet wrote: »

There are thousands of redundant, well qualified IT professionals currently looking for work.

Its getting the same in accounting, I am currently in a temporay job and getting nothing when it comes to perm work, I have a great CV but I am not even getting replies when applying for jobs.

Dare I say being cheap and competant could actually work in my favour in the current job market, replacing highly paid IT staff with cheap trainee's isn't unheard of.

cpdc1030

If you can combine your Accounting and IT skills that is the best bet career and salary wise. I.e. tech support for an accounting firm or support on accounting systems such as Sage.

I've always found that paper certifications such as CCNA, MCSE, CNE etc only matter at larger organisations. At smaller companies <200 people they're usually looking for someone who is keen, customer focused and quick to learn (can think on their feet). The technical stuff is quite easy to pick up once you're working with the stuff every day.

London_Exile

Just want to throw my thoughts into this thread;

Right now the whole IT industry is a real mess; sadly, most companies see their IT department as being outside their core business area's - so when the bad times come they tend to be the first casualty of any "re-structuring" that occurs. Consequently the market is now at the stage where there are now more IT'ers than there are jobs, which in turn pushes down salaries and hourly rates. Right now is not the time to make the switch as you would be starting at the bottom, with no commercial experience.

If you still think it's what you want then have a look at the Comptia certs; A+, N+ (new Exams for the A+ and N+ are released in the next month or so), S+, etc. They are good certs and well regarded. One word though about certs like the CCNA or MCSE; Unless you are actively using the technologies that they cover don't attempt them. If you pass - you will have peice of paper saying you can pass an exam. Not that you can actually do the job. As MickW said; the MCDST is a good cert to have a look at as it's directly tied to doing desktop support work.

Have you thought about trying to do some volunantry work in IT? It's a good way of getting experience and always looks good on your CV - the fact that you have gone out of your way to gain experience without getting paid for it. This might be your best option until things pick up.

mluton

I made the move back in November last year after doing 11 years continuous service in engineering and moved into IT.

No qualifications at all, just years of personal experience and just popped it all on my CV.

LOVE IT!

Percy1983

Good thought on the voluuntary side of things. I actuall volunteer with a local primary school right now. As it is they have an IT person one day a week. Right now I have work but if the worse happens and I am out of work they will be more than happy to let me come and sort things out for them.

I think the whole job market is going wrong right now so I am not gong to worry to much.

It does seem the A+ and N+ are next on my agenda, they won't cost much and should really help. It has been mentioned they are coming up with new exams, would it be worth waiting?

Hagar_uk

samr wrote: »

Could you look at application support for accounting software?
If your company uses accounting software, do they have a support contract? If so, maybe that's a place to start.

I would echo this. IT support is regarded by most comapnies as a cost they could do without. IT work involved in physical side of PCs is very low paid nowerdays. Good wages only come from nowing the software niche products very well

I would try and keep an eye out for jobs with accounting software companies, for roles in tech support, or installtion/training. In these kind of companies knowing accountancy and having an good general IT interest/skills will be far better than an expereinced IT person who has great knowledge of IT software which is not relevant to accountancy products sold.

I work in an IT related job, for company selling into non IT customers. Having a background in the industry we sell into, is a real bonus. In fact one company I worked with all the support team cam from the industry rather than through IT route.