Would anyone mind offering me some IT related training/careers advice?

Toby30

I'll try and keep this brief so as not to bore anyone but I need to explain my background a little as its rather important.

I'm 32 years old and have suffered from M.E (a.k.a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) since I was 12 and it derailed my schooling quite a bit but I was able to catch up to a certain extent and got a 2.1 in American Studies at Uni a few years ago.

Due to my health I can only work part time (like 5 hours a day) and the work cant involve any great physical stress which pretty much consigns me to office type work. I've always been in to PC's but i've never trained or taught myself a specific skill such as programming, web development etc.

As i've now been out of work for almost 5 years due to the lack of part-time office type work and the competitiveness with getting those jobs i'm looking to rekindle my interest in IT.

What i'm hoping for advice on is what sort of training I might be able to do, say a year long course, that would give me a realistic chance of obtaining work part-time. If that meant working from home then thats ok too.

I'm very open minded about what field to go in to whether it be programming, web development, security, forensic computing. Which field I go in to will largely be determined by the training opportunities and part time job opportunities.

I think if I make this post any longer no one's gonna read it all so i'll stop now. Hopefully someone might be able to offer me some guidance.

Thanks

saintjammyswine

Whilst there are plenty of training opportunities out there, one hurdle for you will be funding it. Your degree will preclude you from getting many sources of funding for training athough, if you are on JSA or ESA (WRAG) you could get ESF Skills Support for Unemployment through you local FE College. This will not normally fund longer courses, usually meant for short courses to get you into employment such as Food Safety certificate to go into a catering job.

I would suggest contacting National Careers Service who provide a very good, free and impartial advice service not only about careers but also the training required to get there. Best to google them or they have someone on these boards who may well pop up soon.

InsideInsurance

Toby30 wrote: »

Due to my health I can only work part time (like 5 hours a day) and the work cant involve any great physical stress

Do you mean stress or do you mean physical exertion/ effort?

If you want stress free living then IT isnt the right route.

Do you want to be an employee or would you be happy to be self employed?

IT is traditionally long hours due to tight deadlines, DR, prod issues etc. I am sure there are some that do work part time but I cannot say that I've come across any outside of helpdesk (which really is a call centre job) in my decade of change management.

Of cause if you were to get into something like web design or development then there is much more opportunity for self employed work either working directly with end clients or as a backfill for other companies. Particularly with direct business, you agree it'll be 4 weeks and it really makes little difference to them if you are working 5 hours or 15 hours a day. Obviously the challenge is that beyond the technical skills you need to be drumming up business to keep the money coming in.

Flyonthewall

I agree with the other two posts as far as funding goes, IT being stressful and self employed opportunities.

I'm very open minded about what field to go in to whether it be programming, web development, security, forensic computing. Which field I go in to will largely be determined by the training opportunities and part time job opportunities.

These IT jobs are very different from each other. Do you actually have any experience with any of them? You say you're into PCs, do you prefer the hardware of software side? Generally I think most people enjoy one more than the other.

Before looking into any training courses (and possibly having to pay out a fair bit of money) I'd look online at the areas which interest you. Not sure how much you'll find on security or forensic computing, but I do know there are many helpful sites on programming and web development.

As far as programming goes, there are various ways to program various software applications you can create. Apps, games, general software, useful software tools (for a basic example, a calculator) and so on. There are then different languages; C++, java, flash etc.

For web development you need to look at HTML and CSS for a start. Then there's javascript, JQuery, Flash, PHP, ASP etc. With these languages you will always be learning new things, new versions of the language are developed or they're expanded and sometimes a whole new way of coding will be developed.

With both of them I think it's best to make sure you can actually progam/code the very basics and understand it.

I am good with IT related things and I can easily code an entire website but I just couldn't get my head around C++. I managed a very basic application (I think I did a calculator) for a college project but I didn't enjoy it and I quickly forgot the coding I learnt.

Perhaps without having to do a write up and being limited to what I was programming I'd be alright with the basics, but I still don't think I'd enjoy programming anything more complicated. Point is, you need to keep using what you learn so as not to forget it, there is a lot to learn and just because you like one way of programming or coding doesn't mean you'll get on with any other ways.

Not trying to put you off, just something to consider.

National_Careers_Service

An interesting read! Quite a few tips and hints on different IT careers and some really good points on things you need to consider before making a decision on which IT career path to follow. What are your thoughts so far Toby30?

I’ve read through your post a couple of times now and couldn’t help returning to the part where you mention the reasons for wanting to ‘rekindle your interest in IT’. Are you saying that if you had a part time job that fits in with your health and well-being then you wouldn’t need to look elsewhere for a career? Or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

Let’s pretend for a second that you have the luxury of choosing what happens next. We could all do with a magic wand every now and then! These are the two options on the table:

Option 1: To take a part time job as soon as possible using your current skills, qualifications and experience.

Option 2: To do some research into which IT career to follow, to study for a new IT qualification and to gain relevant experience that would enable you to get a job in a year or so.

Which one are you drawn to? Do you have a long standing interest in IT and have been thinking about it for some time or is it more a case of if Plan A isn’t working then I need to come up with Plan B? I hope you don’t think I’m trying to pull you away from the idea of working on a new career direction. After all it can be quite an exciting time in a person’s life: learning new skills, meeting new people and achieving challenging goals. But maybe your original idea could become reality with a little help, a bit more exploration and some fresh ideas. What do you think?

By the way, your post certainly wasn’t boring; it’s clearly provoked a lot of interest and definitely made me think about things from a different perspective


Good luck with your research


Tracey

tomterm8

Toby30 wrote: »

As i've now been out of work for almost 5 years ...
What i'm hoping for advice on is what sort of training I might be able to do, say a year long course, that would give me a realistic chance of obtaining work part-time. If that meant working from home then thats ok too.

Thanks

I don't think you should do this. Bluntly, in every major IT job I can think of experience and ability matters a lot more than education. And, even if you did a one year course you'd be facing people with degrees in the subject who can't get a job in it.

I'm going to say you will find it very difficult to get the experience you want in this economy without having a work history to fall back on, and most employers will want someone with the ability to work full time. Sometimes, hours are very long in any development track career.

There are jobs like IT support, helpdesk and so on where things are different.

So, I'd suggest that something else might be a better option.

Flyonthewall

tomterm8 wrote: »

I don't think you should do this. Bluntly, in every major IT job I can think of experience and ability matters a lot more than education. And, even if you did a one year course you'd be facing people with degrees in the subject who can't get a job in it.

I'm going to say you will find it very difficult to get the experience you want in this economy without having a work history to fall back on, and most employers will want someone with the ability to work full time. Sometimes, hours are very long in any development track career.

There are jobs like IT support, helpdesk and so on where things are different.

So, I'd suggest that something else might be a better option.

It is difficult to get any job. All of them want experience. I saw a basic/general admin job today where they want 5+ years experience!

However, everyone has to start somewhere.

There's nothing wrong with trying to get qualifications for a job you want to do. If nothing else, if it's a subject you enjoy then why not do a course in it? There's always the option of going for self employment too.

There's also nothing to stop the OP working towards their goal while doing another job either. Perhaps an IT one or general office job in a place where they can progress and, with the qualification(s), get the type of work they want.

Besides, who knows, things could be very different in a year.

squirrel1

Hi Toby,

I wanted to reply because I have been in a similar situation. I suffer from CFS and would recommend IT, in particular software development, as a good career choice. I now work contract as a developer/ software architect. I came into IT without any formal qualifications. IT jobs can offer lots of flexibility and you don't need a degree. I've attended and given many interviews and my experience is competency is valued much higher than formal qualifications.

There are lots of free resources on the internet to learn software development and most aspects of IT, you don't need to pay for courses, but you need to think more about what area you want to specialise in.

One thing you do have is time on your hands to learn. Lots of people in work struggle finding time to learn new technologies.

Finally, make sure you are ready to return to work. With hindsight I went back too early. Maybe really concentrate on the learning for a while. There are lots of self employed sites like odesk to get your feet wet.

DigForVictory

Can I offer a suggestion? Become a power *user* - bookkeepers are needed a few hours a day or week consistently & being happy at a screen & keyboard will help. If you can then run custom reports, you will be valued more than just in money.
If you really enjoy it, consider accountancy but don't rush until you know which bit interests you!

Toby30

Firstly, thanks to all for your feedback, I really appreciate it.

National_Careers_Service_representative wrote: »

What are your thoughts so far Toby30?

I’ve read through your post a couple of times now and couldn’t help returning to the part where you mention the reasons for wanting to ‘rekindle your interest in IT’. Are you saying that if you had a part time job that fits in with your health and well-being then you wouldn’t need to look elsewhere for a career? Or have I got the wrong end of the stick?


Which one are you drawn to? Do you have a long standing interest in IT and have been thinking about it for some time or is it more a case of if Plan A isn’t working then I need to come up with Plan B? I hope you don’t think I’m trying to pull you away from the idea of working on a new career direction. What do you think?


Tracey

Hi Tracey, thanks for taking the time respond.

At the moment i'm mostly applying for admin type jobs as they're the most obvious ones that would suit me due to my health. Unfortunately, I cant seem to even get an interview due to my lack of experience and the fact that every part time admin job receives about 100 applicants.

Admin is certainly not my first choice for career and nor is IT to be honest, i'd much rather have a job working with people, but I'm quickly running out of ideas on how to get back in to work which is why i've been giving IT some thought. I've always liked messing around with computers (hardware mostly) but elected not to do IT for my degree as I didn't want to tie myself in to one profession. In hindsight this was a mistake.

tomterm8 wrote: »

I don't think you should do this. Bluntly, in every major IT job I can think of experience and ability matters a lot more than education. And, even if you did a one year course you'd be facing people with degrees in the subject who can't get a job in it.

I'm going to say you will find it very difficult to get the experience you want in this economy without having a work history to fall back on, and most employers will want someone with the ability to work full time. Sometimes, hours are very long in any development track career.

There are jobs like IT support, helpdesk and so on where things are different.

So, I'd suggest that something else might be a better option.

Yeah this is pretty much what I was expecting and have been told the same by one or two others.

squirrel1 wrote: »

Hi Toby,

I wanted to reply because I have been in a similar situation. I suffer from CFS and would recommend IT, in particular software development, as a good career choice. I now work contract as a developer/ software architect. I came into IT without any formal qualifications. IT jobs can offer lots of flexibility and you don't need a degree. I've attended and given many interviews and my experience is competency is valued much higher than formal qualifications.

There are lots of free resources on the internet to learn software development and most aspects of IT, you don't need to pay for courses, but you need to think more about what area you want to specialise in.

Glad to hear you're able continue your career in spite of this horrible illness.

I've been looking at the various methods of teaching myself a skill via the internet but because my heart isn't in it 100% I find it hard to motivate myself. If it were classroom based it would be different as i'd have structure and fellow students and tutors to get involved with. I registered today on elance.com but it seems like competition for menial jobs such as data entry is as fierce there as it is in the regular job market.

DigForVictory wrote: »

Can I offer a suggestion? Become a power *user* - bookkeepers are needed a few hours a day or week consistently & being happy at a screen & keyboard will help. If you can then run custom reports, you will be valued more than just in money.
If you really enjoy it, consider accountancy but don't rush until you know which bit interests you!

I have actually thought book keeping, I have no experience but thought about doing a course as i'm reasonably intelligent and numerate. Could you possibly expand a little on becoming a 'power *user*' and 'custom reports'? Thanks.


In summary i'm no closer to figuring out how to help myself now than I was 4-5 years ago


Thanks again to everyone for responding.

tomterm8

Flyonthewall wrote: »

It is difficult to get any job. All of them want experience. I saw a basic/general admin job today where they want 5+ years experience!

It's pretty easy to get experience in software development if you have the ability to work full time. Once you can program, go to any of the major open source software projects and volunteer. You'll be working with employed software engineers and will eventually be offered work if you are any good at it.

Open source projects are always looking out for software testers, for example.