What advice would you give

BMTH

Bit of a bump guys and a update, but I'm trying to focus on the job side of things.

How would I go about completely switching careers? I've only been in manufacturing since I left school 8 years ago so that's all I know and all I have to my CV. I know it isn't for me so would rather switch up sooner rather than later and actually find a 'career' for me. I've kind of filtered out what I do/don't like (thanks to previous advice on here) and I would really like to get into IT, but more so the software side of things. Not exactly sure what just yet realistically speaking.

Are there any programs or courses I can take or pay for to get under my belt? As I say, I'm currently in a dead end factory job so that's all that sits on my CV so most companies wouldn't take a second look at me.

New_Me

This is a good start:

https://www.freecodecamp.com/

You can also get free webhosting and practice coding your own websites when you know a little. I'm not sure how employers would take to self taught given the number of folk with degrees, but at least you will find out if you like it.

The Open University offers IT degrees. Hard work but you can keep earning while you study.

Stoke

I would say it's natural to feel what you're feeling. I'm 26, I have a good job, a good income and a house.... yet I've not felt as depressed as I do right now in many years. I keep feeling like the younger years of my life were wasted. I didn't take opportunities to enjoy myself, and I've missed them now. Next stop is the grave right?

We're in different situations, but I imagine the discomfort you're feeling is not too dissimilar to mine.

Hope you can get some inspiration from somewhere to pick up and go again.

onomatopoeia99

BMTH wrote: »

I would really like to get into IT, but more so the software side of things.

25 years ago, a relevant degree was pretty much required for entry level programming positions. While I'm out of the jobs market, I don't imagine that's changed much.

Visual Studio community edition is a free download nowadays, you can teach yourself 'C' (other programming languages are available) and see coding is something you get on with before you consider undertaking a major course of study.

Stoke

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

25 years ago, a relevant degree was pretty much required for entry level programming positions. While I'm out of the jobs market, I don't imagine that's changed much.

Visual Studio community edition is a free download nowadays, you can teach yourself 'C' (other programming languages are available) and see coding is something you get on with before you consider undertaking a major course of study.

A relevant degree is absolutely vital to get into the commercial world of software engineering.

Written by a commercial software engineer.

Archergirl

If you like to work as a team how about Army etc? I know it was suggested but you never came back on it, or Police, Fire Service etc. Don't sell your house, if you want to travel perhaps you could rent it out , once you sell it will be incredibly hard to get back on the housing ladder.
Even shop work and progress to management is an idea.

Dird

Stoke wrote: »

A relevant degree is absolutely vital to get into the commercial world of software engineering.

Vital for some in HR maybe.

OP you're not going to jump into S/W but maybe you can land a job on the help desk somewhere. From there you'll interact with different teams and slowly learn bits of their areas. Do some online learning & bootcamps while working help desk & you'll probably have a decent shot of being internally recruited into junior role if you've become chummy with some of the team. A guy I worked with spent a 3 years or so on help desk (no uni), then moved into a team and 3 years later he's contracting

Filter on your location & search help desk / service desk: http://www.jobserve.com/gb/en/JobSearch.aspx