Too Late?

FunLovinCriminal

Morning
I work in Retail in Scotland. This time of year reminds me why I hate it so much. Pays rubbish. Rude customers.
I would like to retrain in IT. But have concerns that AI would replace me soon.
I am 51, and want something new. I thought Cyber Security would be the way forward, but wondering how you would start with no qualifications.
I have two kids, and couldnt afford expensive courses or to give up work and go back to college, so training would be evening and weekends.
Have I left it too late? Anyone got any experience in Scotland or careers advice in general?

Paulrn

Any thing can be done but that’s a hard task you are setting yourself. Typically a degree in a computing / cyber is required for a basic entry level job in a SOC and you will be competing for these posts with 20 year olds. You could investigate security compliance which is more about compliance and rules and requires less deep technical knowledge. But if I am honest I would look elsewhere especially if you need to earn a reasonable wage whilst training or have the willingness to work and study Hard in your spare time. Mind you once established with a good reputation the pay is excellent.

MyRealNameToo

FunLovinCriminal said:

I work in Retail in Scotland. This time of year reminds me why I hate it so much. Pays rubbish. Rude customers.
I would like to retrain in IT. But have concerns that AI would replace me soon.
I am 51, and want something new. I thought Cyber Security would be the way forward, but wondering how you would start with no qualifications.
I have two kids, and couldnt afford expensive courses or to give up work and go back to college, so training would be evening and weekends.
Have I left it too late? Anyone got any experience in Scotland or careers advice in general?

Is it a big company? Headquartered nearby? Slightly random moves can often be done more easily internally than externally if you have a good reputation within the organisation. Ultimately it's how I jumped from call centre to the strategy team (though did have to relocate as HQ was in London and not central function type stuff in my city).

Generally, in my experience, the UK tends to rate experience over qualifications, which is good for me as I have no qualifications but confuses the hell out of my US colleagues who assume I at least have an MBA or am a qualified accountant. I wouldnt spend large amounts on qualifications which people may not value however doing some form of half decent course may at least show an interest in the subject (or doing the course may show you that you have no interest in the subject). 

You may want to consider some more volumous roles in IT adjacent area like help/service desk agent which would have more transferable skills from customer service, introduce you to tech people and probably more opportunity to move off into a more specific area of IT. Some people do get stuck on Helpdesk but know a few IT people who cut their teeth there and then moved over to infrastructure or other more tech focused roles. 

monkey-fingers

Paulrn said:

Any thing can be done but that’s a hard task you are setting yourself. Typically a degree in a computing / cyber is required for a basic entry level job in a SOC and you will be competing for these posts with 20 year olds. You could investigate security compliance which is more about compliance and rules and requires less deep technical knowledge. But if I am honest I would look elsewhere especially if you need to earn a reasonable wage whilst training or have the willingness to work and study Hard in your spare time. Mind you once established with a good reputation the pay is excellent.

I'm with you on that.
A pal of mine did every qualification you could possibly do, short of a degree.
Started with his Comptia courses - A+, Security+, Network+, and Cyber.
Did his CCNA alongside.
The problem is, once you get to Cysa+, you really need experience. Which is a tough gig - it's a round robin.

I was made redundant earlier this year and threw myself through courses that were relevant to me and it's helped. For me, the ones that really kicked me off were Microsoft Cloud courses.

They're all free! And if you do the online ones where you book a session (you don't even need to turn up and they give you the learning material), you get 50% off the exam. With discount, they're £27.50.

Start here
https://msevents.microsoft.com/event?id=4153627345

It's a couple of hours of your time. Then do Data Fundamentals, AI fundamentals and so on.

Alternatively, it's possible to start at the bottom on a Service Desk.

One of my pals who has just retired joined us at 50 having been a bus driver. Within months they'd moved him off the Service Desk into a back office role, because he clearly had decent life experience. Within a couple of years, he was a pretty senior manager and did that for another few years before retirement.

monkey-fingers

Just to add too, I used to manage a lot of apprentices. I've not had anyone quite as old as you, but I did have a lady in her 40s.

There's no upper age limit.

Depending on the company, you may not even take a pay cut too - my place had a policy whereby no-one was paid less than the real living wage, even 18 year old apprentices.

FunLovinCriminal

MyRealNameToo said:

FunLovinCriminal said:

I work in Retail in Scotland. This time of year reminds me why I hate it so much. Pays rubbish. Rude customers.
I would like to retrain in IT. But have concerns that AI would replace me soon.
I am 51, and want something new. I thought Cyber Security would be the way forward, but wondering how you would start with no qualifications.
I have two kids, and couldnt afford expensive courses or to give up work and go back to college, so training would be evening and weekends.
Have I left it too late? Anyone got any experience in Scotland or careers advice in general?

Is it a big company? Headquartered nearby? Slightly random moves can often be done more easily internally than externally if you have a good reputation within the organisation. Ultimately it's how I jumped from call centre to the strategy team (though did have to relocate as HQ was in London and not central function type stuff in my city).

Generally, in my experience, the UK tends to rate experience over qualifications, which is good for me as I have no qualifications but confuses the hell out of my US colleagues who assume I at least have an MBA or am a qualified accountant. I wouldnt spend large amounts on qualifications which people may not value however doing some form of half decent course may at least show an interest in the subject (or doing the course may show you that you have no interest in the subject). 

You may want to consider some more volumous roles in IT adjacent area like help/service desk agent which would have more transferable skills from customer service, introduce you to tech people and probably more opportunity to move off into a more specific area of IT. Some people do get stuck on Helpdesk but know a few IT people who cut their teeth there and then moved over to infrastructure or other more tech focused roles. 

Thanks, no we are on the west coast of scotland, head office is london. I cant relocate and the commute would be daft.
I have the urge to leave, and thought cyber security would be a growth career to get into.
Any other suggestions for a 51yr old who needs a fresh start?

FunLovinCriminal

Paulrn said:

Any thing can be done but that’s a hard task you are setting yourself. Typically a degree in a computing / cyber is required for a basic entry level job in a SOC and you will be competing for these posts with 20 year olds. You could investigate security compliance which is more about compliance and rules and requires less deep technical knowledge. But if I am honest I would look elsewhere especially if you need to earn a reasonable wage whilst training or have the willingness to work and study Hard in your spare time. Mind you once established with a good reputation the pay is excellent.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.
A little disheartned, as I had got my hopes up.
I completely understand that my age, and older experience is not up there with 20yr old.graduates.
I basically always enjoyed IT, and currently work in an industry that involves mobile phones. But I am tired of bring shouted at for issues not caused by me, for £12 an hour.

monkey-fingers

FunLovinCriminal said:

MyRealNameToo said:

FunLovinCriminal said:

I work in Retail in Scotland. This time of year reminds me why I hate it so much. Pays rubbish. Rude customers.
I would like to retrain in IT. But have concerns that AI would replace me soon.
I am 51, and want something new. I thought Cyber Security would be the way forward, but wondering how you would start with no qualifications.
I have two kids, and couldnt afford expensive courses or to give up work and go back to college, so training would be evening and weekends.
Have I left it too late? Anyone got any experience in Scotland or careers advice in general?

Is it a big company? Headquartered nearby? Slightly random moves can often be done more easily internally than externally if you have a good reputation within the organisation. Ultimately it's how I jumped from call centre to the strategy team (though did have to relocate as HQ was in London and not central function type stuff in my city).

Generally, in my experience, the UK tends to rate experience over qualifications, which is good for me as I have no qualifications but confuses the hell out of my US colleagues who assume I at least have an MBA or am a qualified accountant. I wouldnt spend large amounts on qualifications which people may not value however doing some form of half decent course may at least show an interest in the subject (or doing the course may show you that you have no interest in the subject). 

You may want to consider some more volumous roles in IT adjacent area like help/service desk agent which would have more transferable skills from customer service, introduce you to tech people and probably more opportunity to move off into a more specific area of IT. Some people do get stuck on Helpdesk but know a few IT people who cut their teeth there and then moved over to infrastructure or other more tech focused roles. 

Thanks, no we are on the west coast of scotland, head office is london. I cant relocate and the commute would be daft.
I have the urge to leave, and thought cyber security would be a growth career to get into.
Any other suggestions for a 51yr old who needs a fresh start?

As above, Service Desk maybe?
Your background in customer service will definitely help.

One of the problems you've got is going to be location. There are few remote SOC jobs now. In fact, there are few 100% remote jobs left in IT and they all get ridiculous numbers apply.

elsien

Realistically speaking, any new employer is going to ask why if you are so interested in IT and cyber security it’s taken you this long to move in that direction. 

Part of answering that might be what you’ve done in your spare time up until now that is relevant and shows that ongoing interest. 

it doesn’t mean you can’t change career - I did a sideways move at 50, But in terms of other options, what is it you like and what’s important to you? I couldn’t sit at a desk all day, for example. my motivation plummets through the floor if I’m not out and about two or three times a week doing different things as part of my role. 

What is it about cyber security that really attracts you, and is there anything else related that might be easier to get into that you could look at instead?

You have my full sympathy on the retail front, it’s really not a job I would want to do it any time of year alone at Christmas. 

TELLIT01

Getting into any area of IT as a more 'mature' starter will be difficult.  To get into an area like cybersecurity without an in depth understanding and experience of IT would be close to impossible.

I think you need to look at your transferable skills and see what areas of employment are a realistic possibility.  The job market is crashing thanks to the last two Budgets so I would think hard whether the Devil you know is the least worst option.

FunLovinCriminal

I have always had an interest in IT, but mostly self taught. Fell into a phone shop and stayed.
My concern is more and more folk buy phones online, so longetivity isnt there.
I suppose thats going to be the same in lots of jobs.
Any IT jobs I should be looking at?