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Back to UserFriendly Strip Comments Index
| Attn: Uficle, re: career upgrade |
by TheCatMan |
2007-08-08 05:49:27 |
Greetings, Ufies all!
Short version:
Given that I'm a reasonably good amateur in the IT world, what's the best way to break into doing it proffesionally?
Long version:
I'm considering a change (or, preferably, a 'shift') in career for a number of reasons.
I've always been a severe geek/nerd, of the kind who'll spend an afternoon optimising a system to save 5 seconds on boot. I'm the main tech support for my family and friends (and sometimes w*rk colleagues), frequently solve the problems various local computer shops can't fix, but haven't done it professionally because (a) I didn't want to spend my life sitting on my ample behind and (b) I have a passion for living things.
So I took a degree in biochemistry, mainly because I liked it. The course included a placement in a huge pharma company, which invited me back on a nice fat salary almost as soon as I graduated. Two years on, I'm a permanent member of staff with good career prospects and nice on-the-job training, living in a small, expensive flat, hundreds of miles from friends and family, in a part of the country that's Very Nice(tm) but not somewhere I'd normally choose to live for two years.
Thecatwoman is in a similar situation, apart from the job. To cut a long story short, we've decided to move closer to my relatives in the highlands. There are enough scientific jobs in the area to make my background something of an advantage, but real biochem jobs are pretty rare - so I could do with something else, at least for the first couple of years. My family and friends - including some IT pros - have often said I should go into computers. Unfortunately I have no formal qualifications, no experience in the industry and no time to re-train in any big way. So, what can I do?
I'm thinking about looking for short courses in things I'm already good at (like data crunching, tweaking Linux, playing small-time Windows-fixer, maybe even taking up prgramming again) and looking for work on the back of that. Can anyone point me towards the kind of qualifications that mean the most to potential employers? I've thought about setting up my own business, but my people skills are such that I don't want to rely on it. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance |
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[ Reply ] |
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Sysadmin? | by Karl-Henrik | 2007-08-08 06:23:06 |
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hmmm | by SQLRat | 2007-08-08 06:52:21 |
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