Changing career at 43

[TameRacingDriver]

I've come to a bit of a cross-roads with my job at the moment, and after several conversations with my manager today, I feel like it might be time for me to contemplate what the rest of my future looks like. As of now, I have 25 years left before retirement, unless I am lucky enough to be able to retire earlier, and that is too long to stick around in a job I'm not enjoying, which is the situation I'm in right now.

A little background about me if it helps: -

• 43 year old bloke
• Works in IT for a large accountancy firm (more on that later)
• Current salary £35k, maxing out my pension, take home pay around £2,150/month
• No children or pets, no intention of getting either
• 2 years into a 23 year mortgage, £600 / month
• Live in the North East
• Debts of £10k but £8k in the bank; close to being able to clear, but no savings left over

So the lead up to this is that I've worked for 2 decades doing Desktop Support, until last year when we were hit by a wave of redundancies. I enjoyed it at first, but over the years the job was getting less and less involved and interesting than when I started out back in the late 90s.

My job was directly impacted by the redundancies, I either left, or applied for one of the new roles created by the company, which I did, and got accepted for. The role was originally to be implementing an End User Experience Management tool to bring improvements to the IT estate. It looked super interesting at first.

However, due to 'changes' (I'll leave it at that), our team was left in limbo, and now we're just hunting for scraps. To put it another way, if the job I'm now doing was the one on offer at the time, I would have taken my redundancy.

The jobs we're now doing is just helping out other teams with the parts of their jobs that they don't have time to do themselves, and as such, are low skilled and tedious jobs that are more 'admin' in nature than IT. I feel like it's slowly destroying my soul.

A couple of decades back I did some freelance web design, and really enjoyed that, but for reasons, it didn't end up working out.

After some conversations with my (very supportive) manager, we both agree I could probably do with a change. I appreciate I'll probably have to take a pay cut but I'm open to that.

So I'm thinking of dedicating some time into re-training, and as I appear to have a creative streak, I am eyeing up jobs in the following areas: -

• Web development / design
• UX design
• Photoshop / Infographics
• Video editing
• Any other ideas?

I'm just wondering if anyone else has made the move and how it worked out, or any other thoughts. I just need a starting point. My brain is a muddle of ideas at the minute, so I'm just trying to understand what my options are and the steps I need to take in order to get started.

Thanks

[Taita]

Smash out some Azure / AWS / DevOps certs.

Doddle.

AZ-900, AZ-104, AZ-500
https://portal.practical-devsecops.training/course...
AWS Practitioner
AWS Architect.

Udemy / Firebrand / Whizzlabs depending on budget.

2-3k all in and shuold be on 50k+ no issues. Will have the problem of no experience, but with the certs that will make you fairly attractive (certain firms need to have X amounts of certified individuals to maintain status).

[towser44]

The world is your lobster with no children (or pets) :-) I changed career this year after 20+ years in Financial Services, with a child, pets, a mortgage and being the breadwinner. Worst case scenario, there are loads of jobs out there to keep you going if you need to revert back to your original career.

[TameRacingDriver]

Taita said:

Smash out some Azure / AWS / DevOps certs.

Doddle.

AZ-900, AZ-104, AZ-500
https://portal.practical-devsecops.training/course...
AWS Practitioner
AWS Architect.

Udemy / Firebrand / Whizzlabs depending on budget.

2-3k all in and shuold be on 50k+ no issues. Will have the problem of no experience, but with the certs that will make you fairly attractive (certain firms need to have X amounts of certified individuals to maintain status).

Do you find it interesting work though? I did the az900 course though not the exam and being honest it didn't seem all that interesting to me, though I can see it has good money making potential. Ultimately it's more than just about money which is why I referenced more creative roles in my OP.

towser44 said:

The world is your lobster with no children (or pets) :-) I changed career this year after 20+ years in Financial Services, with a child, pets, a mortgage and being the breadwinner. Worst case scenario, there are loads of jobs out there to keep you going if you need to revert back to your original career.

Yes I certainly appreciate that I'm in a good position to do things like that. Certainly my dad always said he would have liked to have pursued more interesting career options but felt like he had to keep going to pay the bills and put food in my mouth.

I actually find my fairly average salary to be quite good for my circumstances, and while it's nice to not worry about money, I'd also like to not hate the rest of my life

[LimaDelta]

Ever thought of a move overseas? Large yachts have dedicated IT guys, often involved in 'creative' projects, especially if you have any AV talents to mix-in. With no dependents, it could be a great opportunity to try something completely different. Decent salary too. We've hired a few shoreside guys in the past.

[StevieBee]

You've described yourself as what can loosely be described as an IT type of guy.

TameRacingDriver said:

• Web development / design
• UX design
• Photoshop / Infographics
• Video editing

None of these are IT.

To excel in them and earn a decent living requires natural creative flair and understanding of a heap of stuff beyond the immediate operation of the software.

Photoshop and the production of infographics are part of what Graphic Designers and Photographers do. I'm 35 years into the game and I've yet to come across a professional Photoshop operator or anyone earning a living just doing Infographics.

Video editing requires understanding of the whole filmmaking process, colour grading, knowing how to flow a story, broadcast standards and the ability to interpret creative direction.

If you feel that you have that then embrace it because earning a living from doing something creative is one of the most fulfilling things you can do. Do it it well and you can earn very good money.

The two possible exceptions are web development and UX. There's still need for creative appreciation but probably the options to look at if you're not naturally creative yourself.

HTH

[Driveeasy]

You’ve mentioned the role you applied for was implementing an end user tool, made me think about project management. You could look at Agile PM qualifications.

[seiben]

If you're comfortable in an IT environment but want to make it into a different challenge I'd suggest looking into customer-facing engineering/consultancy roles. You get to use your existing skillset as a base while learning new 'soft' skills around customer relationships, delivering projects, dealing with stakeholders at different levels etc. Bonus is (assuming you'd like to) you will be able to travel to visit customer sites etc., so every day is different - plus, if you work for a wider service provider you'll always have the option to retrain in something else as new opportunities come up.

I can probably suggest one or two places to start if you want to pm me, but there are plenty of choices and most will support remote/travelling roles.

[Munter]

seiben said:

If you're comfortable in an IT environment but want to make it into a different challenge I'd suggest looking into customer-facing engineering/consultancy roles. You get to use your existing skillset as a base while learning new 'soft' skills around customer relationships, delivering projects, dealing with stakeholders at different levels etc. Bonus is (assuming you'd like to) you will be able to travel to visit customer sites etc., so every day is different - plus, if you work for a wider service provider you'll always have the option to retrain in something else as new opportunities come up.

I can probably suggest one or two places to start if you want to pm me, but there are plenty of choices and most will support remote/travelling roles.

I was going down a similar thought process.

Depends if the OP is the obnoxious, cynical, "I'll do it because I'm paid to but your system failure isn't my issue (despite that being their job to fix)", support types. Or has he managed to remain a fairly normal human being who can hold a pleasant conversation.

If it's a latter, consider moving into something like Sales Engineer.

[TameRacingDriver]

LimaDelta said:

Ever thought of a move overseas? Large yachts have dedicated IT guys, often involved in 'creative' projects, especially if you have any AV talents to mix-in. With no dependents, it could be a great opportunity to try something completely different. Decent salary too. We've hired a few shoreside guys in the past.

Very interesting idea! Unfortunately a non-starter for me those as the Mrs won't move overseas (not yet anyway).

StevieBee said:

None of these are IT.

To excel in them and earn a decent living requires natural creative flair and understanding of a heap of stuff beyond the immediate operation of the software.

Photoshop and the production of infographics are part of what Graphic Designers and Photographers do. I'm 35 years into the game and I've yet to come across a professional Photoshop operator or anyone earning a living just doing Infographics.

Video editing requires understanding of the whole filmmaking process, colour grading, knowing how to flow a story, broadcast standards and the ability to interpret creative direction.

If you feel that you have that then embrace it because earning a living from doing something creative is one of the most fulfilling things you can do. Do it it well and you can earn very good money.

The two possible exceptions are web development and UX. There's still need for creative appreciation but probably the options to look at if you're not naturally creative yourself.

HTH

Thanks for the insights. I do have a decent creative flair, I can make a sexy PowerPoint I do seem to have an eye for attractive design which was what prompted the post. I've got some info off a friend of a friend who is a web developer who advises it might be best to go for UX design over web design as the latter is a slowly dying area in his view.

Video editing is probably a non-starter as I have no experience at all with that.

Driveeasy said:

You’ve mentioned the role you applied for was implementing an end user tool, made me think about project management. You could look at Agile PM qualifications.

I'm going to do some Project Management courses in the coming months. My job did actually entail elements of PM before, but now it's just admin stuff.

seiben said:

If you're comfortable in an IT environment but want to make it into a different challenge I'd suggest looking into customer-facing engineering/consultancy roles. You get to use your existing skillset as a base while learning new 'soft' skills around customer relationships, delivering projects, dealing with stakeholders at different levels etc. Bonus is (assuming you'd like to) you will be able to travel to visit customer sites etc., so every day is different - plus, if you work for a wider service provider you'll always have the option to retrain in something else as new opportunities come up.

I can probably suggest one or two places to start if you want to pm me, but there are plenty of choices and most will support remote/travelling roles.

I'll look into this some more, thanks for the suggestion.

Munter said:

I was going down a similar thought process.

Depends if the OP is the obnoxious, cynical, "I'll do it because I'm paid to but your system failure isn't my issue (despite that being their job to fix)", support types. Or has he managed to remain a fairly normal human being who can hold a pleasant conversation.

If it's a latter, consider moving into something like Sales Engineer.

I'd like to think I wasn't an obnoxious, cynical type of guy. OK maybe just cynical I am not one for small talk, for sure, but I reckon I can hold a decent conversation I had a quick look into that but I'm not sure it would be for me, thanks for the suggestion.

On a side note, I am wondering whether I just need to chill out a bit about my current situation. Try and mentally / emotionally detach from it. If I can stop it causing me stress, objectively, it's probably not a super hard job which pays very decently in reality for what I do.

Thanks for all the posts so far. I definitely intend to do some training courses and try and get a feel for what I might like to do.

[ObSceney]

The End User space is evolving at the moment. Have you looked in to Azure Virtual Desktop, Intune, DSC, Azure AD and SSO to legacy auth applications?

[LimaDelta]

TameRacingDriver said:

LimaDelta said:

Ever thought of a move overseas? Large yachts have dedicated IT guys, often involved in 'creative' projects, especially if you have any AV talents to mix-in. With no dependents, it could be a great opportunity to try something completely different. Decent salary too. We've hired a few shoreside guys in the past.

Very interesting idea! Unfortunately a non-starter for me those as the Mrs won't move overseas (not yet anyway).

You don't need to take her with you, just leave her at home for the 8-or so weeks you are at work.

[Pieman68]

As above - if you have the technical skills alongside being able to conduct a normal human interaction, then consultancy is a decent avenue.

As an example, I work for an MS Gold partner. Our consultancy team is split dependant on qualification and skillset - modern work (M365), Azure, Sharepoint, Security etc. The guys get a massive variety of projects that keep them engaged

Is it worth looking at security? Very much the buzz word at the minute and many MSPs are growing their SOCs rapidly, so there's a massive skill shortage

I'm a Project coordinator. Recently qualified Prince2 (not Agile, that's on the agenda once I have a bit of experience). I deal with multiple short projects (up to 15 days), but our full PMs are dealing with large scale digital transformation projects, adoption and change etc. etc.

Maybe a PC role would offer you similar money with an avenue for advancement. I've worked in sales admin for years but didn't want the stress of carrying a target over my head, so decided to step away from a sales role. I know a technical PM in our team is like gold dust - I'm actually appreciated as a PM due to having more commercial awareness than many of my colleagues

Best of luck whatever you decide

[StevieBee]

TameRacingDriver said:

I do seem to have an eye for attractive design which was what prompted the post. I've got some info off a friend of a friend who is a web developer who advises it might be best to go for UX design over web design as the latter is a slowly dying area in his view.

Please tell your friend that his view is entirely wrong.