Starting over career, is tech a good place to start over in your mid 30's

[JustPassingBy4789]

I'm going to be 34, and I had to change careers because my body couldn't handle the conditions anymore (I use to do commercial refrigeration on super markets). My allergies have gotten worst since I've turned 30 so it's something I've had to adjust to. So I have to work in an environment that is relatively clean, like me not crawling though dust. Any info I would greatly appreciate.  

[Firewrath9]

working in an office tends to be pretty clean, not a career specialist, but if you enjoy tech, it could be a good idea.

[Sauron]

What do you mean by "tech"? There are plenty of fields that would fall in that category, some of them involve a lot of dust and junk. A desk job as a programmer would be pretty clean, but if you have no experience it will be hard to get up to speed and not a lot of companies hire people in their mid 30s when they could get someone fresh out of high school or college. Most jobs that involve messing with hardware, on the other hand, come with a lot of dust and tight spaces.

[zombienerd]

Pay for an A+ cert, and maybe a Microsoft or Cisco cert or two.  Plenty of free online courses and videos to teach yourself the basics.

 

You'll get a low-mid level IT job easily.  Entry level jobs would net mid-30k salary range in most parts of the US.  

 

[UncleJarvis]

25 minutes ago, JustPassingBy4789 said:

I'm going to be 34, and I had to change careers because my body couldn't handle the conditions anymore (I use to do commercial refrigeration on super markets). My allergies have gotten worst since I've turned 30 so it's something I've had to adjust to. So I have to work in an environment that is relatively clean, like me not crawling though dust. Any info I would greatly appreciate.  

OMG, asking for career advice here? Do you know how many kid "techs" live in the woodwork?

[jake9000]

Age is a factor but you won't really see discrimination til you reach your 50s. It's pretty easy to get your foot in the door but I have to warn you that entry level roles are high turnover and low compensation. When I worked in helpdesk I was only making $14/hr with no PTO. I topped out at $19/hr and I know my team lead was only making $23. Didn't make it to actual salary/decent healthcare/vacation days until I left client services and got into a proper systems administration role.

[JustPassingBy4789]

27 minutes ago, Sauron said:

What do you mean by "tech"? There are plenty of fields that would fall in that category, some of them involve a lot of dust and junk. A desk job as a programmer would be pretty clean, but if you have no experience it will be hard to get up to speed and not a lot of companies hire people in their mid 30s when they could get someone fresh out of high school or college. Most jobs that involve messing with hardware, on the other hand, come with a lot of dust and tight spaces.

Just looking for idea's that fall under the umbrella of "tech", I know networking guys are up down and all around, so I know that's not something for me, but maybe there is something else that falls in it's realm. 

[JustPassingBy4789]

18 minutes ago, zombienerd said:

Pay for an A+ cert, and maybe a Microsoft or Cisco cert or two.  Plenty of free online courses and videos to teach yourself the basics.

 

You'll get a low-mid level IT job easily.  Entry level jobs would net mid-30k salary range in most parts of the US.  

 

I'll look into it! Thanks for the info!

[Sauron]

4 minutes ago, JustPassingBy4789 said:

Just looking for idea's that fall under the umbrella of "tech", I know networking guys are up down and all around, so I know that's not something for me, but maybe there is something else that falls in it's realm. 

Then I agree that getting some certifications is a good place to start

[jake9000]

Do you have any datacenters nearby? DCs are high airflow with sensitive fire supression, even the smallest amount of dust can set them off. Lately they have been getting built in rural places with an untrained workforce so the datacenter technician taskwork should be somewhat accessible to new people.

[JustPassingBy4789]

On 2/16/2019 at 3:10 PM, jake9000 said:

Do you have any datacenters nearby? DCs are high airflow with sensitive fire supression, even the smallest amount of dust can set them off. Lately they have been getting built in rural places with an untrained workforce so the datacenter technician taskwork should be somewhat accessible to new people.

What would I need to learn in order to work at one of them?

[NineEyeRon]

I got into a tech company through an admin role. 

[LAwLz]

On 2/17/2019 at 12:04 AM, JustPassingBy4789 said:

Just looking for idea's that fall under the umbrella of "tech", I know networking guys are up down and all around, so I know that's not something for me, but maybe there is something else that falls in it's realm.  

Here are some "tech jobs" I can think of, but most of them are not exactly something easy to get:

• PC builder at some local shop.
• First line phone support (either at a company like AT&T, or internally on a company).
• Some management position such as boss or project leader.
• Sysadmin
• Programmer of some sort
• Networking specialist (consultant)
• Datacenter specialist (consultant)
• Windows specialist (consultant) - Think like, SCCM, Office, etc.
• Security specialist (consultant)
• Backup specialist (consultant)
• Database specialist (consultant)

 

There are many mores that can be added to the list but it will just be more and more "specialist (consultant)" added. You can even break it down further, for example in the team I belong to (networking) we have one that almost entirely works with just firewalls, and one that works almost entirely with wireless. In the Microsoft/server team we have people who work almost entirely with SharePoint, almost entirely with SCCM, almost entirely with Exchange/Office and so on.

 

The problem with those types of jobs is that it's something you kind of have to work your way up towards. Nobody will want a "backup specialist" with 0 years of experience of backup systems.

Another problem is that a lot of specialist jobs are, well, not that common. If a company needs special knowledge in some area they usually only have 1 person doing that, so the job availability is really limited (unless you go the consulting route).

 

Anyway, you need to find something you find interesting. Asking which tech job you should pursue is like asking which instrument you will enjoy playing, despite not knowing you and you don't have any experience or expectations from it. Any recommendation you get in this thread will essentially be a coin flip if it's right or not for you.

[UncleJarvis]

On 2/16/2019 at 3:55 PM, jake9000 said:

Age is a factor but you won't really see discrimination til you reach your 50s. It's pretty easy to get your foot in the door but I have to warn you that entry level roles are high turnover and low compensation. When I worked in helpdesk I was only making $14/hr with no PTO. I topped out at $19/hr and I know my team lead was only making $23. Didn't make it to actual salary/decent healthcare/vacation days until I left client services and got into a proper systems administration role.

I second this comment. I started as a level one tech, no certs or tech degree (environmental science degree) in the printer industry. Mentally painful work over the phone. I moved onto mobile phone support when phones were becoming a thing and money was actually good. I'm still in tech but as an independent with local businesses and neighbors/friends.

[DavidKalinowski]

I left retail (13 years) at age 33 and got hired by a local community college as a computer technician. Salary based pay (but I'm salary exempt (or is it non-exempt) so I can still get over time if it ever happens. I get all the holidays off that public schools get, my hours are 8-5 m-f and most of my day is waiting for some one to have an issue that needs fixed (and more often then not its restarting the computer or reinstalling a driver) I did get my A+ cert right before I applied. So yea mid 30s aint a bad time to jump ship.

[Gmoneyinthebank]

To be honest, I wish I would have never gotten started working with technology.  Go read a book of Dilbert comics and ask..."Is this what I want for my life?".  Eventually, some pointy haired boss will say something so disconnected from reality that you'll die a little bit inside.

[DavidKalinowski]

9 minutes ago, powderskull said:

My bro-in-law was considering the same thing, coming from automotives (mechanic), and I told him it was possible but he needed to go into it with realistic expectations. Even with a tech cert or tech program under his belt, he'd be looking at entry level jobs with bad pay at first. That is until he gains working experience, and can grow/specialize. It sure does not help that tech jobs get posted at one level of experience, but the requirements they list out generally requires the candidate be a higher level than that (IE -"entry level" but have requirements listed that only someone with 5+ years of experience in the field would be capable of having).

I hate when they do that. I've seen jobs that I would otherwise be qualified for but then they require 5-10 years experience and a B.S. Degree but only want to pay like 35K a year.

[NinJake]

It doesn't necessarily have to be tech to get a nice job. Whatever you are passionate about, and are willing to learn and take the extra step to go further will be your best bet. Also remember, that sometimes being passionate about something and then working on that passion every day can make it less enjoyable in your free time.

[THraShArD]

NOOOOOOOO, stay far away.

 

#1 Depends what part of the country you live in

#2 If you do get a tech job, learn as much as you can and use it to your advantage for next job

 

If you want to learn about a tech job, just Google - Glassdoor xxxCompany Name xxx - or  Indeed xxxCompany Name xxx and read the employee reviews.  Keep in mind the Positive reviews are fake and the Negative reviews are real.

 

I've never been a Union person but found out why there are Unions.  Trust me, move to a state that has unions and find a Union PC job.

[LAwLz]

3 hours ago, THraShArD said:

NOOOOOOOO, stay far away.

 

#1 Depends what part of the country you live in

#2 If you do get a tech job, learn as much as you can and use it to your advantage for next job 

 

If you want to learn about a tech job, just Google - Glassdoor xxxCompany Name xxx - or  Indeed xxxCompany Name xxx and read the employee reviews.  Keep in mind the Positive reviews are fake and the Negative reviews are real. 

  

I've never been a Union person but found out why there are Unions.  Trust me, move to a state that has unions and find a Union PC job.

If you just google Glassdoor reviews and always assume that positive reviews are fake, then you will not be able to find any decent job anywhere, ever.

 

What do you even mean by "union PC job"?

[THraShArD]

Majority of the reviews are fake, there are companies or public relations that plant fake reviews.

 

I don't know what laws you have in Sweden.  Tech Job is has so many departments and politics vary.   The best type of jobs are Networking, Security and any Government type PC job.

[Sir Asvald]

Majority of my family have moved to tech. My dad's cousin's husband is working for Akamai, he goes to different countries to install racks, servers, setup servers etc. He did his CCNA CCNP. I've got a friend who has a CCIE qualified . It's hard work and it'll take time. You can go into consulting for IT companies as well.

[PixelPol]

I'm fully moving from a multi profile career in graphics production towards more of a programming one. Not even leaving the old fields (you can freelance like for ever in your life), and not saying no to new job offers in my old fields. But IMO, the more profiles you add, the better. At 46 is specially hard to move towards full coding areas from full graphics making ones, but I was already coding the eventual python script, HTML and CSS, so, slowly, but is doable... Even if coming from a zero digital experience. The brain is super flexible, and is more than has been said to be at very much older ages than yours. So, yeah, totally.

 

EDIT: Oh, and I had been before solely a painter (pictures painter), and after that, a drawing teacher. And after that, all the tech related jobs.