Is 30 too old to start???

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Hi all,

Ive been reading this forum for the past few weeks and like to start by saying, you guys are doing a great job.

Reason for this post as may can tell, is being 30 too old to change over into IT?

Abit about myself after leaving uni I walked into the call center industry and worked myself up as a manager, ever since Ive been in the industry and have even opened my own international call center over in India (using VOIP tech). But last year it got all abit much living away from my family and young kids so I outsourced the business and came back home (London) .

Now I want a career in IT (Network Engineer) as I have all ways been computer savvy and did abit of IT work in my own setup in the call center...aswell as my home setup of a server switch and afew lappys (no programming on the server).What am I asking here is, would my back ground (work history) count for anything when looking for my first IT job?

Also unsure of what certificate path to take A+ N+ CCNA MCTIP ???

Any sort of advice will be a great help

 

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Unfortunately, it probably won't - unless you're directly using technologies that can be found in an IT role.

30 definately isn't too old to start, if you can do a job and have the knowledge for it - regardless of your age, it won't matter. I think from what you've done previously you may find it a bit different to what you may expect.

To land a network engineer role as you mentioned, requires a fair bit of experience, and unfortunately not just the certification, like a CCNA. You'd of needed to show you're able to do the role in previous experience, and to even get upto a role like that you're going to have to start on the basics - first level IT - if you've not worked in IT before, then this is where you're gonna pick up a hell of a lot of tips and tricks that you never even knew - even though you do have basic experienece in IT at home and are confident with it, there'll always be something you find within a large corporate / enterprise IT enviornment.

A year or so on that you could move into another department, or higher up the chain - but typically, from the guys who look after our network, they all said to me they had to get at least a few years experience working with cisco kit. 2 of the guys started on first level support and self studied the CCENT, then went onto CCNA, and another to CCNP after.

You may find from your previous work, you'd have to take a fairly big pay cut ( I'm assuming that you may have earned more than the following ) to get that first level role, in london i'd imagine the typical is between 15 - 18k for this, it may vary a little bit though.

If you can do it, i'd recommend you study for the A+ and N+ and pass these, if you can do it and want to do it, start looking for that entry level IT role. After a year in that then perhaps think about the MCITP (This is aimed at people with around 2 years experience in a large enviornment) and look at options of moving into a more network orientated role.

Unfortunately IT is fairly difficult to get into at the moment, and experience is the key over certifications.

Either way, what ever route you take, good luck

 

As apex says, its not impossible and its not too old, however the real limiting factor in your ability to move over is renumeration. by the time your 30 you are likely to be settled down maybe with a child or two and have some nice chunky bills to pay every month. If you can go back to the low to mid 10K then you can do it, but if like most of us you need a certain amount of cash to keep the car topped up with liquid gold, then you may be better off in your current career path.


Either way good luck, IT is an exciting and ever changing world but you do five nines of the time have to start right at the very bottom in helpdesk or computer repair shop.

 

Thanks guys for the feed back,

I dont mind starting off at the bottom and taking a major pay cut (help desk/ 1st line) but for how long for? as I have seen some jobs looking for 1st line support offering a salary of 20k-25k, thats with a years exp but is that realistic after a year of helpdesk work?

 

It is never too late to start, but as the other posters pointed out you need the experience under your belt. So the question you have to ask yourself is “am I ready to start from the bottom and gain that experience”? If you are looking for a "techie" career then you will have to start from the bottom 1/2nd Line support and work up to 3rd line and branch from there to specialise in something line network/Wan/Server etc. On the other hand since you already have management experience with your own business and managing a call centre you could also consider “non-hands on” techie career like IT service management or project management? You could perhaps look to get trained on ITIL and PRINCE2 certification.

 

30 is definitely not too old, don't put that in your head. just go out there and do your best.

 

30 isn't too old at all. I'm 30 and whilst having been in IT since 2002 my better half only started recently in a 1st line role.

Only experience she had was in a data reporting type role which isn't really anything to do with 1st line or support/IT.

She started on over 20k and after 2 years there is on around 25k, which is damn good for that kind of job and especially in our neck of the woods where jobs are pretty few and far between. For instance there were 100 people going for her job at the time.

Just apply for whatever you see, being London based will help matters.

Your background might help for what I call the soft skills side of things, but not so sure on the techy side. The good thing though is for 1st line jobs a lot of the stuff you need to know will be company specific, how they handle things and what their processes are, which you're not going to know before hand anyway!

 

Good effort, v lucky to get a job paying that on 1st line, i wish i did when i started out

 

She was lucky, we had some history with the company and also with that role/team which helped in beating people for the job I think ;)

Was still surprised at what they started her on though, not complaining though

And it's a purely 1st line role as well, they get a few other bits to do but the majority of the job is sorting stuff out over the phone.

 

Thirty is the new 20. Of course it's not too late to start.

I recently decided to get an MCPD certification to to progress my career further from a place called CED Solutions in Georgia. We had people ranging from 20 - 50 in our classroom. That leads me to believe you'll be in the mid range of people in the IT world. The facility at CED was great, and the teachers were all very knowledgeable. They spent a lot of time going over issues that I found it difficult to understand, and made sure everyone in the class passed the exams. Even though an MCPD may not be what you are looking for I think checking out some classes and/or certs may be a good way just to get your feet wet.

 

I was 45 and a Sociology / Business Studies teacher in a secondary school this time (April 2010) last year and decided I did not want to do secondary school teaching any more, so looked into going into the IT industry. I left my teaching job as of August the 31st 2010 (and 46 by then), passed the A+ mid October and looked hard for a job. Put on my CV that I was now working towards my Network+. Got to the point where I thought I was getting nowhere and was now unemployable. Then I landed a job at a Training Provider in February 2011 (they train Mechanics and Carpenters etc who have to also do ‘functional skills’ training in English, Maths, Life skills (how to write a CV etc) and ICT). The guy who worked there before was their functional skills (ICT) tutor and he also set up their network, but left rather sudden. So I landed the job as there Functional skills tutor (ICT) and also there network administrator

Just passed my Network+ today (scored 824). I have not a clue what qualification to do next (I will be posting on that shortly). But 30 years of age? You have 35 years at least to offer an employer. My god, I was a sociology teacher for ‘only’ 12 years which seemed like a life time.

Well to mix metaphors: your just a young spring chicken and the world is your oyster.

 

Mate, I started in IT at 30 years old, I have been in the game for just under 3 years now.

Went 1st Line, 2nd Line, 3rd Line, Project Work, now I'm a Pre Sales Technical Consultant advising customers on the best way to spend there money. Wages have more than doubled which is nice.

Can it be done yes, if you have the right attitude, skill set and a willingness to learn.

My advice crack on mate