SoulKiss, If you want to stay in networks and you want a challenge, come and work at my company and see if you fix the unmanagable, frankensteins monter, useless piece of ****e known as "Our Network" :wink: :lol:

i was a butcher for 13 years(since i left school, then the company i worked for sold up :cry:
i was out of work for a year, then went to college now im a fittness/gym instructor & i :smt049 it

:thumbsup: :winner: :tongue: :smt079

I just want Mikeys job on 'American Chopper' :thumbsup:

LOL - probably have seen the same, or worse inte past - ever used ICS for your network???????

interesting path Soulkiss!

I'm 34 and want to change direction - I dont think you are too old to do anything.....:) Me hopes.......:):):)

If only it was that simple :D

Any ideas on direction you want to go in?

In my case, I studied hard for a job I wanted to do, and proved I could do the job way before I got anywhere near to uni. So I was employed as a programmer, back at college, and earning quite a bit.

The problem as I saw it, was that those around me were earning more, because they'd put the time in & done the qualifications. So off I went to uni. I was offered to skip the first year, but declined. Big mistake.

I met a girl (I know :oops:) and my uni work went down hill. They were teaching me things that were second nature, so more often than not, I was in the pub. :( Dropped out of uni shortly after, and couldn't get back to the job I had in the past (which I had to leave to go to uni). Bummer.

So I started working in bars, and slowly moving up through supervisor positions etc. Eventually I got fed up of this, and this brings me to the cross roads.

The way I did it, is I looked through the local job adverts, and devised a rough plan of attack over what I was going to do to get back into IT.

The plan saw me apply for a managers position at a local Maplin, which I didn't get due to lack of managerial experience, but I got a foot in the door with a sales job. Electronics shop. I'm good with electronics, and computers, so I used the shop to my advantage. Luckily I had a great boss, who didn't mind me making some money on the side to make his customers happy. So they'd buy equipment from the shop, and if they had any problems with it, I'd at least offer to call around & sort it out for them, at their house, for a charge, or explain it in the shop for free.

After this, I left Maplin, and set up my own IT Consultancy business. This ran really strong, and I eventually got fed up of the stupidly long hours, and decided to dramatically decrease my pay, for the good of spending time with the family.

My decision was made to get a job where I am now, as a Junior Support Engineer for a small software house, supporting our own software. I was told it'd take me 6months to be useful in the department, so that was my probation time. It took me 3 months to get out of probation, and 3 steps up the ladder.

I'm now happy where I am, and the company chairman himself often asks me if I know anyone that wants a job, because he seems to like what I do so much :oops: but that doesn't stop me keeping an eye on the job adverts.

In short, make a plan of where you want to be in 10 years, and roughly what you'll need to do to get there. Be flexible on the plan, changing the goal posts, but try to never miss a goal!

HTH

(Sorry for the tone in the post, it's due to a conversation I've just had with someone - not my usual style of post, but hey)

I've gone from,

McDonalds
Safeway
Factory line
Forklift Driver

Big switch comes along....

To Network Techie and finally SQL/Oracle DBA and software techie

Of course the switch was traumatic and i'm still suffering the debt consequences. I was in a good 50% less in my junior IT position to what i was working shifts as a forklift driver.

But it's turned out for the best. Things are now improving.

Theres a 3D modelling firm opening at Parc Menai, not 10mins from my house. Bit of a commute though.