career change

Originally Posted by lukemillar

Can someone put into laymans terms what any of these mean:

NOC Engineer
Senior 3rd Line Support Engineer
DBA/Programmer/Technician
I.C.T. Technician for Schools in the Local Area
Wintel Server Support
Cisco VOIP Telephone Support

because I don't have a clue!

He's a geek. Just that.

Interesting read this thread as I was in the same place a few months ago. Since then, things have changed dramatically in my life...and a lot of thanks have to go to Gmonsta, Busasean and plenty of others on the forum for the advice given. I was stuck in a job that I was getting to hate and slowly but surely it started to show in my performance at work. I made up my mind to resign and then study something else(hadn't made up my mind what to study at that point) but then the company started cutting down on staff and as I was last in, I was forced to be first out...which kinda forced me into a corner which I wanted/needed to be in. Fortunately for me my wife earns enough to cover bills and such like but not enough for savings and life's luxuries so we'll be okay for a wee while. Currently I am looking after our daughter full-time and looking after housework (Yes....daytime TV does your head in after a while and will drive you to work or drink) and have started pursuing my hobby of photography a bit more seriously with the hope that with a little luck and a few contacts I can make a few ££ every couple of months or so from said hobby. I've also started a part-time course in PC hardware maintenance.
So from being at a crossroads to being forced out of a job, I think I'm managing okay.

Originally Posted by Flamin_Squirrel

Got a BEng in mechanical engineering too (and was uneployed for 7 months before I got my current job).

Working for a small building services firm at the mo, but I've recently woken up to the fact that it's a dead end job and I've learnt as much here as I'm going to.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do either. I'll probably end up in another (larger) building services firm, but I'd rather do something a bit more glamourous, for want of a better expression. Aero/auto industry, for example. Problem is, I've no experience in those fields (and my degree aint that great either).

Wow. Now that is a co-incidence. Two summer placements was enough for me to realise the construction industry was not for me. I am inundated with calls from agencies asking if I want a job but guess what - they're in building services. It would seem I can't even get a job in any other engineering field other than Building services!

I quite like the thought of working in IT, perhaps a field engineer or similar but you rarely find 'graduate field engineering' positions.

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by instigator

I quite like the thought of working in IT, perhaps a field engineer or similar but you rarely find 'graduate field engineering' positions.

You can do it with out any graduate skills... its easy.. I did... ytou just have to be prepared to start at the bottom of the ladder. I.e. on a a helpdesk and then build some experience up. Thats what I did.

Helps if you are good at learning new stuff quickly and technology doesnt phase you. Its also good if you are good with customers. People forget this, I.T. is a service industry, you have customers who need looking after at some point somebody is going to get cross because their computer is broken and they are going to take it out on you. If you can deal with that and fix the problem then you are onto a winner.

I've interviewed alot of people with bucket loads of qualifications, Microsoft certifications etc etc. You put them on a helpdesk where they have to deal with real world problems and they cant do it. I'd much rather employ somebody who has real world computing experience than some graduate who has lots of theory but no practical knowledge.

The best way is to teach yourself, its what I did.

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

You can do it with out any graduate skills... its easy.. I did... ytou just have to be prepared to start at the bottom of the ladder. I.e. on a a helpdesk and then build some experience up. Thats what I did.

Thats the thing. Don't know if I can. Yet. Student debt and the requirement to move out soon means taking any job less than ~£17k a year is out the window.

It's not all about money...infact money really doesn't matter. Thats why I dumped my sponsorship. But it's sure needed to pay back the loans.

[fizzwheel]

Helpdesk staff where I work are on depending on experience, 14K - 16K... I think what your looking for might be achievable...

Remember I live and work in the Southwest, if you travel a bit then you never know what you'll find.

interesting situations! i've been doing admin since i left school, got fed up, did a history degree when i was 25 and back doing admin again!

Unfortunately most of the 'graduate assistant' jobs don't apply to over 30's......
Oh and one temp agency told me that because my background was admin, then basically I'm stuck in admin.........grrrreeeeaaat!

So bottom line is.......
1) win the lottery...
2) marry a millionaire/ess.........
3) stay in admin and be miserable for the rest of my life...
4) retrain......but at 35? hmmmmmmm............

Originally Posted by Bullwinkle

4) retrain......but at 35? hmmmmmmm............

I'm 32...

ur the 'right' side of 35...

out of interest, does anyone here do Geospatial Analysis??? or similar?