Questions for the IT bods - plans for career change

Hello IT types, I'm unhappy with my current job, and so far hunting for other jobs has got me nowhere, only 2 interviews in over a year

I've been thinking hard about my options lately, and think I might have hit on a way of making my current job a bit more tolerable in the short term and possibly give me a route into a new career, so I was hoping you might be able to help please...

I work in the fire & security industry at the moment in a helpdesk role, but it is not strictly an IT role, I mainly support the actual intruder-detection / access-control hardware, though there is sometimes some call for desktop/software support as well.

Recently our systems have started to make the move from using ordinary PSTN phone lines for signalling/support purposes to using IP networks & the internet, as often the companies having the systems installed already have the IT infrastructure in place to facilitate this. I have already been tasked with supporting a lot of these new installations, though technically I am no more qualified than anyone else in our department to do so.

I think most of my skills an experience (I've been there 8 years now) are transferable to an IT role, and I've already completed the CompTIA A+ some time ago. So, I'm thinking along the lines of doing CompTIA Network+ next, as our company's e-learning system has all the course materials etc and I can justify using them to be better qualified to support the stuff above (I'll probably have to pay for the exam myself though). After this I would plan to study for CCNA and maybe ITIL Foundation as well, with a view to crossing over into a 'proper' IT role such as a network engineer.

I was hoping some of those with established IT careers could tell me if that seems like a reasonable way of getting into the IT industry from where I am now? I would rather get the right qualifications/experience from the off.

Sorry for the long post by the way, that took a bit more explaining than I thought it would!

Any opinions, positive or otherwise, welcomed. Thanks

[mr.anderson]

I wouldn't spend too much money on training just yet. What I would do is try and structure your existing environment into a clear set of responsibilities. Once you have this done and have proven your aptitude for being able to pick up and quickly understand a new system or systems then you have something valuable on your CV.

I'm not sure of what level you're looking to enter at, but when I hired my assistant (£23k) I wasn't looking for specific system knowledge, more a demonstration of their approach to problems and somewhat complicated situations. Someone who has a base intelligence and the enthusiasm to learn and progress will always be higher on my list than someone who has a CCNA, say.

Have a look on the IT job sites like cwjobs and see what sort of positions are on offer and what their stated requirements are. This might give you a better idea of what's out there - you'll quickly pick up the trends.

[Dave20046]

Training's pretty useless without experience, we get many CV's of guys qualified to the eyeballs but with no experience, not employed one yet.

I'd get some experience start from the bottom and work up.

[keith_d]

Have you considered getting involved in specifying, installing and commissioning alarm systems? One of my diving mates does that kind of work on fire alarm systems for the oil industry and gets shipped all over the world.

OK, he's got 20+ years experience and probably knows the fire regulations backwards but it looks like good work if you can get it.

A network engineer is quite specialised, it's not just a case of learning the network kit and off you go.

Cutting the BS, learning networking properly isn’t a 3 week, or even a 6month job.

You have to have a good grounding in the theory side of networking, which is a lot of information.

Then you have to learn the specific implementations of products, for example, Cisco, Foundry, Extreme all different vendors who supply kit but they are all configured differently, and have their intricacies.

Then to be a good network engineer you need a good grounding in systems work (probably linux), as you will have to write tools, scripts, etc and know how the systems use the network to communicate, this makes troubleshooting a lot easier.
Then you have to get an idea of systems security so you know how firewalls work, how to use them, where to use them, etc.

The best way is to get some experience, a CCNA may let you in the door as an assistant/apprentice/junior and then you can learn your way around from there.

I’m not trying to deter you, but they are the facts.
Dan

Thanks for the info guys - realistic advice is just what I was after so don't worry about deterring me. I'm not looking for a quick fix, I'm looking for a proper career change with prospects to match. Networking came to mind because I thought I might be able to gain some relevant experience in my current job, and back it up with some certification to try & make the move into the IT industry proper.

Keith - about 2 years ago I was in the process of trying to get a transfer to one of our engineering teams & get in-house training on install/commissioning, but then our company announced a load of engineering redundancies which instantly killed that idea. I've since applied for engineering vacancies with rival companies but haven't really got anywhere as I don't have the necessary electronics qualifications etc, even though I have the experience with intruder systems

Appreciate all the comments so far guys, thanks!

real quick one, if you want to certify, i would give www.certforums.co.uk a good read loads of really good advice there. also if you are thinking of doing network+, do it this year and and you will retain your certificaton for life, if you dont get it before jan 1st 2011 you will have to renew it every 3 years.

best of luck!

[keith_d]

Originally Posted by El Saxo

...

Keith - about 2 years ago I was in the process of trying to get a transfer to one of our engineering teams & get in-house training on install/commissioning, but then our company announced a load of engineering redundancies which instantly killed that idea....

That probably explains why my mate gets shipped all over the world...

Keith.