How many People have changed careers to a second career in I.T.?
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If so what drove the change to do so?
I'm on more than my second... 1. I was in food service for my younger days. The obvious fast food as a teen and then graduated to cook at a diner. 2. I was a line worker and then a production manager in a window factory. 3. I've had a drywall finishing and remodeling company (construction) 4. I drove a semi (helped pay for the remodeling company) I had some back issues that caused me to close my business as well as stop driving a semi. Since I worked in the factory I'd been tinkering with scripting for a video game and really enjoyed it as a hobby. When my back went out I decided to go to school for programming, which I dropped out of because I got a programing gig. post script Back issues are better after I got my body into shape.
Elephant elephant elephant, sunshine sunshine sunshine
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If so what drove the change to do so?
Retired from the military after 20 years of globetrotting. I was like, crap, now I have to get a real job. Don't want to work outside; don't want to work with dumb people; okay, IT it is. Went to school and with a bit of luck got the experience I needed, and boom, here I am, still doing it after 19 years.
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I worked as a chemist for 13 years, but programmed on the side (self taught). I got bitten by the programming bug back in the early 80's and when I found myself programming at work in the lab, it grew from there. The job market for chemists in the late 90's was shrinking and the pay wasn't great and it was at the same time as the .COM bubble, so I went into consulting. The rest, as they say, is history.
When you are dead, you won't even know that you are dead. It's a pain only felt by others. Same thing when you are stupid.
Fifteen years as a pharmaceutical industry chemist. Loved the first year of each job; hated the repetitive nature of the job (and the low pay) after that. I was tricked into technical writing by an old girlfriend (eight years of technical writing), then software QA for ten years and now back to technical writing.
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Money. I started in mech/aero engineering, but there is sod all career in that in the UK really. So, list of jobs goes: Buyer in company making ice cream making machines Estimator/designer, steel work for stone cladding industry (some of my metal is in Canary Wharf, Stanstead airport...) That company folded, so I ended up running my own garage and doing odd jobs, private investigator was an amusing one. Started scouting around for something more long term/better paid so... Studied C language on a correspondence course so got a job as a welder, then in a company making turbine blades to tide me over. Then first job in IT, correspondence courses from the OU in software design, and the career took off. Second IT job was doing windows drivers for the military, worked mostly in the kernel since for companies around the world.
You are justified and ancient (and driving an ice cream van) :-\
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Yes I am changing from a software developer to a computer security professional. I am also looking into device repair, let's see those overseas devs try to offer that kind of service :laugh:
"Dreams really do come true."
Ha ! as an overseas developer I say: leave that guy to his own devices :-\
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Ha ! as an overseas developer I say: leave that guy to his own devices :-\
Well played Rick... well played :laugh:
"Dreams really do come true."
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From 1969 through May of this year, I worked in I.T., lastly for a mental health facility (queue the puns, jokes and comments.... :-D ) Unfortunately, I was forcibly retired due to the seemingly imminent adoption of a third-party Electronic Health Record (EHR). Guess what? That still has not happened.
I miss being "in the game." However, on the bright side, I am working harder than ever, and am now in better physical shape, working on my wife's ranch. Here, I fix fence, haul feed, move livestock and so forth.
As you can tell, I live in a rural area. I have found that finding a nearby I.T. job at my age is akin to "Mission: Impossible." No one wants to hire an "old timer." At the same time, they bemoan that all the recent I.T. graduates are moving to the cities. :confused:
__________________ Lord, grant me the serenity to accept that there are some things I just can’t keep up with, the determination to keep up with the things I must keep up with, and the wisdom to find a good RSS feed from someone who keeps up with what I’d like to, but just don’t have the damn bandwidth to handle right now. © 2009, Rex Hammock
I was in diapers when you were already in IT. The recruiters already started telling me that I'm old... I love goats! May I have a job at your farm? :)))
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Michael Martin wrote:
So the next upgrades will be including what exactly?
It's all very hush hush. The final truly amazing bits don't get activated until I get my 2nd knee done. Let's just say that $6 million doesn't even begin to cover it. ;P
Mike Mullikin wrote:
It's all very hush hush. The final truly amazing bits don't get activated until I get my 2nd knee done. Let's just say that $6 million doesn't even begin to cover it. ;-P
Well I at least hope it is known as Operation Steve.
Michael Martin Australia "I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible." - Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
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If so what drove the change to do so?
My second career. I'm retired Army (11B4P). Went back to school after I got out and have been coding ever since.
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Yes I am changing from a software developer to a computer security professional. I am also looking into device repair, let's see those overseas devs try to offer that kind of service :laugh:
"Dreams really do come true."
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If so what drove the change to do so?
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I was in diapers when you were already in IT. The recruiters already started telling me that I'm old... I love goats! May I have a job at your farm? :)))
You would have to be willing to live in an area where Internet access is basically limited to DSL, HughesNet, or 4GLTE. :( 5G will not be available here – the low population density and antenna density requirements (and their costs) precludes 5G. To make that worse, cell phone service is spotty. One corner of my wife's ranch has no service except from our WiFi router which is located line-of-sight 0.15 miles away at the house (I know, this seems unbelievable! But, with very few other local radio sources, it is real. :) ). If you want to watch television, you will need a satellite dish – cable is not available and there are only four over-the-air stations available. You will also need to haul your own garbage, as garbage pickup is not available.
For your children, the nearest high school is almost five miles away. This being Texas, football is big here – over the last 100 years, this high school has produced three NFL players. The local community college is ten miles away.
My local post office is located in a very small town, with one "dollar store," one convenience store and gas station, one restaurant (German) and only one traffic light. That is all.
The nearest large town (population 25,000) has two supermarkets – WalMart and HEB, one liquor store, no new car dealerships, six convenience stores, eleven thirteen fast-food restaurants, four bars, three auto parts stores, two hardware stores, a few sit-down restaurants and not much else.
Working on a ranch is hard, physical work. My wife:rose: needs to be a hard taskmaster. There is always the proverbial mile of fence that needs to be repaired. Firewood needs to be cut, split and stacked (we heat with wood). Animals need to be fed, watered, inspected, cared for, and occasionally, hauled to auction. We get paid only when we sell livestock.
On the bright side, we get fresh eggs daily :thumbsup: and can grow much of what we eat. Air pollution is minimal. Heavy traffic is three pickups waiting at the traffic light. :-D
Ranch living is not for everyone, but we love it. :java:
__________________ Lord, grant me the serenity to accept that there are some things I just can’t keep up with, the determination to keep up with the things I must keep up with, and the wisdom to find a good RSS feed from someone who keeps up with what I’d like to, but just don’t have the damn bandwidth to handle right now. © 2009, Rex Hammock
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Jalapeno Bob wrote:
1969 through May of this year
:omg: Holy crap! I had to do the math twice! :wtf: Wow, 49 years! You should be enjoying your well earned retirement! :beer: :laugh: :thumbsup:
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
kmoorevs wrote:
You should be enjoying your well earned retirement!
Retirement??? There is just no way I could enjoy sitting around doing nothing!
I had a sweet gig where I could go to an office and do my hobby for eight hours, five days a week and, believe it or not, they would actually pay me for it! :-D
__________________ Lord, grant me the serenity to accept that there are some things I just can’t keep up with, the determination to keep up with the things I must keep up with, and the wisdom to find a good RSS feed from someone who keeps up with what I’d like to, but just don’t have the damn bandwidth to handle right now. © 2009, Rex Hammock
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You would have to be willing to live in an area where Internet access is basically limited to DSL, HughesNet, or 4GLTE. :( 5G will not be available here – the low population density and antenna density requirements (and their costs) precludes 5G. To make that worse, cell phone service is spotty. One corner of my wife's ranch has no service except from our WiFi router which is located line-of-sight 0.15 miles away at the house (I know, this seems unbelievable! But, with very few other local radio sources, it is real. :) ). If you want to watch television, you will need a satellite dish – cable is not available and there are only four over-the-air stations available. You will also need to haul your own garbage, as garbage pickup is not available.
For your children, the nearest high school is almost five miles away. This being Texas, football is big here – over the last 100 years, this high school has produced three NFL players. The local community college is ten miles away.
My local post office is located in a very small town, with one "dollar store," one convenience store and gas station, one restaurant (German) and only one traffic light. That is all.
The nearest large town (population 25,000) has two supermarkets – WalMart and HEB, one liquor store, no new car dealerships, six convenience stores, eleven thirteen fast-food restaurants, four bars, three auto parts stores, two hardware stores, a few sit-down restaurants and not much else.
Working on a ranch is hard, physical work. My wife:rose: needs to be a hard taskmaster. There is always the proverbial mile of fence that needs to be repaired. Firewood needs to be cut, split and stacked (we heat with wood). Animals need to be fed, watered, inspected, cared for, and occasionally, hauled to auction. We get paid only when we sell livestock.
On the bright side, we get fresh eggs daily :thumbsup: and can grow much of what we eat. Air pollution is minimal. Heavy traffic is three pickups waiting at the traffic light. :-D
Ranch living is not for everyone, but we love it. :java:
__________________ Lord, grant me the serenity to accept that there are some things I just can’t keep up with, the determination to keep up with the things I must keep up with, and the wisdom to find a good RSS feed from someone who keeps up with what I’d like to, but just don’t have the damn bandwidth to handle right now. © 2009, Rex Hammock
You've just described my dream place... :) I purposely banned TVs from my house. The Internet while being on optical fibre is mostly used for non essential things. Yet we live in a very densely populated area near Amsterdam. The air traffic over the house is horrible, the air stinks and the supermarket food tastes like cardboard most of the time. Even the organically grown food is horrible. And expensive. The organic red bell peppers for instance are packaged individually in plastic and sold for around 1.5 EUR each. You'd think they're gold plated. My car is a 18 years old Volvo which I bought last year. I mostly travel by motorcycle and bicycle. All these while my parents somewhere in Eastern Europe grow a lot of their own food, chop wood for heating and make their own wine. Needless to say they are in better shape than me.
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If so what drove the change to do so?
Me. I moved - tried a home-business (failed) - and really liked programming and had no place around to work in chemistry (the real stuff). As it turns out, just as in chemistry, I'm not as good as many in the technical aspects of programming but have "amazing" problem-solving abilities. Turns out to be a useful skill. So - as in my "bio" - I now do for money what I once did for pleasure, like a . . .
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
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Started as a mechanical engineer, then moved to IT (networking, DB management, etc...), then C++ development, then PLC and HMI development - now I manage an electrical engineering department and keep my hands "in the game". All at one company over nearly 33 years. :-O
I also started as a Mechanical Engineer in the defense industry. Got into Finite Element Analysis and did quite a bit of FORTRAN programming. When the personal computer era started up, I learned assembly programming (my first computer was an Atari 400). Bought an IBM PC when they first came out. I moved into automated manufacturing doing programming using Pascal and C. Then moved on into C++ and now do C# and web app development.
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You've just described my dream place... :) I purposely banned TVs from my house. The Internet while being on optical fibre is mostly used for non essential things. Yet we live in a very densely populated area near Amsterdam. The air traffic over the house is horrible, the air stinks and the supermarket food tastes like cardboard most of the time. Even the organically grown food is horrible. And expensive. The organic red bell peppers for instance are packaged individually in plastic and sold for around 1.5 EUR each. You'd think they're gold plated. My car is a 18 years old Volvo which I bought last year. I mostly travel by motorcycle and bicycle. All these while my parents somewhere in Eastern Europe grow a lot of their own food, chop wood for heating and make their own wine. Needless to say they are in better shape than me.
If you are serious, I suggest looking into buying farmland or ranchland here in the United States. By European standards, American farmland is relatively inexpensive to purchase. Think about what you would like to raise, pick an appropriate climate zone and talk to a real estate agent.
You will need to talk to an immigration lawyer about moving to the US. Since Donald Trump became President, the rules have changed only slightly but the interpretation of those rules is very different.
The hardest part of the transition is living with Americans. We tend to be independent, ornery and self-reliant. Think John Wayne. The days of the "wild west" may be over, but the attitudes that settled the West remain. Many of us, especially rural residents, want as little government in our lives as possible.
As a farmer or rancher, you will need to thrive in isolation. My nearest neighbor lives one tenth of a mile away as the crow flies, but three tenths of a mile away, if you take the road. My wife and I feel that he lives too close to us for our comfort.
Farming or ranching is a lifestyle commitment. It is hard work. It is not for everyone. If you are up to the challenge, welcome to our party! It is a lifestyle with its own rewards.
__________________ Lord, grant me the serenity to accept that there are some things I just can’t keep up with, the determination to keep up with the things I must keep up with, and the wisdom to find a good RSS feed from someone who keeps up with what I’d like to, but just don’t have the damn bandwidth to handle right now. © 2009, Rex Hammock
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If so what drove the change to do so?
I got a degree in Physics, and almost all the jobs offered involved weapons research, which I object to, and security clearances, which meant that anything I discovered would be a secret and useless for bettering humanity. So I quit graduate school to accept a job with IBM.
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If you are serious, I suggest looking into buying farmland or ranchland here in the United States. By European standards, American farmland is relatively inexpensive to purchase. Think about what you would like to raise, pick an appropriate climate zone and talk to a real estate agent.
You will need to talk to an immigration lawyer about moving to the US. Since Donald Trump became President, the rules have changed only slightly but the interpretation of those rules is very different.
The hardest part of the transition is living with Americans. We tend to be independent, ornery and self-reliant. Think John Wayne. The days of the "wild west" may be over, but the attitudes that settled the West remain. Many of us, especially rural residents, want as little government in our lives as possible.
As a farmer or rancher, you will need to thrive in isolation. My nearest neighbor lives one tenth of a mile away as the crow flies, but three tenths of a mile away, if you take the road. My wife and I feel that he lives too close to us for our comfort.
Farming or ranching is a lifestyle commitment. It is hard work. It is not for everyone. If you are up to the challenge, welcome to our party! It is a lifestyle with its own rewards.
__________________ Lord, grant me the serenity to accept that there are some things I just can’t keep up with, the determination to keep up with the things I must keep up with, and the wisdom to find a good RSS feed from someone who keeps up with what I’d like to, but just don’t have the damn bandwidth to handle right now. © 2009, Rex Hammock
That would be a very bold move on my side. Got a wife and two small kids. Probably it would be hard to get them to the US. I hold a Canadian passport, but they don't. I have traveled in many places in the US and I have a few friends and a cousin living there. I even drove my car from the west to the east coast and California from San Francisco to San Diego. Beautiful country you have. And the few people I met were quite helpful and open. I am aware of the wild west attitude and I personally don't mind it since I'm likely built the same way. The main issue, immigration aside, is that I don't have any farming experience and I don't have the money to support my family until I can make a farm profitable (if a small farm can be profitable in this day). Now, I'm not one to back down from a challenge, but this might prove to be a bite bigger than I can chew. I'm pretty good with mechanical stuff, so I can probably fix an old tractor, but I never grew anything except my house plants. One of them was a hot pepper plant, so that's how close I ever came to farming. :) But you did get me thinking... thanks.
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H.Brydon wrote:
Asking for a friend.
Sure you are! :laugh:
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