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Do you have a specific job in mind? It seems obvious that you want to pivot to an IT/tech role but the particulars (aside from not wanting to work in web develo

Do you have a specific job in mind? It seems obvious that you want to pivot to an IT/tech role but the particulars (aside from not wanting to work in web development) aren’t clear. I assume you will be looking for something interesting and fulfilling rather than a way to pay the bills. So I would suggest looking at the question from this angle. What excites/motivates you enough to invest some time in it? What kind of job or context do you see yourself working in? If you are academically oriented, getting a degree will probably bring you the most satisfaction while you figure out the next step. If you’re more practically minded, I would suggest building your own one-man business, capitalizing on your interests and expertise (ML to automate lawyery stuff?) Given your past experience, I don’t know what you would learn in a bootcamp and (in my opinion) a bootcamp on your resume has weak signaling power. I would suggest looking at apprenticeship degrees, where you’re at school part-time and work the rest of the time. They’re pretty common (in France at least) and some of them are explicitely targeted at people who already have had a first non-IT career. The upside is that you’ll get to work early on (these schools will usually help you find a company). The downside is that you’ll be working in a junior position. But, aside from starting your own business, I don’t see how you can avoid that. FWIW, in my company we have an apprentice data scientist who used to be the GM of an industrial company in Asia! He caught the data science bug a few years back and he’s having a blast going back to school and learning on the job.

checkyoursudo 8y ago
I don't exactly have a specific job title in mind. If I could get to a point where I could help solve problems in AI R&D, then that's what I would probably do. I mentioned that my philosophy undergrad focused on ethics and logic. If I could find a way to work on building systems that have ethics as a primary concern (ethical algorithms, ethical artificial intelligence, etc) then I would like that. I have really enjoyed my self-study in machine learning, and for a while I thought for sure that's the path I would take. Right now I am not as sure. I just don't have a good sense of what I should do to keep going down this route if that's what I want to do, other than trying to get into a data-sciecne-type degree program perhaps. I have no issue with starting in a junior position. I don't care about the money or the power or the prestige specifically -- I just want to do something interesting and fulfilling. I have already had the chance to make lots of money in my life, and I just don't care that much, so junior (engineer/data scientist/etc) is fine. Also, it's easy not to care about money so much when your partner earns so much; I realize that I am in a fairly privileged place of not having to worry about money right now, but that's just where the universe has put me for now. Otherwise, I am really into Linux and FOSS stuff. I don't know if I would like kernel dev or embedded software as a career, but that's a possibility.
- laurentl 8y ago
  Thanks for clarifying. Given the interests you cite (e.g. AI R&D), a specialized degree might be necessary to break into the field - I don’t really see a clear path from “starting a new career in IT” to “working on advanced topics” that doesn’t include a degree or a few years of work and regular promotions/job changes. Re junior positions, they’re often not the most interesting jobs, unless you have a specific interest in learning the ropes (or you love fixing bugs and handling JIRA tickets ;) - hence my remark. A final thought: if working remotely is on the table, i.e. if you’re not explicitely looking for a local job and the accompanying social interactions, maybe you can look at working remotely for a US company. Hit the latest “who’s hiring” post, look at remote job postings that sound interesting, and contact the recruiter to see if your profile could interest them and if not what you would need (degree, portfolio, previous experience) before applying again.

checkyoursudo 8y ago

I don't exactly have a specific job title in mind. If I could get to a point where I could help solve problems in AI R&D, then that's what I would probably do. I mentioned that my philosophy undergrad focused on ethics and logic. If I could find a way to work on building systems that have ethics as a primary concern (ethical algorithms, ethical artificial intelligence, etc) then I would like that. I have really enjoyed my self-study in machine learning, and for a while I thought for sure that's the path I would take. Right now I am not as sure. I just don't have a good sense of what I should do to keep going down this route if that's what I want to do, other than trying to get into a data-sciecne-type degree program perhaps. I have no issue with starting in a junior position. I don't care about the money or the power or the prestige specifically -- I just want to do something interesting and fulfilling. I have already had the chance to make lots of money in my life, and I just don't care that much, so junior (engineer/data scientist/etc) is fine. Also, it's easy not to care about money so much when your partner earns so much; I realize that I am in a fairly privileged place of not having to worry about money right now, but that's just where the universe has put me for now. Otherwise, I am really into Linux and FOSS stuff. I don't know if I would like kernel dev or embedded software as a career, but that's a possibility.

laurentl 8y ago
Thanks for clarifying. Given the interests you cite (e.g. AI R&D), a specialized degree might be necessary to break into the field - I don’t really see a clear path from “starting a new career in IT” to “working on advanced topics” that doesn’t include a degree or a few years of work and regular promotions/job changes. Re junior positions, they’re often not the most interesting jobs, unless you have a specific interest in learning the ropes (or you love fixing bugs and handling JIRA tickets ;) - hence my remark. A final thought: if working remotely is on the table, i.e. if you’re not explicitely looking for a local job and the accompanying social interactions, maybe you can look at working remotely for a US company. Hit the latest “who’s hiring” post, look at remote job postings that sound interesting, and contact the recruiter to see if your profile could interest them and if not what you would need (degree, portfolio, previous experience) before applying again.