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Everything donkeyd said paired with critical advice: The moment someone offers you an opp to do something in the direction you’re interested in going, moonligh

Everything donkeyd said paired with critical advice: The moment someone offers you an opp to do something in the direction you’re interested in going, moonlighting or not, and the finances work at at least a minimum level for you, take it. No, doesn’t matter if you’re a little or a lot under-qualified - say yes and figure it out later. The highest chance of pivoting successfully, and IMO why many people never pull it off, is how you evaluate the above situation when it happens. Grind it out for 6-18 months, and you have a whole new resume as entry level in tech/w-e your goal is. From there, things open. By saying yes, once you get something tech-y on your resume and enter into that new network, things just expand and expand. At that point it’ll hard to fail on your transition goal. Many people however say no - they’re not ready enough, they have too many other things going on, etc. What they don’t realize is, especially with an incomplete resume (no college, college but non-technical, a bootcamp but a so-so one, etc), this is how many (or my guess - the majority) of career lateral transfers happen: seizing the opp when it shows up. They say no out of talent insecurity and fear, no realizing everyone one else is sort of making it up as they go along too early on. Say yes when opps open up. That’s your window, your “shot,” will look like.

ramtatatam 5y ago
Also it's much easier to say "yes" when you have somebody who is already in the industry and is willing to pick up the phone and help.
- jonny_eh 5y ago
  Or a role model that can assure you that it's ok to say yes, and the truth that everyone fakes it until they make it.
  - ramtatatam 5y ago
    I'm not sure I read your comment in a right way. I'm trying to say active support is important. It makes people feel safe when exploring new territory. I'm not saying people should be dishonest with potential employer. It's especially important to support people who experience sub-depression states of mind. It's easier to take risk of change when you have somebody to support you.
    - jonny_eh 5y ago
      It's not dishonest to "fake it until you make it", it's a way to address one's feeling of imposter syndrome. It's being comfortable with your own ignorance as long as you're willing to learn as you go.
jrumbut 5y ago
Can not recommend this advice enough, it should be on billboards and read out yearly to every high school student.
schwartzworld 5y ago
> The moment someone offers you an opp to do something in the direction you’re interested in going, moonlighting or not, and the finances work at at least a minimum level for you, take it. To put this another way, it's worth it to take a below-average salary because you can probably parlay that into a better one in a year's time. The sooner you start the clock on that year running, the better. My first front-end job paid 20k below market value. After 18 months, I got a new gig and my salary doubled.
Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
This is where my brother is at. He has over 15 years experience working customer-facing jobs, but they've all been low-level of retail and inbound sales. He wants to get into tech, but has no experience in tech and no education. But he managed to get an entry-level IT job for a retirement home company. It's only ~$50K/year, but not only is it more than he made before, but gets his foot into the door into the IT world. He hopes to learn the skills necessary on the job to eventually move to doing IT at an actual tech company, which could skyrocket his salary.
silisili 5y ago
Excellent advice - I did this, basically. I knew how to program but no formal experience, and at the time at least there was nothing available nearby and they all wanted degrees. Tech company came to town and I jumped on it, as a support person. Proved my chops to anyone who would listen, and went up and up and up. Making about 7x now as I did when starting, doing wildly different work!
- dogman144 5y ago
  I did it as well. I witness people I mentor as falling into either will not/will do this approach also, and I haven't decided how to navigate that as a mentor. I think I can often falsely assume people are inherently down with this way of working/advancing or not, but I haven't pushed anyone after witnessing taking the no route. Def wonder how that would work as a discussion or if this risk-taking could be taught.

ramtatatam 5y ago

Also it's much easier to say "yes" when you have somebody who is already in the industry and is willing to pick up the phone and help.

jonny_eh 5y ago
Or a role model that can assure you that it's ok to say yes, and the truth that everyone fakes it until they make it.
- ramtatatam 5y ago
  I'm not sure I read your comment in a right way. I'm trying to say active support is important. It makes people feel safe when exploring new territory. I'm not saying people should be dishonest with potential employer. It's especially important to support people who experience sub-depression states of mind. It's easier to take risk of change when you have somebody to support you.
  - jonny_eh 5y ago
    It's not dishonest to "fake it until you make it", it's a way to address one's feeling of imposter syndrome. It's being comfortable with your own ignorance as long as you're willing to learn as you go.

jrumbut 5y ago

Can not recommend this advice enough, it should be on billboards and read out yearly to every high school student.

schwartzworld 5y ago

> The moment someone offers you an opp to do something in the direction you’re interested in going, moonlighting or not, and the finances work at at least a minimum level for you, take it. To put this another way, it's worth it to take a below-average salary because you can probably parlay that into a better one in a year's time. The sooner you start the clock on that year running, the better. My first front-end job paid 20k below market value. After 18 months, I got a new gig and my salary doubled.

Sohcahtoa82 5y ago

This is where my brother is at. He has over 15 years experience working customer-facing jobs, but they've all been low-level of retail and inbound sales. He wants to get into tech, but has no experience in tech and no education. But he managed to get an entry-level IT job for a retirement home company. It's only ~$50K/year, but not only is it more than he made before, but gets his foot into the door into the IT world. He hopes to learn the skills necessary on the job to eventually move to doing IT at an actual tech company, which could skyrocket his salary.

silisili 5y ago

Excellent advice - I did this, basically. I knew how to program but no formal experience, and at the time at least there was nothing available nearby and they all wanted degrees. Tech company came to town and I jumped on it, as a support person. Proved my chops to anyone who would listen, and went up and up and up. Making about 7x now as I did when starting, doing wildly different work!

dogman144 5y ago
I did it as well. I witness people I mentor as falling into either will not/will do this approach also, and I haven't decided how to navigate that as a mentor. I think I can often falsely assume people are inherently down with this way of working/advancing or not, but I haven't pushed anyone after witnessing taking the no route. Def wonder how that would work as a discussion or if this risk-taking could be taught.