4 ms·

Life is long and careers are very short nowadays. While it's true that a CS degree from IV league school and a hacker career in google is probably quite difficu

Life is long and careers are very short nowadays. While it's true that a CS degree from IV league school and a hacker career in google is probably quite difficult for you I assure you that for the more common jobs it is much more appreciated by employers that you have the skills to learn new material alone. I am now 33. I've been working in the investment industry since I was 17 and only when I was 28 I've changed carrers - to IT. It was very easy for me since (much like yourself) I loved learning alone and was always fascinated by computers. Last year I've changed careers again - this time to tech investments. If employers won't give you a chance, don't give them the opportunity to decline. Be creative. For example, try getting work as QA in start-ups and then move to junior dev inside the company, or take on web projects for free, bid low on Elance etc.

cylinder 12y ago
How did you do the change? I'm at the same age and want to make a change. Not to programming but some sort of IT, IT management, etc., not working a helpdesk, not programming. I'm currently a professional in an unrelated field (but one that the corporate world would appreciate in an IT professional), but as I've been on computers since the early 90s at age 8, I feel I made a mistake not pursuing my childhood obsession, in what was then a niche hobby, as a career. Is it possible to make this change and go into something like IT project management, architecture etc? Any advice?
- aharonovich 12y ago
  Yes, I have some advice, I'll start by telling you what I did. I had my mind set on going into high-tech for the same reasons you've described. I met with a startup that was bootstrapping his BI product at 2008, and convinced them to let me do sales & PS for them - for free, meaning I would only get paid if I sold the product and managed to sell some PS hours. In return they supplied training on their BI tool, naturally I had to learn a whole lot by myself - basic things that were then new for me - DB, sql etc, but I didn't mind since I loved computers since ever. After a few months of not selling almost nothing (wow, great surprise) my funds were running low, but I was already a different person. I knew what is a product, I knew what is a DB and how to connect to it etc, so I've found a junior job at a Qlikview (another BI tool) PS company. I picked up QV very fast and became very good with it, and after one year at the job was already the company's lead on financial BI. After this year I already had the technical expertise to get a job that combined my new career with my old career and became an IT economist, no longer a junior, in charge of migrating the organization's financial systems to SAP and maintaining the existing systems until the change. My advice - just get in IT. Don't mind starting from the bottom, in the grand scheme of things 2-3 years of reduced salary is nothing. Look for a job in the IT of your field, for example, since I had financial background it was easy for me to get a job in financial BI, but I could get a job in any financial IT system as helpdesk, PS etc. To get this job you might have to get into a course or even learn some new skills at home after work. If you want specific ideas you can write here or email me your experience.
  - cylinder 12y ago
    Thanks for taking the time to share your story; it's inspirational. I used to do things like what you did -- just approach people out of nowhere and offer to work for free, I guess I've lost that drive as I've gotten a bit older. Since I'm currently self-employed, but business is a bit slow atm, I may be in a position to do something like that. I've been building sites, scripts, mysql dbs etc on an amateur level since I was 15, so I think I could pick up this stuff quickly. I will take you up on the offer and email (is it username @gmail?) you as I could definitely use some guidance from someone who's been there. First I'll be doing more research to get caught up so as not to waste your time. Thanks!
    - aharonovich 12y ago
      No problem, it's aharonovich@gmail.com, feel free. I'm sure you can do it, Anyone that reads HN can do it.

cylinder 12y ago

How did you do the change? I'm at the same age and want to make a change. Not to programming but some sort of IT, IT management, etc., not working a helpdesk, not programming. I'm currently a professional in an unrelated field (but one that the corporate world would appreciate in an IT professional), but as I've been on computers since the early 90s at age 8, I feel I made a mistake not pursuing my childhood obsession, in what was then a niche hobby, as a career. Is it possible to make this change and go into something like IT project management, architecture etc? Any advice?

aharonovich 12y ago
Yes, I have some advice, I'll start by telling you what I did. I had my mind set on going into high-tech for the same reasons you've described. I met with a startup that was bootstrapping his BI product at 2008, and convinced them to let me do sales & PS for them - for free, meaning I would only get paid if I sold the product and managed to sell some PS hours. In return they supplied training on their BI tool, naturally I had to learn a whole lot by myself - basic things that were then new for me - DB, sql etc, but I didn't mind since I loved computers since ever. After a few months of not selling almost nothing (wow, great surprise) my funds were running low, but I was already a different person. I knew what is a product, I knew what is a DB and how to connect to it etc, so I've found a junior job at a Qlikview (another BI tool) PS company. I picked up QV very fast and became very good with it, and after one year at the job was already the company's lead on financial BI. After this year I already had the technical expertise to get a job that combined my new career with my old career and became an IT economist, no longer a junior, in charge of migrating the organization's financial systems to SAP and maintaining the existing systems until the change. My advice - just get in IT. Don't mind starting from the bottom, in the grand scheme of things 2-3 years of reduced salary is nothing. Look for a job in the IT of your field, for example, since I had financial background it was easy for me to get a job in financial BI, but I could get a job in any financial IT system as helpdesk, PS etc. To get this job you might have to get into a course or even learn some new skills at home after work. If you want specific ideas you can write here or email me your experience.
- cylinder 12y ago
  Thanks for taking the time to share your story; it's inspirational. I used to do things like what you did -- just approach people out of nowhere and offer to work for free, I guess I've lost that drive as I've gotten a bit older. Since I'm currently self-employed, but business is a bit slow atm, I may be in a position to do something like that. I've been building sites, scripts, mysql dbs etc on an amateur level since I was 15, so I think I could pick up this stuff quickly. I will take you up on the offer and email (is it username @gmail?) you as I could definitely use some guidance from someone who's been there. First I'll be doing more research to get caught up so as not to waste your time. Thanks!
  - aharonovich 12y ago
    No problem, it's aharonovich@gmail.com, feel free. I'm sure you can do it, Anyone that reads HN can do it.