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| *Ostroff, Fair and Company>>>Technology |
Career worries and change at 40? |
I'm almost 40 years old and earn over 70,000 yearly in an computer programming career. Is it a good idea to change careers at my age. A friend of mine finish an air conditioning tech school program and is making good money. I love the technology field, although I get tired of reading soooo many books and training to stay on top of all new technologies. I'm also worried there won't be any jobs in the future due to offshoring to India and China. What do you advise? A career change can be costly and damage your self-esteem and self-worth if not done properly. It involves a deliberate process, which will take you to a career choice(s). Here are some sites that can help you plan a career change. Job Hunters Bible - My favorite. I have taught their system to hundreds of people with great results. Richard N. Bolles, America's dean of Career Consultants, heads the company and is also the author of the book, 'What Color Is Your Parachute.' This book should be available in your public library. http://www.JobHuntersBible.com U. S. Department of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook http://www.bls.gov/oco/ CareerBuilder.Com http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobseeker/j... The Princeton Review Career Quiz - Free. A brief 24-part questionnaire related to the Birkman Method, with intriguing career suggestions. http://www.review.com/career/careerquizh... The RHETI Test - Free. Related to the Enneagram http:/www.9types.com/ Tests for Sale Analyze My Career - Aptitude tests, personality tests, occupation interests, entrepreneurial index. http://www.AnalyzeMyCareer.com John Holland's Self-Directed Search http://www.self-directed=searc... Other Career Tests and Sites http://www.assessment.com/ http://web.tickle.com/take/online-career... http://careerplanning.about.com/mbody.ht... http://www.ncda.org/ Peace and every blessing! Your concerns are valid ones, but your money is probably better than what you would be making as an air conditioning tech, at least during the first year or so. Can you go through the program without quitting or interfering with your current job? If so then what would it hurt, unless you have other priorities? Talk to the instructor and see what they have to say about the program. They'll tell you if it's a good field, how many jobs there are and what the true expected salary is. If you still like technology, consider a side or lateral career change, still in IT but not actively programming. Alternatives are tech sales ( not for everyone), teaching or your own business. Trade schools and blue collar trades, do not have a high income potential, you'll likely never make $70K as an air conditioning tech , only the folks who run those companies make that kind of money. Blue collar trades such as hvac, are mostly run by small companies, so there's not a lot of money when you start as an apprentice, then working your way up you start hitting a limit.. if you still like IT look into related fields in other industries don't be afraid to take a different job but that still involves tehcnology.. You tired of "reading soooo many books and training to stay on top"? Maybe you should open an quaint little book store somewhere or go into the antique business (oh, sorry about that, I forgot you have to stay up on all the different antiques). Sorry, but that's part of being an IT person. There is no other place I know of that is going to offer that kind of salary on average. But the high salary comes at a price - if it was easy, everyone could do it, and then there would be no value to it. What I am reading through the lines is that you're suffering some 'burn-out'. You might be working for a dysfunctional company that really doesn't care that you don't have a life outside of your job. If thats the case, I would first try approaching your immediate supervisor about it, and see if you can't work some kind of compromise. If not, maybe you should look for work at a different company or maybe even a non-profit. There are a lot of companies out there that value your IT skills and won't 'dog you out'. Outsourcing scares make for good news, but if you stop and do the research, that's all they are is 'scares'. I have worked for a few companies that have been burned real bad by outsourcing, and won't go out of the US or UK again anytime soon. Coporate execs look to outsourcing as a means to reduce costs. What NEVER gets figured into the equations is language and cultural barriers - which even when the country speaks English as a good second language - are significant to overcome. Many, many companies have been really disappointed in their outsourcing efforts that go above the call center level of expertise. So I really think that a good IT person does not have much to worry about, even in today's globalized economy. I guess it does make good 'water cooler' chatter, however. But my extensive research shows that this is not something to loose sleep over. Sorry about the sarcasm at first, but I couldn't resist :-) I'm 27, I've been in IT for 7 years now (5 as a programmer, 2 as a sysadmin), well paid... but after all these years a grew sick of it. Especially: 1- The static posture at the desk, 2- Reading, searching, designing on the screen all day.. Unfortunately there seem to be no way of getting out of these 2, except maybe as a teacher but for that you need certain qualities. My plan at the moment is to reduce my IT work to half a day and find another field to work in part time. Who know, that might just be the solution. Sorry I'm not much help except compassion ;) I am 47 and I don't make anywhere near that. Your priority right now should be creating residual income (well it sounded good), just in case you are bad at fixing air conditioners. I really can't give you any better advice than that. |
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