Is there life after IT?

[doodab]

TBH IT is a pretty cushy number. I doubt you will find anything that pays as well and involves significantly less effort.

To become a lawyer, chartered accountant etc after getting a degree requires at least as much effort as psychology does, and you are going to spend just as much time keeping up with new developments in your profession as you do now. There isn't much money in Psychology either, a private therapist usually charges about £40 / hr. Engineering is an option but you aren't going to be able to match what you earn now until you've been at it for a few years. What about a more management / people focussed role in IT?

Of course you might not care about the money so much, in which case you have to ask yourself what do you love?

For me, it's actually tinkering with computers, so as long as I can get paid well and immerse myself in technical stuff and not have to deal with too much corporate bulltulip I'm happy.

[Old Greg]

I'm interested to hear about anyone who has left IT and started some other career (e.g. what they moved on to, and how they got on). Could be you or someone you know of.

I'm disillusioned with IT, sick of...

• endless skills treadmill (e.g. learning a skill only to find that it is obsolete after only 5 years maybe even less)
• job advert skill requirements that can only be met by lying
• short-termism (ie churn out some crap really quickly instead of being allowed time to do a proper job)
• offshoring
• outsourcing
• sitting at a desk all day
• lack of social interaction (occasional grunt exchange with another techy doesn't count!)

I'm approaching 40 and finding that sitting at a desk all day is causing me postural problems (stiff neck, tense shoulders etc). This is becoming an issue now, so god knows how I'll get on in future as I get older.

I've got a decent amount of savings, no dependants, no debts. I have the option of moving back to my parents' house and living cheaply whilst I develop a new way to earn my living. I reckon I could survive on my savings like that for at least 3 years, maybe more (depending on stuff like how much I spent on outgoings such as petrol etc).

I'm quite academically minded, introverted, and very good at analytical thinking/strategising/weighing up all the options etc. I would like a job that involves more dealing with people but not too much (remember I come from an IT geek background!).

I like learning new skills but I want to learn skills that will last the rest of my life, not just 5 years before they become obsolete having been replaced with <random IT skill version 2.0 dot web>.

I'm interested in psychology and have been reading a careers guide to that subject. However, it seems that all psychology careers require a doctorate (not just a degree), which is too long a road for me. Plus I'm not sure I would want to do psychology for a living (probably a whole lot different from studying it in the comfort of an armchair at home!).

Hoping to get some inspiration from the collective wisdom of CUKers...

Cheers,
Bwana

Clinical Psychology courses are extremely competitive - PM me if you want to know more (but I will put you off). Not a psychologist but know plenty and Mrs OG is a Lecturer in Psychology and still wouldn't get on the Clinical Psychology course.

[EternalOptimist]

Clinical Psychology courses are extremely competitive - PM me if you want to know more (but I will put you off). Not a psychologist but know plenty and Mrs OG is a Lecturer in Psychology and still wouldn't get on the Clinical Psychology course.

mmmm, I wonder what he meant by that ?

[Pogle]

Hmm I do sympathise with your plight.
I left a profession I was not happy with and felt was going nowhere, I went to university to do a BSc and got into IT and frankly love it

If you're really not happy, then you have to find something that you enjoy and get something out of. If the idea of still doing the same thing in 5 years time scares the tulip out of you, then really have a good look at what else interests you and could be a career. But be careful, you don't want to go through a couple of years training to find you're bored in your new profession too.

Good luck, it is possible to change career, so don't be put off

[ChrisPackit]

I like all these posts which say "Go do it" etc, but I will tell you my little story and let you make your own mind up.

I started contracting in '98, and did well out of it. I could earn £1.5K week + VAT so cushy little earner, with no stress. Though around 2002 I thought I was getting a bit bored and wanted something else to keep me entertained. Had a think about what really interests me and come up with the idea for a new business in Motorsport, as I'm a keen petrol head. So did the research as one does, started selling parts from home in parallel with the IT stuff, then progressed to full time from home, then rented some premises, employed staff etc etc. Things were good. Could go into work looking forward to an interesting and varied day. First 12 months were great but didn't make much cash, but as the years went on around 2006 it was good, the cash was comparable to IT if not a bit better - even though we had a 500K turnover. Then 2007 came along, we had just bought an £80,000 rolling road so a chunk of commitment, and then the recession started to rear it's ugly head. The first thing people stop is spending the extra £££ on their cars, so business went slowly down, the hassle went up. I remember going away on holiday for a week and couldn't stop thinking about how I was going to pay 5 members of staff next week as we weren't making enough money. I drempt of the days when I was contracting for the no-hassle, easy lifestyle. The company went into liquidation in 2008. The company absorbed most of the debts, but I had some personal commitments to the tune of around £25K too which wasn't easy to swallow.

I managed to get back into IT in 2009 at a vastly reduced rate, around £150 / day just to get my feet under the table again, and compimented it with a CV full of BS. I'm so glad that I can earn good money again with no stress on me and my family.

I'm kind of glad I tried it out - I was completely useless with anything practical - now I can re-build a car engine and built most of my new house, so it did have it's plus points.

The morale to my story is think long and hard about jumping ship from IT before you do it. It's quite an easy life for a good return, and nothing like running "a proper" business.

[conned tractor]

I'll let you know in a few months.....

One bit of advice, if you have a business partner, have one in a similar financial position and of similar level of intelect, not your best mate, becuase the relationship will not be the same after six months - in fact we nearly went to blows yesterday. Especially if you are left doing most of the work while they do they fluffy sh!t and they have an attitude to your best effort albeit with no help from them and they spend company money they haven't put in on entertaining people with little return for the company.

He's sales and marketing and he's outsourced the artwork design, website design (albeit cheaply, but not plenty cheapness).

I'm design and manufacture of production equipment, engineering (encompassing many feilds), production, product design.

Am I bitter, a little, but it will be better when money starts coming in, the responsibility will also shift somewhat then.

Morning rant over....going to drop an MF on him now.

[MarillionFan]

I also started with a business partner and we also made the mistake of letting the manager and bookkeeper have a budget / buy stock & deal with the accounts.

I was contracting and responsible for importing stock, but my business partner had trained as an accountant and was there to check the book-keeping & manage the team.

By the end of the first year, something was not right. We'd put 40k, needed another 10k for cash flow but we'd done 40k over breakeven!

The buyer/book keeper had knocked up debt on 30/60 day accounts and had been generating sales by then discounting stock to less than we had paid in some cases. No wonder we were so busy.

I decided to check the account and cheque books. The book keeper took them home and avoided my calls. When she got back, we had a chat and I let her go for lying. It then turned out over a period of time that we had 60K in debts on account, but it only said 10 in the books. She had thrown away invoices.

Anyway, we had the stock, massive overstocks but couldn;t turn it into cash and then the threats of legal action came.

My partner wanted to bankrupt. As a Ltd director elsewhere I didn't. In the end I took full control, buying him out for 20 of his 25k investment, got my contracting LTD to loan the retail LTD the funds, took a temporary shop for six months, treated that as a contract and ran both shops until it was cleared. By year 3 I was in profit.

[Lockhouse]

Learn to play an instrument, could change your life.

I'm thinking about doing this - I used to play the clarinet when I was a kid. I'm seeing beginner's tenor saxs on Ebay for around the £250 mark. I am really tempted to give it a go.

[BlasterBates]

Do an accountancy course before you start any business, I would say that would be highly recommended.

We did one many years ago, and the one lesson that stuck in my mind, was that more businesses go bankrupt through overtrading than any other reason.

In other words don't expand too fast, make sure you have enough dosh around to meet financial commitments.

If there is a downturn and you have a financial cushion then you may be able to ride it.

[amcdonald]

For me, it's actually tinkering with computers, so as long as I can get paid well and immerse myself in technical stuff and not have to deal with too much corporate bulltulip I'm happy.

WHS +1