I am confused.

[ghaye]

The amount of work you'll need to put in to get to where you'd even pass an interview nowadays is a lot. Like way too much. I fail interviews all the time because of the technical B.S. that this field is doing with interviews.

You're in a really great field. I have friends doing well in Australia and the U.K. as fitters and fabricators. If welding is your field, I doubt you're only needed to weld ECUs onto gearboxes. Expand within your field.

For example, I was primarily doing Android apps but now I have to do iOS more because of demand.
Fix your knees and get out there. I'm rooting for you.

I thinking you are taking me out of context. I think you know programming of ECUs is modern compared to the cars I started to fix when I was young. I mean mechanical fuel injection wasn't even a thing. I am here between breaks trying to follow up on post and make plenty of mistakes while typing. I don't weld gearboxes, I don't weld engines. I rebuild them. I don't work on ECUs because I don't understand them yet.

I was just asking if making a change to IT is worth it this late in the game. **** I don't know if I will be able to work like this for the next ten years.

I was referring to the message above mine, see the highlighted bit.

 

[RedViking]

I think it is never to late to learn something new. Our biggest challenge is just time and motivation.

 

[cguy]

Yeah software development is way oversubscribed overseas.

Definitely not the case in general, although for someone over 60, the ramp up time and ageism in the industry would definitely make me recommend that they consider alternatives.

 

[cguy]

Any detailed insight will help if you want to post it.

Salaries tend to scale with demand over supply. In a non-regulated environment, this is usually the best indicator.

 

[B-1]

Sounds like you never progressed from being the labourer. It would be better to look at roles where you use one of the skills you already have and add more people/business management skills so you can move up the ladder or be your own ladder.

No point at getting a programming job if your eyes are bad. Staring at the screen all day is not good for your eyes either.

 

[chrisc]

Did miss something. How is he eligible for benefits in the uk?

Supplementary benefits can be awarded to any indigent person who is unable to be repatriated. It helps a lot if you can speak good English

 

[bwana]

Supplementary benefits can be awarded to any indigent person who is unable to be repatriated. It helps a lot if you can speak good English

Ignoring that PSICs are not entitled to public funds... there's no reason the OP would not be able to be repatriated.

 

[acidrain]

Lets start with why I tried to move from being a welder to IT.

I am old my knees are in a state of constant pain and my eyes is not as good as it used to be. However I did a lot of stuff and would like to know your opinion about all this.

This is a list of what I can do personally. Obviously no qualifications as I never got that far.

build and sell computers as a side hustle.
build out basic home automation system.
build apps in Python "not that hard" and Android Studio "not that hard" obviously used AI to trouble shoot stuff.
My A+ and N+ expired in early 2000s and never went for recertification.

Worked on a bunch of stuff like home networks for small startups nothing special.

So given my basic general knowledge any teenager with chatGPT and Youtube can smoke me any day of the week. I get this but was wondering if any of this would count outside South Africa? Welding is hard work and hard on the body I am old so what am I looking at?

Even my current income is rebuilding gearboxes and engines. I am doing really well but I don't see how that skill will carry over as **** we get here isn't the stuff we will see in the first world. It is all computers and automatic gearboxes and ECU programming that I barely understand.

In my opinion I am ****ed I just need to know by how much?

Is a career change really necessary. Sure maybe being a welder is write off but why not skill up to a welding inspector. CSWIP certified guys are very sought after offshore.

 

[Jackal65]

Is a career change really necessary. Sure maybe being a welder is write off but why not skill up to a welding inspector. CSWIP certified guys are very sought after offshore.

Yes they are actually but it is not the work that is the problem it is who you work for and if their insurance allow for older workers or not. A lot of times people can work but they go for younger workers as they are cheaper.