Pursuing IT qualifications at my current age.

[Arksun]

Here's the deal:

When I left school, the first thing I done was to get an A+ and N+. I started a job as a technician, but there was a few problems. It turned out the training facility wasn't legit and my certifications weren't worth squat. The result of that was a very low wage. After five years under their employment I left being paid R2800 pm. I was working under a manager that took all the credit of the work of those under him and blamed all his screw ups on those under him. The directors randomly nullified annual leave as they felt like it. I did not leave on good terms.

Knowing I wouldn't get anywhere in IT without anything proper on paper, I started an apprenticeship as a locksmith. I'm now on my seventh year, qualified, the pay is okay and my boss is awesome. But this is not what I want to do. I am now finally in a financial situation to study at home and pay for study material and exams. I'm planning on rewriting my A+ and N+ over the next two months, then move over to MCSA, hopefully completing MCSE by the end of the year. Basically, I want to return to IT in 2017 and continue with further qualifications.

Now here's my biggest two concerns:

1) I am turning 31 this month

2) Given the circumstances of my five years working in IT, I can't count on a good reference for my experience.

How screwed am I?

 

[nightshade21099]

Its going to be quite difficult competing with younger people with more experience who already have a MCSA and MCSE.

I've been in IT since I was 18 years old I'm now 31 and work for a large corporate as a network/sysadmin.

I can everything from desktop support to inter area OSPF routing to coding in C# 98% of my personal time goes towards studying and learning Information Technology and I spend 16 hours a day in front of a computer.

I recently got my MCSA and MCSE Private Cloud last year it was quite difficult without a real test lab its going to be even harder.

My suggestion is set yourself reasonable goals its definitely possible to switch to the IT industry if you are passionate about IT don't try do it all in one year also don't expect to walk into a high paying job once you have a MCSE these days experience is valued much more than certifications 99% of interviews will involve a technical test to measure your aptitude for different technologies and solutions.

 

[Arksun]

99% of interviews will involve a technical test to measure your aptitude

This is what I'm counting on. Its all i have to prove my worth. I've been spending a lot of time these last seven years making sure I don't lose touch with what's going on in the server world, because I knew the time will come when I'll want to go back. God bless VM and the internet is all I can say about that.

 

[Baxteen]

the first company you worked for sounds like a company I am quite familiar with.
any chance it was based in Boksburg?

 

[Nemus]

We employ attitude, as training and knowledge share is easier (and cheaper) to provide.
I'd say do Mikrotik MTCNA and RedHat RHCSA EX200. You should be ok then. Nightshade has an impressive resume, however not all in IT started in IT. I know of some very successfull CIO/CTOs that started their IT career in their mid 30s.

Aptitude is more important.

 

[Arksun]

the first company you worked for sounds like a company I am quite familiar with.
any chance it was based in Boksburg?

Pietermaritzburg

 

[Baxteen]

Pietermaritzburg

ok cool. just had to make sure.

 

[Beachless]

If you do a search you will see at least a few posts like yours every year, a few have come back and said they have been successful so I dont see why not.

The thing about IT is that many places hire you for your skills and if you can prove or show those skills and interview half decently you have a good chance. Just find a way to show that you will be an asset and you should have no issues getting a job. How much you earn may be an issue though at least in the beginning.

 

[nightshade21099]

We employ attitude, as training and knowledge share is easier (and cheaper) to provide.
I'd say do Mikrotik MTCNA and RedHat RHCSA EX200. You should be ok then. Nightshade has an impressive resume, however not all in IT started in IT. I know of some very successfull CIO/CTOs that started their IT career in their mid 30s.

Aptitude is more important.

I would rather get a CCNA than MTCNA, while I am a huge fan of Mikrotik and use them extensively most companies are looking for a CCNA at least or CCNP.

 

[OnlyOneKenobi]

It is going to be really hard to get your foot in the door, but your best bet would be to get an entry level job contracting somewhere like Paracon, Dimension Data, Xpert, etc. and build up some experience... Qualifications can be important, but experience is often the deciding factor in selecting the best candidate for a job.

 

[gragnok]

The IT company I work for emphasizes character and attitude over experience and qualifications when filling entry level positions.
I'm certain that there are other companies that do the same.

Simply put, you aren't screwed at all. I've worked with people who have degrees in the humanities, matric, grade 10, tons of certifications, no certifications etc.

One of the smartest people I've had the privilege to learn from had matric and no certs. Everything he knew was self taught.
Get a job in the field, even if it's entry level. Devote as much time as you can into learning what it is you want to do, developer, noc etc and go from there.

 

[TehStranger]

"He is too old. Yes, too old, to begin the training." - Yoda.

Not really though, a friend of mine took a similar route and started in the IT industry at 29 (no certification, high aptitude). 5 years later and he's really flying (coding).

Good luck.

 

[DarkStorm]

Have the same issue, 32yrs old

Studied IT after school @ CPUT majoring in programming, dropped out (failed main subject and clashed with second year subjects) and went to work as Technician, went on to study Financial accounting... worked as accountant drove me crazy and although money was good I was not happy and not what I wanted to do.

Now working as network admin / support and working towards Java qualification with the goal of landing a developer job.

I do believe it is possible you will have a lot of obstacles and also think the hardest thing would be landing an interview and job given our age.
We will also have a hard time competing with the younger crowd.

Experience is worth more than the paper, and you will need to prove yourself quite a lot, give them a reason to hire you.
I found that to be the hardest when going for the interview and doing the test.

Wish you all the best buddy !