Starting to feel overwhelmed

D

DrewChan

Expert Member
Joined
May 19, 2010
Messages
4,939
Reaction score
3
Location
Cape Town
I could really do with some advice,

As a lot of people know due to multiple threads, I am probably emigrating to the UK, I am 30,
I have a decent job that I attained by working my way up in a large corporate, the job is fairly niche
I am currently 60% done with an IT diploma (3 year)

Here's my problem, my experience is not in the field I am studying and I am somewhat regretting my diploma as it seems very general in terms of actually getting a job, my job due to being so niche is hard to find an equivalent of in the UK.

I have no other qualifications besides matric,

Do I drop everything and start doing certificates? (programming, sysadmin etc etc),
Do I try complete my Diploma (Although this is still probably 1.5 years off)
Do I try find this niche role in the UK with no qualifications to show.

Stressing that at 30 its too late to break into IT.

Sorry about the fragmented format of this post.

I have about a year to get myself together before the move - I need to do as much as I can before then
 
It's never to late to empower yourself through study.

I would suggest you finish your diploma. Reason: You've already vested so much time and money into it. Once done, then start looking into something else more to your field of work. You mentioned going to the UK so I assume you're going alone. If so, don't worry about starting at the bottom again. Yes it sucks, but you're only 30 man. Get a job that pays the bills while you study and work your way up from there.

Mate of mine did construction work in the UK for about 3 years before he really got into a nice office job. It's a hard place to survive especially for foreigners. But once you crack it you'll be golden. All the best.
 
You are going to have to take a salary cut at some point. It may not be a huge cut, but you will get paid less, and probably find it difficult to break into a certain field as all your peers will be quite a bit younger than you.

I suggest you focus on finishing your Diploma (no point in not finishing it), and do some of the easier certs at the same time. You are going to have to put some serious effort into getting these done. You also need to decide what path you want to follow. Do you want to go into development or manage networks and infrastructure, security etc? You sound very uncertain. Before you do anything, pick a specialty, and follow that. These certifications can get very expensive, so you need to be clear about what you want.
 
Get a degree. These days a diploma does not cut it anymore. Thereafter you can do specialist certificates. This will secure your future. 30 is still young so dont be bothered about that. Get experience in IT too. Experience is very very important if you want a decent salary or a pathetic salary.
 
Think you'll have to push your timetable for the emigration back a bit.

Also given the education background I'd suggest don't move without a firm offer in hand
 
HavocXphere said:
Think you'll have to push your timetable for the emigration back a bit.

Also given the education background I'd suggest don't move without a firm offer in hand
Click to expand...

I have a fairly wealthy support structure there should I run into problems but I'll take your advice, isn't it tough getting a job offer when you don't reside in the country?
 
DrewChan said:
I have a fairly wealthy support structure there should I run into problems but I'll take your advice, isn't it tough getting a job offer when you don't reside in the country?
Click to expand...
Yeah its tougher but rocking up without a job is going to be pretty stressful.
 
Niche or not, you have working experience counting in your favor. You might not be able to break into IT right away, but you might be able to in your current role somewhere else. as MaryJane pointed out, going from where you are to a Junior IT position means a paycut, but I'd only focus on changing careers once I'm in the UK
 
You might also find some unexpected overlaps/usefulness in your field of expertise combined with your qualifications. I did a Marketing and Business Management degree and started work in IT. Now I have that and an MCITP and after a long slog in 1st and 2nd tier IT support ended up being an analyst with project management experience. I could also probably be an account manager if I decided to based on what I do, or perhaps an IT Manager or team lead or a customer facing role... lots of options thanks to a bit of diversity. So go for it dude, you never know where you will end up and what will count :)

I'm also 30 y/o.
 
I am sure there will be use for my current experience, this however isn't what will land me a job as a lot of that is untestable in an interview situation.

I am avoiding customer facing roles :P but thanks for the advice.
 
HavocXphere said:
Yeah its tougher but rocking up without a job is going to be pretty stressful.
Click to expand...

Its virtually impossible to get a job in the UK without first going there. Usually there is a telephone interview initially, which I guess you can do in SA. But you wont get the job without a personal interview.

Also, without a visa, they wont even read your cv. Maybe not even respond to you.
 
Last edited:
zippy said:
But you wont get the job without a personal interview.

Also, without a visa, they wont even read your cv. Maybe not even respond to you.
Click to expand...
If supply & demand of the skills are stacked in the employees favour you can definitely do it without visa or personal interview. ;) Doesn't really help OP, but just saying...
 
I made a major career change at your age, giving up a well-paying head of dept position as a city planner to get a computer science diploma. After completing that and experiencing 3 months of unemployment, got a junior position with a business intelligence consultancy, and I worked my way up from there to other consulting companies. Am now snr business analyst with a global pharmaceutical co.

Never too late to change. What are your options - to freeze in time and do nothing ? Or move forward. Emigrating and getting a job overseas may well shake you out of your comfort zone, but if you persevere, you'll get through it.
 
HavocXphere said:
If supply & demand of the skills are stacked in the employees favour you can definitely do it without visa or personal interview. ;) Doesn't really help OP, but just saying...
Click to expand...

Those jobs so are so rare, its cruel even mentioning it here :)
 
How much do you enjoy labour work?

Seriously dude, you're dreaming by the sounds of it. Do you have any concept of how inundated with immigrants and refugees the UK is? Job market is super packed. If you want to live as a sponge I guess go for it but it sounds like you're heading for disaster.
 
fussydassie said:
How much do you enjoy labour work?

Seriously dude, you're dreaming by the sounds of it. Do you have any concept of how inundated with immigrants and refugees the UK is? Job market is super packed. If you want to live as a sponge I guess go for it but it sounds like you're heading for disaster.
Click to expand...
The job market in the UK is super packed with unskilled morons. There is a major shortage of skilled intelligent people. If you have good skills, have a brain, can speak English FLUENTLY, you will get a job in the UK faster than you can say "highly skilled visa". I think it's easier for a skilled developer to get a job in the UK than in SA, simply because there are more openings for skilled devs in the UK. Well if you are white anyhow.
 
Last edited:
fussydassie said:
How much do you enjoy labour work?

Seriously dude, you're dreaming by the sounds of it. Do you have any concept of how inundated with immigrants and refugees the UK is? Job market is super packed. If you want to live as a sponge I guess go for it but it sounds like you're heading for disaster.
Click to expand...

I don't know what you're smoking, hit indeed.co.uk and look at the IT jobs before spouting nonsense
 
Feeling a bit better, my role is not as niche as I thought. Millions of jobs for MI analysts, I mistakenly searched specifically for MIS Analyst which yielded much poorer results.

I'm still going to try break into IT but at least I have a fallback
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X