Career change from Software

monosharp

As it says on the tin. I want to go back to education and do a postgraduate but honestly getting sicker and sicker of IT, specifically Programming all the time.

Can anyone help me out here ? What career changes are possible ?

I assume I can't go to Uni and do a postgrad to become a historian or astrophysicist. So what is open to me realistically ?

Thanks all.

Sparks

Everything is. I know of one computer engineer who's now a very happy horticulturist. I know of another who's a very happy housewife. And another who's going for a law degree.
You might have to do a full undergrad course in some cases though.

Rej

I feel your pain.. I worked as a code monkey for a few years before going back to college to do a PhD. My PhD is in the general area of computer science/vision so it wasnt a million miles away from my undergrad degree.

Have you had a look at the conversion-type postgraduate courses that are currently available?

http://postgradireland.com/find-a-course/

jaysond

Depends on where you want to go really..I packed in the IT myself a couple of years ago and moved into finance. I always had an interest in finance so it suited me well. The hours are pretty normal and I get to do a little (i.e. very little) bit of programming every once in a while (which doesn't bother me in the slightest).

Are you going to stay with IT while doing your postgraduate studies? as it might cause some problems with your study time..

monosharp

Well I've always had an interest in history, any chance I can do a conversion course for something related to history ?

How do i search for conversion courses ?

Thanks

NeverSayDie

Well, I don't think there's anything to convert between IT and history per se, they don't exactly have much in common. I guess some kind of postrad diploma would work on the graduate end though.

Site like this should help you find a course though, history's a pretty popular subject, there seem to be lots of courses within the field;
http://www.nightcourses.com/search.html
Any of the universities should have sections on their websites re part time and evening courses too, most of them are involved in that.

Tom Dunne

It's something I have thought about too.

While I am not a programmer, I have been in the whole IT support/Oracle realm for a long time now and have often wondered about doing something like a BA in Arts or something equally fluffy.

There are conversion courses to go from non-IT to IT, but I haven't seen any go the other way.

Personally, I would like to start from the beginning and do something like Oscail's BA in Humanities, purely for the hell of it.

jaysond

Try out http://www.ucd.ie/adulted/ Shourts courses on loads of different subjects.

qwytre

You might just be a bit burnt out and just need a few months off, could you take a career break?

Or could you work in programming but in a new area such as mobile web etc?

I would be cautious about dropping a good career, you might just need a break.

Evil Phil

Yeah, if you've a few quid saved goto SE Asia or somewhere really sunny for a few months. Unwind and then decide what you want to do.

Manach

Given the economy climate, have you considered a Distance learning course. I'd personally recommend the Open University's BA in history. Insteresting variety of topics to chose from, plus no IT related material so you can switch off from the techie side of things.

If more career minded - there are Business courses also available.