At a career crossroads, seeking advice

KJK1LL3R

Good afternoon folks, I am hoping for some advice with making a career change/pivot in my mid-thirties.

I graduated with an undergrad Bachelors Honours Degree where I majored in Computer Science and minored in Business Studies back in 2012. Since then, I have worked for over a decade in IT Technical Support Helpdesk roles predominately within the Public Sector. I've worked my way up from 1st-line to 2nd-line but I am now feeling burnt out with this career and would like to find a new path. I am fed up with answering Helpdesk phone calls all day and there isn't much scope for me to progress beyond 2nd-line Tech Support so I need to specialize. The following factors are key considerations for me:

Employer:

Public Sector of any description (Civil Service, HSE, Local Authorities, Universities, ETB’s, Semi-State, etc) is my preference due to the job security, solid pension, flexi-hours and generous holidays. It is also important for to remain in the Public Sector as it would allow me to pivot into another field without having to take any salary reduction, given that my existing pay scale would be matched without much of an issue.

Salary:

I'm earning roughly €50k and I'm realistically never going to be able to earn much more than mid 50's in a Tech Support role, particularly as it is my preference to remain within the Public Sector or even semi-state. I moved here from Northern Ireland in 2020 and have found it extremely difficult to afford rent, so I know I need to work towards a more lucrative career. At the moment I don’t really envisage myself managing people, so I know I’m probably never going to earn a six figure salary but I would like to work in an area which would give scope for earning €60-90k.

Responsibility:

As mentioned above, at this moment I don’t have much appetite for managing people but there is a possibility that my outlook on this could change in the longer term. At present I care for a profoundly disabled parent, I have to try to look after all of their affairs at the same time as getting on with my own life. I don’t believe the added stress of management would be good for me to try to cope with, my home life is stressful enough without adding more to it in my work life. I’m also quite introverted so wouldn’t really consider myself to be the most sociable people person.

Location:

I am seeking a career with a bit more flexibility in terms of location. I would prefer to be able to work from home 2 or 3 days per week. The problem with working in Tech Support is that there always needs to be a physical presence covering the Helpdesk, so even the days that I am scheduled to work from home there is always a very high chance I could get called to come into the office to man the Helpdesk if someone is off sick or if things are particularly busy. When remote working was first introduced through a blended working policy, I was hoping this would enable me to occasionally work whilst up in Northern Ireland visiting family but unfortunately this has not been possible due to having to be available to come on-site at very short notice. Perhaps there are no Public Service jobs that would allow such flexibility? It would be great if I could even identify a particular government department or semi-state body that would allow me to work on projects with offices on both sides of the border.

Holidays:

I’ve always been lucky in public sector in this respect, ideally I would like something similar to my current entitlement which gives me 30 days annual leave (not including public holidays) plus an additional 13 days flexi leave. At the moment if I want to book leave, I have to check to make sure nobody else on the helpdesk already has it booked off. I would prefer to be working in an area where I can take leave whenever I want, without having to worry about ensuring there is going to be cover for me.

Interests:

There are a number of interesting IT sub-domains which I am thinking of potentially pivoting into, such as Cybersecurity, Data Science/Analytics, Software Development, Artificial Intelligence, etc. But I’m not sure which would be the right one for me given everything I have laid out above. My interest is predominately in Technology but I also have an interest in Finance, having minored in Business Studies at University where I always did particularly well in my Accounting modules. I enjoy working with Excel spreadsheets and analysing tables of data to see if I can identify a common trend or something that would allow me to make an informed decision. In my final year at University I did a module on Machine Learning and Data Mining which I really enjoyed. I also really enjoy automation, constantly finding myself scripting with batch files on my computer to try to automate boring repetitive tasks and save myself time. Saving myself time and money is two of my favourite hobbies. I’m also quite security-minded, always trying to ensure all my devices and accounts are secured from scams so I do enjoy the sense of purpose that would come with a crime prevention career like Cyber. I’m not really sure if there is a suitable career path or field that combines or incorporates many of these different interests?

Education:

I am quite keen to do an online part-time level 9 Masters Degree of PostGrad Diploma in the near future, for two main reasons:

1.     I am now in my mid 30’s so I really want to do a Masters before I settle down and have a family and won’t have the time to commit to such an undertaking given that most part-time courses take 2 years to complete.

2.     I want to take advantage of the Springboard+ scheme which funds 90% of the costs, I could never afford to do a level 9 otherwise. So if I leave it too late, who knows how much longer the Springboard+ scheme will be available for.

I don’t mind lifelong studying towards industry certifications as I like to keep myself updated, but I am realistically only going to be able to do a Masters Degree once in my life. I’m not the most naturally academic (generally prefer multiple-choice exams instead of dissertations and essays) person so I wouldn’t want to put myself through it twice. It is therefore crucial that I pursue a masters in the right career area. I wish there was one that covered lots of different areas of interest for me, as that way I’d still have the flexibility of using that masters degree to my benefit regardless of which field I ended up in. It was also probably be better if I could find a conversion course that was designed for people switching careers rather than one that required pre-existing specialist knowledge.

Apologies that this post has been so long, but I wanted to include as much relevant detail as possible for context. Given everything I have said, I would be keen to hear some thoughts and get your feedback if you wouldn’t mind please.

Flinty997

They only way to get off a helpdesk track is to get stuck into projects, and avoid being assigned helpdesk tasks. Unless you start avoiding that type of work will keep getting assigned to you.

Any ICT level 7 and above will get you past the first fence in the recruitment process in the public sector. The private sector is more focused on hands on experience. But more qualifications never hurts. I have seen more places looking for level 9 recently. It would be good to have some management certs like prince2, itil, agile etc.

From your description the data side might suit. My concern is everyone and their brother seems to be doing it these days, and it's the perfect work for AI tools.

Neames

Hi,

Firstly, I want to acknowledge the challenges of being a carer for a parent with a disability. That must be tough and I can understand that trying to balance work with caring responsibilities isn't easy.

Just some observations on your post about the work stuff.

You are going to really limit your career progression in the public service if you rule out managing people. You won't get close to 90k working solo. Not impossible however but highly improbable. Being an introvert won't prevent you from being a good manager.

There are very few jobs with a reasonable level of responsibility that will allow you take time whenever you please. You need to be more reasonable in your expectations.

Good for you in pursuing a Masters degree, you could do one in your thirties in a specialist area. You mention that you enjoyed machine learning so my suggestion to you would be to explore AI. This is very much in demand and will likely open doors for you.