Career Advice within Technology industry

[career_move]

*Long time viewer of the site, but only just registered*

I have been contracting in IT (solutions type role) for about 20 years. I am in my early 40's and Dublin based.
The current role is likely to come to an end soon (~June/July) due to changing circumstances within the company. This puts me at a crossroads, and aware I have two choices open to me
1. Continue in contracting roles, likely to be at a reduced rate, for as long as I can. I have a feeling this will get more and more difficult over time unless I am willing to be globally mobile and would prefer to remain in Dublin at the moment for family reasons (relatively small kids)
2. Turn by back on contracting and move into a permanent position with some level of career goals etc. This would involve a salary cut, but should offer more opportunities in the future. I would like to coordinate this with a change of industry and/or role also, to open more doors if possible.

I am wondering if its possible to get detailed career advice in something like Technology, or is any career advice I try and acquire going to be more generic in its nature. Am I better to try discuss this with contacts/ex-colleagues rather than career guidance specialists?

Anyone been in a similar position and can offer any advice here?

 

[Purple]

I would like to coordinate this with a change of industry and/or role also, to open more doors if possible.

Is there any particular technology area you are interested in?
There's a big difference between IT in financial services and, say, medical devices.

 

[career_move]

Is there any particular technology area you are interested in?

I kind of fell into IT in the Y2K days and have just stuck with it. My main experience to date has been major business transformation programmes implementing large scale IT systems. Most of the programme would be multi-million euro initiatives.

I would be more software/application focused rather then device or hardware based. I am not a fan of the infrastructure or security side of technology. That said I am not a coder either; more an implementer/integrator. I am happy to push outside the comfort zone though. Maybe trying to work out what the next big thing will be and get in early...

The easy option is to look for a suitable digital transformation programme for another 2-3 years, but it is only pushing the problem down the road

My challenge is how do I work out what I want to do? Is there any professionals that can provide advice here or is it basically tapping into my existing professional network ?

 

[Leo]

One challenge of changing industry or role too much is the lack of relevant experience might put you back a couple of grades. Perhaps a more to a larger organisation with a broader variety of technology / products might allow you to enter at a more senior level and then move laterally to other roles after you prove yourself.

 

[odyssey06]

Hi OP, your experience profile sounds similar to mine. I started off in IT consultancy, bit of a jack of all trades, coding, DB work, solution work and am now gone permament with an Dublin-based Irish IT company that produce insurance IT products. I think you could be a good fit for analyst or product owner type role, if you don't want to be in development or team lead. It can be hard in permanent positions to find that 'solution' space that exists on consultancy projects - unless you are willing to travel to integrate the product solution on site.
I am enjoying it, learning lots about scrum \ working in agile teams which would be transferrable skills in future. A lot of the work though is domain specific knowledge, so that might give you pause.

I will send you PM with link to job spec.

ps I think this is one to discuss with colleague or a recruiter that speciailises in IT, I think your skill set is a little niche whereas most recruiters will be just looking for developer, tester, team lead etc

 

[career_move]

One challenge of changing industry or role too much is the lack of relevant experience might put you back a couple of grades.

@Leo As I would be moving from a decent day rate contract position to a perm position it is likely I will get an absolute shock to the system in terms of salary anyway. May as well take one big hit (hopefully for a short enough term) rather than multiple small ones

Perhaps a more to a larger organisation with a broader variety of technology / products might allow you to enter at a more senior level and then move laterally to other roles after you prove yourself.

Yes, that is an option if I decide to go down the vendor route - which is one option. The other one I am considering at the moment is a jump into advisory/consultancy, which may allow me to maintain some level of salary in the short term.
I am not sure what other options exist for me - as if I decide to go to a customer (say Enterprise Architect with a big company), its likely industry experience will come into play there.

Lots to think about, but at least I have a few months to do it, and the summer off is not a bad thing either !

 

[career_move]

I started off in IT consultancy, bit of a jack of all trades, coding, DB work, solution work and am now gone permament with an Dublin-based Irish IT company that produce insurance IT products.

Yes, I imagine the route is a pretty familiar one. The true technology SI role is very much a younger person's game. You took the jump to a vendor, which is something I have considered.

IT products. I think you could be a good fit for analyst or product owner type role, if you don't want to be in development or team lead.

Its not I am against development; I started my career in it back in the day, its just I am very far removed from it at the moment. PO is a good option, but not sure if I would be deemed too senior for that type of a role.

It can be hard in permanent positions to find that 'solution' space that exists on consultancy projects - unless you are willing to travel to integrate the product solution on site.

I have been very lucky to date in that regard and while I a lot of travel in the past the last decade as been Dublin based. But yes, the solution space requires very big companies with large IT footprints to work. You have to be patient for these types of roles to appear.

I am enjoying it, learning lots about scrum \ working in agile teams which would be transferrable skills in future. A lot of the work though is domain specific knowledge, so that might give you pause.

I think any new job will have something new to learn. This is one of my concerns with the current role - I have been there too long so the learning curve has been taken out of it. I am quick at picking up business/industry knowledge. Its probably one of my strongest skills is working out how things work

ps I think this is one to discuss with colleague or a recruiter that speciailises in IT, I think your skill set is a little niche whereas most recruiters will be just looking for developer, tester, team lead etc

That's what I think myself as well - but thought I would ask in case anyone had some magic ideas that could help me. Time to tap into that network I have !

 

[cremeegg]

Although I am not familiar with the IT industry, something that was said to me at a career crossroads once may be useful.

Look around at the guys 10 years older than you, and decide which one you want to be in 10 years, then ask how he got there.

 

[career_move]

Look around at the guys 10 years older than you, and decide which one you want to be in 10 years, then ask how he got there.

Good advice in general and something I will definitely have a think about.

Challenge, like for most people I imagine, is any further step up would completely change work/life balance - so more reward but much more effort required. So maybe a horizontal move would suit better in the shorter term.

Lots to think about so thanks everyone for your comments...

 

[Firefly]

Hi career_move,

I'm in a similar situation to yourself, being a contractor for many years and in my early 40s. The whole IT world is being turned upside down for sure and will look a lot different in the next 10 years.

Regarding your experience, I would think a very obvious route for you is to skill up in AWS/Azure. It's not my own area (yet) but there seems to be buckets of work out there for it and if you're certified you could extend the number of years at decent rates for another while yet

Firefly.

 

[John Sipos]

I know for my friend, the pay cut was worth being able to leave at 5 every day

 

[career_move]

the pay cut was worth being able to leave at 5 every day

Without doubt, the work/life balance is something that cannot be ignored, especially when it comes to hours worked, ability to go to the school plays/matches, reduced international travel etc. I am relatively spoiled in my current role at the moment, and this is one of the challenges !!

The whole IT world is being turned upside down for sure and will look a lot different in the next 10 years.

Absolutely agree here, and while I have tried to stay somewhat ahead of the game, its not as easy as it sounds. The place I work have their own way of doing things, so I have lost most of my industry standards knowledge and will have to brush up on them again

Regarding your experience, I would think a very obvious route for you is to skill up in AWS/Azure. It's not my own area (yet) but there seems to be buckets of work out there for it and if you're certified you could extend the number of years at decent rates for another while yet

Its funny, I was talking to my old CTO last night and he strongly recommended the cloud space [xAAS] and integration aspect of this work in particular. He reminded me that this is where I am not only strongest in, but also the area I am most passionate about. I have been one of the main promoters of SAAS and Open API standards within the organisation for a number of years (mostly fell on deaf ears).

I was talking to one of the directors inside at work today, and he said that its likely some sort of play would be made to retain me for a while, although would probably be in a different role to currently, to ensure some sort of retained knowledge for a period of time. This would suit from an up-skilling point of view as would allow me time focus on certifications such as AWS/Azure/Google Cloud.