Recommend me a Qualification

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cgreenwood

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#306872 29-Aug-2023 14:53

Mid 40s, successful career in Science/Health, Bachelors and Post Graduate qualifications in the same, dependant family and main bread winner.

I have always realised that I followed the wrong career pathway, but have always done the sensible thing. IT/computing wasn't widely considered a viable career pathway (at least not a stable one) when I chose my undergraduate degree so despite my interest and passion being for all things IT related, I chose a different path. I have not done badly since, but have regretted that choice ever since. If I don't make a change now, not likely to ever.

So, I'm looking for:

Post Graduate

Extramural or minimal on campus time (I am not located in a main centre)

Something in software development or data analytics or similar

Non IT specific entry requirements (although I do have several IT related papers under my belt, such as Health informatics)

Something that could be a possible first step to an ultimate career change.

Have looked at:

Postgraduate Certificate in Information Technology | Auckland ICT Graduate School

Graduate Diploma in Information Technology [Level 7] | EIT Hawke's Bay and Tairāwhiti

But really have no idea about what are well recognised courses and schools in the industry, or where to start really. Any help appreciated, please don't be too harsh on me.

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3121641 29-Aug-2023 16:13

Is there a particular reason why you would want to work in a software development role? Do you have particular skills in that area, or is it just something you think you would like to do?

If you have skills, you may not need formal qualifications, you just need to show aptitude. If you don't, there are plenty of related roles, including QA, support and business analyst roles that don't require hands-on coding skills but will still see you working alongside development teams. Depending on your past experience, you may find one of those to be a better route into the industry than tertiary qualifications.

cddt

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#3121655 29-Aug-2023 17:10

Something cloudy perhaps? The certs are easy to get, self-paced study, and the barrier to entry is lower than straight software development.

neb

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#3121656 29-Aug-2023 17:11

cddt:
Something cloudy perhaps?

With light showers, clearing by mid-afternoon, otherwise fine.

mentalinc

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#3121659 29-Aug-2023 17:32

There are many threads on how to get into IT on here to search through.

Main one is you're experienced, are you wanting to move into a management style role, or a hands on the keyboard?

Do you want to look at getting into Data Insights - but based on your current work background?

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Geektastic

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#3121662 29-Aug-2023 18:00

Can you leverage the health experience? I know there’s a lot of health specific IT and your other qualifications might give you some advantage?

gzt

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#3121676 29-Aug-2023 18:54

Mid 40s, successful career in Science/Health, Bachelors and Post Graduate qualifications in the same, dependant family and main bread winner.

A related question is your income need or target while studying or/and starting. Clearly you have the academic and technical background required for high earning in the field, just depends how you get there.

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Bee

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#3121734 30-Aug-2023 06:14

Nothing to add except to suggest as others have, that you may be able to use your existing experience and knowledge to get in somewhere... I know during my time working I.T. for Health Alliance there were a lot of ex doctors and nurses. It was easier for them to pick up the I.T. stuff than it was for I.T. people to learn all the medical stuff.

Doing your best is much more important than being the best.

jonb

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#3121776 30-Aug-2023 09:05

I'm same age as you with dependents etc and have ended up in the IT health sector, there are lots of roles in this sector and NZ punches above it's weight internationally. I would be a bit skeptical of doing a standard post grad type course, I did a similar IT masters after dossing about for a couple of years in my twenties which got me started with a boost. With current experience getting a few industry certs would be better use of time and money, and shows you are focused in what area you want to pivot to, whilst the PG cert can be a bit jack of all trades or too focused on web development - in my experience is about the same level as second year uni but with a better sounding qualification.

Like with health alliance above, in my company we have nurses and clinical pharmacists who are business analysts, product managers, project managers, implementation specialists.

For an initial pay drop you could move to software testing pathway

Getting into the data analysis area in health/science would be great, Microsoft Power BI etc and the cloud infrastructure that assists that. Azure fundamentals and the AWS equivalent would be no brainer certifications to get, they are cheap (sometimes free) and easy to self study and can get a feel of what else is possible.

Pre-sales for IT/software vendors is an interesting area - involves technical skills, domain knowledge and potential for big pay packet but not sure of how to get into that..

stuartcharters

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#3121781 30-Aug-2023 09:16

Have sent you a PM with more details but..

Lincoln University have the Master of Applied Computing

https://www.lincoln.ac.nz/study/study-programmes/programme-search/master-of-applied-computing/

We currently have a taught postgraduate fee waiver which runs until the end of 2024

https://www.lincoln.ac.nz/study-for-free/