Am I too old to enter tech industry?

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16 posts

Geek

#2150753 26-Dec-2018 17:27

By unhappy I mean job satisifaction, and working in a corporate environment in IT. Is there anyone here that works in the industry and doesn't enjoy it, or wish they had done something else. Just interested to know what the downsides are, if any, and if so what are they. Is there anyone that loves IT but doesn't have job satisfaction. Is it really a financially secure job? Or is is a high pressure job with not such great financial security or rewards. This is an interesting website about company reviews if anyone hasn't heard about it, there are IT companies featured too, interesting reading the trademe reviews, and a bit off topic also the weta digital, and weta workshop ones were quite interesting. https://www.glassdoor.co.nz/Reviews/index.htm

gbwelly

1243 posts

Uber Geek

#2150797 26-Dec-2018 18:05

I wouldn't want to start out in IT now. If you are senior you will have carved out a decent position, but most places are slave ships. I have a relative who in the span of 1 year has trained as a Project Manager and she now has back to back contracts paying great money. Similar situation to you, couple of teenage kids.
If you enjoy IT do it as a hobby and manage IT projects for sweet contractor rates as your day job.

GreenApples

16 posts

Geek

#2150800 26-Dec-2018 18:16

gbwelly: I wouldn't want to start out in IT now. If you are senior you will have carved out a decent position, but most places are slave ships. I have a relative who in the span of 1 year has trained as a Project Manager and she now has back to back contracts paying great money. Similar situation to you, couple of teenage kids.
If you enjoy IT do it as a hobby and manage IT projects for sweet contractor rates as your day job.

Did she have previous experience in IT or relavent qualifications, and where did she train, on her own? Or online courses?

gbwelly

1243 posts

Uber Geek

#2150805 26-Dec-2018 18:44

GreenApples:

Did she have previous experience in IT or relevant qualifications, and where did she train, on her own? Or online courses?

No IT background, her degree was in physiology. I think she did PRINCE2 course/exams to the practitioner level. I expect there would have been a bit of fast talking involved to get the first gig, but once you've got a couple of contracts under your belt I think you're away. She is working primarily public service sector in Wellington.

GreenApples

16 posts

Geek

#2150936 27-Dec-2018 08:48

Something I need to put out there, which I'm not ashamed about, is that I suffer from severe depression. This is a major factor in my decision making. Does anyone have any experience with depression themselves in this industry, or know of anyone who works in IT with depression. Is this industry/employers very accommodating? Does anyone perhaps have any examples of people trying to make it in IT with this illness?

MikeB4

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#2150956 27-Dec-2018 09:21

There is no reason that should affect your employment opportunities.

Hammerer

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#2150998 27-Dec-2018 10:31

GreenApples:

Something I need to put out there, which I'm not ashamed about, is that I suffer from severe depression. This is a major factor in my decision making. Does anyone have any experience with depression themselves in this industry, or know of anyone who works in IT with depression. Is this industry/employers very accommodating? Does anyone perhaps have any examples of people trying to make it in IT with this illness?

GreenApples:

Does anyone have any experience with depression themselves in this industry, or know of anyone who works in IT with depression. Is this industry/employers very accommodating?

I didn't notice any difference in how depression is handled in IT than in any other functional area of a business. The problem will be if you get a supervisor/manager who isn't sympathetic or helpful.

Maybe you should avoid roles with tight timeframes, heavy workloads and inflexible deadlines. But lots of people have issues that affect their ability to perform consistently. I can think of digestive illnesses (Coeliac disease, Chone's, IBS, acid reflux), blood pressure, heart disease, etc.

I worked with colleagues and managed staff who were being treated for depression or had varieties of depressive behaviour. The biggest problem was not people being severely depressed but with depressive behaviours that had negative impacts in the workplace. These problems usually came from people whose depressive episodes were exacerbated by alcohol and drug use. They didn't tend to be amenable to seeking medical help.

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GreenApples

16 posts

Geek

#2151443 28-Dec-2018 13:57

gbwelly: I wouldn't want to start out in IT now. If you are senior you will have carved out a decent position, but most places are slave ships. I have a relative who in the span of 1 year has trained as a Project Manager and she now has back to back contracts paying great money. Similar situation to you, couple of teenage kids.
If you enjoy IT do it as a hobby and manage IT projects for sweet contractor rates as your day job.

I don't have the funds to afford to do that unfortunately, I would have to go somewhere that I could get a student loan. Is there anyone out there that would be willing to take me on and train me? I'm hardworking and loyal, and I enjoy learning.

GreenApples

16 posts

Geek

#2151445 28-Dec-2018 14:00

I don't drink or do drugs. But I do take medication for it.

irongarment

280 posts

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#2151536 28-Dec-2018 17:27

You still haven't said what you want to do. "IT" is a fairly varied field, so without knowing what you want to do it's hard to give advice. It's like saying "I want a career in dairying" without specifying if you want to be a farmer, a milker, or a dairy robot engineer.

Without wishing to trivialise it I'd say depression is no more of an issue in IT than any other industry, if properly managed. You probably know your situation best so you can reject jobs that wouldn't suit you. Again, this is nothing specific to IT. Every job has deadlines or unexpected events to deal with.

Regarding a 'trial period', not many employers are progressive enough to try that yet. If it's programming then your trial period started right now. What was your most recent hobby program? Did you ever add some code to someone else's project? If it's something else, what have you done that could be considered relevant? Did you organise a trip (for yourself or someone else)? Are you on a local committee for some charity or other organisation? Have you done any volunteer work? All these are useful talking points for an interview, or in a cover letter to illustrate why you are a better candidate than the next guy or gal.

If you don't have any experience like this don't be disheartened. Start now.

antoniosk

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#2151689 28-Dec-2018 21:50

GreenApples:

Something I need to put out there, which I'm not ashamed about, is that I suffer from severe depression. This is a major factor in my decision making. Does anyone have any experience with depression themselves in this industry, or know of anyone who works in IT with depression. Is this industry/employers very accommodating? Does anyone perhaps have any examples of people trying to make it in IT with this illness?

Very loaded question, and depends solely on your role and attitude to it.

For example, Project Management is about resources to make changes. Very often, the scope of the change is unclear, there isn't staff who know enough about the complete change to give you confidence it will all be good, you often strike folks who know one part and couldn't give a monkeys about the rest of it, all the while with stakeholders who just want the change done and really don't care about the detail. It can be disheartening at times when your project goes off the rails or something fails because of details you couldn't possibly have foreseen.

I've also worked with analysts are quite disconnected from the work and are 'just doing the day job' and have no real commitment to the outcome, because they get paid regardless. On it goes.

Key thing is, the industry often has wild ups and downs and it can be sooo easy to get caught up in it, when there's no need.

Still interested?

btw if you have been formally diagnosed and are taking medication you are obligated to disclose that on your application form, IF it may affect your ability to do the job (for example, if you require taking several days off at a time frequently, that's an unreasonable burden on the employer).

Before you talk yourself out of taking action, just ask what attracted you to consider the industry. It can be quite rewarding, the lows can lead to some awesome highs, there are a great deal of people faking their capability and getting success, so if you have good integrity you will almost certainly enjoy it... and you do get to meet good people, do some awesome projects and generate great work stories

________

Antoniosk

mm1352000

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#2151702 28-Dec-2018 22:52

I'd like to extend my thanks and respect to all the people participating in this thread. Some fantastic questions, thoughts, and advice.

GreenApples: Does anyone have any experience with depression themselves in this industry, or know of anyone who works in IT with depression. Is this industry/employers very accommodating? Does anyone perhaps have any examples of people trying to make it in IT with this illness?

For what it's worth (this is entirely anecdotal!), I'll put my hand up and say that at times I have experienced depression. I'm a programmer working in a small business (~10 employees) in a small-to-medium city. My employer has been extremely supportive. Communication has been critical. That's probably as much as I'd like to say publicly about my personal situation.

More generally, as others have already said, in my opinion the experience would very much depend on the specific manager and/or employer. I have no reason to think that "IT" businesses are significantly different to businesses of similar sizes in other industries within NZ. If you go into a role with eyes wide open, with realistic expectations, knowing yourself well, and establish good communication with a reasonable manager/employer, I see no reason why depression should stop you from succeeding.

@GreenApples: All the best to you, whatever you decide.

GreenApples

16 posts

Geek

#2153494 2-Jan-2019 20:17

Thank you for sharing your experience, I really appreciate it. There are stigmas for so many things, including mental health issues - which is really a crisis in New Zealand. Thanks for putting your hand up, it means a lot.

I didn't mention that I have been involved in some film work, not a lot, and obviously it's not a money making business unless you are Peter Jackson. But there is a feature length documentary that I have always wanted to make, that i'm very passionate about, and at this point i'm feeling that I need to make it. It's somewhat controversial. I have received so much wonderful advice here, and i'm still conflicted, and i'm still not sure what i'm going to do, and I appreciate all of the advice. But I can't stop thinking about my film. I'm thinking maybe I can learn stuff online as opposed to getting into further debt, but also to make my film. Perhaps it could even inspire the development of an app, or something similar.

BTR

1527 posts

Uber Geek

#2161282 15-Jan-2019 08:50

41 is still young, but like with any job you eventually reach an age where you start to lose competancy in the job. I work with someone in their 60's in a network admin role and they are getting to an age where they are becoming forgetful of even the most basic things at times.

This person is determined to stay until they are debt free which could mean they are here in their 70's, I would probably leave before then as sometimes you cant teach and old dog new tricks and that becomes a liability in the technology sector.

But going back to your question I would say go for it, its always nice to see women interested in IT.

StarMan

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2177425 13-Feb-2019 07:43

Hammerer:

In practice, Whitireia/Computer Power say they get about 90% of eligible candidates into jobs.

Slightly off topic, but for the record: I think their claim is highly dubious given my experience. They're flat out dishonest in some aspects of their training. I'd like to see their 90% claim backed up.

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