Making a career change to IT

Needachange

Hi everyone, I'm new here. I'm currently a teacher who needs to get out of teaching. It has gotten to the point where my well being is suffering. I have explored many avenues for a career change and I'm thinking going into IT could be good for me. Here's where my questions come in...would I be able to get a decent job by getting an associate degree in computer information systems (I have bachelor's and master's degrees in education). I am currently making $57,000. I cannot go much lower in order to support my family. I figured I would ask those of you already out there in the field. Any advice is appreciated! TIA

BuhRock

Depends on where your location is, but 57k as a teacher sounds like you're probably in a city. Instead of doing IT, you might do well with looking into a project manager job within IT operations or something. That would def pay more and your current degrees would fit more towards that instead of getting a new AAS. If you want to be hands on, you'll probably have to start at the bottom, but again it's hard to say what salary you're gonna get since it's based on location.

Welly_59

Probably not. You can't expect to move I to any field and get paid more than a junior, whatever your previous experience in other roles

Press ANY Key

In my opinion, I don't think another degree makes sense. You will not get many calls with an associate degree in IS with no experience. If I were in your position, I would get baseline certs like the MCP, A+, Net+ and Sec+/CASP. From there, I would try to get a datacenter tech position. You don't need much experience for that role. Also, companies like Amazon and Microsoft offer security clearances for their datacenter employees.

Once you get your foot in the door, then you can move up from there.

kiki162

You first want to figure out what type of job role in IT interests you. Many of us have started and have transitioned into other areas. For example, I've started at a Help Desk position, moved into a System administration roles, then on to Information Security. Your background in education would certainly be useful in IT. There are many positions out there for instructor roles, or creating educational content in IT. To answer your question, I think you would be able to do well, and starting with a degree will certainly help. Because your have your Masters, I wouldn't go back to an Associates program. Look at getting a 2nd Bachelor's degree, as your existing credits should count for a good 2 years worth of a 4 year program.

Depending on what path you want to take in IT, you also want to look at a certification or two to help in your job prospects. So if you like System Administration as an example, you could obtain your MCSA or MCSE certification, while still in school. Once you get a role, you can get a few years under your belt and complete your degree in the process. Timeframe wise, all of this is certainly doable within a year. One other important thing to keep in mind is that you will need to be in "continuous learning" mode. So doing something once or twice a year to improve your skills (i.e.: study/obtain new certification, complete degree, take a course online, etc.) will help keep you going and be successful in IT.

scaredoftests

As someone mentioned before, it all depends where you live. You will NOT be starting at $57,000 right off the bat if you have no experience.

volfkhat

Needachange wrote: »

...I have explored many avenues for a career change and I'm thinking going into IT could be good for me.

So... do you actually know what that means?

How exactly did you reach this conclusion?
I hope it was based on some PRACTICAL experience:
Years of tinkering with computers? Fixing family members pc issues? Running some kind of hobby website?
Writing code/apps, etc?

Or,
did you just see a commercial somewhere claiming "IT is the place to be".
?

/shrug

But to answer your question:
An Associates (with Zero experience) plus a Comptia cert.... PLUS some LUCK......
might get you a gig paying $15 - $18 /hour.

Ready to sign up?

Tibs

Like the others have said, going for a straight IT position (even with an IT associates and some certs) with no previous professional IT experience, will likely land you an entry level job which may not hit the 57k you need.

But maybe you could leverage your teaching experience to get a role that is not directly IT but it is still pushing you in the IT direction. Earlier someone stated a project manager, or possibly just a manager in general. As a teacher you obviously have project management and personnel management experience (even if they may be tiny personnel). Part of a teachers job is to help other people improve, which isn't a very far shot from personnel management. If you can get a role managing IT personnel, this gives you an opportunity to learn from them while also gaining experience in the new field. Complement that with gaining certs and/or working towards a bachelors in IT, and you have sustained yourself while working towards where you want to go.

Obviously there is no guarantee here and you will still need some luck to get a position managing an IT work environment. But this is to open up the idea; instead of jumping right in and taking a massive pay cut, look to see if there are opportunities to help you transition into IT by utilizing your experience as a teacher.

ITSec14

Needachange wrote: »

It has gotten to the point where my well being is suffering.

IT definitely has it's burnout moments too lol.

scaredoftests

Also, see how it is 'out there' and send your resume out.

NetworkingStudent

Beating a dead horse here. Adding to what others have said....

With no IT experience it would be hard to break into the field. You need to get some certs, volunteer computer, or break fix computer work under your belt, before you could enter the field.

You won't make $57,000 right out of the gate. Maybe after 3-5 years of continuous career progression you could make this amount or more.

You would start off between $20,000-$30,000.

LA2

Having a tough time trying to think of areas within IT that you could pivot into and still make at least 57k (excluding high COL areas.). You might be able to swing into technical writing and documentation if you have experience writing. Project management might be another area you could get into if you can manage a PMP. For these roles you would want to obtain some technical certifications. You could start with the CompTIA A+,Net+, and Sec+ or Microsoft's MTA or MCSA. With your educational background, I wouldn't think that an associates degree would help. Maybe there are other areas within academia that you could get into without completely changing careers (community college, academic advisor, distance education, course writing).

clarkincnet

If you're listening to those IT commercials that promise $100k with little or no effort, or a time commitment as few as 6 months, as your basis for choosing IT as a career, then you seriously need to reevaluate. IT is not a silver bullet, go into it because you love it or are interested in it, etc. If not, this will just be dead weight around your neck.

Do something because you love it, and you will rarely work a day in your life.

Given your current degrees, as a hiring manager, I wouldn't give you extra credit for an associates degree in IT. If you're serious about IT, the better use of your time would be to get some entry level certs (and make sure you actually like this thing called IT). The money depends on the location, but that might be the high end of an entry level helpdesk for most places.

Just my opinion and everyone knows what they say about opinions...

TheFORCE

What are you teaching now? Is it math, chemistry or some degree with good problem solving skills or is it some art or history class? You could probably do well as an instructor or someone creating content as others mentioned. Look at your schools IT department and see if you can volunteer for 6months 1 year and see what area of IT you like. You might get some experience you can use from that.